December 21st-22nd, 2010, "Winter Solstice", the 4th small Winter season arrives

   "Winter Solstice" is an internationally known term. According to the Chinese seasonal calender,2010 Winter Solstice starts December 22nd at 7:39am in China time zone. Interestingly, according to the Gregorian calendar, AKA Christian calender or western calender, 2010 Winter Solstice starts December 21st at 11:38pm UTC or GMT (Greenwich Mean time), or 6:38pm EST. Here I think the ancient Eastern and Western people did come up with an "agreement" as 11:38pm UTC on December 21st is the same moment as December 7:39am China Time(despite the 1min difference).


    Either way, this means at this universal moment, the north pole is tilted 23.5 degree away from the sun. In our 24-season system, "winter solstice" is one of the most important season of the year. In China it was recorded being established as the first season (among all 24)about 2500 years ago using the tool called “土圭” that looks like this:

We all know this is the day with the least daylight and after this day, day time will be getting longer and longer. The ancient Chinese described this day as   " 阴极之至，阳气始生，日南至，日短之至，日影长之至，故曰'冬至'".  Literally translated as "Yin energy at its most and start to reduce, Yang energy reaches its lowest and start to grow, the sun reaches the most southern point, daylight being the shortest, shadow of the stick being the longest, thus the days is called 'winter-est'". Here "Winter-est" is my personal interpretation of the season name "冬至", as "冬" means winter and "至" means the "most, extreme".  After this day we will be entering the real cold winter days. In Chinese culture, people will start to count every 9-day starting this day to measure the degree of coldness. For example from December 22nd to 30th will be the first "9-day", and the third and fourth "9-day" is considered as the coldest time of the year, which will be between January 9th to January 26th, 2011.
    
    "Winter Solstice" is considered as "Junior Chinese New Year" in China as the people believe from this day on the Yang energy will be stronger and stronger, therefore this is a starting day of the new season cycle, and a new starting day is always a good day to celebrate. Chinese will usually cook dumpling in the north and rice ball or noodle in the south. In the West this is the Christmas season, and here we find another Eastern-Western agreement (which could be explained in many ways).


    Enough background, our point is how to live through this season and do the right health preservation activities. I have mentioned above that "Winter Solstice season" is the most important season of the year and the "Winter Solstice Day" is the most important day of the season, obviously the "Winter Solstice Time" is the most important time of the day. Without exaggeration we can say how do you spend this moment determine your health condition for the coming year. Yes, it is that important.
    
    One very important Chinese history book recorded that during the Han dynasty (202 B.C - 220 A.D.), "Around the winter solstice day, the emperor closed the government, no official matters would be discussed, the army would not train, even the border was closed, no business or traveling, friends and family member would offer each others the best meal and everyone stayed pleasant but calm and quite." Well, ancient folks are not much different from us today. But today we cannot close the government and business, and even though we still offer the best food to each other we cannot stay too calm and quite as this is the crazy holiday season. So, what CAN we do?


    As we already know that winter is the season of "storing". Like a seed being planted and asleep, on winter solstice day it finally start to grow as the Yang energy has past its lowest spot and starts to bounce back. Ideally, we should reduced our physical activities to the minimum from 5 days before the winter solstice day to 5 days after. Realistically, at least on the Winter solstice day, we should reduce our physical activities and just rest or meditate. For those who cannot do that, at least reduce your activities at the winter solstice moment! We have been taking care of our "seed" for a long time and now it's the time to give a great push for it to grow into a great tree. Since the Yang energy is so young like an infant, the best way to nourishing it is NOT to feed it too much but quietly take care of it and allow it to gather its own energy force. Same thing to our body, at this moment the best way is not to force anything, meaning don't eat or drink crazy, don't run around and don't do physical exercises. The best way is to sit there and meditate, or practice some static Qi Gong exercise. 
    
    Winter Solstice day is considered as the "midnight" of the year, just as we need to be asleep during midnight, we should be at least resting and "recharging" during "midnight" of the year. Besides physical activities, mental activities also need to be reduced. Stay in a very pleasant but calm mood, don't consume the precious energy to worry about things.


    We will be doing seasonal special Qi Gong and meditation on our usual Tuesday night class on the 21st. Since the Winter Solstice moment is 6:38pm, I hope everyone can finish a lite dinner before that time and rest before come to class. For those who are not around. My minimum "requirement" for you is to be calm and quite from 5pm-8pm on the 21st. This 3-hour can be your key to next year's health. Please do so.