How To Build Your Bone and Brain Health.

According to traditional Chinese medicine, we focus on different parts of the body throughout the year. We work with the energy of the season that corresponds to the energies in the body. Certain parts of the body are prone to the development of disease in different seasons. The most successful way to stay healthy and in balance is to coexist in our environment.

We know that on a hot summer day in July, we don’t normally wear a warm sweater or eat a hot stew. Instead, we wear light clothing and eat cool foods. In the winter we want to maintain a core temperature to keep the internal organs warm. The kidneys work most efficiently when they are warm, and our bones are directly related to the energy of the kidneys. 

The energy of the water element, the element of winter, is ‘consuming and packing’. We observe this in the natural world, as the animals hibernate in the winter and slow down, needing to consume and conserve. They ‘pack’ the energy for the cold dark days, and we humans energetically mirror this behavior. It’s easier to sit and be still in the winter, as we can meditate and gain clarity.

In the spring, when we are physically more active, we work with the connective tissue in the body. 

In the autumn, we work with pranayama to clear the lungs, stabilize the nervous system, and strengthen our immune system by building our Wei Qi field. 

In the winter we work on going even deeper by tapping and stimulating vibration deep inside the bones to stimulate and increase bone density.

Through the five elemental paradigm of Chinese medicine, we look at the energy of the seasons that relate to the organs and the body tissues, the sense organs, and internal systems. In the winter we work with the kidneys, bladder, bones, ears, brain, and endocrine system which all belong energetically to the water element.

The winter season energetically works with our bones, endocrine system, and the water in our bodies, such as the cerebral spinal fluid in the brain. The brain is energetically the second set of kidneys, the third set being the reproductive organs. So we pay attention to our memory recall, our reproductive issues, problems with the ears that could appear as tinnitus or vertigo, our bone density, as well as any physical issues in our kidneys and bladder which all show up this season.

How To Build Better Bones

Bone density is easier to increase in the winter. The practices of tapping, leading, and packing the chi to increase the production of blood cells are shown to actually increase bone density. This has been studied, tested, and proven by Dr. Wolfe, who was a physician that discovered that if we put pressure or a load of stress on the bones, they respond by getting stronger. This is known as Wolfe’s law. It also stimulates our blood factory, the immune system of white and red blood cells. By vibrating and creating impact we increase bone density. Tapping on the bones is a strategic way of creating trauma which creates osteoblasts to lay down bone. Both bone tapping and micro bending bones in yoga and qigong poses contract the muscles into the bones and slightly bend the bones which creates a workload and increases our bone density. As we get older, if we don’t move much, not only do we rust, but our bones turn to chalk. We use three primary tools to increase bone density: tapping, shaking, and holding stances for longer times.

Tapping the bones can be done with our hands or mung bean sacks that are known to draw out toxins. Lightly tap up the fingers, the tops of the forearms, shoulders, and collarbones, then down our ribs, down the inner arms to the palms of the hands. This is tapping in the direction of the meridian flow. Bone tapping also removes age spots, producing subtle trauma, which elicits our body to go into repair mode to produce more collagen which rebuilds the skin. As we age one of the best places to tap is at the head of the femur bone at the hips. Tapping on the bigger bones helps produce chi through the entire body, as it creates a vibration through our whole being. 

Brain Health

The endocrine system also belongs to water. If the water doesn’t move regularly the endocrine system slowly breaks down. A healthy constitution keeps the water above, to create a cool moist mind so we are not subject to being hot-headed with inflammation.

Heat in the head produces obsessive thinking and stimulates the gamma and beta waves in the mind of fast-moving thoughts which heats up and expands the brain. We need to bathe the brain with cerebral spinal fluid especially while we sleep. Too often this doesn’t happen when we’re stressed. We heal this maladaptive behavior with meditation, breath work, chi gong, and yoga, which will balance our systems.

In specific yoga poses and chi gong sets we arch and round the back during the fire and water season, like a water pump bringing the cerebral spinal fluid up the spinal cord and through the brain.

Our low dantien, or inner furnace, is comprised of the large and small intestines. By pumping the abdomen with our breath work we create the water above, and the fire below. Deep abdominal breath heats the kidneys and affects the whole endocrine system positively as well as stimulates the triple warmer, the energy that governs our digestion, reproduction, and elimination, which then works more efficiently.

Lower dantien breathing maintains the water above and stops the obsessive thinking mind. This calms the mind, clearing the emotional turbidity.

Bone marrow training requires low abdominal breathing. The pumping of the abdomen creates fire in the belly to provide the water from the kidneys to rise as steam. Our constitution needs water to be rising and fire falling to achieve harmony.

In the ‘fire path’ or ‘water wheel’ meditation our spine is straight, and as we inhale the tip of the tongue touches the roof of the mouth. As we exhale, we release the tongue and pull in the abdomen and lift the pelvic floor up. This helps us to start salivating. The quicker we salivate the more water we have to tonify the brain. 

We then can lead, spiral, and compress the chi into our kidneys:

• Inhale: with the tongue to the roof of the mouth and visualize deep blue steam spiraling around the kidneys.

• Exhale: release the tongue and compress (belly in, pelvic floor lift) the deep blue steam to pack the kidneys.

Then we can lead, spiral, and compress the chi into our bones.

• Inhale: visualize chi entering the tips of fingers and toes, lead them up to the wrists and ankles, up to the shoulders and hips.

• Exhale: hug the muscles into the bones to compress the chi, then release.

This is a dynamic flow of compressing and relaxing which warms up the bones. 

When we breathe and tap around the organs we break away visceral fat around the organs, which allows the chi to run through our body much easier. Chi doesn’t run through fat very easily as it’s like electricity running through rubber. But if we have a highly hydrated fascia chain, chi will run through it much easier as electricity runs through the water quickly. We want to be watery and not rubbery in our conductivity. Tapping and packing the chi breaks down internal fat which wraps around our abdominal organs.

These methods are highly effective in the water time of year:

1) lower abdominal breathing to create fire below and pack the kidneys.

2) leading the chi with our minds and breath, from the extremities of our fingers and toes, up our limbs, and then wrapping and packing to contract into the bones. 

If you feel called towards these seasonal teachings, meditations, and meridian flow practices, which help us heal naturally from chronic pain, anxiety, depression, and autoimmune issues, come join our Meridian Flow program to find relief and freedom.

If you're a seasoned yogi or yoga teacher and would like to learn and implement these practices join the Master's Path or 300-hour Teacher Training course.

From my heart light to yours~

Namaste,

Maggie