So, here we are again. Winter’s back, with its familiar pull to slow down, retreat, and go inward.

I used to hate this time of year, but now I’ve learned that winter isn’t something to endure – it’s something to embrace; an art to be practiced.

In Traditional Chinese Medicine, Winter is the season of ultimate yin – cold, dark, hidden, internal. And for many, it can be a difficult time. The cold, the dark, the winding down of distractions, the impact of trying to maintain the busy, busy, busy when the energetics of the season say no.

But maybe with some tweaks and supportive practices, we can find a new way, and make winter work for us.

Tapping into Winter’s Treasures

Winter belongs to the Water element.  In Chinese medicine, Water is closely linked with our Jing, a Vital Essence, responsible for growth, reproduction, and longevity.  It determines our constitution, our vitality, even the aging process.  Basically, it’s a biggie!

And we want to conserve our Jing by being in synch with the seasons.  Doing what nature does, and living in a different way to the way we do in the summer, the time of ultimate yang.  It’s about conserving energy, prioritising rest, managing stress, eating nourishing foods, embracing gentle practices like Tai Chi, moving focus to the internal, rather than the external.

The Water element, and therefore winter, embodies wisdom, determination, resilience, and the ability to go to the depths.  It’s the foundation of life and it always finds a way. Water adapts, it flows, it moves around obstacles with a quiet, unwavering strength.

This is winter’s gift to us.

The Power of Going Deep

Winter’s all about pausing, retreating, looking inward and tuning into what makes us, us. It’s where we can notice, reflect, accept, and challenge, all with gentle compassion. It’s in the depths that the real jewels lie, and we can miss these precious gifts if we’re always too busy, too distracted, too fearful to look.

Writer Katherine May captures this beautifully in her book Wintering, where she describes these fallow periods as inevitable parts of life. She reminds us that everybody winters at one time or another (it doesn’t have to be in winter).  It’s time of illness, loss, transition, or feeling knocked off course. And instead of fighting these difficult feelings, we can learn to align with them, to surrender rather than struggle.

This is exactly what Chinese medicine teaches. Winter is the time to face our fears, quieten the noise and dig deep to find the essence of what’s important. To access that inner wisdom and discover purpose. And use its time and energy to resolve, repair and regroup – giving us the potential to spring forward soon.

But we have to be willing to go there. To look at what many others dare not see. That takes the determination and courage that Water offers us when we’re in balance.

The Wisdom of Water

This isn’t the time for the surge of spring, the fripperies of summer, or the bounty of late summer. This is the time to park the obsession with productivity hacks and the relentless push for more.  Instead, it’s the time for mindful, steady progress, going deep, and gaining wisdom to deal with what truly matters.

It’s not about doing nothing.  Something important that often gets missed is that Water and winter is also about determination. About resilience. About the ability to keep going even when things are hard.

Water teaches us both. When to rest and when to persist. When to retreat and when to sustain. When to be still and when to flow.  Though all of this is in a lowkey way – think of the tiny stream carving through rock, consistently and constantly flowing forward.

This is the art of wintering. Learning to read what the season is asking of you. Developing the wisdom to know when you need to stop and when you need to keep going. Building the resilience that comes from properly tending to your reserves.

And it’s using winter’s time and energy to resolve, repair, and regroup that gives us the power to spring forward with purpose and direction as the days lengthen.

Supportive Practices for Winter

So how can we work with winter’s energy rather than against it? Here are some practices that can help you winter well:

  • Protect Your Reserves: Keep warm, especially around your lower back, your feet, and your neck. These are key areas for the Kidney and Bladder meridians. Wear layers, use hot water bottles, take warm baths. This isn’t just about physical comfort – you’re protecting your vital energy.

  • Eat for the Season: Winter calls for warming, nourishing foods. Think soups, stews, slow-cooked meals. Foods that build and sustain rather than drain. Include naturally salty foods like miso, seaweed, and black beans which support the Kidneys. Cook with warming spices like ginger, garlic, cinnamon and cardamom.

  • Rest Without Guilt: Go to bed earlier. Sleep more. Take naps if you can. This isn’t laziness – this is wisdom. Your body is telling you it needs restoration. Listen to it. As Katherine May reminds us, rest is not indulgence when you’re wintering – it’s courage.

  • Create Rituals of Comfort: Find the small things that lift or anchor you. A simple cup of tea by the window. A morning walk in the cold air. Reading before bed by candlelight. Switching on the twinkly lights (they’re not just for Christmas!). These simple rituals aren’t trivial – they’re how we mark time and create meaning when everything feels dark.

  • Support and Soothe: If you’re someone who thrives on distraction, slow and deep won’t come easily. It’s important to support and soothe your nervous system as you try to make change. Use lots of self-regulation techniques, such as some deep breathing, tuning into your senses, or giving yourself a hug, yes it works! (there’s more hints in my blogs starting here). Aim to work with self-compassion, and practice these new skills with patience and curiosity. It won’t come overnight – oh, and helping with stress, overwhelm and the need for distraction or self-medication is a big part of what I do so come and chat.

  • Put Down the Distractions and Reflect: Where are you? Where do you want to be? What’s the purpose you long for? What’s working? What isn’t? What’s getting in your way? Which fabulous flaws can you make peace with? The list goes on…Journalling can be a great tool for this process.

  • Say No More Often: Winter is not the season for saying yes to everything. Protect your energy. Decline invitations that drain you. Create space for the stillness that winter requires. This is about honouring your actual needs rather than what others expect of you. Not always easy, but a great practice for those people-pleasers out there. Gently, and with lots of self-support, bring some focus on your own needs. Remember the oxygen mask analogy – helping yourself IS helping others.

  • Feed the Fire: Even during this internal time, we still need the warmth of strong, meaningful connections with others. Make the effort to emerge and connect socially to keep the internal fire burning. There’s a reason why there’s so many ceremonies of light and fire at this time of year.

Making Winter Work for You

So, winter is the time to face our fears, quieten the noise and dig deep to find the essence of what’s important. And if you’re feeling thwarted by cold, dark days, or struggle to slow down, then embracing this purpose can help.

It shifts the focus to what you are doing, rather than what you’re not. And it feels completely harmonious with the world outside. Winter works for you, rather than against you.

This isn’t always an easy process. Getting to know the real you, letting go of some of the baggage, accepting the imperfections and limitations – it takes courage. But it’s possible, and it starts with awareness and looking deep inside with honesty and without fear.

And don’t forget, it’s in the depths that the real jewels lie. These are the precious gifts that are so easy to miss if we never look below the surface.

If you’re struggling to look deep within, or to put down the distractions, or just pause, then do reach out. Helping people to find some calm, embrace their purpose, and ditch all the self-doubt is exactly what I do.  Winter’s the perfect time to put the foundations in place for the year ahead.

Because once you learn to tap into winter’s treasures, once you develop the art of wintering well, everything becomes possible.

P.S.

Here’s some other blogs on a similar vein which you might find useful: