Winter's here, what practices and/or changes does it bring you?

[thelerner]

It's November here in the Midwest**.  Just got the first snow.  Thus Winter is Coming here.

 

I hope for myself it brings longer meditation.  To ditch the usual 20-30 minutes and start moving towards longer sits.   Catching up on some podcast dharma speeches I've missed.  Maybe more sitting and writing, versus the usual long walks.  Doing some tonics, gathering the nuts and chi. 

 

What about you guys?  Any new practices, themes or thoughts about Winter? 

 

will there be any Starks left and will they be happy? 

 

 

**It's probably November where you are too, unless you've got some sort of time travel device or are reading this in the future.  In which case it's probably not November or even Winter.  In that case, I hope the future's working out.  You know.. it usually does but you know, past results are not indicative of future trends. 

Edited November 16, 2018 by thelerner

[liminal_luke]

Great topic.  Winter is the season of the kidneys, so anything to nourish kidney chi is good.  I like the Swimming Dragon Qigong, a form featured on Michael Winn`s kidney/sexual qi tonification dvd.  (See Youtube video below.)  Also, anything that focuses on the lower dan tien.  

 

 

[dwai]

Wake up and do some meditation - abiding in the Self. It is a good idea to do this before the world creeps into one's awareness. 

 

Some extra warm-up before regular workouts for me.

1. Jibengong
2. Standing
3. Single-form (Dan Tsou) 
4. Moving (maybe grasp sparrow's tail in four directions
5. Abiding in the Self 

 

[zerostao]

not sure about starks, it is hard to bet against Arya --but the odds are long. hopefully Ned does not return.

havnt decided about this winter's personal practice. can mention a bit about last winters. last winter was rough!! There was a flood in February, house water was froze for 3 weeks and other bitter experiences, had a lot of soul searching due to a relationship with a young lady ended with much misunderstanding, I even quit drinking from august 2017-august 2018 and the winter was the time I felt the effects of that decision most, I cannot recommend to anyone to stop drinking, but I digress.---sank into some deep dark places--however, i looked back to a short (unpublished) story i wrote (2015) Saura and the Bear which needs a major revision as bears are not really the wisest of forest creatures, ravens, squirrels, ducks, bees, not to mention owls, well, you get the idea. the bear is also not the preeminent giver of life either, none-the-less it was an impressive bear that Saura encountered that winter in that cave.

so, i took the bear's advice.

"That the bear was the preeminent giver of life and the wisest of all forest creatures because of this deep understanding of stillness. This stillness, practiced in hibernation, allowed the bear to spend the rest of the year in constant unchallenged movement. Bear wondered if this brave would realize the mind is its own cave, serves the same function. One should find the way of the stillness of cave hibernation in their own mind. The bear was not sure how to relay this idea to Saura."

i went deep into meditation long sessions, some of which lasted all day or longer. there was a lot of garbage that needed taken out. i had fallen into nihilistic territory. later a late winter reading Don Quixote, there was the episode of the Cave of Montesino. Which was Deep and I read it at a perfect time, after much deep meditation myself. Very interesting read. I thought a lot about Death. there were spirit visitations. I was isolated in solitude. I cannot recommend the solitude either. But it was my lot.

the first 30 minutes covers Quixote's Cave

Spoiler

 

 

Results? a very unique interval of time; the practice was flawed in many respects, like the bear, after i did head out into the physical realm again, i moved like i did 30 years earlier (only better). my weight dropped from an all-time high of 215 in the dead of last winter to today's 168. of course i was influenced by Japanese studies that show that the mind alone can cause one to lose weight (or do anything basically) I do feel that my deep meditations of last winter played a major role in this transformation. last winter, while i decided that i would only do meditation and forgo physical practices, i would often wake finding myself doing other (physical) practices. I also took thelerner's advice not to take 'supplements' and should move my feet and do the work to achieve the physical transformation. I did use mind and body, probably spirit too. Practice does not have to be perfect to achieve good results. Sincerity is always the main key attribute.

Like Quixote, I am the same age as the Man of la Mancha when he set out on his adventures. Like Quixote in the Cave, I am unencumbered by the shackles of reason. I opened myself to the domain of the subconscious. I opened myself to far-fetched possibilities and the Renaissance ideal of self-creation. Many fear to tread those Higher Planes (la Mancha and others) You do not have to go to the extremes of recreating yourself this winter. That is entirely up to you. I am glad that I did. I did run into the young lady again this year, late August when I stepped out to other Planes and hung out with her through the first week of October. This Winter I’ll use some moxa. And try to keep it mostly in the physical.

Ole!!

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Aetherous]

I was just thinking about this.

In the Chinese calendar (applicable to yin yang and five element theories), November 7th was the first day of Winter this year. In the calendar system we know, "winter" begins on the winter solstice, but for the Chinese solar calendar, winter solstice is smack dab in the middle of the winter season...it's the peak of winter. So we've definitely been in it.

What to do: I think it's a time to get more rest than typical, stay indoors more, have some good heating indoors so it's comfortable. In your imagination, picture a log cabin way out in the wilderness, on a cold windy night with some sleet causing ice to form...where you're inside and there's a fireplace radiating warmth and making it cozy, protecting you from the cold outside...that gives you the idea of what it means to have indoors heated. If we were more connected to nature these ideas would make more sense, and sound completely logical.

It's a good time to wear more clothes, and have throw blankets to cover you, so that you feel comfortable. In summer it's natural to wear hardly anything, like shorts and a light t shirt...in winter you should have pants and a sweater. If you're cold, put on more.

Bad time to sweat, since that means your inner warmth is leaving the body. So don't become hot...just comfortable and warm.

Stews are good. Cold salads are maybe not so good, unless eaten with warming things at the same time.

Great time of year for qigong and warmup type exercises...just warm the muscles up, keep the body moving and flowing, and get the heart rate slighly elevated through the moderate movements...but no pouring sweat doing strenuous workouts. Intense workouts, such as lifting to the max of one's ability, drains kidney qi. Light workouts increase qi.

Here's Unschuld's translation of Neijing Suwen chapter 2, telling what to do in the winter (with my own interpretations and the traditional commentary's ideas in parentheses):
 

Quote

 

The three months of winter,
they denote securing and storing.26 (basically, life gets secured or stored underground/inside, as opposed to in summer when flowers are all blossoming and people are all outdoors and engaged in activities)
The water is frozen and the earth breaks open. (the earth breaks open means that it cracks when frozen)
Do not disturb the yang [qi].27 (yang qi is life, and in the body it's our healthy warmth...don't overwork and deplete your life)
Go to rest early and rise late.
You must wait for the sun to shine.28 (this might mean because it's too cold out when still dark)
Let the mind enter a state as if hidden, (maybe this means it's a good time for emptiness or silence type meditations)
{as if shut in}29
as if you had secret intentions;30
as if you already had made gains. 31 (not working hard striving to gain things...this could all basically mean avoiding the cold weather)

 

Avoid cold and seek warmth and
do not [allow sweat] to flow away through the skin. (sweating causes a loss of yang qi, the body's warmth, and it also opens one up to cold entering the body)
This would cause the qi to be carried away quickly.32
This is correspondence with the qi of winter and
it is the Way of nourishing storage.
Opposing it harms the kidneys.
In spring this causes limpness with receding [qi],33 and (receding qi apparently means not being able to walk well)
there is little to support generation.34 ("generation" means to generate life, or basically live longer and better)

 

Here's the section from the Yin Shu (the oldest book on what we'd today call qigong) translated by Vivienne Lo:
 

Quote

 

On winter days, bathe and wash the hair frequently; keep the hands cold, keep the feet warm,1 keep the face cold and keep the body warm. In resting get up late2 and while lying down and stretching you must be straight. Enter the chamber between dusk and the hours before midnight [when it is time to] cease. Increasing it will harm the qi.

 

 

It's not as clear for me what to make of that section. Enter the chamber means to have sex...so, not good to do it during the sleeping hours.

 

The Yin Shu also says at the very end:
 

Quote

When it is cold then work the body.

 

So...work the body to promote warmth and expel cold, but don't work so hard or get so warm that you sweat, which would drain out the natural warmth. Qigong movements that are more physical in nature are what you want.

And emptiness or silence type meditations, as per the Neijing section above...which is basically the opposite of what the Neijing says to do in the summer: "Cause the qi to flow away, as if that what you loved were located outside."

 

Here's a blog that I also look at for different seasonal times and what to do during them.

[3bob]

18 hours ago, thelerner said:

It's November here in the Midwest**.  Just got the first snow.  Thus Winter is Coming here.

 

I hope for myself it brings longer meditation.  To ditch the usual 20-30 minutes and start moving towards longer sits.   Catching up on some podcast dharma speeches I've missed.  Maybe more sitting and writing, versus the usual long walks.  Doing some tonics, gathering the nuts and chi. 

 

What about you guys?  Any new practices, themes or thoughts about Winter? 

 

will there be any Starks left and will they be happy? 

 

 

**It's probably November where you are too, unless you've got some sort of time travel device or are reading this in the future.  In which case it's probably not November or even Winter.  In that case, I hope the future's working out.  You know.. it usually does but you know, past results are not indicative of future trends. 

 

well I got my lawn mowed yesterday, which was between an earlier snow and the one this morning.  Btw. I know to stay away from yellow snow but green snow from grass cuttings is only bad if you use weed and feed.

[silent thunder]

I'll be spending much more time outside.  We experience two seasons here, Summer and Summer Is Coming. 

 

Summer Is Coming is a veritable paradise for me and lasts from late Sept to late June.  The highs are in the 50's, 60's, the lows in the 40's come January/Feb.  It's often cloudy, particularly in the mornings and on occasion we're blessed with a bit of rain.  The beaches are mostly empty aside from other pluviophiles.

 

If it's raining, I'm outside.  I'll walk out of work to stand in the rain for a few minutes, I adore it.  I think of all the things in the Midwest and the East Coast, I miss Thunderstorms and regular rain the most.

 

My mornings usually start with a long walk in the hour before dawn, either in the neighborhood if I'm working, or the beach when not.  There is nothing quite like the calm, simple serenity of predawn this time of year when most everyone/thing else is still sleeping. 

 

We make regular batches (once a week or so) of immune boosting bone broth herbal tonics all through this season.  I heat them in the mornings load a thermos to the brim and bring to work to share. 

 

I spend more time on sketching/painting and mask/model craft as well.  Particularly when between shows and out of work.