Fundamentals of TCM 12/5/04

The internal warmth that enables you to cope with cold weather as it comes up indicates a sufficient amount of yang qi. If someone doesn’t like air conditioning for example, they may have too much yang qi. A qi deficiency might be someone who can’t regulate his or her temperature.

Transformation

If you have good stomach qi, you can digest your food and sustain nourishment from it. It’s the strength of the qi that allows you to digest food.

Defense

This is the Wei qi. The evil pathogens are

Wind

The mother of 10,000 diseases. It can drive the pathogens into the body.

Cold

Heat

Dampness

Dryness

Summer Heat

A combination of dampness and heat, it also has connotations of cleanliness.

The Wei qi opens and closes the pores in your skin. If your Wei qi is strong, the pores will open and close at the appropriate time. Sweat is considered a good thing. If the Wei qi isn’t strong, the pores will relax and be open all of the time.

Containment

This is the qi holding “things” in properly. We need adequate amounts of qi holding the fluids in.

Kidney Qi holds the urine in the bladder and expels it at the proper time.

Spleen Qi keeps the blood within the body.

Excessive sweating would be a form of deficient qi (wei qi specifically). This is one of the nosey questions we ask people.

Because the kidneys are associated with the bladder and the emotion of fear, fear can cause people to loose controls of their bladders. Nighttime bed-wetting has been traced to fear and insecurity. (There was a study that showed that a large portion of the children who wet their bed at night came from divorced parents – i.e. the kids were insecure.)

The containment is also for stools

Internal organs need containment as well. Prolapsed organs, hemorrhoids or varicose veins are examples of poorly contained internal organs.

Problems with Qi

Stagnation

Qi moves four inches every time you breathe. It takes qi about 24 hours to pass through all of the organs in the body.

Qi stagnation:

Can be of qi or blood.

Can cause pain… This is channel qi not moving.

Qi can also stagnate in the bowels (can causing a feeling of fullness, or cramps). Belching of passing gas is a sign of stagnant qi.

Liver qi being stagnant causes pain the ribs or tightness in the lower ribs.

Stuck qi pain kind of comes and goes. It tends to be fairly mobile.

Qi stagnation can be caused by:

Trauma

Trauma can cause blood as well as qi stagnation. After trauma, the area “above” the trauma will be warm and “below” the trauma will be cold.

Diet

Diet can also cause qi stagnation.

Eating at the wrong time

Eating because you are stressed

Eating the wrong foods.

Pathogens

The six pathogenic forces can cause the qi to stagnate. Wind qi can block the lung qi causing coughing.

It can be caused by emotional stress. The liver can especially be responsible for this. Anger can really stagnate your qi more than other things.

Deficiency of Qi

A deficiency of qi will manifest itself along one of the 5 activities of qi.

Illness (defense)

Long term illness can be especially draining

Old age (warming)

Weak Constitution (containment)

Not eating properly. (transformation)

Poor diet.

Working to exhaustion (activation)

It’s not the Japanese who are burning the candle at both ends anymore.

Qi can rebel

Counter flowing qi. A cough is the counter flow of lung qi. Vomiting is counter flowing stomach qi. Hiccup’s burping is counter flowing stomach qi.

Collapsed Qi

If qi is deficient over a longer period of time it can collapse. An organ can prolapse as a result of collapsed qi. Anything that can cause qi deficiency over time can make the qi collapse.

Blood

It nourishes all the tissues of the body.

If the tongue is pale you have a blood deficiency. Having a poor memory could be a blood deficiency for the brain. This could also be the cause of dizziness.

Blood also maintains our body mass.

Blood deficient folks might look thin and have dull, yellow sking.

The menstral cycle requires blood.

A regular menstral cycle is the sign of good blood health in a womans body.

Problems with Blood

Deficiency of blood

We don’t say anemic.

Poor Diet

Okra is a good blood building food. Blackstrap molasses has more iron and calcium than steak or milk. Red meats are also good. Dang Gui is the women’s version of ginseng and is good for building blood. (Ginseng is considered more for men.) This is something that takes a while.

Some women bleed excessively and can easily lead to blood deficiency.

Trauma can cause blood deficiency.

Stagnant

Trauma can cause.

You’ll see a purple tongue that corresponds with a specific part of the body.

Too Hot

You can get heat in the blood by your emotions. (Too angry). Over time stagnant things get warm.

Eating spicy foods.

Warm weather.

It scorches the blood vessels and you get bleeding problems. So a nosebleed could be considered access heat in the blood.

The reckless movement of blood is also called bleeding.

Coughing blood up can be caused by excessive heat in the blood. Alternately, blowing your nose bringing up a little blood. The hot condition can cause the bleeding problem.

Blood and Qi

Blood needs qi to move it around. Qi needs blood to be nourished. It’s just like a good marriage.

Formation of Qi

Da qi, from the air combines with Gu qi and Yuan qi combine to form True Qi.

Da Qi, (Great Qi or Cosmic Qi)

Brought in from the air we breath.

Gu Qi (food Qi)

The spleen “sponges” energy off (transforming) of the stomach where the food is “rotting and ripening” and transports the gu qi to the lungs.

Jing (Essential Qi)

This is the treasure store in the kidneys. It’s the “spark”

Formation of blood

This is more yin than qi (it’s solid and fluid). It’s formed in a similar manner. But the spleen is more associated with blood production. It still requires Gu, Da, and Yuan qi. It still forms in the lungs but it has one additional step. It has to pass to the heart and is changed to red. It takes an additional step. Some say that the heart actually creates the blood. Most blood problems are dealt with by dealing with the spleen.

Types of Qi

There are 15 types of qi. Some of the qi’s we care about are:

Meridian Qi

Connects the various parts. Often just referred to as simply Qi. There are two types:

Ying Qi, Construction Qi, Nutritive Qi

The vital energy. It nourishes the blood. It’s relatively yin and closely related to blood. It’s a “blood like” qi. It’s what causes the blood to move. “Herding” it along.

Wei Qi (defense)

It’s rough and tough and more yang than the ying qi. It combats foreign materials. Where you have spasms or soreness is where the wei qi has been blocked.

Organ Qi

Zang Organs

Heart Qi

Lung Qi

Spleen Qi

Kidney Qi

Liver Qi

Fu-bowels

Small Intestine QI

Large Intestine Qi

Stomach Qi

Urinary Bladder Qi

Gall Bladder Qi

Zong Qi (Ancestral Qi, Gathering Qi)

This is a very primordial qi. It’s the qi that gathers in the chest. It’s the qi that drives the heart rate and the respiration. It’s closely connected to the lungs and breathing and the hearts action. It governs the heart and respiration and the blood flow. Don’t worry about it however. It’s used more conceptually.

Zheng Qi (right qi)

This is the whole body’s defense, not just the Wei qi. Everybody is doing their part. Everything is working optimally together. Wei qi would be just the army fighting the battle. Zheng qi is the air force, the coast guard, the navy, the pentagon, the president, everyone.

Zhong Qi

Zhong means middle. This is the middle jiao (places).

Yang Qi

This is the fire for the triple burner. It comes from the kidneys.

San Jiao (triple warmer or triple burner)

This is not a physical entity, it’s more a process, pathway or communication system. It communicates between the different organs. It communicates food, water and air between the organs of the body. It has a name but it has no shape.

It also refers to where the organs are in the body.

The triple burner qi regulates the free flow of fluids in the body for proper water metabolism.

The triple warmer makes sure that the sheng cycle distribution of the qi happens (moves) between the organs (see picture).

Upper Jiao

Contains the organs: Lungs & heart

Associated with the Zong Qi

This is located from the diaphragm up.

It’s like a mist. It is made of qi and fluids in a gaseous state. The lungs move the mist just under the skin so it can moisten the skin.

Includes the da qi from the lungs.

Middle Jiao

Contains the organs: Stomach, spleen, liver, and gall bladder

Associated with the Zhong qi.

This is located from the diaphragm to the belly button.

It’s like foam. This is the digestion area where things are being cooked down in the stomach (being rotted and ripened).

The gu qi comes from the middle jiao.

Lower Jiao

Urinary Bladder, Large & Small intestine, Kidney, Uterus

This is located from the belly button down.

This is like a sluice.

The fire for the lower Jiao comes from the Ming – Men – Huo (Life – gate – fire) or the heat from the kidney yang or yang qi or pilot light.

Problems with the San Jiao

Insufficient Yang

If there is a deficiency of the kidney qi, you end up with cold diluted middle jiao, and you won’t get enough blood or qi. It tends toward a colder situation throughout the body. Somebody might have clear-food diarrhea – the food looks the same going in as it does coming.

Insufficient Yin

If there isn’t enough water in the pot you have a yin deficiency

Excessive Yang

You could have too much yang and there’s too much heat. It will burn off all the fluids in the pot. (Like a high fever in the body).

Excessive Yin

Too much yin in the middle jiao will cause a watery “soup”.

There is a difference between too much heat and to little yin. Too much can manifest as redness all over the faces as opposed to too little yin (humor desertion) would be “malar flush” or just spots of red on the cheeks. The tongue would have a red tongue body with a lot of yellow thick coat (scorched) with too much yang. The tongue would have a scorched to missing coat with too little yin. A surplus of yang will tend to act out more, where a yin deficiency might be fidgety, but not act out as much.

Fluids (jin ye)

Fluids moisturize the body. They moisturize the skin, the mucus, the flesh, the organs, the bones, the joints, the tears, and sweat. There’s a relationship between fluids and blood. There are yin and yang fluids.

Jin

These are the more yang fluids.

These are the more superficial fluids. They are the ones you can see: Tears, Sweat, or saliva for example.

They are relatively thin and more watery.

Ye or yeh (humor)

These are more yin fluids. They are thinker and more viscus. They are found deeper in the body; synovial fluids or spinal fluids for example.

Fluid creation

The stomach extracts the fluids from the foods we bring in. Not bringing in enough fluids or excessive sweating can cause fluid deficiency.

It’s not so easy to replenish the ye fluids. Running out of spinal fluid is more painful than running out of tears for example.

Fluids need qi to be formed, to be moved and to be properly contained.

Fluid problems

Fluids can be damaged

By a long fever or high fever.

Excessive urination (dehydration, diarrhea, disease or diuretics)

Humor Desertion

This is a more serious fluid damage. This is yin fluid damage. You are getting damage deep inside the body. Fever for an extended period of time. This is combined with poor health. The tongue will look a dark red or crimson or burgundy. The tongue coat may even peel off. This is like the smoke that comes up from the digestive fire. It should be at least in the middle of the tongue. The tongue will look kind of shiny in the center of the tongue or perhaps the side. This would be a yin deficiency. This can progress to the point where it is all gone to the point that the tongue is glossy or mirrored. When this happens even the taste buds will have receded back into the tongue.

Cracks on the tongue can show longer term baking of fluids in the body.

Too much fluid

Edema or Chinese would say water swelling. This is also called phlegm-rheum. It can go from damp to rheum to phlegm in order of badness.

You can have edema in the upper, middle, and lower portions in the body corresponding to problems in the lungs, spleen, and kidneys.

Clear vs. Turbid (pg 58)

Food and drink enters the body. The spleen transforms the clean fluids (gu qi) and sends it to the lungs. The lungs help disperse the fluids (like a mist) to the rest of the body. The dirty fluids are sent down to the small intestines. The small intestines separate the pure to the bladder and the impure to the large intestine. The bladder separates the pure from the impure. The impure is excreted as urine; the pure is used as sweat. The large intestine absorbs the pure and excretes the impure as stool.

Qing fluids are clean and can be used by the body.

Zhuo fluids are turbid and are passed to the next organ or out of the body.

Shen (spirit)

It is stored in the heart. This is the awareness or spark of consciousness. A disturbed shen is someone who has too much anxiety or mentally unbalanced. Shen is considered a yang thing. The shen needs healthy amounts of blood to nourish it. Heart stores the shen. You need sufficient amounts of blood to sleep well at night.

Part of your shen is from your parents. The other part of your shen is your life experiences. (pre-natal and acquired)

You can be deficient in shen

You can have a disturbed shen

Jing (Essence) – Essential Qi

This is stored in the kidneys. This has to do with our growth, development, reproduction and aging.

For little boys they start to create sperm, in girls it triggers the start of menstruation.

Delays in development can be caused by insufficient essential qi. Delays in talking, walking, closing of the bones, slow closing fontanel and intellect. The herbal formulas for dealing with these problems all help the kidneys.

There are two sources of essential qi. Some books say they are mixed in the kidneys and some keep them separate. If you keep the acquired topped off, you never have to use the pre-natal qi.

Your ability to have children or healthy children depends on your amount of essential qi after you’re done using it for life.

Congenital or prenatal

It’s a gift from the parents. There is a fixed amount of this essence.

Acquired

Dependent on what you put in your body everyday.

At the time of your birth, your first breath is the spark from your zong qi. The first breath sends the zong qi down into the kidneys. This will “kick start” the rest of the organs so you can start living independently from mom. In western medicine they found that the extra kidney tissue is present when you are in the womb but they have no idea where it goes after you are born. (It’s called the mesonephron.)

Lung

It’s the only zang organ that has a connection to the outside. It is considered the most external of all the organs. It’s perceived as a canopy or lid over the other organs. It is an intermediary between the outside world and us. When you catch a cold it is in the lungs and not the other organs. The lung is more vulnerable to pathogenic influences.

The lungs are like the ministry from whom directives are issued.

The lungs store phlegm.

The emotion is anxiety or sadness.

Qi is associated with the lungs.

The lungs are said to dominate the Qi.

Functions of the lung

Governs Qi and Respiration

Every time you inhale and exhale the qi moves 4 inches.

The inhaling and exhaling of the lungs sets the pace/rhythm/tempo for all of the other organ qi.

Controls Channels and Blood Vessels

The lung channel begins in the middle burner (deep). It heads down to connect with the large intestine. It heads back up to the lungs, and keeps going up to the throat. It hits the surface right above the color bone and heads along the surface down to the last point on the outside of corner of the thumb nail. (Lung 11). It runs in close parallel to the large channel meridian along the arm.


Lung Channel	Large Intestine Channel

Controls Dispersing and Descending

Provides the downward motion of the qi to help get rid of urine.

Associated with a downward motion

Depurative down bearing… Brings the heavenly influences down into the body. In Chinese medicine, the kidneys aren’t grasping the Da Qi in asthma.

If the descending functioning is impaired, you can have coughing, and breathlessness – a real stuffiness in the chest.

The downward motion is required by the urinary bladder and the large intestine.

Regulates the upper water (fluids) passages

Specific moisture in the body is sweat and urine. The lung circulates fluids and is responsible for the diffusion of sweat and the process whereby upper body fluids precipitate downward into urine.

The lung receives the fluids from the spleen (From the mother to the daughter Ke relationship).

Controls the skin and the body hair

The health of the skin and body hair is dependent upon the lungs. The exhalation distributes the mist throughout the skin. If the Wei qi is operating properly you’ll sweat as you breath out. The lung qi and Wei qi are very closely related. The lung helps the Wei qi spread throughout the body. The Wei qi helps to warm the space between the skin and the muscles.

Opens to the nose

Having a sense of smell is determined by the lung qi. Lung channel points can help restore the sense of smell.

Runny, stuffy, congested nose and throat tell you that you have or are getting a cold (attack of the lungs).

A lot of throat problems are treated with lung points (The outside corner of the thumb.)

Houses the Corporeal Soul (po)

The spirit or the soul has two parts. One that dies when you die, and one that lives on. The Po is the part that stays with you when you take your last breath. It’s left with the body when you die.

The corporeal soul has a lot to do with your ability to sense (your sensations). None of your senses are needed in the next world. The emotion of grief or sadness is associated with this part of the soul.

Hooked to the Large Intestine

The meridians flow next to each other and actually intersect at the styloid process (that little bump in the wrist). They also intersect deep inside the body. If you’ve got a cold, make sure the bowels are still working!

The large intestine is the last link with water recycling.

Associated with west

Associated with metal

The Chinese word for metal also means gold. Gold is one of the most “fragile” metals just as the lungs are considered “delicate”. It always has a beautiful sheen to it. The skin should also have a sheen to it.

Associations with other organs

Large Intestine

The lung and large intestine have an interior – exterior relationship. Herbal treatment of one often involves the other.

Spleen

The spleen constantly sends the gu qi up to the lungs. When the spleen does not transform nutrients properly it sends up turbid phlegm that then accumulates in the long.

Heart

The heart and lung work together on the circulation of blood and qi. This is done using ancestral or the zong qi.

Kidneys

The lungs send great qi down to the kidneys that help us to give power to kidney Yang, also known as the life gate fire (Ming Men Huo).

Problems with the lung

Dryness is the pathogen that can cause the most problems in the lung.

Asthma, colds, emphysema are problems just like in western medicine.

If the lungs aren’t working properly you are apt to get stagnant qi and stagnant blood.

Wind cold invades the body, the downward motive force is disabled, the Wei qi isn’t working properly any more (you feel cold and hot at the same time). The cough comes from lung function being disturbed. The stuffy/runny nose comes from the wind-cold disturbing the functioning of the lung. The aches come from the qi blockages caused by the blockages from the wind-cold cold. When you sneeze you are getting rid of the wind. Sneezing isn’t so bad; you are externalizing the pathogens.

The lung controls the voice. Those with a weak lung qi will mumble or not want to speak. It give power behind the voice. (Not to be confused wir speech itself.)

In healthy people the mist of the upper burner is dispersed evenly, if the function is impaired the fluids may collect (edema).

Spleen

The spleen, stomach, large and small intestine are considered the organs of digestion in Chinese medicine.

The spleen is found in the middle jiao. It’s in charge of nourishment for the whole body. It’s the foundation and sustenance for our existence. It extracts nutrition from the grains and fluids it transforms it into qi and blood. It’s called the foundation of our acquired (postnatal qi). It is the source of our acquired qi.

It’s the spleen qi that contains the internal organs.

Hemorrhoids, prolepses of the organs, hernia, varicose veins, the blood staying within the veins is a result of the spleen qi.

Weak spleen qi may cause excessive menstrual bleeding or excessive bruising.

Anatomically it’s in the middle, but functionally it’s the basis for all of the other organs.

The spleen qi moves upwards taking the gu qi up to the lungs. If the spleen is healthy there will be adequate amounts of qi and blood in the body.

Governs movement and transformation of grain and water and distributes.

It transforms and transports.

It absorbs the nutrients (the gu qi) through the wall of the stomach and transports it to the lungs. If this is going well the digestion will be good. If the spleen is in disharmony it is possible that deficient qi or blood will result. Problems with digestion may also occur. (Food allergies, etc…)

It manages the blood

Blood is associated with the spleen

When you see problems with blood in the body we treat the spleen.

Associated with the flesh

The ability to move the muscles and to have healthy muscles depend on the spleen. In America, people can get spongy flesh/muscles if their spleen isn’t functioning well. Is the spleen making good use of the food qi that is brought in.

Opens to the mouth

People with anemia have very pale lips.

People with nice rosy lips means you have healthy amounts of blood in the spleen.

The taste buds can register taste properly as well. People with a funny taste in their mouth can be a spleen problem.

Too much drooling can be a spleen problem.

The coating of the tongue is a result of smoke of the heat of digestion. There should be a coat on the tongue. That’s natural and healthy.

Too much of a tongue coating can mean that there’s too much smoke, stagnation or too much dampness in the digestion; an overloading of the digestion system.

Associated with the fu-bowel stomach.

Stomach qi goes down, spleen qi goes up. They have to coordinate their actions. If the stomach qi doesn’t go up, you throw up, if the spleen qi doesn’t up you get diarrhea.

The stomach likes things dam; the spleen likes things dry. The stomach doesn’t like heat; the spleen likes heat.

The stomach receives the foods. So, changes in appetite have to do with the stomach. Being ravenous or not hungry at all are problems with the stomach. Ravenous appetite can be caused by an over active fire in the stomach (Stomach Fire – the person might also seem kind of red, especially in the middle of the tongue. The pulse will also get faster with heat. Excessive water drinking… To treat, you’d use acupuncture to take stomach heat out).

The stomach ingests, the spleen digests (transforms and transports)

Stomach governs intake and decomposition of grain and water

Stomach qi goes down.

Stomach deals with ingestion, not necessarily digestion. However, if the spleen isn’t behaving harmoniously, ones appetite might be affected as well.

The best time to eat is 7 through 9 in the morning. That’s when the stomach qi is most active. In the evening the stomach yin is more in control. Not the time to be eating.

S.I. – Clarity

It governs fluids. It separates the clear fluids from the turbid, waste fluids.

Problems with the small intestines can cause cloudy urine or bowel problems.

L.I. – Transformation and conveyance of waste

Governs the transformation and conveyance of waste. It receives the solid waste and forms it into stool. It reabsorbs fluids so that stools have the proper consistency.

Preoccupation

Chocoholics (pre-occupation with sweets)

If you have good spleen, your mind will be focused. You can concentrate. Your attention is centered. You have a solid foundation for your thoughts.

Being spacey or preoccupied may indicate problems with the spleen.

Problems with the spleen

Digestion problems

Preoccupation problems.

The spleen is hurt by dampness. Dampness of the spleen can cause diarrhea. (excessive Urpy, nausea, heaviness) Too much fluid can lead to that fluid being cooked down to form phlegm. This can cause mental illness, lots of obstructions and problems in the body. Phlegm is the cause of a wind strike – a stroke. Alzheimer’s disease is like that (plaque on the nerves). (If you can’t figure something out (diagnose) - suspect phlegm!)

Yellow vegetables help build the spleen – carrots, yams, potatoes.

Eating cold raw salads can be hard on the spleen. (its cooling)

Dairy products can be hard the spleen (it produces phlegm).

Cold foods and greasy foods are hard on the spleen.

Sweets are hard on the spleen.

If you get angry, the liver can invade the stomach/spleen causing a loss of appetite.

People tend to get a yellow tint to the complexion if they have edema or a blood deficiency.

The kidney yang is required for proper digestion as well. You get clear food diarrhea (cock’s crow diarrhea).

Channels

The outside of the big toe is spleen 1. (just on the outside corner of the big toenail (prick to bleed). It’s good for menstrual bleeding.

Stomach channel start on the eye, loops around the ear down the front of the body down the groin and outside (yang) of the leg down to the second toe.