Happy new year to all! There is a wonderful dichotomy around the intelligence of new year’s resolutions from a Chinese Medical perspective. While on one hand we know time and our calendar to be manmade, on the other hand there is a correspondence with the seasons that is scientific and therefore significant to our choices—not to mention this year, where the new year falls within one day of today’s new moon.

Winter is the time of the kidneys (or in western terms, adrenal and hormonal health), when they are vulnerable to depletion and should therefore be most nourished and protected. The best way to “nourish the kidney qi” (or preserve good hormonal health) is through temperate activity:

· Going to bed before 10pm and closing your eyes for at least 15 minutes during the day

· Limiting over-work/exertion as much as possible

· Eating small, but consistent portions of high calorie foods such as lamb, butter, beef, and pork. (Although the greasiness of pork can give rise to fluid retention during the humid summer months when we already absorb plenty of energy from the environment itself, it becomes less harmful in the dry and bitter cold winter when even a long walk to the train can sometimes feel exhausting—of course nitrite and hormone free is highly preferable)

The psycho-spiritual aspect of the kidneys, in Chinese, is our “zhi” (pronounced “zher”), in reference to our will or discipline, which informs us that winter might possibly be a challenging time to keep up with declarations, form new, positive habits, or let go of bad ones.

Don’t get me wrong. This doesn’t mean to forego whatever resolutions you may have towards self-improvement. Just to be kind to yourself, be forgiving if and when you slip up, and try, try again throughout the calendar year. Remember, there are 12 new moons and many new years from many cultural traditions to use to start anew.

As for myself, I am choosing to rededicate myself to two self-preservation exercises that fell by the wayside since my daughter was born five months ago: Daily meditation and intermittent fasting (I do and recommend mostly 14 and 10 hour windows—not 16 and 8), as one of the more serious thoughts a new parent is faced with in between “Goo-goo-gaga” tummy-blowing sessions is the reminder that our children serve of our mortality.

My hope, for all of us, is not only to live to the triple digits, but to live well, and unfortunately in the present world climate the deck is a bit stacked against this intention, which makes our “zhi” and kidney health an all too logical value to prioritize.

To better understand how you or any loved ones can use acupuncture and Chinese medicine to support hormonal health, please don’t hesitate to CONTACT ME for a FREE CONSULTATION.

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In Chinese Medicine the winter season corresponds with the water element, the kidney organs, and the emotion of fear. To translate biomedically, the “kidneys” really are referring to our adrenal glands and hormonal reserves, which suddenly then becomes easy to understand why the ancient Chinese were brilliantly able to intuit its relationship with fear.

For many the global pandemic has been depressing—fortunately, for them their season is passing, as it is autumn that corresponds with grief, sadness, and the lungs. But for those of us for whom fear has been the dominant emotion, the next few months bode challenging, especially with the rising local cases and omicron variant’s apparent ubiquity. Unfortunately, responding with mindless fear gradually taxes our adrenal glands, which in turn taxes our immune system and makes us more vulnerable. Chinese Medicine would phrase it as the lung qi needing to draw upon the kidney qi to give it “wei qi,” or immunological energy.

As someone who did approximately 5000 stand-up comedy shows over the course of 15 years, I can tell you that the best way to manage fear is first by not trying to resist or avoid it. While general carelessness is stupid, there is such a thing as intelligent levels of courage that I believe come into play when we are able to sit with our fears, acknowledge them, and allow them to pass through us gently, with observation, possibly a prayer, and our breath.

The “kidney breath” is a good practice during or at the end of your regular workouts. It is one where we direct our nasal breath into the lower back, allowing it to subtly expand while keeping the abdomen flat, then exhale through the nose as well. This is also a nice choice during meditation or qi gong practice, or while just resting on your bed.

I continue to support masking and distancing whenever possible; also keeping in mind that it is as important to keep the head and neck covered in winter as it is to have them uncovered in summer. Heat departs from the top of the body, so we should try to maintain as much of that warm cellular energy within to unburden our immune systems. Hoods and scarves are the warm tea and vitamin D of fashion! I also recommend warm socks to avoid vasoconstriction in the nerves supplying the lumbar plexus, which travel to the none other than the adrenals—also avoid belly t-shirts, as they leave the microbiome vulnerable to air, which creates vasoconstriction in the gut and impedes digestion. Sadly, most sexy trends are not healthy.

If you haven’t gotten it by now, winter is the time for warmth! We do more herbal medicine and moxibustion in the winter. We recommend more warming foods, such as ginger, onions, garlic, bone broths a few times a week, and lamb meat at least once a week. Although green vegetables are always in order, root vegetables are in season and subsequently most logical now. Bedtimes should be approximately one hour earlier than they are in summer, sexual activity should be half as often, and exercise about half as intense. Not to worry—it isn’t all bad: When it comes to indulgences, winter is a better time for whiskey and red wine than white or beer, as the former are more invigorating. If you must have a beer over the holidays try to do so alongside warm and/or even spicy foods to counteract its cold, coagulating nature.

REMINDER: FOR 2 MORE WEEKS I AM OFFERING 20% HOLIDAY DISCOUNTS FOR ALL PATIENTS PAYING OUT OF POCKET. CONTACT ME HERE

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As we approach what I hope is Act 3 of our global pandemic, I am eager to share my most valued resources, as well as a Chinese medical perspective and translation of certain practices that are now a part of our daily lives. At any given time, most of us have had different “gurus” to help guide us through this previously unchartered territory. Many have put their trust in the mainstream media and conventional medicine, while others have gone to the opposite extreme. As for myself, I think I fall somewhere in the middle, which unfortunately often ends up the target of criticism from either pole, though is genuinely where I observe to be the greatest logic.

Two follows that I am presently loving are Michael Mina, a Harvard epidemiology professor, and “Your Local Epidemiologist,” both of whom in my opinion are thinking dynamically and diplomatically about each sub-issue under our greater situation at hand.

Michael Mina’s primary advice, put succinctly, is that the key to reaching the level of success and safety that certain European countries have is through government subsidized rapid tests that most citizens can afford to regularly take themselves at home. He argues that it is misleading to think of the slower PCR tests as more accurate, because their degree of accuracy is irrelevant for our purposes. For example, a PCR test can detect only one molecule of CoVid-19 in the body, which is not nearly a sufficient quantity to be infectious; not to mention the fact that we have to wait 12 or more hours for results, during which time what we come into contact with is unknown. The rapid tests, on the other hand, are only able to detect amounts that make us infectious, which really is what is most important—plus the results are immediate. Personally, in the interest of protecting Mom, baby, and the world, I’ve begun rapid testing every Monday morning. The most recommended brands I am using are:

Michael Mina also informs that even before CoVid-19, all coronaviruses have spiked in severity and infectiousness during the November and December months and begun to gradually wane afterwards. While of course there could be variables such as people gathering indoors for the holidays, one can assume that people always gather indoors for the rest of winter as well, yet levels tend to drop. From a Chinese Medical perspective our “yang,” warming, immune-boosting energy begins gradually climbing immediately after the winter solstice. All the more reason for the next two months to regularly employ resources such as rapid tests and masks, and to support our body’s “yang energy” with warming foods such as beef, bone broth, ginger tea, and roasted vegetables. Vitamin D supplementation is also a good idea if levels are low or borderline.

Finally, I continue to feel strongly about the importance of mask-wearing. Although risk of transmission outdoors is low, I find myself keeping my mask on during the winter, for the same reason I do my hat, hood, or scarf. Chinese Medicine has always prioritized keeping all parts of the body as warm as possible, as cold air creates vasoconstriction, which decreases circulation and increases inflammation. The mouth and nose are the portals to the gastrointestinal and respiratory microbiomes respectively, which means by keeping them warm we can unburden the lungs and stomach from having to continuously send ATP upward to do so. This is the same principle as why we always advise covering our necks and heads in cold climates, so as to not put all of the responsibility on the immune system, which has more important things to do than constantly ward off acute infection.

Acupuncture and Moxibustion at the points Stomach 36 on the front of the knee, and Urinary Bladder 43 on the upper back are also excellent for improving immune function… but not to be tried at home. Please let me know if you have any questions or would like to come in for a series of sessions with this intention.

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