Find your Winter Yin within

We often find ourselves frantically shopping, planning, cooking or engaging in other high energy activities during the last few months of the year. This frenzied lifestyle leaves most of us feeling anxious, ill, worried or depressed. There is a natural reason so many people feel disjointed and drained this time of year and it can easily be cured. Taoist philosophy and traditional Chinese medicine say that our action packed holiday schedules are out of sync with the earth’s natural cycle. Humans naturally have less energy during the winter months so when we increase demands on ourselves during the holidays we further aggravate our systems imbalance.

Taoist philosophy believes you can achieve a balanced yin and yang, complementary forces that govern the universe, with the right diet and lifestyle regime. Yin characteristics are cool, wet, slow, feminine and quiet while yang is warm, dry, fast, masculine and extroverted. Winter is naturally the yin season which is a time for storing and conserving energy and enjoying slow cooked nourishing root vegetable stews. If your lifestyle has too much yang this holiday try to incorporate more yin activities in order to achieve balance. Yoga, tai chi, qigong and walking are best suited for yin season because they help focus and conserve your energy reserves. Minimize your intake of yin foods such as raw vegetables, salad greens and cold drinks and increase yang foods to balance the inner working of your digestion. Strengthening soups, slow-simmered beans, roasted root vegetables, warm drinks and yang spices such as garlic, ginger, black pepper, cloves and basil will help ensure your winter months are filled with naturally balanced happiness.