When it is cold, we usually look for the heat of the stoves or the fireplace to warm up. However, we can do a lot to get the body activated and maintain body temperature in other ways.

There are as many ways to activate as one can imagine but these are some of the most effective things, we can do to gain energy and promote physical and mental well-being.

1. SUNBATHE

With the sun you usually have no middle ground: in summer it is taken until it burns and in winter it is forgotten.

A sunbath of face and torso, lasting about ten minutes, reconciles us with the season, helps to warm up and favors the synthesis of the daily dose of vitamin D, essential for the fixation of calcium in the bones and with preventive action against tumors of the chest, colon and prostate among others.

In addition, winter sunbathing prevents and treats “affective syndrome” or “seasonal depression”.

The most effective in this regard are the first rays of the morning sun because they regulate the production of the most influential hormones on mood, melatonin, controller of rest and activity cycles, and serotonin, associated with the feeling of well-being.

2. TRAIN ENERGY AWAKENING

People who retreat from the cold may be hypotonic and find the idea of an active winter very strange.

They tend to have cold feet and hands, and feel especially listless during the first hours of the day.

It can help them a lot to stretch as soon as they wake up to loosen the muscles and stimulate circulation.

After getting up you can put your hands and feet in cold water for a couple of minutes and then take an alternating shower of hot water with a few seconds of cold water at the end.

It helps them to aromatize the rooms with toning essences: lavender, which relieves superficial discomfort; naranjo, which acts against melancholy and inappetence; and verbena, which improves the ability to concentrate.

If you have a garden, at sunset you can walk for five minutes with your feet barefoot on the dew or snow. Then take a warm bath of feet and massage them with juniper oil.

3. EXERCISE INDOORS

Some people are so averse to the cold that no matter how much they are guaranteed its goodness to health, they will not exercise outdoors. But that does not mean that they are obliged to cultivate a sedentary lifestyle: they have other options.

At home they can do a fitness board, pedal on an exercise bike or use steppers, treadmills, ski machines or paddles.

They can also go to a gym or a heated pool, where they will also benefit from the relationship with other people who can advise them.

4. PRACTICE TAI CHI AND CHIKUNG

Traditional Chinese psychophysical disciplines, such as tai chi or chikung, mobilize chi, vital energy, with an optimal effect on physical and mental health.

The combination of movements, breathing in synchrony and visualizations of the flow of chi manages to influence the internal generation of heat and its distribution.

Taichi and chikung are therefore ideal techniques for winter, although the practice only makes sense if it is regular and incorporated as a habit.

The ideal is to learn with a teacher who corrects the most subtle errors, but as an example you can try the following sequence of only two postures that activates the circulation in the energy meridian of acupuncture known as “triple heater”.

The first posture is called wu chi and it is about imitating the dignity of a tree. It is necessary to place with the feet separated the width of the shoulders, the arms resting at the sides, the chin a little tucked inward and the pelvis gently tilted so that the lumbar curvature is attenuated. The knees bend slightly, as if riding a horse.

The concentration is directed to the tan tien point, located three fingers below the navel, and nine deep and slow breaths are made before moving on to the next step.

They bend their knees slightly, with their backs straight and without removing their buttocks, and fold their hands in front of their abdomen with their palms facing upwards. The hands and trunk are raised at the same time. The lungs fill while ascending by breathing.

When reaching the chest, the palms turn outward to face the sky. He keeps raising his palms while raising his heels. Finally, the sky is “held” with the body fully stretched.

Each time you inhale, your arms fold back a little, as if air enters through the palms of your hands. When exhaling they stretch slightly. But it is the respiratory movement that moves the arms and not the other way around.

They slowly open their arms to the sides like a bird spreading its wings, in a wide circle. The exercise is repeated nine times.

5. HAVE A POSITIVE ATTITUDE

Some say that we live in the culture of complaint and fear. In summer it is too hot, in winter the cold is unbearable and the blame for everything is blamed on the government or the multinationals “that favor climate change”.

Those who freeze in summer next to the air conditioning outlet usually cook next to the heating in the cold season.

It seems more sensible to learn to enjoy each moment without taking refuge in artificial environments that disconnect us from the cycles of nature. In other words: let’s be active, let’s show ourselves alive. It is the attitude that makes the cold good or bad. Instead of overprotecting, let’s welcome it.

The activities that are so beneficial in winter have nothing to do with those other work and routine obligations that are so often exhausting and stressful. On the contrary: they provide energy and satisfy important physical and psychic needs.

So, starting to exercise outdoors or start in one of the other proposals explained in this article should not be a sacrifice, but a pleasure.

6. ENJOY RELATIONSHIPS

In winter we tend to internalize, to seclude oneself in the personal world, which is necessary and enriching, but we must not forget to enjoy friends and loved ones.

Enjoying an active winter together, whether doing group exercise or hiking, counteracts the effect of low temperatures with human warmth.

The camaraderie, sharing pleasant moments -like the beginning of the year- and adventures with loved ones favors that we maintain a positive attitude that is surely the best way to support the immune system against the viruses that threaten it in winter.

7. TAKE STEAM BATHS

If you miss the intense heat, the sauna can become the preferred winter rite.

It improves the secretion of the bronchial mucosa, prevents colds and flu because heat kills viruses, eliminates toxins from the body and improves the condition of the skin, muscles and circulatory system.

Another option to warm up are the Turkish baths of humid heat or the hot bath with magnesium sulfate salts or essential oils of ginger and eucalyptus, which can be prepared quietly at home and is recommended to recover from colds.

A good idea is to do the sauna or bath on Friday afternoon, after the workday. An hour or two can be set aside to treat yourself to a relaxing sauna that opens the door to a liberating weekend.

To sleep, rest and prepare a good awakening the next day you can perform a relaxation exercise in bed, breathing slowly and deeply while loosening the tension of the muscles, starting with the feet and ending with the scalp.

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