W I N T E R P R A C T I C E S
In winter, nature teaches us a quieter wisdom.
The days shorten, sap withdraws into roots, animals burrow, waters slow and deepen.
Nothing is rushed.
Nothing is wasted.
This is the season of rest as intelligence, not as absence.
In TCM, winter belongs to the Water element, and water knows how to conserve.
It sinks, stores, listens.
The Kidney–Bladder meridians govern this season, holding our deepest reserves: vitality, memory, will, and ancestral strength. When we rest, we are not stopping life, we are rather returning energy to its source.
Kidneys store Jing, the essence that fuels growth, healing, and longevity.
Jing is not replenished by effort, but by stillness. Sleep, silence, warmth, and reflection are its nourishment.
The Bladder, paired with the Kidneys, teaches release—letting go of what no longer serves so the waters remain clear.
Rest is the dialogue between holding and releasing.
Even our bodies have pathways that echo this seasonal rhythm. Along the back body and the inner chain of the lower limbs, the fascia follows the course of the Bladder and Kidney meridians—long rivers of connective tissue that respond best to slow, attentive care.
Gentle fascia flossing, especially along the spine, sacrum, calves, and inner legs, can feel like wringing out winter waters: not forcing, but rhythmically compressing and releasing, inviting circulation where stagnation has settled.
In this way, movement becomes a form of rest, and rest becomes a form of listening.
True rest is not collapse—it is underground work.
It is the time when the nervous system softens, the kidneys refill, and the psyche reorganizes itself.
Ideas compost.
Grief decomposes.
Wisdom ferments.
Winter rest asks us to trust the dark.
To value depth over display.
To believe that what is quiet is still alive.
When you honor rest, you align with water.
When you align with water, you protect your essence.
When you protect your essence, growth becomes inevitable.
Sink, store, and wait.
BodyA practice this week 18.12 Thursday @20:00
Online + recording
Second to last before we pause for Christmas