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Dear friends,
I write to you from my favorite morning spot, my couch. I cherish quietly waking up with the sun as it rises over the Cascades through my windows. I reflect on a common inner conflict - the desire to be productive while feeling less physically and mentally capable to do so. I observe how this feeling exaggerates within myself and with my clients at Peony during the winter. Then, I think about how productivity is overvalued in industrialized cultures. Overvaluing productivity can undermine the ability to rest, an essential aspect to support renewal, sustainability, and expression. Chinese medicine emphasizes aligning the body with the rhythm of the natural world. In winter, while the earth’s shell rests, beneath the surface there is activity - a stirring motion of complex interactions preparing to burst into a vibrant spring orchestra. Our body mimics this rhythm and form. Resting our body allows for the interior motions at play to strengthen, so that come spring it has the ability to flourish.
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Winter is an in between space, a place where a life cycle ends and originates. Inside this space exists unknown potential. Often winter is regarded as a kind of despair because of its cold, damp, and dark nature. Yet this environment supports retreat and rest - actions necessary for restoration and incubation. The natural world rests in winter, so that it can bloom in spring. To realize our aspirations, that we often write down at the beginning of the year, it is important to first let ourselves rest, to care for the beginning of our intentions. It is also important to give space for these desires to evolve and be other than what we initially expect. Drawing from a fall lecture by Dr. Edward Neal while studying with Neijing Studies, he states, “When we see something new and we don’t recognize it, that causes discomfort. First thing we often do is project our worldview onto it. If we can’t live with the tension of unknowing, then we prematurely assign a value or meaning to it. When we prematurely assign meaning, we shut off our relationship to it. We stop the engagement. Allow yourself to hold the tension of not knowing.” It is necessary to give space for inquiry into what we don’t know. Otherwise if we quickly define what we don’t know to avoid discomfort, we inevitably prevent our potential to connect, learn, and express.
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In this New Year, I intend to apply this principle to my desires, relationships, profession, and study to expand my worldview and learn what I don’t know - to deepen a practice of empathy and capacity to care. I invite you to consider the same. Together, let’s practice this winter how to rest, how to attend to ourselves and each other, so that our individual and collective interior potential gathers strength to vividly burst into spring.
With love, Paige
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- Allow yourself to go to bed earlier and sleep in a little later.
- Be gentle with your work hours, bind the work schedule, and try not to push through when worn down.
- Snuggle with your favorite blanket and/or furry and human loved one.
- Reflect on what nourishes you: environments, activities, and people.
- Schedule restorative treatments like acupuncture, massage, chiropractic, somatic integration, physical therapy, reiki...
- Exercise: Focus on yin type exercise like Qi Gong, walking, meditation, yoga, Gyrotonic/Gyrokinesis, and stretching.
- Journal: Free associate, dream, write nonsense, express with abandon how you feel.
- Home care: Epsom salt baths, foot soaks, dry brushing before you get in the shower.
- Creativity: engage with making something – cook a new recipe, make a dance, a collage, a poem, a song, a future vacation...
- Food: eat warming foods and beverages like spicy warm soups and teas.
- Indulge with intention: Make a hot toddy, bundle up, go on a moonlight walk with a dear friend or furry companion.
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This soup is my favorite version of a winter salad. Inner warmth is derived from our food. During the colder months, I recommend eating cooked vegetables for the nutrients to be easily digested and absorbed. I've adapted this recipe by Cynthia Lair. Don't hesitate to add any vegetables of your choice. Enjoy!
INGREDIENTS
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgen olive oil
- 2 tablespoons of butter
- 1 pound of chicken breast, cubed
- 2 clove of garlic, minced
- 1/2 yellow onion, diced
- 2 celery stalks, diced
- 2 medium carrots, sliced
- 2 small potatoes, diced
- 14 ounce canned diced tomatoes
- 2 tablespoons of chopped fresh oregano or parsley
- 2 teaspoons of salt
- 4 cups of bone broth
- 1 cup green beans, cut in 1 1/2" pieces
- 1 small zucchini, diced
- 14 ounces canned garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
- 1/2 cup of fresh basil
- Freshly grated parmesan cheese to garnish
VARIATIONS
- Low FODMAP: 1) omit, or use garlic infused olive oil, 2) Substitute one bunch of green onion for onion, and 3) omit celery.
- Vegetarian: 1) Omit meat, 2) substitute vegetable broth for bone broth.
DIRECTIONS
- In a large soup pot over medium heat add 1 tablespoon of olive oil and butter. Fry chicken with a dash of salt until it loses its pink color and is slightly browned on both sides, about three to four minutes on each side. Remove from pot and place aside on a plate.
- Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil and butter, garlic and onion. Sauté. until onion is soft about 6 to 10 minutes.
- Add carrots, celery and potato, sauté for 5 more minutes.
- Add tomatoes, oregano, salt, and bone broth. Bring heat up to simmer.
- Cover and cook for about 10 to 15 minutes, until potatoes and carrots are tender.
- Add cooked chicken, green beans, zucchini, and garbanzo beans and simmer for another 5 to 10 minutes.
- Stir in fresh basil, black pepper to taste.
- Ladle soup into bowls and see with freshly grated parmesan cheese.
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