Originally Posted on January 12, 2010.

How can we adjust our psychic and body rhythm to suit the season? What happens within us is mirrored by the natural world around us. During the frost of winter, plants submerge their lifeblood into their roots, animals thicken their hides, and ponds harden into ice. This is a time of apparent quiescence and stasis, yet beneath the surface is the hidden activity of gestation and germination that will bring forth renewal in spring.

The Kidney is the organ system that shares the power of Winter. Just as the bear survives upon accumulated reserves, the Kidney harbors our Essence that feeds and renews our life force. It is the Kidney that supports the reproductive organs governing sexuality, as well as engendering the structural elements of the body that regulate growth and regeneration. This is dependent upon an adequate store of Essence, which gives rise to the marrow, which produces the brain, spinal cord, bones, teeth, blood, and hair. Whereas Kidney Yin controls the juicy Essence, Kidney Yang kindles metabolic process. All the other organs depend upon the Kidney for moistening and regeneration (Yin), and for animation and warmth (Yang).

The Kidney is vulnerable to damage by exposure to physical cold–cold weather or air conditioning and by the ingestion of iced or refrigerated foods and beverages. Kidney Yin is subject to damage by chemical agents, such as antibiotics, food additives, air pollutants, and recreational drugs. Inadequate intake of water and too much bitter, salty, or spicy foods may also be harmful. Likewise, too little sleep, excessive exercise, sexual activity, or work undermines the Kidney.

Black beans or aduki beans cooked with marrow-filled bones, along with roasted peanuts, garlic, ginger, walnuts, and butter are warming and nourishing foods for winter. This is the time to rest, accumulate reserves, and take stock, reflecting upon how our lives match what we envision for ourselves as we attempt to close the gap between what we imagine and what we see.

The theories of Chinese medicine resemble those of Hans Selye, the biological scientist who first employed the term stress in his seminal book, The Stress of Life. Selye articulates the theory that most chronic illness is due to a deterioration of the organism’s capacity to adapt to stress, whether physical or psychological. He emphasizes the primary role of the adrenal and other endocrine glands in mediating the body’s response to all forms of stress, arguing that it is only after these mechanisms fail to restore homeostasis that the characteristic features of disease begin to appear in accord with the unique predispositions and acquired weaknesses of each individual.

It seems that both Hans Selye and Zhang Zhong Jing agree that people initially become sick in similar ways, but if recovery does not occur quickly enough, they become chronically ill in more diverse and idiosyncratic ways. They also agree that it is the body’s intrinsic ability to recover its own equilibrium that sustains health and prevents the development of chronic illness. In other words, the adequacy of Qi equals the adequacy of adaptive reserves–referred to by modern neuro-physiologists as the competence of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis. The physiology of the hypothalamus, pituitary and adrenal glands and their roles in producing the hormones that regulate all psychological and physiological functions corresponds closely to the functions of the Kidney Network as described in Chinese medicine.

It is the Kidney Network that is responsible for maintaining the body’s vital primary functions such as: mental alertness, sensory responsiveness, respiration, circulation, blood pressure, osmotic pressure, temperature, fluid balance, and for conserving the body’s material substrate–sometimes referred to as protoplasm or ground substance–called Essence, the primordial form of Qi.

It is Essence that generates the fundamental material components (marrow, semen, synovial and cerebrospinal fluid) and structural matrix (collagen, the delicate, elastic lattice of bone and connective tissue) of the body as well as its ability to maintain proper temperature, pressure, solidity and fluid balance. Without these basic elements in place, immunity to pathogenic organisms like bacteria, viruses, and fungi, and resistance to physical or chemical stressors such as changes in weather, altitude and pressure, dust and pollens, or chemical contaminants in air, water, and food is very difficult to maintain.

In addition to the Kidney Network, those of the Spleen and Lung are crucial to preserving strength and immunity. It is the Spleen Network that governs the processes of digestion and assimilation from which we derive the nutrients that generate the Qi, Moisture, Blood, and Essence required to sustain the activities of daily life. It is the Lung Network that invigorates the body with the essences of air (oxygen, invigorating fragrances, moisture) and governs the skin and mucus membranes that constitute the body’s protective boundaries. Finally, it is the integrated functions of these three Networks that comprise our psychological vigilance and physiological immunity–the power to resist the damaging effects of noxious substances, invading microbes, strenuous physical demands, mental weariness and emotional strain.

Chinese medicine does not absolutely distinguish between diseases induced by external, internal, and behavioral factors. It considers all sickness to be a product of the organism’s inability to preserve its own equilibrium in response to constant and inexorable fluctuations, inwardly and outwardly.

An individual may appear restored, feeling relatively well for many years after being exposed to extremely stressful events such as contact with pesticide sprays, physical injuries, extreme emotional or physical violence, fright, or prolonged weakness following an infectious illness, without recognizing the ensuing fragility of bodily resistance due to the depletion of adaptive reserves–the shrinking reservoir of Qi. It may be the next destabilizing event, whether inhaling paint fumes, a sudden emotional shock, a severe bout of flu, or even food poisoning, that can trigger the rapid emergence of a disabling malady.

It is the overarching goal of Chinese medicine, in accord with its own medical concepts and methodologies, to invigorate the individual’s power to function in a natural and integrated way. By utilizing the methods of herbal medicine (the use of natural botanical, animal, and mineral substances combined into specific formulas to be taken in the form of extracts, teas, powders, pills, and tablets to strengthen the body and antidote pathogenic influences); acupuncture (the insertion of thin, sterile, stainless steel needles at specific locations along the channels traversing the surface of the body in order to regulate Qi and restore physiological and psychological equilibrium); or dietary therapy (the use of special combinations of foods and herbs to nourish and strengthen the body and antidote pathogenic influences), the Chinese medicine provider seeks to enable the organism to become self-regulating, self-correcting, and self-sustaining.

While a condition of robust health is not always completely attainable, these gentle and non-invasive methods will almost always result in improved immunity, vigor, and functionality. In addition, Chinese medicine can help to prevent or reverse many of the harmful effects of modern Western medical treatments such as surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, and other pharmaceutical therapies that may be deemed necessary and appropriate to preserve and prolong life. Combining Western biomedicine with Chinese traditional medicine enhances a person’s ability to withstand the impact of aggressive interventions while maintaining strength and immunity, accelerating the rate of recovery and increasing the probability of long term survival.

“Plump apple, smooth banana, melon, peach…Instead of words, discoveries flow out from the ripe flesh, astonished to be free…O knowledge, pleasure—inexhaustible.”  Rainer Maria Rilke

Developing to the fullest potential for splendor and fulfillment

Psyche and body shift to suit the rhythms of the seasons.  In Summer we shed the heavy boots needed for snow, allowing naked feet to feel the sand sneaking between our toes as we meander along the edge of the beach.  Just as the butterfly escapes the protective, constricting cocoon of the caterpillar, we leave behind the slower, inward focus characteristic of winter to witness this time when plants and creatures develop to their fullest potential for splendor and fulfillment. Yang is dominant—light, warmth, activity, and interaction peak.  A brilliant sun climbs to its zenith amidst the hum of bees buzzing.  The Heart is the organ system that shares the power of summer.  As the sun accelerates the life streams of the earth, the Heart squeezes the living juices of the blood through the vessels, imbuing the body with awareness.  

Summer represents the universal and enveloping space into which we grow and expand

Summer and Winter, Heart and Kidney, are like two ends of a rainbow, distinct and unfathomable, drawing between them the multicolored luminous ribbon of our being, a dimension bounded on one end by Yin and the on the other by Yang.  Summer, this expansive time of the Heart, represents the universal and enveloping space into which we grow and expand.  While the Kidney is seed and root, the Heart is flower and fruit.  Like Dionysus, the Kidney is associated with the subconscious, primal forces of nature, whereas like Apollo, Greek god of the sun, the Heart symbolizes wakefulness and the development of wisdom and compassion.  In this culmination of the seasons turning, our longing for the womb is met with our reaching for union with the divine.  

Connecting our inner life and external universe

 In Chinese medicine the Heart is like a benevolent and enlightened head of state, all-knowing and ever-present, devoted to the good of the whole, and responsible for the expression and integration of our life experience as we develop and mature. The Heart propels the blood through the body and envelops the mind. Just as the sun provides warmth and light for all creation, so the Heart suffuses and permeates the body with consciousness, sensation, and feeling.   The Heart connects our inner life and external universe—it is the foundation of the mind and gives rise to our capacity for thought, perception, sensation, speech, communication, and memory.  What the Kidney receives through the sense organs, the Heart expresses through speech, the resonance of the voice, radiance of the complexion and sparkle of the eyes.

 The Heart is vulnerable to shocking surprise and inordinate sorrow, and these can disrupt the perfusion of blood and the continuity of consciousness.  When the Heart has been overwhelmed by emotional trauma, a person may suffer a break with reality, a heart attack, or stroke.  If the blood of the Heart is insufficient, even without trauma, the mind loses its place to dwell and the spirit wanders, manifesting as forgetfulness, distraction, restlessness, and disturbed sleep.  The Heart becomes overactive and overheated when the Yin or blood is deficient.  This may cause incessant talking, disturbing dreams, or disjointed thinking.  In order for the Heart to function well, it must remain peaceful.  With agitation and unrest there is anxiety, and this further disrupts circulation which, in turn, aggravates confusion.  When the Heart is functioning properly, a person has a tranquil mind, good memory, clear senses, restful sleep, and a robust complexion.
 
Summer vacations to calm the mind and refresh the body

Summer vacations calm the mind and refresh the body.  Just as steaming soups that support Yang are what we need in winter, so juicy chard, watercress, asparagus, salads, cucumbers, and fruits that replenish Yin are abundant and good to eat during summer.  Dates, lycii berries, and lotus seeds feed the Heart while roasted sesame and sesame oil nourish the blood.  It is crucial to balance the focused intensity of work with the reckless abandon of summer play during which the senses assume precedence and the body revels in the splashing of the surf.

www.chinese-medicine-works.com

Harriet Beinfield & Efrem Korngold, co-authors of the popular Between Heaven and Earth: A Guide to Chinese Medicine who practice acupuncture and herbal medicine at Chinese Medicine Works in San Francisco.

Within the Chinese traditional medicine view, the gut is the center–the organizational nexus–of bodily life and social relations. The Chinese greeting, “Ni hao ma?” translates literally as “Have you eaten yet today?”. The industrialization of food production, along with the mechanization and acceleration of cooking and eating, have profoundly altered a primal pattern of behavior, interrupting ritual preparation and ceremonial meal times.

As is commonly assumed, but rarely acknowledged, good feeling, both toward oneself and others, as well as a sense of optimism and clarity, are affected by and dependent upon good digestion, with its consequent feelings of hardiness, contentment, and conviviality. The opposite, indigestion, induces a plethora of discomforts: bloating, heartburn, cramps, irritability, lethargy, and melancholy.

The source of indigestion lies in the disruption of the Digestive Network, governed by the Stomach and Spleen. This network is responsible for the processing of food and nutrients that form the basis of the body constituents — Qi, Moisture and Blood. It is also responsible for distributing these constituents, upward and downward through the abdominal region, and outwardly to the four limbs. When these essential activities are impeded by over-consumption of food, or weakened by under-nutrition, the vigorous, rhythmic, contractile waves of the gut become deranged. This leads to inefficient transformation, diminished absorption, the formation of gas, and the retention of undigested material.

These conditions lead to the syndrome of Qi Stagnation and Food Accumulation, producing symptoms of lingering hunger and uneasiness after eating, distention and aching of the abdomen, belching and flatulence, heartburn and reflux, irregular bowel movements, and a loss of the ability to discriminate between unreasonable cravings and true hunger. Indulging cravings, as well as eating too quickly or too much, leads to fleeting relief and persistent discontent, while satisfying true hunger produces deep feelings of pleasure, affirming the soundness of the body’s instinctual intelligence. Chinese herbs as well as acupuncture can increase the efficiency of the digestive system, which in turn enriches vitality and resilience.

Within the cosmology of Chinese medicine, human beings are regarded as microcosms of the natural universe. We are subject to the same cycles that occur in nature. Autumn follows on the tail of the harvest, signaling that it is time to prepare for winter. The sap of trees settles into the interior, sinking down toward the roots. With fall comes a sense of gathering in, stocking up, mingled with a sense of loss as the light begins to fade and the air chills. It is a time to eliminate what is unnecessary and become aware of what is essential.

The organ system that shares the power of this season is the Lung. Corresponding to the temperament of autumn, the Lung pulls in and refines the Qi, (energy) sending it downward to nourish our roots. Ruling the skin, the outer limit of the human body, the Lung protects against external invasion and safeguards internal resources. Since autumn is a dry season, we need to protect ourselves from cold air evaporation of moisture from our skin. Moistening, softening, and nurturing foods for this time include white rice, white beans, pears, radishes, sea vegetables, potatoes, cabbage, turnips and parsnips.

The Lung is also responsible for our capacity to discern and discriminate, defining and refining our sense of what is right, morally and ethically. It is the Lung that nourishes our capacity to be analytic, critical, methodical, efficient and disciplined. Autumn reminds us that we reap what we have sown, that all of our actions have consequences. The clarity that comes with autumn enables us to distinguish between the things that contribute not only to our own well being, but also the benefit of others, reminding us that we live in an interdependent world. This capacity will serve us in this election season as we choose leaders who represent our higher aspirations for a peaceful world that equitably shares resources, and a natural environment that can sustain us all.

I started studying Chinese Medicine 25 years ago. It was the most significant event in my way of thinking today. It opened up a whole new way of seeing the body and life in general. It was the beginning of my real journey into a new way of being. Soon after I started studying it, I was lucky to come across Harriet Beinfield and Efrem Korngold, who subsequently became my primary teachers and close friends. Apart from being the nicest people, they are brilliant and the foremost teachers of Chinese Medicine in the USA. Their book. Between Heaven and Earth is the classic book on Chinese Medicine and we are very honored to have them blog for the site.

Here is a piece written by them entitled: THE VIEW OF CHINESE MEDICINE

Chinese medicine maintains that preserving the strength and integrity of the body as a whole is the most important bulwark against the development of disease. This means that, while efforts are made therapeutically to relieve symptoms and counter pathogenic processes, an equal or greater emphasis is placed upon replenishing the body’s natural substances (Qi, Moisture, and Blood) and restoring the coordinated activity of the body’s primary organ systems (known as the Liver, Heart, Spleen, Lung, and Kidney Networks). It is the ability of the organism to sustain its own defensive capability, regenerative potential, and regulatory mechanisms that enables it to remain adaptable and well.

Early in the history of Chinese medicine, around the 2nd and 1st millennia B.C.E. (before the common era), the primary causes of illness were thought to be the negative, external influences of disembodied forces such as ancestral spirits and powerful deities that indifferently and capriciously ruled the weather, seasonal change, the abundance of crops, and the lives of ordinary people. The dominant mode of healing during these ancient times was shamanic intervention by sorcerers who knew how to communicate and negotiate with other-worldly entities. Centuries later, during the Han dynasty (200 B.C.E. — 200 A.C.E.), the notion of supernatural forces as agents of disease was replaced by a more sophisticated, rational, and empirical paradigm in which human life and the world at large were understood to be governed by natural, impersonal forces–what we would now consider to be the natural laws of physics and biology.

It was during this 400 year period of fervent intellectual growth that the cosmological and philosophical theories of the Daoist and Confucianist sages (referred to as Yin/Yang and Five Phase Theory) were logically organized and systematically applied to the art and science of medicine in a quintessential medical document: The Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Internal Medicine. The anonymous authors of this seminal treatise emphasized three causative conditions for the genesis of disease: harsh environmental forces such as changes in climate or weather (external causes); intense or prolonged emotional and mental distress (internal causes); and personal behaviors such as overeating, undereating, consuming spoiled or poisoned food, overwork, sexual overindulgence, lack of appropriate physical activity (exercise), and unethical conduct (neither external nor internal causes). A predominance or persistence of any of these factors could upset the harmonious relationship between a person and his or her physical or social environment, as well as disrupting the smooth functioning of the body itself, resulting in physical, mental, and spiritual disturbances. More importantly, these ancient scholar-physicians clearly recognized that all of these influences (causes) were mutually interrelated, meaning that they did not exist or operate independently of each other.

Another important book known as The Treatise on Febrile Diseases Induced By Cold was written at the beginning of the 3rd century. This text radically reformed Chinese medical thought and practice. In the preface, the author, Zhang Zhong Jing recounts the loss of more than 200 members of his family over a ten year period due to the ravages of an epidemic. Zhang became the first Chinese medical scholar since the authors of The Yellow Emperor’s Classic to formulate a coherent theory linking etiology (the conditions and mechanisms that initiate illness), diagnosis (the methods for determining the nature and behavior of an illness), and treatment (the acupuncture, herbal, and dietary therapies appropriate for each type and stage of illness).

This dissertation focused on acute and chronic ailments triggered by exposure to external influences (climate and weather)–what modern bio-medicine would define as infectious, allergic, and physically or chemically induced disease–in other words, environmental illness. Zhang believed that a person became ill because he or she was unable to cope with the stress of sudden, prolonged, or intense fluctuations in temperature, pressure, humidity, and the movement of air (drafts). In the language of Chinese medicine these causative or pathogenic agents are labeled Heat, Cold, Dampness, Dryness, and Wind and can occur in any sequence or combination. Thus, the reason that an individual becomes sick or unable to recover, is that the harshness of external conditions and events impairs the individual’s innate ability to heal.

Qi is considered to be both the foundation of life and that which organizes, regulates, and sustains all the tissues, functions, and processes of the body. Without Qi, life-giving breath is not disseminated, blood is not distributed, food is neither digested nor assimilated, wastes and toxins are not eliminated, growth and development do not progress, and the mind and potential of the individual does not ripen. Qi is the unifying concept that joins the inner life of an individual with the outer world of nature.

This capacity to recover equilibrium, to repair damage, and to restore the body to a healthy state is entirely dependent upon the quantity and quality of Qi (pronounced chee), sometimes translated as animating life force, vital energy, or quintessential essence. Qi is understood to be the intrinsic, dynamic, self-regulating and self-maintaining power of the organism. All healing in Chinese Medicine is directed, ultimately, at conserving, protecting, augmenting, restoring, and facilitating Qi.

The movement of wind and water, procession of the seasons, cycles of night and day, and the continual variation of climate and weather are the environmental manifestations of Qi. The behaviors, responses, experiences, transformations, and rhythms of the body are the internal physiological and psychological expressions of Qi. Qi is further delineated into five body constituents, the basic material substances and primary processes–essence and dynamism–from which the body is composed and by which it is shaped. These five constituents progress from the insubstantial to the material: Shen (thoughts, sensations, feelings), Qi (warmth, movement, metabolic activity), Moisture (internal fluids and secretions), Blood (nutritive elements and structural components), and Essence (the adaptive, regenerative, reproductive, creative, developmental aspects).

These five constituents are generated, distributed, conserved, adjusted, and protected by five primary organ systems known as the five Organ Networks: the Heart, Lung, Spleen, Liver, and Kidney. These networks are coalitions of tissue, function, and intelligence that unite not only their corresponding visceral organs, but also a complex of channels (acupuncture meridians) that link the structural and functional elements of the body.

Health is the consequence of the unimpeded and coordinated interaction of the five body constituents and the five Organ Networks. Illness is the result of a depletion, obstruction, or unnatural alteration of the body’s constituents and a derangement of the function of its organ systems