This is a sobering reminder of how vulnerable our precious bodies are. We are not invincible, not by a long-shot.
This time, I feel ready, more mentally prepared. Why? Hindsight, dearest hearts. We’ve been here before. We went deep. We learned so much. We’ve got this.
Perspective is something I find aids me whenever my axis mundi runs akimbo. This is not a toxic positivity thing; I do not need a weatherperson to know which way this wind is blowing.
This concept is quite simple. Just look at the situation from another angle.
My whole life I’ve had the tendency of getting locked into one view, frustrating me to no end with nary a solution in sight. But when I learned to step perhaps to the left, maybe looking from the back, standing on my head, suddenly a new and refreshing option would appear.
So when I heard, ‘Stay-At-Home-Orders’ and recognized it’s January my tension eased slightly; look at that, we’re in Water Season…
The Water Element rules the Kidneys and the Urinary Bladder; both considered to be the deepest organs within the body. Water is akin to that of a philosopher. That keen mind that is open but possesses depth, wanting to explore new ideas and themes all the while merging with ancient wisdom. This archetype lives within all of us. Whenever you’ve asked yourself, ‘what is the meaning of life?’, ‘who am I?’, ‘what is the point of all of this?’, that is your Water Element talking out loud. The Water Element represents your deep internal wisdom - your intuition.
Let’s explore how the Water Element, winter in Toronto and these new lockdown measures can all be tied together.
Why is the Water Element associated with Winter? Let’s look to its organs for those answers. Storage. The Kidneys and Bladder store things within your body. From a Western perspective, the Bladder makes sense, because it literally holds urine. But the Kidneys do something else in TCM; they store what we can Jing or Essence. That primal, deepest resource of energy that dictates your robustness or lack thereof. It cannot be replicated; whatever Mother Nature gave you is what you’ve got. And you’ve got to preserve it because once it’s gone, so are you.
Winter is the perfect time to rest and preserve your Essence. Our Qi naturally naturally flows deeper within our bodies. The days are short and the nights long, encouraging us to rest, cozy up, and slow down. Allow your mind to rest; it’s easier than you think.
Again, we are being told to shelter in place. So why not take this time to take care of yourself? Sleep, stare at the wall, contemplate existence. Whatever it is, just be. Go slow, but do it with cozy socks on. And when you’re ready, acupuncture and TCM treatments are just a click away…