The Wisdom of Water
Winter is Mother Nature’s time for rest, hibernation and renewal in preparation for the upcoming Spring and Summer months. While nature ‘rests’, it encourages us to acknowledge both the coldness and darkness around us and the deeper and perhaps darker parts within us.
During this season in Traditional Chinese Medicine, the water element from the 5 element cycle is at its most active. Governed by the bladder and kidney meridians; energetic channels that pulse through our body, this phase of the cycle encourages a time for inner reflection, and winter provides the perfect environment to deepen our practices of self-enquiry & knowledge.
Our spirit (Tao) can be separated into the 5 elements, each element relating to a specific aspect. Water houses the aspect of ‘zhi’ & relates to our connection with our will; a force that moves us towards our destiny without much conscious thought or effort. The nature of will requires knowledge of our real self, and in turn, involves the learning of our real self in life. Each of the 5 elements also has an associated virtue. The water element’s virtue is wisdom. Classic wisdom says that there is nothing weaker than water, yet when united it can be a tidal force. As the most yielding of all the elements, Water will break down even the hardest rock over time and find the path of least resistance to move around any obstacle. This makes winter is a good time to learn to “flow” which means when uncomfortable feelings come up, try to breathe with them and allow them to naturally move through the body.
Think of water in its natural form. In harmony, a body of water such as a quiet lake, offers a place of solitude, stillness, and peace. In disharmony, such as a rough sea or river, water can cut through gorges, is relentless, restless and in extreme scenarios like a tsunami, is completely destructive. I like to use these analogies of the duality of water to help my clients gain a deeper understanding of the psychological and emotional aspects of this element.
When in harmony, water promotes emotions such as safety, connection, potential, faith, destiny, cleverness & willpower. When in disharmony water manifests as fear, withdrawal, anxiety, control issues, loneliness & restlessness. Each of the 5 elements has an associated root emotion. From these root emotions arise patterns of behaviour that come from trying to cope with the habitual presence of the root emotion. The root emotion of water is fear. When we resist these feelings, they tend to get blocked in the chest, since the Kidneys are not grounding these feelings. When our Kidney Qi is balanced within us fear is a healthy emotion, keeping us alert to our surrounding, prompting us to act and keeping us safe. When we are imbalanced fear can manifest in a variety of ways, thus causing tension, anxiety, and a myriad of physical symptoms too, over time, such as high blood pressure and back pain. From a TCM perspective, the darkness and fear we might be experiencing are directly associated with the Water Element. Furthermore, TCM believes that excess fear injures the Kidney energy while a dysfunction in the Kidney energy, in turn, increases our fear.
Fear makes Qi move downwards in the body. Emotions are an expression of Qi & have a pivotal influence on our overall health and wellbeing. When emotions disrupt the flow of Qi, it produces an emotional response, therefore, emotions can be the cause of physical illness. Our emotions are the internal reaction to the outside world, and their level of reaction determines the effect on the physical body. On a physical level, water is associated with diseases involving, growth, development, the kidney organ, the bladder organ, elimination, lumber pain, bones and hearing. By tonifying the Kidney energy, we can correct physical and emotional imbalances associated with the Water Element.
While functionally the Kidney is responsible for assisting in the transformation of fluids, its energetic responsibility is much more profound. In TCM the inherent purpose of the Kidney is to store or contain our ‘Jing’- or essence. It can be thought of as the pilot light that ignites the fire of life, connecting us to our unlimited potential and returning us to our natural state. It is the place we pull from when we feel we have nothing left. It’s where we find our intuition, our genius, our persistence, and our resolve. The kidneys consolidate the Qi that governs over our physiology, so, when out of balance, the essences withdrawal and the liquids and essences inside the body are not sustained by Qi, which can result in weak bones and joints. The Kidneys therefore can be seen as the anchor that supports all our physiological processes by providing primordial energy (Jing) to the body as a whole.
The evening is the time of day that the bladder and kidney channels are most active, between 3pm-7pm. Evening and night are also where yin energy is at its most potent, and that is why gentle, restorative & still forms of exercise are best performed at this time of day, such as yin yoga or Qi Gong. Winter is the best time of year to build up Kidney energy. It is a time to rest, go to bed earlier and wake up later (part of your natural instinct to want to hibernate).
Allow yourself to feel into what your body needs and rest as much as you can, but also balance this with light activities, breath work, and any activity that increases your circulation, so you don’t get stagnant. Just like water – it needs to flow in order to stay vital.
Acupuncture and Chinese herbs can also help correct deficiency and keep the kidneys strong. When the Kidney energy is strong you will regain the willpower to live life with focus and direction in spite of the current that you might feel pushing against you. Warming foods like soups, broths and stews are also great for nourishing our kidney energy.
Winter teaches us to fully enjoy the powers of the season by surrendering and learning from what it has to offer us and TCM gives us numerous mental, emotional, physical, and nutritional tools to help augment the water reserves within us.
