Winter and the Water Element

By Margaret Olmsted

Tai Chi Foundation Legacy Holder and Senior Teacher

The Water element goes with winter, a time when nature slows down. Rainwater and snow fill the reservoirs and moisten the earth. Growth mostly stops. Many animals hibernate and live off stored fat. Surviving winter isn’t easy. It takes determination.

In winter, we are driven indoors. Winter reminds us that we need to slow down, stop, and do internal work: meditation, contemplation, tai chi, and storing our energy. We can use this season for rest — filling our reserves and gathering strength for the year ahead. We can also use this season to more deeply discover our essence.

This is a time of stillness and quietude, nature’s energy having turned inward during this most inward-looking of all seasons. We call it the most yin of the seasons. There is work going on, but inside. We need to take time in our lives, not just during winter, but all year long, to stop and be more internal.

The energy of winter is latent and potent: in this state of resting deep within, energy is collected and held in reserve; winter is cold and dark, qualities that preserve and store. It is the concentrated, internal force of winter that enables a seed to burst forth in spring growth.

Abundant reserves within give us courage and strength of will. Lacking these reserves, we manifest fear. Fear in appropriate amounts is, of course, essential; due care and caution in recognizing our limitations preserve life. Fear keeps us alert. The emotion of a distressed Water element is fear of not having enough of what it takes to meet the challenges that lie ahead. Do we have enough money in the bank for retirement? Do we have the strength to survive chemotherapy? Do we have the strength to make it through the winter training? Do we have what it takes to succeed?

Within us lies our strength. We just have to be quiet enough to listen and be empty enough to be filled.

We live in a society of continual striving and exertion. We expect instant results and immediate answers. The most common way to deplete our reserves is probably with overwork. We like to go, go, go, work, work, work. But nature has another idea. Nature reminds us that everything has its season. There is no endless growth, no endless summer. And, when we allow ourselves to simply be still and quiet, and contain our energy within ourselves, we stand in the energy of the Water element.

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