Winter and the Water Element

Water
Of the five elements in Chinese medicine - Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water - the season of winter is associated with Water. It represents a time for resting and sleeping more, keeping warm, staying at home more. If we do this as much as possible, we sow the seeds for good health and vitality in spring.

The kidneys
All the five elements are associated with a particular organ in the body. Water is associated with the kidneys, so strengthening the kidneys through diet, specific exercises and rest is essential if we want to remain robust through this season and into the next. The kidneys are also linked to the adrenals. When we're running on empty, on nervous energy, we are exhausting the kidneys. We need to slow down, allow ourselves time to unwind, and get back in tune with our body's needs. If we don't do this, we're storing up trouble for later in the year - or even later in life - ultimately with burnout, which manifests as all sorts of stress-related illnesses and conditions.

Fear
Water is also associated with the emotion of fear. If we are anxious a lot of the time, about our lives, our loved ones, our work, and especially about money, we are also taxing our kidneys. And when our kidneys are weakened, we become even more anxious and fearful, thereby feeding the negative cycle.

How to allay your fears
The opposite of fear is wisdom. Bring yourself back to the core facts of the situation by tapping into your inner wisdom, instead of letting your mind run away with itself, conjuring up disastrous scenarios. Fear is fuelled by not being comfortable with the unknown. It is easy to become caught up in what-ifs, in anticipating the worst, in letting ourselves get carried away with worry about the future - about loved ones' safety, health issues, money problems, work stability (especially in this climate). But if we can learn to accept the unknown, and that the future only ever remains an idea, and that the present is all we actually have to deal with, we can eradicate a lot of the anxiety. Imagine all the energy you can save by not bothering to worry about a future event that may never happen! And the more energy you conserve, the less anxious you will feel. If you're struggling to redress the balance, do the exercise below to help strengthen the kidneys.

The darkness
You may also be struggling with the short, cold days and long, dark nights. If you try to adapt to this part of the year and sleep more, and stay at home more, and luxuriate in those cosy evenings at home, and lie-ins, the darkness won't seem like an enemy you're trying to battle against. Get early nights if you have to get up early each morning. Eat warming foods that keep you going for longer. Have long, hot baths.

Nervous energy
The flipside of anxiety is the adrenaline rush that many people begin to thrive on. You feel alive, you feel as though you are packing your life to the full, that you're beating the ageing process, cheating death, making the most of your life, not wasting a minute. You're working long hours, socialising and drinking intensely after work, rushing around at weekends. You fill your time with seeing friends, doing cultural things, with sport and shopping. But the body can't keep this up indefinitely. Some early signs of burnout are panic attacks, rising stress, angry outbursts, hot flushes, insomnia, and an inability to sit still and do nothing. If you don't want to pay later for abusing your body and pushing your limits now, then you have to rein in - as soon as possible. Especially if that adrenaline rush feels addictive. It is. Sleep! Don't go out every night! Lie around at weekends and do nothing sometimes. Yes, absolutely nothing. Do some kind of breathing or meditation. Try the exercise below. Even if you have young children, you can fit in five minutes of focusing on your breathing as you load the washing machine and do the washing up. And if you feel you're too far gone to correct the balance yourself, visit an acupuncturist. (Details of my clinic are on my Acupuncture Treatments page.)

How healthy are your kidneys? (Some face-reading tips)
Signs on your face
Do you have dark circles under your eyes? The darker these are, the more your kidneys are struggling. If they're very dark, you are also dehydrated, so you should drink more water - preferably at room temperature, never iced or too cold. Also look at your chin. Is it mottled or shadowy? This is another sign of weakened kidney energy. If your chin is red, there's heat in the kidneys - again, you should drink more water and ensure you're not eating very spicy foods. Consider cutting down on caffeine. If you generally have a strong chin and big ears, you have a good constitution - and good Water/kidney energy. But this doesn't mean you should burn the candle at both ends or abuse that extra stamina! Our constitutional energy is finite.

Symptoms in your body
Do you get lower back ache, suffer from weak knees, or does your hair fall out easily? Do your joints and bones feel weak generally? Does your kidney area ache (see below for how to find your kidneys)? These are all signs that your kidney energy is struggling and needs looking after.

Qi Gong exercise to strengthen your kidneys - the Water element
You can do this either standing or sitting upright but relaxed on a chair. Find the kidney area below your ribs and above your waist on either side of the spine and rub each side with soft fists until your kidneys feel warm. Direct a smile at the kidney area - this may sound bonkers, but it works! A form of visualisation, it helps regenerate the area's weakened or compromised cells and strengthen the healthy cells. Next envisage your kidneys bathed in an inky blue-black colour. Breathe in this colour and picture the kidney area filling up with it. Pause. Then, on the out-breath, imagine all the toxins and grubbier grey/black stuff leaving the kidneys out of your back - as though out of an exhaust pipe. Do this five times. Your kidney area should feel warmer and more alive. With enough regular practice, you will feel increasingly energised after doing this. And calmer. And more centred.

Some foods to help strengthen the kidneys
Warming broths, soups and stews, casseroles, congees
Root vegetables and winter greens
Whole grains, beans and pulses, especially quinoa, barley, millet, kidney beans, aduki, black-eyed beans, mung beans, and all sprouting seeds
Other purple/blue/black, kidney-coloured foods such as purple-sprouting broccoli, black sesame seeds, blackberries, blueberries, mulberries
Salty foods, such as miso, soy sauce, seaweeds
Water chestnuts, watermelons

General advice
Drink more water and herbal teas
Use slow-cooking methods

What to avoid
Cold foods in cold weather - including salads, ice cream and iced drinks
Very refined foods - especially sugars
Caffeine
Alcohol and cigarettes

*A balance between hot and cold, warming and cooling - Yin and Yang - is essential in Chinese medicine, so eating a mixture of these foods and along with a normal healthy diet is recommended.

Ready for spring
If you treat your kidneys well in winter, they'll repay you threefold in spring, and you'll have lots of energy to start nurturing the shoots that are coming up from the seeds you sowed back at the beginning of winter. In fact, you'll have set yourself up for the whole year. You should find yourself ready for the challenges of spring, for that surge of energy and of new ideas that comes as the days get longer and the sun stronger, the trees are blossoming and the flowers beginning to bloom.

February 1st is the first day of spring in the British Medicine Wheel, and in ancient Chinese medicine, so you have until then to embrace the darkness of winter and get cosy with your kidneys.

The Water element is found in each of us. And when we get the balance right, and keep our kidneys strong, we can flow like Water does. Life becomes more effortless.

The Water element - an extract
"Waiting patiently doesn't suit you. I can see you have a great deal of Water in your personality. Water never waits, it changes shape and flows round things, and finds secret paths no one else has thought about - the tiny hole through the roof or the bottom of a box. There's no doubt it is the most versatile of the five elements. It can wash away Earth; it can put out Fire; it can wear a piece of Metal down and sweep it away. Even Wood, which is its natural complement, can't survive without being nurtured by Water. And yet, you haven't drawn on those strengths in living your life, have you?"
"Well actually, ma'am, water flowing was what gave me the idea of escaping over the roof."
"I'm sure you are a clever girl, Chiyo, but I don't think that was your cleverest moment. Those of us with Water in our personalities don't pick where we'll flow to. All we can do is flow where the landscape of our lives carries us."
From Memoirs of a Geisha