seasonal-regimen

Seasonal Regimen

R — Original Text (Reading)

The three months of spring are called the time of sprouting and unfolding. Heaven and earth both give birth, and all things flourish. Go to bed at night and rise early; stroll widely in the courtyard; let your hair down and relax your body, so that the will to live may arise. Give birth but do not kill; give but do not take away; reward but do not punish. This is the response to the qi of spring and the way of nurturing life. To go against it harms the liver. The three months of summer are called the time of luxuriant growth. Go to bed at night and rise early; do not tire of the sun; keep the will free from anger. The three months of autumn are called the time of calm and balance. Go to bed early and rise early, arising together with the roosters; keep the will peaceful and calm. The three months of winter are called the time of closing and storing. Go to bed early and rise late; you must wait for the sunlight; keep the will as if hidden and concealed. To go against the root is to cut down the foundation and destroy one's true nature.

— Suwen, Chapter Two: The Great Treatise on Regulating the Spirit in Accordance with the Four Qi

I — Methodological Framework (Interpretation)

The state of the human body undergoes fundamental rhythmic changes with the cycle of the four seasons, and each season corresponds to a core movement of qi: spring birth, summer growth, autumn harvest, winter storage. Regimen is not a vague "pay attention to your health," but rather, according to the direction of the current season's qi, a precise adjustment of three dimensions—daily routine (when to sleep and when to rise), exercise (intensity and method), and emotion-will (the contracting and releasing of aspirations). The core principle is "accord": daily routine, exercise, and emotion-will must all be in tune with the qi of the season. Acting against the season not only causes immediate harm, but also drags down the next season—going against spring harms the liver, so in summer there is nothing with which to support growth; going against summer harms the heart, so in autumn there is nothing with which to support harvest, forming a cross-seasonal chain of depletion. This is not simply "add clothes when it is cold," but an operable annual health scheduling system.

A1 — Applications in the Text (Past Application)

Case 1: Spring health regimen plan

Problem: How to stay healthy and prevent illness in spring
Use of the methodology: Spring belongs to wood, and the direction of qi is "birth and expansion." Daily routine: go to bed at night and rise early (as daylight lengthens, go to sleep later and rise earlier); exercise: stroll widely in the courtyard (walk outdoors and stretch the body); emotion-will: let the hair down and relax the body, give birth but do not kill (relax constraints, encourage the will to grow, and do not do repressive things)
Conclusion: Align all three dimensions with the birth and expansion qi of spring, forming a complete spring regimen plan
Result: If one complies, liver qi is harmonious; if one goes against it, the liver is harmed, and in summer there will be cold-type changes (cold-natured pathological changes will appear in summer)

Case 2: Winter closing and storing plan

Problem: How to nourish yang qi in winter in preparation for the coming year
Use of the methodology: Winter belongs to water, and the direction of qi is "closing and storing." Daily routine: go to bed early and rise late, and you must wait for the sunlight (sleep more than in other seasons, and do not move about until the sun comes out); exercise: avoid cold and seek warmth, do not let the skin leak (keep warm and avoid heavy sweating); emotion-will: keep the will as if hidden and concealed (contract the mind, do not display it or expose it)
Conclusion: The goal of all winter regimen is "storage"—to store energy well
Result: If one complies, kidney qi is abundant; if one goes against it, the kidney is harmed, and in spring there will be flaccidity and reversal (in the coming spring, symptoms of weakness, flaccidity, and cold reversal will appear)

Case 3: The chain consequences of going against the four seasons

Problem: What happens when one acts against the seasons
Use of the methodology: The Suwen lists one by one the chain of consequences of going against the four seasons: going against spring qi → lesser yang does not arise → liver qi changes internally; going against summer qi → greater yang does not grow → heart qi becomes hollow within; going against autumn qi → greater yin does not harvest → lung qi becomes scorched and full; going against winter qi → lesser yin does not store → kidney qi sinks alone
Conclusion: The regimen for each season not only concerns that season, but also affects the energy supply for the next season
Result: Forms a complete preventive logic of "going against it creates a chain of illness; following it keeps severe diseases from arising"

A2 — Trigger Scenarios (Future Trigger) ★

In what situations will users need this skill?

When discomfort appears during seasonal changes (spring drowsiness, autumn fatigue, winter dryness, etc.), and they want to know how to adjust their life rhythm to adapt
When making an annual health plan or exercise plan, and they need to know what to focus on in different seasons
When their long-term daily routine remains fixed and does not take seasonal changes into account, resulting in chronic fatigue or repeated illness
When they want to start a new exercise habit or change their routine, and need to choose the right timing

Language signals (activate when these appear in the user's words)

"Recently the season changed, and my body always feels off"
"How should daily routines be arranged across the four seasons?"
"Should exercise volume be adjusted in winter/summer?"
"What should I do if I keep feeling sleepy in spring?"
"I want to adjust my life rhythm, but I don't know how"
"Is there a seasonal health regimen plan?"

Distinction from adjacent skills

Difference from five-flavors-balance : Five-Flavor Harmonization focuses onregulation in the dietary dimension, while Four-Season Regimen isseasonal scheduling across the three dimensions of daily living + exercise + emotions. In Four-Season Regimen, diet is only one part; in Five-Flavor Harmonization, season is only one reference factor.
Difference from emotion-organ-proxy : The Emotion-Organ Model isinferring organ health from emotions and regulating in reverse, while in Four-Season Regimen emotional regulation isaligning the direction of the mind with the qi of the season(rising in spring, astringing in winter); the entry points of the two in the emotional dimension are completely different.

E — Executable Steps (Execution)

After the skill is activated, the agent should execute the following steps:

Determine the direction of qi movement corresponding to the current season (birth/growth/collection/storage)
- Completion standard: It is clear which season the current time belongs to, which of birth (spring), growth (summer), collection (autumn), or storage (winter) it corresponds to, and which organ it corresponds to (spring-liver, summer-heart, autumn-lung, winter-kidney)
Align the three dimensions of daily living, exercise, and emotions
- Completion standard: Specific suggestions for the three dimensions have been given for the current season:
  - Daily living: sleep time (early sleeping/night sleeping, early rising/late rising)
  - Exercise: intensity and method (stretching/intense/gathering/keeping warm)
  - Emotions: direction of the mind (rising/outward/peaceful/inward)
Check whether there are behaviors that go against the qi of the season and give warnings
- Completion standard: It has been checked whether the user's current life contains behaviors contrary to the seasonal qi (such as high-intensity exercise and heavy sweating in winter, or excessive suppression and not expressing in spring), and possible cross-season consequences have been pointed out

B — Boundary ★

Do not use this skill in the following situations

Acute illness or trauma (this is a health preservation framework, not an emergency plan)
Chronic diseases with a clear Western medical diagnosis (Four-Season Regimen is auxiliary and cannot replace professional medical care)
The user is in a special physiological state (pregnancy, postoperative recovery, etc.), and seasonal adjustments must follow medical advice

Failure modes warned about by the author in the book

Adjusting only one dimension while ignoring the others (such as changing only exercise without changing sleep schedule) greatly reduces the effect
Acting against the season without realizing it, for example, excessive exercise in the style of "training in the coldest days of winter" is, from the perspective of Suwen, going against winter qi and damaging kidney qi
Ignoring regional differences: Suwen's four-season plan is based on the climate of the Central Plains, and regions with extreme climates need to adapt to local conditions

The author's blind spots / limitations of the era

Suwen is based on the climate of the Central Plains more than two thousand years ago with four distinct seasons, and its applicability to non-typical four-season regions such as tropical, subtropical, and polar areas needs adjustment
Modern lifestyles (air conditioning, heating, artificial lighting) have greatly weakened the human body's perception of natural seasonal changes, and the conditioning effect may be reduced
The nutritional status of modern people differs greatly from that of the ancients, and the specific implementation standards for recommendations such as "sleep late and rise early" need modern interpretation

Adjacent methodologies that are easily confused

"Dressing and eating by the four seasons" is common life knowledge; what four-season conditioning provides isqi movement direction + three-dimensional alignment + cross-season chain reactionssystematic framework
"Biological clock regulation" is a modern scientific concept; four-season conditioning focuses on theannual cyclerather than the daily cycle

Related skills (to be filled in stage 3)

depends-on: yin-yang-balance — The theoretical foundation of four-season conditioning is yin-yang balance: spring and summer belong to yang (yang qi rising and growing), autumn and winter belong to yin (yin qi storing and hiding), and the essence of conditioning is to maintain the dynamic balance of yin and yang in different seasons. Without understanding yin-yang excess and deficiency, one cannot understand the principle of "nourish yang in spring and summer, nourish yin in autumn and winter."
composes-with: five-flavors-balance — Four-season conditioning covers the three dimensions of daily routine, exercise, and emotions, while five-flavor harmonization covers the dietary dimension. The two intersect in the dietary dimension—different seasons correspond to different zang-fu organs, and the dietary conditioning of zang-fu organs requires the precise coordination of the five flavors returning to the zang-fu organs (for example, nourishing the liver in spring is suitable for appropriately increasing sourness and reducing pungency).

Audit information

Verification passed: V1 ✓ / V2 ✓ / V3 ✓
Test pass rate: To be determined (see test-prompts.json for details)
Distillation time: 2026-04-18