A guide to surviving and thriving in the Season of Winter

Winter do you feel like its a time to shut the doors, close the blinds and crawl under the duvet till March.
The  dark nights, less daylight hours and when  you live in Scotland the added rain, dampness and overall greyness, is it any wonder we want to drift into hibernation, surely its our default setting and normal for this time of year. You just need to look at the  seasonally habits of our very distant ancestors to see they slept longer and were less active in winter.
However modern society dictates that we still work, 5/6 days, if your lucky 9 to 5, shift work,  30/40 hour weeks. In addition  look after the house, bills, kids, the dog, socialise, then in January we add extra pressure, we make New Year resolutions to hit the gym, start the diet, look good, feel good.  Do it all...….then wonder why we fail  as we ignore our internal Seasonal Body Clock that's trying to tell us to slow down, use our energy wisely, find balance, get rest, rejuvenate, then is it  any wonder that we burn out, run out of steam, feel out of sync, get one cold after another, flu's and viruses, digestive issues and the list goes on.
Our Body has a cellular clock, each organ and its associated cells have a time to work and the opposite a time to heal, This clock goes through a 24hour cycle moving from one set of organs to the next.  The Chinese see this as the movement through the meridian lines of energy. We know this as the Circadian Rhythm.
Seasonally our bodies go through a longer Circadian Rhythm, with Winter its  association is to the Water element,  snow, rain, moisture, dampness the climate we experience at this time. 
If we look at the bodies  Organs that deal with Water and our water works, it makes sense that we look to our Kidneys and Bladder.
However our Kidneys have other jobs to do like monitoring and controlling red blood production in the marrow of our bones. Working with the endocrine and lymphatic system, movement of fluid, hormones and minerals. The Chinese also see these organs as the site of our Vitality, our essence and therefore our batteries of the body, the energy storage.
In the Seasonal Yoga practice this is why we look at moving the fluid in the spine, the sea of marrow, from the skull to the tailbone,  mobilising every joint, look after our bone health, getting our fluid moving in and around our organs, brain, moving and removing toxins out through our lymph's. We also look at how we can recharge our batteries, rebuild and restore our vitality "Jing energy.
Seasonally Winter is not the best time for high energy workouts, fad diets and generally overdoing it, or for that matter a time to sit back and become a couch potato. Its a time of balance, moving a little slower, conscious movement, mobilisation & oiling the joints and moving the fluid. Getting some  fresh air, try a walk during daylight hours. Breath work that warms the body, in Yoga we use Ujjayi or Bastrika.    that Food should be hot to heat the digestive system & body, so forget the salads and cold foods in winter, stick to hot foods like soups or stews, or believe it or not this is the best time to dig out the barbeque and get your food super hot. Salty food to put the minerals back in, try adding Sea salt or Himalayan salt.. Seasonal Root Veg is great just now as it is grown in the deepest part of the soil, where the minerals are at their optimum.
Sleep is key to good health in Winter, it is when we should go to bed earlier and get up later, allowing the body to heal and repair after the wear and tear from the warmer more active months. 
Struggling to sleep try getting into a winter routine, eat before 7pm,  get a bath, PJ's on, snuggle up with a book. Try to avoid TV, mobile  phone  and blue light an hour before sleep. Still struggling try Meditation or Yoga nidra. No caffeine after lunch try Camomile tea or one of the Sleeping herbal tea's before bed. 
When we go into deep sleep especially between 1 and 3 pm our liver gets the chance to do over 500 jobs to clean and detox our body, allowing again for healing. Not only does the body get a clean up job but our brains do too. The biggest sign of a good nights sleep is what  we feel in the mind, as thoughts become so clear and focused. Every wondered where the fuzzy head comes from some mornings, when sleep eluded you and the thoughts are foggy and all over the place.
So winter is also a  time to heal and work on the mind, to reflect and clear old habits, patterns, stagnation and toxic thoughts.

If we look at the Tree's in Winter, they look like they have come to stillness, nothing is happening, nothing is growing....but in essence under the soil they are resting, recharging,  changing under the surface.  Using just enough energy to survive and heal. Waiting for the potential that is Spring, the sun and heat to stimulate new growth, new life and  new energy. 

So without the Dead of Winter, there would be no new life in Spring.
Much Winter love
Julie...

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