According to Chinese medicine, emotions are a completely normal and natural manifestation of the internal organs. They are necessary and help to create an internal balance between Yin and Yang. The problem is not with emotions as such, but with emotions that are excessive, strong, or disproportionate to the given situation. These states are capable of upsetting the balance of our organism - weakening our Qi energy, creating an excess of it, or causing stagnation (blockages in the body). The old Chinese physician Li Ao wrote in the 9th century: "A wise person is not one who has no emotions. A wise person is one who has their emotions under control and maintains a calm mind."
In my therapeutic practice, I encounter two basic types of problems. The first are difficulties associated with the Spleen organ (simply put, digestion). Spleen energy is essential for the quality of our life. It transforms ingested food into Qi energy and blood, which is a kind of "fuel" for our organism. So that we can function in life at all, so that not only our muscles work, but perhaps also our brain. And if the Spleen does not transform food well and efficiently, if its digestive Qi energy is weakened, our organism begins to wither and opens the door for the development of diseases.
By the way, sometimes it is not entirely the fault of a weakened Spleen, but of low-quality food full of additives, colourings, and preservatives, which we often consume in excessive quantities. These foods do not contain the necessary nutrients from which the Spleen can produce quality Qi energy and blood. That is why I try to explain to my patients that they should focus more on quality than quantity in their diet. To eat variedly and, above all, regularly.
The second most common problem for my patients are problems caused by omnipresent stress and excessive or suppressed emotions. Stress is truly behind a whole range of health difficulties. Whether you admit it or not. Basically, there is nothing to be surprised about. Most of us are under stress permanently. We experience stressful situations at work, in our private lives, at government offices, in traffic jams. Even the media often focuses on information that triggers stress. But perhaps we create the most stressful situations within ourselves. We want what we cannot have. We are permanently dissatisfied with ourselves. We look back and plan what will happen in the future. And we forget to see what is today, here and now. What we have. Who we have beside us. And what makes us happy.
We live in an era that literally overflows our lives with emotions. Action films, literature, music, an endless number of possibilities for unconventional entertainment, "adrenaline" sports, fast and short relationships, trips across half the planet, social networks loaded with stories and photographs full of emotions. All this plays out our internal emotions, extremes that cause a so-called yin-yang imbalance in our body and subsequently illness.
It is important to realise that emotions are a natural reaction of the organs to internal or external stimuli. They help us balance the fluctuations of our life. When we live too yang-like or too yin-like.
In the Western way, we could say that they maintain internal homeostasis. The stability of the internal environment. Therefore, the problem is not with emotions as such, but with emotions that are excessive, strong, or disproportionate to the given situation. These states are capable of upsetting the balance of our organism.
Imagine your life as a sine wave. If the curve deviates upwards, you are living more in a yang way. If it deviates more downwards, you are living more in a yin way. What does this mean? A yang life is fast, energetic, and dynamic. We drive cars fast, work intensely, are forever running out of time, deadlines are our nightmare, we eat spicy and fried food in fast-food outlets, we don't have time to read any books, at most we manage to catch the news on television, which puts us in a state of mental discomfort. And sleep? That is just an unnecessary delay.
A yin life is slow and cold. No rushing, no active physical activities. We prefer to lie in bed and stuff ourselves with ice cream and whipped cream. Sport is definitely not for us. We are satisfied with television romances, we like sweet things, we eat a lot of vegetables and fruit so that we do not put on weight.
Chinese medicine recommends eliminating these excessive yang and yin fluctuations and sticking to the so-called golden mean. This is an idea that runs like a golden thread through the whole of Chinese medicine.
1) Joy - an emotion that belongs to the heart. Moderate joy is beneficial to the heart. However, excessive joy harms it, injures it and exhausts its Qi energy. Symptoms such as nervousness, inability to concentrate or psychological instability appear.
2) Anger and rage - emotions of the liver. In moderation, they help the liver to release its Qi, which has a tendency to become blocked. Conversely, if anger and rage are intense, their energy becomes blocked and tends to heat up. This leads to many scenarios of various imbalances in the organism. And in today's world, these problems are very common. Symptoms are very varied: headaches, irritability, various tensions, inability to relax, digestive problems, somatisation of stress, etc.
3) Grief - an emotion of the lungs. It tends to slow down their dispersing function. It causes symptoms such as loss of voice, cough, chest pressure, breathing problems, weakened immunity, etc.
4) Excessive rumination or brooding - an emotion of the spleen. It weakens the Qi of the spleen and thereby weakens digestion and causes various problems of the digestive tract, such as bloating, loose stools, fatigue, a feeling of heaviness in the limbs, etc.
5) Fear or shock - emotions of the kidneys. It causes Qi to descend downwards. Anyone who has experienced a major shock will agree with this statement, that with fear or shock there is a problem with maintaining urine or stool.
„Excessive joy, anger, anxiety, fear or sorrow – if these five control the spirit, they harm life.“
Therefore, if emotions exceed certain boundaries, they begin to harm us. And not only when they are excessive and extreme, when we dwell on them and stir them up, but also in cases where we suppress them. When we want to explode, but we know it is socially incorrect. We hold the emotion inside and stifle it. Both excessive and suppressed emotions cause a blockage at the Qi level. It creates a plug in the energy pathway (meridian) and Qi stops flowing freely.
Health, from the perspective of Chinese medicine, is a state where our body contains sufficient Qi energy and blood, and everything within it flows freely. Therefore, any obstacle in the flow of Qi energy signifies a problem, which usually develops into a series of "scenarios". Blocked Qi begins to block blood or phlegm, which already indicates a more serious problem. I will provide a concrete example: suppressed feelings of anger trigger Qi stagnation, which manifests as pressure in the hypochondrium or digestive problems. Later, blood or phlegm begins to accumulate at the site of the slowdown, causing the growth of uterine fibroids, ovarian cysts, or various masses in the breasts. I have seen this scenario in the vast majority of women with breast cancer.
Moreover, stagnation has a tendency to heat up, triggering heat in the organism, which is typically characterised by moving upwards, into the upper parts of the organism and even to the heart, where it begins to disturb the Shen soul, and we begin to feel restless and irritable. Or we sleep poorly. There are truly many such scenarios. And these excessive or suppressed emotions are capable of triggering states ranging from minor energy fluctuations to severe blockages that can lead to the development of carcinomas.
The difference between ancient Chinese society and today's society is that in ancient China, people strove to live in moderation. They tried to follow the golden middle path and live according to natural yin-yang cycles. This means they also tried to moderate their emotions. They strove to be able to control their emotions rather than having their emotions control them. Today's Western world is different. We do not try to keep our emotions in check; on the contrary, we seek them out.
Chinese medicine has a special herbal blend for these emotional-energetic blockages. The traditional formula Xiao Yao San (pronounced shao yao san) has been known for thousands of years. It is sold, for example, in the form of an herbal tincture. The blend contains two categories of herbs. One releases Liver stagnation and thus various energy blockages anywhere in our organism. The second strengthens the Spleen, or digestion. It is an ideal combination for addressing various psychosomatic problems. For states where stress begins to manifest in the body. Typically as a feeling of tightness or tension in the stomach area or under the ribs. A common manifestation is premenstrual syndrome. It is suitable for virtually all problems that are exacerbated by stress.
Xiao Yao San
Another type of blend for fluctuating emotions, which from the perspective of Chinese medicine is focused more on the "heart" where the Shen soul resides, is An Shen Ding Zhi Wan. The blend contains herbs that nourish heart blood and thereby act as an anchor for the Shen soul. If the Shen soul does not have a sufficient anchor, it has a tendency to fly. Such a person is then mentally ungrounded and easily excitable.
An Shen Ding Zhi Wan
There are more similar blends for psychological and emotional imbalances. You can find a more detailed overview at https://www.cinskyherbar.cz/domaci-lekarnicka.html in the Psychological Imbalances section.
We already know how Chinese medicine views emotions. But how do we work with them, how do we keep them in check so they do not start to control us and create imbalances in our organism? It is not simple, and in many cases, it will be entirely individual. We know ourselves best and know what works for us.
Try to perceive your emotions, to observe what a given life situation does to you. What feelings it evokes in you. Control them, but do not let them control you. Do not suppress them. There is one simple technique. Imagine a tower on a high hill. Climb it. Below you, you see a river - the river of your emotions and psychic movements. Observe how it flows. Sometimes the river is sluggish, other times the current is fast and wild. The point is to learn to observe emotions from the outside, from a distance, from the height of a lookout tower. As if they were happening completely apart from you. Try this especially in moments when your emotions are really strong, when you are very agitated, anxious or angry. It is a long-distance run, but if you go step by step, you will reach your goal.
On my computer desktop, I have a quote from the book Cesta do Jeruzaléma, which says: "A person must reconcile themselves to their fate as God determines it for them. There is no point in complaining that they would rather be someone else or somewhere else; rather, they should try to make the best use of the situation to fulfil God's intentions as best they can."
We are constantly dissatisfied with something and complaining about something. A terrible life. So the first thing I advise is to reconcile yourself to your fate.
Mind you, this does not mean that we should not occasionally change the state of things. That would not even be right. We just have to correctly estimate when we are able to change things and when we are not. On one church, there is a prayer written: "God, grant me the strength and courage to change the things I can change, grant me the humility to accept the things I cannot change, and grant me the wisdom to distinguish between these two situations." In that lies deep wisdom and a guide to a happy and contented life.
The problem is often also in the poor evaluation of the things that happen to us. We are excessive pessimists. We see many things as bad, as something that hurts us. Sometimes I tell myself that perhaps we should not divide things into good and bad, but into good and necessary. Perhaps we should not constantly be terrified of things that are coming. And certainly not of things that might come, but will probably never happen. As the pithy Czech proverb says: "Why take off your trousers when the ford is still far away." Let us be more optimistic. Let us look for the good in everything. Even if it is sometimes damn hard. But it is definitely worth it.
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