The Impact of Cold Essence: Women's Health

In the first post in this series, Grand Master Lu shared the difference between the two major types of cold—temperature and essence, as well as the impact of cold on the body’s functions. In this post, we go a step further to discover how cold affects women’s health.

It’s Just an Ice Cube! Does Cold Really Matter?

TCM’s Cold Hard Facts:

Cold is considered the #1 pathogen in TCM.
90% of all illness and disease is associated with cold essence.
Pain is trapped energy. All pain is associated with cold essence.
All cancer essence is related to cold.
Cold is the #1 thing people with fertility issues should avoid.

The body’s organ functions prefer warm—temperature and essence—over cold. If you constantly bring cold into the body through insufficient clothing in cold or windy weather, and/or various food and drink choices, you will eventually limit the body’s functions.

How Does Cold Impact Women’s Health?

Many women experience painful menstrual cramps. This is a sign that your internal body—your Liver, lower Stomach, and Uterus—contains a cold essence. If this essence never leaves the body, then cold will never leave the body, and the pain will always be there, even after the menstrual cycle ends. This cold can eventually cause fertility issues and other health issues, including cancer.

All cancer essence is related to cold. So, chemotherapy and radiation all produce a form of chemical heat. Patients going through chemotherapy and radiation often feel a deep, bone cold, no matter how many layers they wear. That’s essence. The unnatural chemical heat comes in and pushes the body’s natural heat out, making your inside cold.

If you have trapped cold, your ovaries and Liver function also have cold. This makes it very difficult to get pregnant. The egg cannot sit in the uterus if your internal body is too cold. How can a baby grow in a cold environment?

As you enter menopause, you now have the last great opportunity to become truly healthy for the rest of your life. During menopause, many people experience hot flashes, insomnia, and night sweats. Hot flashes are like a compost heap, where the body accumulates information. They are not real heat. Instead, they are the result of the body’s cold essence.

Teenagers are the real fire. They have a natural heat. When you age, you burn the candle. How long are you going to allow your candle to continue to burn? Don’t spend your fire protecting your body against catching cold. Your body must continue, no matter how good or bad. If it’s not your time, you’re not going to die, you’ll just suffer. Your body will continue until the last step, but it needs that last fire to continue. The body needs to protect itself because the body knows when it is their destiny, and when it is their time to go.

What Can We Learn From Nature?

Winter is the most important season. If we can use Nature as our master, we can better understand how to care for ourselves. Nature has been here for millions of years. Every winter, Nature is calm and peaceful. Animals and plants save energy by hibernating or going dormant in preparation for Spring. But people do the opposite! They spend their energy by going on vacation, running from one store to the next, entertaining, doing this and doing that. Instead of taking the time to deeply rest, they burn the candle at both ends. No wonder come spring, everyone catches a cold. The immune system drops.

Essence enters the body only when the body is vulnerable. Once there, it hides in the weakest organ and creates cold symptoms. It will look like you’ve caught a cold, but really, you have trapped essence.

What Can I Do to Counteract Cold Essence?

For thousands of years, millions of women have experienced a shift in their health by understanding the impact of cold on their bodies. Once you recognize that you have cold essence, you must avoid not just outside cold temperature, but cold essence—foods and environment that carry this cold.

To release cold essence and rid yourself of menstrual cycle cramps, you need to prepare for three menstrual cycles. Then you wont need to suffer.

Follow these tips:

Cover your legs and feet. Avoid wearing stockings or exposing your legs and feet in the cold weather, especially if you already have menstrual cycle issues or are worried about breast cancer recurrence.
Don’t overexert yourself or use extra resources. Go to bed before midnight and rest when you are tired. Get ample sleep, especially in the Winter. Avoid doing things that consume so much of your energy.
Apply heat. For menstrual cramps, apply heating pads to warm the area. Over time, warm temperature can fix the problem, but this warmth has to go inside the body again, again, and again, until you internally change. Otherwise, it will only superficially release the pain. Also warm the bottoms of the feet and legs with a heating pad, ginger or cinnamon oil, or thick socks.
Eat for healing. Eat warming herbs (cinnamon, turmeric, ginger, cloves) and foods that support your Liver (dandelion, eggplant, fennel, pickled foods, scallions, mung beans) and Kidney (shellfish, bone soup, black beans, toasted walnuts, seaweed) function.

Coming Up

Come back next Monday for The Impact of Cold Essence: Anti-Aging.

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