What I learn

 

wisdom in traditonal chinese medicine

28. Secret of Yang Qi

1. Yang Qi refers to life activities of human bodies such as prompt thinking, brisk movement, which are external manifestations of Yang Qi.

2. Yin Qi goes hand in hand with the production of blood, semen and other body fluids.

3. Yang Qi supports life activities, and Yin Qi forms tangible matters of the body tissues and fluids.

4. Abide by the principles of nature; according to Lao Tzu,
Man models on Earth
Earth models on Heaven
Heaven models on the Way
The Way models on Nature

Yang Qi is from heaven and the sun; Yin qi is from earth and the moon – work during the day, rest during the night.
Yang Qi is at the external body during the day, it returns to the body at night – Yang Qi is needed to maintain Yin Qi at night – both Yang and Yin Qi must be in the body to enable body to keep well – if you exercise at night, Yang Qi cannot return into the body.

5. To look after Yang Qi, women should look after the spleen, stomach and blood while men should look after the kidneys and semen.

6. Hot-natured food promotes Yang Qi, cold natured food suppresses Yang Qi, e.g. 
i. watermelon is red and sweet, is cold natured – red is related to heart which is of hot nature, i.e. red things go to the heart, thus, watermelon reduces heat in heart as one will pee after eating watermelon.

ii. lichee is hot, sweet, gentle; if weak spleen and stomach, can eat lichee because can promote Yang Qi; but not for hot-natured person, it can cause inflammation, so boil lichee peel in water and drink because peel is cold-natured.
iii. fresh ginger is gentle; yellow goes to the spleen and stomach.
iv. pepper/chilli is hot-natured and promotes Yang Qi better.
v. old duck is hot-natured; young duck is cold-natured.
vi. American ginseng replenishes Yang Qi fluids, is best eaten in summer.
vii. Nuts, peanuts, chestnuts, hazels, are seeds, so are good vegetable protein – seeds have vitality, carrier of vitality – promotes kidney Qi.
viii. “Each place has streams come in from all over the country”, i.e. follow own local practices and customs to keep well.

7. In TCM, foods of specific nature are medicines such as watermelon, ginger, pepper.

8. Medicine is less effective than food.  Extractive medicine or chemosynthetic medicine – avoid artificial/chemosynthetic medicine as a specific function of the medicine is exaggerated.

9. In spring and summer look after Yang Qi; in autumn and winter, look after Yin Qi.

10. Negative emotions affect Qi, e.g. rage causes Qi to rise; anxiety causes Qi to depress.
Overthinking/overworking affects Yang Qi, the spleen – deficient Yang Qi causes loss of appetite, abdominal pain, diarrhoea.
Diabetes, depression also affects Yang Qi.

11. Yang Qi must transform and transmit in body; there should not be Qi stasis or this will lead to internal heat.

12. The Yin-Yang Fish in the Eight Trigrams/Baqua is reflective of the origins of the universe – according to Sun Simiao, if man does not understand the laws of the universe, he does not understand the principles of life; it’s about the relation between macro Yin-Yang and micro Yin-Yang.

* Sharing a nugget of vitality, not to be swallowed whole.

What I learn

 

wisdom in traditional chinese medicine

27.  Food in Ancient Chinese Culture

1. Bitter gourd = insulin

2. Garlic = antibiotics 

3. Peanuts with skin = red blood cells

4. Day lily = feel good feeling

5. Rice is important, rice is in Qi character; vegetable is important, it is in Jing character as field is in Shen character.

6. Based on number of teeth, i.e. 4 canines and 32 molars, it suggests that 1/8th meat in diet is enough.

7. Millet = ‘miyou’ which is better than milk

8. Sweet potato prevents obstruction in intestines, i.e. clean intestinal tract = longevity. Also, has cholesterol lowering ability, 10 times more than 130 other foods.

9. Vegetables must be fresh, green, yellow, red.  Must be bought fresh, not stored for days in fridge; green for chlorophyll and folic acid, yellow for carotene, red for lycopene.  Vegetable contain the character Shu which means grass and dredging, suggests able to open meridiens and clean obstruction.

10. Fruits cannot replace vegetables – eat less fruits but more times. 
Fruits can be classified as normal, hot or cold, e.g. banana (cold) puts one in good mood – has good adjustment effect; apple (normal) prevents dementia; persimmon (hot) must not be eaten with crab (hot).

11. Cooked with low heat.

Good to cook with slow fire, e.g. mantou is better than bread, both made from wheat but mantou is steamed.

12. Eat carbohydrates to burn fats.

13. Grain eater said to have wisdom and thinking ability; grazer to be stupid and labored; meat eater to be bold and hot tempered.  Too much meat increases abdominal heat, makes a person want to drink ice water.

14. Ice water is bad for abdominal brain, makes a person easily rejects others.

15. Abdominal brain = EQ; head brain = IQ

16. Functional food = target organ (food as medicine), e.g. walnut for brain; almond for heart; fish head soup nourishes brain.

17. Balance is health, adjustment is treatment.

*Sharing a nugget of vitality, not to be swallowed whole.

What I learn

wisdom in traditional chinese medicine

26. Chinese characters in TCM

1. Ai (in ai zheng, cancer) suggests a serious internal disease, caused by one’s emotions, thus, this disease is considered closely related to one’s emotions.  (ai used to be pronounced yan – the character is written as 3 rocks on 3 mountains)

When one cannot express emotions effectively, blood and Qi do not flow smoothly, one cannot discharge one’s metabolites, so metabolites will accumulate in the body and form bulges, which become malignant, i.e. then cancer.

2. Headache is a serious disease in TCM – the character headache has the passage character in it, which reflects a passage between two stone walls; it refers to the passage where Qi and blood of a person flow; where Qi and blood do not flow smoothly, there’s ache.  But to treat headaches, TCM doctors need to know if the headache is caused by cold, or internal injury, or deficiency of blood or Qi.

3. All characters relevant to both TCM and emotions contain the character xin (heart).  In TCM, human emotions are manifestations of internal organs.

4. According to TCM, a human has five major internal organs – liver, heart, spleen, lung and kidney which are associated with five emotions, namely, joy, anger, anxiety, grief and fear:
heart is related to joy (xi)

liver to anger (nu)
spleen to anxiety(you)

lung to grief (bei)
kidney to fear (kong)

e.g. 

(i) excessive anxiety damages the spleen/stomach; many intellectuals suffer from gastric ulcer because when they eat, they think about their problems, so blood flows to the head and not the stomach, thus, leading to stomach problem, i.e. Qi stagnation caused anxiety.
(ii) Qi will disperse when one bursts into excessive joy, causing spirit dispersion, affecting the heart as spirit is stored in the heart.

5. With development in society, the five emotions evolve into seven emotions, namely joy, anger, pensiveness (si), anxiety, grief, fear, fright (jing).

6. Difference between fear and fright in TCM – fright is related to heart. Unlike fear, fright is a kind of dread in the heart. In the bone oracle script, the character fear contains the pictorial of someone hammering the ground (gong) over the heart character – fear is associated with such a sound. If one is timid, scared all the time, he is short of kidney Qi, i.e. always scared for no reason, thus fear and kidney are closely related.

7. Fright is related to the heart (emotion that is caused by an external stimulation).
Fright (jing) shows a character composed of a lower horse character, thus, jing means a frightened horse; in TCM, it refers to being unprepared when an unexpected thing happens, one’s nerves are taxed.  (If fright persists it can become fear and moves to the kidney as fear (kong) is related to kidney.)

8. In TCM, diseases caused by the cold and summer are easier to treat but caused by the heart which is related to emotions are not so easy.  A person can stay healthy if he can control his seven emotions.  In TCM, all diseases come from the heart including those caused by exogenous pathogenic factors.

9. There are many radicals (of Chinese characters) closely related to TCM.

10. In TCM there are five emotions, there are also five secretions, namely sweat, tears, saliva, nose mucus and spit.
i. Saliva is different from spit as saliva is secreted by parotid gland while spit is secreted by sublingual gland.
ii. Tears are related to liver – liver can protect eyesight.  
iii. If a person drools excessively, his spleen and stomach have problem; if a baby drools, his spleen and stomach not fully developed yet – do not kiss the forehead or he will drool more.  
iv. Nose mucus is associated with lung because nose is the entrance of the lung.  Spit is associated with kidney Qi.  If kidney is weak, an old man goes often to the toilet at night; he needs to drink often too.
v. Sweat is directly associated with the heart – sweat is vital Qi, according to the Yellow Emperor Internal Canon.  It is part of blood.  Sweat is associated with blood veins, heart is also associated with blood veins.  Sweat is secreted by the body and blood veins, are closely connected by the heart.  
We should not sweat too much.  In TCM, “Those who lose a lot of blood won’t sweat and those who sweat a lot lack blood”.  Blood becomes thick due to excessive sweat.  Thick blood that cannot be discharged accumulates in the heart so causing metabolic imbalance, and one suffers from heart disease.  If one doesn’t sweat, Qi and blood do not flow smoothly; if one sweats excessively, Yang Qi and blood fluid are hurt.

 

* Sharing a nugget of vitality, not to be swallowed whole.

Maybe minute

 

Maybe minute

Maybe insignificant

Hold dear

Colours of breath

Gifts.

What I learn

 

wisdom in traditional chinese medicine

26. Three Treasures of Mankind

Three treasures of Heaven – sun, moon and earth

Three treasures of mankind – Jing (essence), Qi (life force) and Shen (mind)

25.1. Jing

1. Refers to ‘selecting rice of the best quality’; refers to the most important part in the human body, the essence.

2. Jing is called the ultimate source of life, and includes the brain, marrow, bones, blood, body fluid, sweat.  Body fluids are sweat and saliva.  All these are manifestations of Jing.  These are tangible substances in TCM, summed up as Jing.  

3. In TCM, ‘sweat is the fluid of the heart’.  Blood and sweat are of the same origin.  When you sweat too much the blood gets thicker.  The heart Qi weakens in its drive of blood, unable to give impetus to it, thus leading to blood blockage.  It is important not to sweat excessively.  

4. Aging starts from the legs.  If you do not exercise them, stomach and spleen will not function properly.

5. The liver stores blood.  If you can’t sleep well, it is related to one’s essence and blood.  When you lie down, blood goes to the liver, Yin and Yang are in harmony, thus you can sleep.  If there is deficiency of liver blood, failure to restore positive Qi, you are deprived of sleep because Yin and Yang are not in harmony.  In TCM chronic insomnia is due to insufficient liver Qi.  Yin is a part of body fluid, a part of the essence and blood.  During 1.00am to 3.00am liver Qi is most active.  People who work night shifts are unable to care for liver, have not enough blood in liver, and may face problem of fatty liver.

6. During summer and winter solstice, Yin and Yang energy alternates.  If sleep well in summer, the body will be comfortable for the second half of the year; if sleep well in winter, the body will be comfortable for the first half of the year.

7. Consequences of insufficient Jing:  Jing is the source of everything tangible; if insufficient, the complexion, blood, bones, muscles undergo drastic changes.  

8. Why osteoporosis?  Because of kidneys where Jing is stored.  Bone marrow comes from kidney Jing.  The kidneys manage bones, produce marrow.  Deficiency in kidney Jing results in shortage of marrow, leading to bone loss, growth of spurs.

9. Why dementia in the old or intellectual impairment in children?  The brain is a sea of marrow.  In TCM to treat dementia, treat the kidneys, reinforce the Jing.

10. Therefore, important to protect kidney Jing by

i. no excessive sexual intercourse

ii. maintaining functioning of spleen and stomach because spleen and stomach are sources of Qi and blood, foundation of production of Jing.

iii. not dieting because you lose nutrition from grains, etc

iv. caring for lungs because lungs are characterized by dryness; lungs dread being heated by fire.  For example, in autumn dry air can impair Jing causing dry mouth, parched tongue.  Thus, need to sweeten and moisten lungs, relieve cough by taking water chestnuts, pears.

11. Do not drink too much water.  Water is Yin, can impair positive Jing, cause edema.

25.2. Qi

1. The character Qi in Taoist text has the character ‘wu’ (nothing) which does not refer to non-entity but to its invisibility.  The four dots below refer to a mass of tangible substance, an invisible existence.

2. In TCM ‘People live for a single breath (qi)’.  Qi is the life force, Yuan Qi (innate Qi) in TCM.  ‘Genuine Qi is endowed by Heaven’ according to Huangdi Neijing.

3. Innate Qi is made up of three parts.  The meaning of Heaven is twofold – it refers to parents as well as breath of nature.  The third is grain Qi in the grain and water we consume.

4. To preserve innate Qi, there are three things to do – breathe fresh air; consume grains and water for spleen and stomach; preserve kidney Qi from parents.

5. Spleen and stomach are like sons and the heart is mother.  The heart pertains to fire by nature, the spleen and stomach to earth.

6. To protect Qi, do not breathe in haze; avoid food too cold or too hard.

7. Overthinking and overworking are not good, leads to deficiency in spleen Qi which leads to undernourishment of the internal organs, failure of the heart and death.

8. In TCM, has stomach Qi will live, without it you perish.  Thus, spleen and stomach are most important, can cause impairment of Qi.

9. Qigong is good because it involves movement of blood and Qi versus non-movement like thinking which can be exhausting.

10. TCM does not advocate surgical removal of any body organ because all organs make up the machinery in the body – some functions are evident some hidden; all organs have a role, even tonsils.

25.2. Shen

1. Shen is the force that governs life.  Shen’s original meaning is god.  The unpredictable Yin and Yang are called Shen in I Ching.  Shen in Chinese culture refers to god.  Shen in TCM refers to the heart.

2. The heart is the most important organ, one that decides.  Shen resides in the heart.  If Shen and heart are unsettled, the result is emotional problem.  It can affect Qi and Jing.

3. Emotional tranquility is key to Shen cultivation.  Peace of mind is prerequisite to Shen cultivation.  Genuine Qi is created in tranquility and nothingness.

4. Health maintenance in TCM emphasizes frequent exercise of the brain and body, not the heart.  When the heart is unsettled, it affects the five organs, and fire arrives.

5. The most important thing to do is to maintain balance, not to be too happy, not to be too sad.

* Sharing a nugget of vitality, not to be swallowed whole

The littlest, the commonest

 

For the littlest, the commonest

of things

Live a smile.