"In winter people should retire early at night and rise late in the morning and they should wait for the rising of the sun."— Nei Ching

"Water is fluid, soft, and yielding. But water will wear away rock, which is rigid and cannot yield. As a rule, whatever is fluid, soft, and yielding will overcome whatever is rigid and hard. This is another paradox: what is soft is strong."

- Lao Tzu in The Tao Te Ching


In the Winter season, which belongs to the Water element, our bodies prefer to store energy so rest is important. Storage is an important function of the Water element; therefore, in Winter it is advisable for people to go to bed early. Winter is the time to nourish and replenish depleted Kidney Qi. Through Rest, Meditation, Breathe, and Diet we can restore our Kidney energy, our basis of will power and strength.

Our will-power and resilience are from Water, our sense of safety and security in ourselves, rather than from outside one's self.

Abundant reserves within give us courage and strength of will. Lacking these reserves, we manifest the emotion that the Chinese for over 5000 years have associated with the Water element.....Fear.

Fear in appropriate amounts is, of course, essential; due care and caution in recognizing our limitations preserves life.  More commonly, the emotion of a distressed Water element is fear of not having enough of what it takes to meet the challenge that lies ahead.

For us, winter is a time of self-recollection, when we can go inside to our bare essence. Water, the element that corresponds to Winter, points us to that dark, quiet pool within ourselves where our essential self-identity resides. We can use the energy of this season to more deeply discover the essence our true self.

Winter is a time for internal work: meditation, containment, concentration, and the storing of our energy. We use this season for rest and the filling and maintenance of our reserves, gathering strength for the year ahead. We must be less active in this season, conserving our energy, going to bed early, and sleeping late. Like the seed that cannot sprout until it has gathered sufficient strength, our ideas and plans cannot manifest with strength if our energy is dispersed or drained. 
Winter is a time of stillness and quiet, nature’s energy is turned in during this most inward of all the seasons. We call it the most yin of the seasons: trees in winter look skeletal, the sap has sunk, outward signs of life have disappeared, and the landscape is covered with snow. There is work going on, but inside. The energy of winter is latent and potent: in this state of resting deep within, energy is collected and held in reserve; winter is cold and dark, qualities that preserve and store. It is the concentrated, internal force of winter that enables a seed to burst forth in spring growth.