We sat down with Grand Master Lu to understand cold and its impact on the body.

What is Cold Essence?

Essence is a blueprint, like your DNA. It doesn’t change, no matter how it is altered at the chemistry or physical level. For example, ginger and cinnamon have a warm essence. No matter how you prepare ginger and cinnamon, their essence will remain warm, even if they are turned into ice cream. While the temperature is cold, the essence remains.

For healing, there are two levels. The lowest level is temperature; the highest is essence.

Why Does Cold Matter?

In Chinese medicine, cold is considered the number one pathogen. Any kind of cold—temperature or essence—will cause a function disorder in the body. This means the body cannot do what it wants to do and cannot produce what it wants to produce.

If your body has a certain level of cold, it will stay at the lowest level. This can cause your immune system to dysfunction and your body’s repair and self-healing system to stop functioning. You’ll never have the chance to allow yourself to heal and repair.

How Does Cold Enter the Body?

Many people deplete their energy at the holidays. So this is the time to really conserve your energy. Don’t burn the candle on both ends. If you are physically and emotionally fatigued, you are vulnerable to cold essence entering the body.

People gathering together is exciting. But if you mentally and emotionally strain yourself and continue to spend the body’s energy, you become vulnerable. Once you feel fatigued, particularly emotionally fatigued, your body falls out of balance. Once you’re out of balance, cold temperature and essence will enter the body. They will find a place to hide—they always find the weakest organs—and next spring, when Nature starts to grow and change and your body wants to do the same, you won’t have enough energy.

How Difficult Is it to Reverse Cold Essence in the Body?

It’s not the level of difficulty, it’s the effort you’re willing to put in.

To counteract cold essence, start with your clothing. People often put more clothes on their upper bodies—hats, gloves, scarves, sweaters, coats—but wear shorts or skirts with stockings. Even though you think you’re protecting your skin from the cold, you are opening your body up to damage. Liver, Stomach, and Kidney points are at the bottom of the leg. And a major Kidney point is at the bottom of the foot. Your Kidney is your root, your genetic code, and your inheritance. Cover yourself to protect against cold essence.

To introduce more heat into the body, warm your feet and legs. Soak your feet in warm water or warm yourself with a heating pad or by the fire. Put ginger or cinnamon oil on the bottom of your feet and cover them with warm socks. Your Kidney is like a wood stove. If you continue to add wood to a stove, it will continue to produce heat.

Finally, eat for healing. Add warming herbs and spices to your foods, like ginger, pepper, and cinnamon. For example, drink apple cider with cinnamon. Add foods that support your Kidney function, such as black beans, toasted walnuts, bone soup, and shellfish.

Coming Up

Come back next Monday for The Impact of Cold Essence: Women’s Health.

Qi Thursday

Join us virtually every Thursday evening to practice The Dragon Floats on the Sea. This Qigong form will carry us through the winter season and nurture Kidney Qi. JOIN US

Yin Yang of the Season: Winter

This program opens our year-long Seasonal Series, where Master Lu reveals how Yin and Yang form the blueprint of your physical, emotional, and spiritual life. Over seven days, Master Lu will guide you to experience how your inner world responds to Winter’s Yin and Yang. Through Wu Ming Qigong practices, seasonal Eating-for-Healing principles, and insights rooted in Chinese psychology—and how your inner dialogue shapes your energy, emotions, and direction in life. This virtual program runs January 18 – 25, 2026. REGISTER