The past two posts on mindfulness and the Buddha Dharma explored the contemplative dimension of yin yoga – how mindfulness and the Buddhist understanding of the mind deepens our practice on the mat.
Now we return to the body and to the natural world. Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) does not treat the human body as separate from its environment – it understands the body as a microcosm of the same forces that govern the seasons, the weather, and the rhythms of the earth. Practising with the seasons means aligning our yin yoga practice with these rhythms rather than treating the practice as the same thing all year round.
The Five Elements and the seasonal cycle
In earlier posts, we explored the Water element (Kidney and Urinary Bladder) and the Wood element (Liver and Gallbladder) in detail. These two element-pairs sit within a larger cycle of five that maps the movement of energy through the year, each element governing a season, an organ pair, and a distinct quality of experience.
Water governs winter. This is the season of inwardness, rest, and the conservation of reserves. Energy descends and contracts, drawing us toward stillness and reflection. The Kidney system’s role as the root of constitutional vitality is most relevant here – winter is the time to safeguard what sustains us at the deepest level. Wood governs spring. As the year turns, energy rises and expands. The Liver’s function of ensuring the smooth flow of chi throughout the body comes to the fore, and with it the qualities of growth, creativity, and the upward surge of new possibility. Fire governs summer. Energy reaches its fullest yang expression – warmth, joy, connection, and outward engagement. The Heart and Small Intestine meridians govern this season, regulating circulation, emotional openness, and the quality the Chinese tradition calls shen: the radiance of the mind and spirit. Earth governs late summer and the transitional periods between all seasons. It is the centre of the cycle, the ground of stability and nourishment. The Spleen and Stomach meridians govern digestion, assimilation, and the capacity to feel grounded amid change. Metal governs autumn. Energy begins to descend and contract once more, turning inward toward refinement and release. The Lung and Large Intestine meridians govern this season, supporting the breath, the skin, and the process of letting go – of what is no longer needed, of what has served its purpose.
The five seasons are not discrete or compartmentalised; they flow from one to another in a continuous cycle of generation, each element nourishing the one that follows. Water nourishes Wood (the reserves of winter feed the growth of spring). Wood feeds Fire (the expansion of spring fuels the fullness of summer). Fire creates Earth (the warmth of summer produces the harvest of late summer). Earth produces Metal (stability and nourishment support the refinement of autumn). Metal generates Water (the letting go of autumn clears the way for winter’s deep rest). This generating cycle gives seasonal practice its internal logic; we are not choosing an element at random but working with whatever the time of the year is asking of us.
What seasonal practice looks like
A seasonally-aware yin yoga practice shifts its emphasis across the year to support what each phase of the cycle requires.
In winter, the emphasis falls on Kidney and Urinary Bladder meridian work: forward folds, inner-leg openers, and sacral compression, held in longer, quieter sequences that mirror the season’s invitation to conserve and restore. In spring, the focus moves to Liver and Gallbladder: inner-thigh and lateral-body postures that release stagnation and support the rising energy of the season, perhaps with a slightly more spacious quality to the sequencing. In summer, Heart and Small Intestine meridian work comes to the fore: chest openers, upper-back extensions, and postures that create space through the front body, reflecting the expansive, outward energy of the season.
During the transitional periods and late summer, Spleen and Stomach work (i.e. postures that compress or stimulate the front body and inner legs) supports digestion, grounding, and the capacity to remain stable through change. In autumn, Lung and Large Intestine meridian work emphasises the chest, upper back, and arms: postures that open the breath and support the season’s theme of release and refinement.
In a tropical climate like Singapore’s, where there is no dramatic shift from winter cold to summer heat, the seasonal framework may seem less immediately obvious. However, the Five Element cycle is not solely about temperature – it is about patterns of energy that manifest in the body’s internal rhythms, in the quality of our sleep and digestion, in the ebb and flow of motivation and creative energy across the year. Even in a climate that is outwardly consistent, the body has its own seasons. Periods of depletion and withdrawal mirror the Water element; bursts of creative momentum reflect Wood; times of joyful connection and social energy echo Fire.
The Five Element framework invites us to notice these internal shifts and to respond to them with intelligence, adapting our practice to what the body actually needs rather than defaulting to the same sequence regardless of how we feel.
Paying attention to the rhythm
Seasonally-aware practice is fundamentally an invitation to pay attention, to notice what the body and mind needs at different points in the year, and to respond with awareness and care rather than habit or preference. It also reminds us that yin yoga is not a static discipline but a living practice that should evolve with the world around us and as we grow.
In the next post, we explore another dimension of this awareness: the relationship between yin yoga and the nervous system, and why the practice of slowing down is far more powerful than it may appear.