An Easy Way to Feel Better and Prevent Sickness This Winter

This is the time of year to bust out your favorite sweaters and snuggly scarves, to keep your gloves in your purse when heading out…but also to hear a symphony of sniffles, sneezes and perpetual coughing all around.

I firmly believe that our internal state of health is the reason some of us get sick and some of us don’t. For instance, taking the right probiotics, eating a proper diet for the season and consistently getting enough sleep are all ways we can help to fortify our internal immunity and combat sickness. We can’t control the outside environment, but we can, to a large extent, control our inner ecosystem and balance.

 

When people tell me, “Oh don’t give me a hug, I’m sick.” I always laugh and bear-hug them before they can even protest twice. Why? I very rarely ever get sick, even when I’m surrounded by a bunch of people who are sick. I follow the above lifestyle practices and literally haven’t gotten a cold or the flu in years- at least 8 that I can accurately account for, but probably longer… (though on my around the world trip I got seriously ill twice, once in Nepal and once in India. But, in one case it was from drinking infected river water when I laughed and fell off the elephant I was giving a bath to… But let’s save that story for another time! ).

That being said, I want to give you ANOTHER important tip today about a way to help boost your immunity naturally and help prevent energy and beauty-draining sickness…

 

Lately, especially as I’ve gone deep into formal studies, you’ve heard me talk a lot about Ayurveda. But I also have deep respect for another ancient system of medicine: Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM).

Traditional Chinese Medicine teaches us to protect again the depletion of our chi, or our energy, in order to foster vitality and health. There are many lifestyle practices TCM advises to accomplish this, but the one I want to talk to you about today is keeping your feet warm. Not just when you go out into the cold outdoors, but even at home, and at all times- including when you have to get up and cross a cold wooden floor on those late night trips to pee!
Why? Besides the fact that it’s naturally uncomfortable to have cold feet, underneath your foot is the kidney meridian point, or energy center. This point is called the “bubbling well point of the kidney meridian (K-1, or Kidney-1)” and in Mandarin is known as Yong Quan (pronounced yong chuwen).

 

TCM believes that meridians receive and are affected by the energy that comes in contact with them. That is why walking barefoot on cold surfaces in the winter is a ginormous no-no. Even for short distances. It can drain your chi. And this and other meridians need warmth to function properly- just as TCM holds that your digestion needs proper warmth to function properly. Cooling your kidney meridian, which in TCM is believed to be central for your health, is believed to cool off your body, your digestion and can make you more susceptible to illness.
So be sure to get some comfy, super warm slippers for yourself that are thick enough to keep the coolness of cold floor (tile, wood, stone, etc.) from seeping up into your feet and draining your chi! It’s also a good idea to invest in some really thick, luxurious feeling socks, which you can slip on to pad around your house as well, if you prefer.