Self-care in the heart of winter

We are just past the winter solstice, which is both the most yin time of the year and the time when yang energy stops receding and begins to rebuild toward its peak at summer solstice. Yin energy is darker, colder, less active and more introspective.

Yang energy is warmer, brighter, more 

active and more extroverted. If you feel the need for more sleep and the urge to sit by a warm fire with a good book right now, it is because we are in the deepest yin phase of the year. 

That said, for many Yukoners winter is a very active time. We love the outdoors and getting out in it is an essential part of winter. I’m not going to tell anyone to stay indoors, and indeed I get out skiing, snowshoeing and fat-tire biking as much as I can. But even in my COVID bubble in Whitehorse, I couldn’t help but notice a flurry of injuries to muscles, tendons and ligaments that coincided with this most yin time of year. The body’s energy is deeply internal at this time of year. When the body’s energy is deep, it isn’t available to moisten and nourish the muscles, tendons and ligaments as much as in other times of the year.

Movement is important throughout the year, but this part of winter is not the time to push yourself to the next level physically. It is a time for less exertion and for protecting the body’s reserves. Yes, get out into nature and exercise, but tone things back a notch or two. If you are working up a sweat this time of year, you are forcing your energy to the surface of the body when it wants to go deep. You can use sweating as a measure of when to dial things back.

Your diet in the heart of winter should reflect both the time of year and your individual health situation. Paul Pitchford, in his amazing book Healing with Whole Foods, recommends “warm, hearty soups, whole grains, and roasted nuts” as well as “dried foods, small dark beans, seaweed, and steamed winter greens.”
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We have just passed through a season that for many includes a lot of sweet foods, but really the focus at this time of year should be on bitter foods whose energy matches the centring, descending energy of this most yin of seasons. Salty foods also have that energy but salt is, if anything, overrepresented in the Western diet, while bitter foods are underrepresented. Bitter foods also boost your Heart energy and can help with minor mood issues that can arise in the darkness and cold. Try adding small amounts of foods like quinoa, oats, turnip, buckwheat, dark leafy greens, celery and asparagus to your diet to get a healthy dose of bitterness. 

Coffee is a bitter food that is generally over consumed, but the benefits of its bitterness are countered by its repeated tapping of the body’s adrenals. Now might be a good time to replace at least some of your coffee intake with coffee substitutes that contain chicory, dandelion and other bitter tasting substances. Kind Cafe in Whitehorse serves an amazing herbal coffee substitute that is deliciously bitter and also contains immune boosting mushrooms. Check it out.

Winter is also a very good time to get acupuncture and related treatments like moxibustion, guasha and cupping; whether to address injuries or illness or to provide proactive support for your mood, immune system and energy during this dark and cold time.

For personalized health support this winter, including acupuncture, Moxibustion, Guasha, Cupping and Traditional Chinese Medicine dietary advice, make an appointment to see me at the Boost Acupuncture and Eastern Medicine clinic in Be Well Integrated Health.