Your Body & Emotions, Are They Connected?
“Overindulgence in the five emotions - happiness, anger, sadness, worry or fear, - can create imbalances. Emotions can injure the Qi, while seasonal elements can attack the body. Sudden anger damages the yin Qi; becoming easily excited or overjoyed will damage the yang qi. This causes the Qi to rebel and rise to the head, squeezing the Shen out of the Heart and allowing it to float away. Failing to regulate one’s emotions can be likened to Summer and Winter failing to regulate each other, threatening life itself.”
The ancient Chinese texts often read like poetry, not medical journals! In order to understand them, we have to put preconceived ideas aside and try and resonate with the beautiful tapestry woven with subtle but significant mirroring of the earth and our bodies.
In Chinese Medical philosophy there is the concept of “Jing” or life force. It is composed of: Pre-Heaven Qi and Post-Heaven Qi. Pre-heaven Qi can be thought of somewhat like DNA, Post-Heaven Qi can be viewed as environmental factors. our response to what we perceive (our emotions) and our diet. We can preserve the Pre-Heaven Qi and alter the Post-Heaven with our lifestyle choices, perceptions/reactions and habits. We are thought to be born with a certain amount of Jing and when it runs out, we die. We have the ability to alter this decline, however, with our lifestyle choices.
Post-Heaven Qi in the ancient texts includes that which we take in as food, drink and via the air (or our environment) which in turn is properly stored in our Kidneys as “Essence”. Our digestive system is thought of as the Earth element - and denoted as the “Spleen, or Spleen/Pancreas”. It’s ability to transform or absorb nutrition from our food is paramount. Recent discoveries about the gut and its diversity of bacteria/micro-biome are concurrent with this Ancient thought.
We see how emotions are connected to organs (or the organ process) as energy is connected to an element. One purpose of acupuncture is to balance these “organ systems” and thus affect the emotions involved. Central to everything in this system is the “Spleen-Pancreas" which is equated to the gut. It is denoted as the "Earth" and when out of balance "Worry" or "Circular Thinking" and "Pensiveness" is predominant. The Earth Element happens four times per year between each season, all the others occur one time per year. When the Liver, which is thought of as "wood", is out of Balance, one feels Anger. Fear is revealed when the kidneys are weak and denoted by 'Water. The Lungs, represented by "Metal" or "Minerals" hold grief and the "Heart" or the "Sun" can show mania or lack of Joy when not balanced properly. But central to everything is the gut or the “Spleen-Pancreas” denoted by the Earth.
We each are born with an imbalance, possibly on purpose! Each imbalance comes with its own emotion, organ system and channels in the body. Illness occurs when we are imbalanced and cannot easily maintain it.