Part 2: "Rediscovering Winter: Unlocking the Secrets of Animal Resilience in Winter"

Hello, VivaRays community! Welcome to the second part of our enlightening exploration into the wonders of winter.

In Part 1, I began sharing with you a personal chapter of my life, a time when winter was a season of deep suffering. We began to ponder the mystery of why so many people today hate the wintertime. 

Now, in Part 2, we shift our focus to a fundamental question that holds the key to transforming your perception of winter and our connection with nature. This question, and its answer, reshaped my entire paradigm, and I'm excited to share it with you

Have you ever wondered how animals in the wild don't seem to get cold when it's freezing outside?

It's not because they have access to heated homes or cozy blankets, but rather because they have built-in mechanisms to generate body heat. In essence, these animals have a powerful innate ability to anticipate the arrival of the winter season and switch their metabolic processes to what I like to call "winter programming”.

Their winter program kicks into gear as the days become shorter and temperatures drop, transforming their metabolism and physiology at a quantum level.

Now, I won't delve too deeply into the scientific details, but it's essential to understand the role of mitochondria in this process. 

Mitochondria are like the power plants of our bodies, responsible for producing energy through cellular respiration.  

When the winter programming is activated, the mitochondria start burning fat and fuel to produce more HEAT rather than only (ENERGY)ATP.  This raises their body temperature and allows them to survive the freezing cold temperatures. And they really aren’t affected at all and they don’t FEEL the freezing cold.

This seasonal programming in animals is known as infradian rhythm, similar to our circadian rhythm but on a seasonal scale. Just as we have a 24-hour cycle that regulates our sleep and wake patterns, we also have a seasonal rhythm that determines whether our bodies activate winter or summer programming.

Think about how much darker and colder the winter is compared to summer.  To adapt to the cold and lack of sunlight, our seasonal rhythm is supposed to predict the changes in the lighting conditions and temperature and activate our winter programming.  This enables us to shift gears in our metabolism, behavior, psychology, and physiology. 

In short, your circadian rhythm tells your body whether it’s day or night, dictating whether you should be active or at rest. 

Your infradian rhythm tells your body whether it is summer or winter and instructs your mitochondria on whether they should be burning food for energy or engaging in the dual task of burning food and fat for heat production and energy.

Consider this: have you noticed that your food preferences change during cold winter days? 

Can you relate to finding yourself craving fatty, hot foods like pea and bacon soup rather than light salads or fruits? 

This craving for fats is a result of our winter programming, which changes the way we metabolize food. 

As winter approaches, our mitochondria become more focused on using stored body fat and dietary fats to produce heat.It all comes down to intelligent seasonal adaptation. 

If you're in a warm climate, your mitochondria need to generate energy for quick escapes from potential threats, like a lion. However, in a cold environment like Northern Canada, the lion isn't the primary concern—staying warm is. 

To accurately predict and prepare for these environmental changes like the arrival of the winter season, our bodies rely on five physical forces. 

These forces provide important information that allows our seasonal rhythm to activate the appropriate programming (summer or winter), guiding our metabolism, behavior, psychology, and physiology.

In the upcoming blogs in this series, we'll explore each of these forces in detail and provide easy and actionable steps to help you align yourself with nature. This will help you activate what I call  ‘’your inner fire’’— the winter programming that will help you thrive optimally.

Before we end this blog, I’d like to leave you with some food for thought.

Think about a wolf in the wild. It doesn't wait for the first snowfall to grow a thick fur coat and switch to winter mode. Instead, its body receives the right information from nature during the fall season and gradually prepares to activate its built-in winter programming. This allows the wolf to grow its fur and generate body heat to thrive during the cold winter months.

So, here's the big revelation: this same adaptability can be true for you and me as human beings. 

We possess powerful mechanisms built into our biology that enable us to shift into winter mode and thrive optimally during the coldest season. 

No, we don't need to grow a furry coat or thicker skin like Bigfoot!

All we need to do is resign ourselves to the 5 forces of nature that I am about to share with you next!

Stay tuned for the upcoming blogs in this series, where we'll delve deeper into the five physical forces that activate our seasonal rhythm. 

We'll guide you on how to align with these forces and activate your inner fire, helping you make peace with winter and thrive like the animals in the wild. 

Together, we'll unlock the secrets of nature's wisdom and live harmoniously with the seasons.

Remember, at VivaRays, we're here to inspire, inform, and transform. Join us on this enlightening journey, and let's embrace the wonders of winter together.