Like acupuncture or not, there’s an important lesson being offered.

I’m an acupuncturist in New York City. I love what I do, but not everyone does. My own parents thought I was nuts for the longest time, and some of my closest friends think acupuncture is quackery. Some days, even I say to myself Is this really my job, to stick teeny tiny needles in people? Indeed it is, and it’s a blessing to be able to do so.

I’ve seen some pretty remarkable things happen during the course of acupuncture treatment — infertile couples conceive and carry to term, debilitating arthritis pain become manageable, disfiguring skin conditions clear up, people emerge from depression. It’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but for those who seek its power, results usually follow.

Regardless of whether or not you believe in acupuncture, there’s an important lesson its theories have to offer everyone. One of these key theories is the idea of health preservation, yang sheng, rather than health recovery. Instead of having to pull people out of illness, why not just do everything you can to stay healthy?

Acupuncture theory has a number of recommendations on how exactly you can do that, but there’s one I want to point out to you here: Living in harmony with the seasons. Now what the heck does that mean? Well, it implies that there’s a rhythm to the year, an ebb and flow of certain feelings and energies as the seasons transition one into the next. I don’t think anyone would argue that there’s a logic to the sprouting buds of spring turning into full grown plants during the summer to be harvested in the fall.

Well, the ancient philosopher-physicians of China who brought acupuncture theory into the world took it further. They saw those rhythms in nature and also saw them within the body, and encouraged people to mimic those seasonal differences in the way they lived their lives.

The extended daylight of summer became rise early and go to be late in that season. The opposite being true in winter. Obviously, we can’t alter our work schedules to let us stay in bed until 10am just because it’s winter. What would our bosses say? But we can make smaller changes. We can embrace what sleeping late means by finding ways to be mellow or wake up slowly. During the summer, we can wake early and watch the sun rise. Think creatively. This is so doable.

We can also extrapolate this into eating seasonally. Find a greenmarket (farmer’s market) nearby and try to work with the locally grown produce available in whichever season we’re in. You’ll be doing something good for the local economy and you’ll also be boosting your nutrient intake. That sweet potato that’s been in cold storage at a nearby farm is a lot more nutritient dense than one that’s been shipped from across the world and is much older than the local one.

You can take this further too by thinking about what the season is all about, and then doing different things. Summer is alive; go socialize, laugh, live loudly. Autumn is a time for harvest; use this time to take stock. Winter is cold and quiet, things are asleep; spend time indoors doing quiet activities. Spring is awake and full of potential, plants are bursting forth; meet new people, pick up a new hobby, dream big.

Living in harmony with the seasons isn’t a panacea. Some diseases have a plan of their own. But when we live with a mind connected to the natural world, our bodies are stronger. We may live in a digital age, but we can still seek our roots. I hope you’ll give this a try.