In the Chinese tradition, practice is not the same all year round. The seasons are not decoration but part of the instruction: what to emphasise, what to quieten, and how much to do at all. This view is four millennia old and matches, surprisingly well, what a body in Ljubljana goes through between October and March.
What the tradition says about autumn
In this system autumn is a time of gathering. What went outward in summer turns inward; the emphasis moves from range of movement to precision, from intensity to breath. Autumn is associated with the lungs and with breathing, which is a very direct instruction for Qi Gong practice: more work with the exhale, more quiet standing exercises, less chasing of records.
In practice that means a longer warm-up, because the body heats more slowly in cooler air, and more attention to the shoulders, which rise by themselves in the cold.
What the tradition says about winter
Winter is a time of storing. The old advice in the classical texts is unusually concrete: in winter go to bed earlier and rise later, do not exhaust yourself, do not sweat excessively. It is associated with the kidneys, the bones and the body’s deep reserves.
For training this means: regular, but not exhausting. In winter it is better to come twice a week and work with attention than to come once a fortnight and work to failure. The emphasis goes to standing postures that warm from within, and to the breath, rather than long low sets.
In summer you build range. In winter you build the floor that next summer will stand on.
What this means in Ljubljana
Autumn and winter here bring three things that genuinely change training: less daylight, more damp and fog, and longer stretches of sitting indoors. Each of them pushes the body the same way - towards less mobility, a closed posture and a lower mood.
Summer training outdoors has its advantages, but a regular hour in the hall is worth most precisely in the dark months. Not because of the technique, but because it is often the only part of the week when the body moves in every direction and a person spends an hour away from a screen.
Do we train outside
Yes, in autumn and winter too, only for shorter. Ten minutes of Qi Gong in cold air is entirely feasible if you are dressed for it and if you warm up beforehand rather than outdoors. Training in the cold without a warm-up is the one genuinely bad idea - a cold muscle does not stretch, it tears.
What to practise at home in these months
Of the six exercises for home, we recommend in winter the ones that work from the inside: raising the arms with a long exhale, circling at the waist, and standing quietly with the knees slightly bent. Ten minutes in the morning, while it is still dark outside, does more for the mood than any other ten-minute habit.
The most common mistake
Stopping over winter with the intention of returning in spring. It is the most understandable and most expensive decision in training: six months off takes more than the following two years give back. If you must reduce something, reduce the volume rather than the regularity - one hour a week all winter is incomparably more than nothing.
