Winter tips - Preserve the Salt of the Earth
In a TCM context the salt of the Earth is the Kidney Qi in your body.
Commonly understood to mean "hard working people" this phrase works well to explain the function of Kidney Qi being the foundational force under all systems in our bodies. Hardworking Kidney Qi is not kidding! The flavor is salty, it is the Water element and our bones reflect the Kidneys well being.
Practices that center Kidney Qi, especially during winter, can slow down, cease and repair burnout. By aligning meridians, habits and foods with the season we care for our human form with decisions we make each day.
It ain't easy, and it's rarely pretty, but without self care we only get further away from our dreams.
Read on for practical tools to care for your life force during winter.
Prepare
block time, even just a few minutes at the end of the day, to sit, meditate, or rest your awareness on the sky.
commit to no new things until spring.
make plans with people to rest together.
go to bed earlier/wake up later. Get more sleep everywhere possible.
Eat
Salty is the flavor of this organ system and balanced salt intake is important when it comes to Kidney Qi. Naturally salty foods, added salt, less salt, it will depend on what works for your whole body.
Some foods that energetically boost Kidney Qi:
walnuts, chestnuts, pistachios
cooked grains, parsnips, turnip, sweet potatoes, onions, leeks, pumpkin, squash, carrots, yams, peas
black beans, chick peas
lamb, beef, veal, goat, venison
tuna, anchovy, prawns, salmon
black pepper, fresh ginger, dry ginger, garlic
cloves, cinnamon, cardamom, rosemary
Practice note:
If you have night sweats, run hot in general or have acid reflux take it easy on the warm spices and foods like black pepper, garlic, lamb, beef and veal. Some alternative proteins are tempeh and chicken. Less is more when it comes to spices for already hot people, lol!
Getting to know how to eat energetically is simple once you get the hang of it. Join my email list, The PORTAL, and you will receive a poster on aligning with the energetics of each season for you to use all year round!
If you want more; I offer food consults at Aurum Medicine & wellness and I do a twice yearly FREE community health action centering food as medicine. To be made aware of these actions, called RENEW or RELEASE, join The PORTAL list.
Rest
Rest is often what we need AND resting can be the hardest one to do. I am putting this here twice to drive the point home, we need to rest more in winter. Period.
If you are not resting much, make it a task and schedule it in. The body literally "forgets" what it is like to rest, we get caught in "GO" mode, for all kinds of reasons, and then it feels wrong to slow down.
Plan to rest by blocking off nap or zone out time.
Move
Kidney/Bladder Meridian exercise by Shizuto Masunaga.
This stretch nourishes Kidney Qi!
You can do this with both legs or one leg.
Practice note:
Do not touch your toes. Do turn palms outward and reach through the soles of the feet, fingers and eyes.
The juiciness of this stretch happens as the Bladder channel opens, allowing for Qi to flow freely through meridians on the back of the body, and the Kidney channel is compressed, giving meridians in the front of the body a compression massage. Moving into this exercise, then holding for 2-3 whole body breaths is recommended, as is following your bodies cues to breathe and practice for as long as makes sense for you.
Other movements to nourish Kidney Qi include:
anything that stretches the hamstrings
laying in your back, bringing the knee(s) up to your chest and wrapping arm(s) around your body and then rocking a little back and forth
asking someone else to lift your legs to stretch the hamstrings
taking your loose fists to your lower back and doing some light pounding
Anatomical drawing of the Kidneys, with adrenal glands at the top of each.
Kidney Qi carries us along, not asking for much, being the Salt of the Earth, the Earth that is your body.
We can live with one kidney, if born with only one, after donating one, or if one has to be removed. Think about that for a moment, hardworking organs, foundational for all other organ systems, and able to keep it all going even with only one in us. The Kidney organs and Qi are phenomenal!
