Winter is the most Yin season of all, and it asks the one thing we're least practiced at: to stop.
In Chinese Medicine, Winter belongs to the Water element, which governs the Kidneys — the deepest reservoir of our vitality, where our essence is stored.
Everything about Winter turns inward. The animals rest. The sap sinks into the roots. The surface goes quiet so something essential can be replenished underneath.
Though the classical Chinese calendar says Winter doesn't arrive until early November in the northern hemisphere, I've been feeling my own Winter approaching for a while now.
Winter teaches us that rest isn't idleness. It's the ground of everything that comes after. Without a true Winter, there's no Spring — only the exhausted momentum of a self that never stopped.
So here's what I want to tell you: I'm taking the rest of this year to go inward and tend to my own healing.
Something has been calling me deeper, and I've decided to answer it. To practice, in my own life, the wisdom I've spent so long teaching. To rest. To receive. To be restored rather than always pouring out.
I don’t have a precise map for what’s ahead, and I’m choosing not to need one. I'll go quieter while I focus on my health, but I’ll return when I’m ready, and I’ll have much to share.
A practice for tonight, or whenever your own Winter arrives:
Before sleep, let yourself do nothing for a few minutes. No screen, no task, no fixing.
Place both hands over your lower belly, below the navel around the acupuncture point Ren-4, where Chinese Medicine locates our deepest reserves.
Breathe slowly, and let the stillness hold you. Let it be enough simply to be here.
Thank you for being on this path with me.
Tend your roots this season. Trust the quiet. I'll be doing the same.