Did You Know That The Wintertime Is The Easiest Time To Repair Joint Pain?

For many of us, the winter is when our chronic joint pain increases. We sit a lot in the winter, which makes our muscles atrophy and become too weak to support our joints. If we don’t strengthen the muscles around the joints, the weight of the bones and extra body weight is too much to be supported by weak muscles and therefore creates pain. 

According to traditional Chinese medicine, the bones are connected to the water element. Each season corresponds to a different element. In the winter, the water element’s energy is running the strongest, therefore it’s the best time to repair bones and joint pain in the winter when the energy is in high tide. The bones and joints are part of the Jing expression or physical attributes of the water element. 

The Jing, Chi, and Shen are the holy trinity of Chinese medicine that we observe each season and work within the Meridian Flow practice. 

The Jing is the physical expression of each element. During the winter water element, the Jing corresponds to the physical body parts of the kidneys, bladder, bones, brain, and endocrine system, as well as the ears, which are the sense doors to the kidneys. They all have a similar energetic quality, vibration, and frequency to water. If we have issues in any of these areas, the winter time is the easiest time to repair the energetic maladaptations and can be brought into balance, which often heals the physical dysfunction.

The Chi (or Qi) is energy. It’s like the electricity that runs through our body that operates our organs, metabolism, and emotions. If the chi is maladapted, either excessive or deficient, it expresses itself as difficult emotions. In the winter, the maladapted water energy shows up as fear and insecurity. We can shift this by strengthening the energy flow through the meridians, which are the energy pathways. This is the focus of the Meridan Flow practice, by pressurizing the meridians in specific yoga and qigong poses, the chi builds up and flows with ease. A smooth, balanced flow of energy is optimal and will turn our fear and insecurity around to strong endurance and the ability to tap into our innate wisdom. 

The Shen is the spirit or consciousness of the element. The water Shen is known as Zhi, (pronounced Jur). Zhi is our willpower, which helps us get through the long, cold, dark winter. Zhi is also charisma, magnetism, and destiny and is related to our life‘s purpose. When Zhi is strong, the essence and purpose are strong.

Working through the physical body to move the chi efficiently, is the base level that will often correct the emotional dis-ease and bring the spirit into alignment. Working the muscles around the joints in the winter, through the joint freeing series, strengthens the muscles which relieves joint pain and builds blood and chi flow. This flow affects us physically, the Jing, emotionally, the chi, and consciously, the Shen. How? When we have ample energy flow and our body is strong enough to support itself so we’re not in pain, we have endurance. We can then sit and quiet the mind to become still. It’s very hard to sit in stillness and meditate when we’re in pain. So relieving physical pain allows us to sit and tap into our intuition and wisdom, which is easiest to access in the winter. When we tap into our intuition we get glimpses of our life’s purpose, which then creates our destiny and builds our inspiration to move forward to manifest. Manifestation takes endurance (the chi) and willpower (the Shen) which has a lot of energetic juice which creates a magnetism to attract what will serve our purpose. 

The heart is served through purpose. When the heart can act through purpose we feel peaceful and joyful. This is balancing fire and water, as the heart is the yin organ of the fire element. Balancing fire and water is the optimal constitution, known as the yin yang. Traditional Chinese medicine is always looking to balance our energy in form, which is where true healing resides. In the polar seasons of winter/water (yin) and summer/fire (yang) our practices regard them both to find balance. The fire meridians of the heart and small intestine run through the arms, and the water meridians of the kidney and bladder run through the inner legs and body as well as the back body and legs. Stimulating all of these meridians in specific poses and strengthening our joints is a win-win!  

Lower back pain is a common ailment many of us suffer from. With all of the sitting we do, our low back muscles of the quadratus lumborum, psoas, and glutes become very weak. I was debilitated by severe low back pain for over 10 years and not until I strengthened these muscles in my lower back did I find relief. I always thought I just needed to stretch those muscles, but more often than not, these muscles need to be strengthened to support the weight of the joints.  

One of the best poses to strengthen the low back and open the heart while stimulating both the fire element (of the heart and small intestine meridians) and the water element (of the kidney and bladder meridians) is dhanurasana, bow pose. This pose is also one of the safest back bends for our lower back. And while strengthening the lower back we can breathe through the meridians to focus the mind, which relieves anxiety!  

Inhale a golden thread of light up the kidney meridian:

from the feet up the inner legs, through the kidneys to the inner collarbones.

Exhale down the heart meridian:

from the arm pits, down the inner arms to the pinkies.

And if you’ve come to my classes you know I love to add the Joint Freeing Series from Structural Yoga Therapy by Mukunda Stiles into our practice, which creates mobility in the joints and stimulates the meridians that run through them. This practice balances us on our Jing, Chi, and Shen levels.

We are ultimately responsible for our own healing

and the Meridian Flow practice brings us into homeostasis, where we can thrive naturally! 

From my heart light to yours~

Namaste,

Maggie