From Resolution to Regulation: A Seasonally Aligned TCM Approach to 2026

As the New Year begins, many of us feel an immediate pull to reset, optimize, and improve. Wellness culture often tells us that January is the time to do more, often pushing ourselves more than we are used to. If you have been struggling with your resolutions (realistically, how many times have you been to the gym this year? 👀), Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) has your back. TCM offers a very different, and often much gentler, perspective than the typical Western January push. Rather than forcing change, TCM teaches us that true optimization comes from regulation and seasonal alignment, and lucky for you the start to 2026 falls in the dead of winter.

Winter and the Water Element

According to Chinese medicine, the winter season corresponds to the Water element, which governs the Kidney and Urinary Bladder systems. The Water element symbolizes stillness, introspection, and turning inward to conserve your true self. All of this is best practice in order to preserve your foundational energy, Jing精, which is stored in your Kidneys. In TCM, Kidney Jing directly corresponds to your long-term vitality. While Jing naturally decreases as we age, when it is abnormally low, you can experience fatigue, poor recovery, and hormonal changes. Supporting the Water element and these systems during winter is critical to conserve Jing and in turn reserve it for when you need it most. This can look like prioritizing rest, going to bed earlier, eating warm, cooked foods, incorporating gentle movement, and avoiding excessive exertion.

Supporting the Kidney and Urinary Bladder Systems

The yin Kidney (KD) channel starts on the sole of your foot and runs up the inside of your leg, through your core, settling at the bottom of your clavicle. The Urinary Bladder (UB) channel is its opposite yang channel pair and one of the longest channels in the body. The UB channel starts at your inner eye, runs over your head, down your back near your spine, along the back of your legs, to end on your pinky toe (sheesh that is a mouthful!). Stimulating certain points along both of these channels can help conserve your Jing, optimize energy, and get the most out of these winter months. While acupuncture is the most beneficial way to stimulate these points, acupressure can be done at home as the next best thing!

*Use direct, firm pressure on these points for 1-3 minutes each, a few times daily, to activate the acupuncture point.

KD 3 (Tai Xi or “Great Canyon”): Located on the inside of your ankle, in the depression between the ankle bone and the Achilles tendon, this point strengthens the Kidneys overall, supports hormonal balance, and also helps with neck pain.

KD 6 (Zhao Hai or “Shining Sea”): Located in the space slightly below the inner ankle bone, this point helps regulate sleep and peri/menopausal hot flashes.

KD 7 (Fu Liu or “Recover Flow”): Located slightly above KD 3 on the inner edge of your shin, this point regulates fluid balance and helps with edema and abnormal sweating.

UB 23 (Shen Shu or “Kidney Shu”): Located on your lower back, about 1.5-2 inches out from your spine at the level of L2, is Bladder 23. To help find this point, it is at the level of the waistline, roughly the same height as your belly button from the front. This point strengthens the low back and helps with blurry vision and ringing in the ears.

UB 52 (Zhi Shi or “Will Chamber”): A little bit further out (lateral) to UB 23 is UB 52, approximately 3 inches from the spine at L2. This point reinforces the willpower while also locally helping with urinary incontinence.

UB 40 (Wei Zhong or “Bend Middle”): Locally, this point helps with knee pain and sciatica, but also helps clear up rashes elsewhere on the body. It can be found on the behind the knee, in the center of the crease when your knee is slightly bent.

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Optimization in TCM is not about moving in excessive strokes, it’s about doing what is appropriate for the season. As we move into the New Year, go easy on yourself. When the foundation is strong, everything else can be better built on top.