We are at the end of Water season, a time when the inward pull is still strong but the first signs of Wood are already appearing. There is a quiet depth here, a sense of listening more closely while something new begins to take shape. It is a moment when reflection feels natural, and the internal landscape invites attention.
This moment asks us not to rush the transition. To remain in practice even as energy starts to turn outward again. As we approach the Lunar New Year and the shift from the Year of the Wood Snake into the Year of the Fire Horse, meditation becomes less about retreat and more about continuity. It is a way of staying rooted as movement begins to build. Taking the time to notice how your energy is shifting, and where your focus naturally wants to expand, allows you to step into the season ahead with intention rather than haste.
This Week in Practice: Water: The Mother of Tea
As Water season comes to a close, we invite you to bring your attention to the most essential element of tea practice: water itself. In the Five Element system, Water is associated with depth, listening, and storage. As we move toward Wood, what has been gathered begins to move outward. This week’s practice is about tending that transition with care and cultivating awareness in the spaces between stillness and action.
In the world of tea, there is an old Chinese saying: “Water is the mother of tea.” Without good water, even the finest leaves cannot shine. Water carries memory, movement, and life. It adapts, flows, and meets the leaf as the medium through which tea awakens. Paying attention to water is a way of cultivating presence and care, both for your tea and for yourself. It is a reminder that the simplest, most fundamental elements of practice often hold the deepest lessons.
Let attention to water be the practice.
Before the water ever touches the leaf, slow down and notice:
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The source of your water and how it arrives at your bowl or pot
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The temperature and timing as it meets the tea
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The way it flows, fills, and moves through your vessels
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Subtle differences in taste, texture, and feel
These small details matter. They shape how energy moves from stillness into expression. You might reflect on this as you sit:
How I prepare the water shapes how the tea reveals itself.
Water teaches us to listen, to soften, and to hold what is ready to be released. Consider your tea practice a mirror for this transition. Gentle attention to water now supports clarity, growth, and direction in the weeks to come. Let this practice be simple and attentive rather than performative. Brew your tea, honor the water, and notice how the leaves respond. Let water, the mother of tea, guide the session and allow yourself to move with it. Each moment of careful observation becomes a bridge from reflection to action, from the inward pull of Water season to the outward energy of Wood.
Five Element Insights: Meditation Through All Seasons
Meditation is essential in every season, not only when things feel slow or quiet. While Water season is a deeply supportive time to begin or deepen a meditation practice, the real work is learning how to continue that practice through all phases of the year, even during times of expansion, activity, and change. Meditation steadies us when energy rises, just as it nourishes us when energy is low, giving us a consistent foundation amid the fluctuations of life.
Practicing consistently allows us to meet each season with clarity rather than reactivity. It helps regulate the nervous system, deepen self-awareness, and cultivate presence regardless of external conditions. This is why meditation is not seasonal in the way other practices might be. It is foundational, offering a constant framework that allows the flow of seasonal energy to move through us with intention and ease.
To support this, we have been creating elemental meditations to help you align practice with seasonal and internal energy. Right now, Water and Wood meditations are available on our YouTube channel, with additional elements coming in the weeks ahead. Exploring these practices alongside the natural seasonal shifts can deepen your sensitivity to subtle changes in energy, and help you respond to them rather than simply react.
As we move through this transition, you might experiment with alternating between elements. One day, sit with the water meditation and notice what wants to soften, settle, or be released. Another day, sit with the wood meditation and observe what feels ready to grow or take direction. Pay attention to how your body responds, how your attention shifts, and what emotional qualities arise. Let the elements meet you where you are rather than trying to match an idea of where you should be. Meditation becomes both a mirror and a guide when we allow it that space, helping us integrate the inward focus of Water with the outward growth of Wood.
Explore the elemental meditations on YouTube →
Current Inspiration
The Way of the Five Seasons by John Kirkwood
This is one of Colin’s favorite books when it comes to Five Element work, and one he often returns to as a steady reference for understanding seasonal energy as a lived experience. He recommended this book last week in our Golden Mirror Reset class as a powerful companion for deepening elemental awareness beyond theory.
Rather than presenting the Five Elements as concepts to memorize, the book invites a felt relationship with time, nature, and internal rhythms. It offers a grounded way of sensing how seasonal shifts move through daily life, making it especially resonant during moments of transition like the one we are in now. Reading it can help illuminate the bridge between inner reflection and outward action, just as Water leads into Wood in the natural cycle of the seasons.