Chinese medicine is a wonderful system of self care because it has an answer for how to address practically every imbalance. These approaches are practical, simple and often very effective. Many of these answers are found by studying the concept of correspondence for the 5 phases/elements used in Chinese medicine: water, wood, fire, earth, and metal. In this article I want to give you an example (this is Andres) from my own life of how I am using Chinese medicine for my self care.
In Chinese medicine the eyes correspond to the wood phase/element and to the liver, and the eyes/wood/liver all corresponds with the emotions of anger/frustration/jealousy and rage (when out of balance) and with benevolence and loving kindness when in balance. The first thing to do when you have eye problems of any kind is finding a way to reprogram your emotions so that they do not damage your eyesight. This is applicable to all illnesses because every health issue can be identified and addressed using the Chinese system of correspondences. For now we will just examine eye health.
I was sinking into some unhealthy emotional patterns including fear (Water element), worry (earth element), and frustration (wood element). And as a result my eyes were dry from lack of nourishment from the water element (kidneys) and from heat created by imbalances in my emotions causing a rising heat in the body to further dry and “insult” my eyes. These are common patterns in our culture and could lead to a host of imbalances manifesting in a myriad of ways that impact physical health and well being (like headaches for example). However in my body, this showed up as eye pain and a loss of vision.
To avoid this dynamic, I simply add a greater sense of ease and a more carefree attitude. This reflects the famous Chinese herbal formula used “to free the flow of the liver” called “free and easy wanderer” (xiao yao san). The practice that is helping can be summed up as “don’t care to the point it harms you” or detached satisfaction/fullness. This practice alone is helping enormously and could very likely avoid all sorts of chronic and acute health problems if you are prone to anger or frustration or any emotional imbalance including worry, fear, anxiety, anger and depression/sadness.
In addition to this simple practice the combination of specific Chinese herbs, eye drops, and acupuncture seem truly miraculous in nourishing the root and the branch of my eye weakness. They strengthen the “root” of my imbalance by strengthening the kidneys, blood, yin, yang, and fluids, while clearing out some heat. They also help improve my vision and take away the eye aches I can get with prolonged screen time.
I highly recommend the combination of Chinese herbs, acupuncture and eye drops for eye issues such as decreased vision and eye pain. I also recommend examining your emotions as a way to relieve the unhealthy dynamic that underlie a host of long and short term health problems. We have a series of meditations on Qi Gong for Radiant Health that can be a helpful resource for transforming “negative” emotions into “positive”. Tracks 4 (kidney organ system), 5 (liver organ system), and 7 (spleen organ system) are the individual organ systems best for helping release the fear, frustration, and worry and cultivate wisdom, loving kindness, and trust.
If you need support in addressing the impact a health issue is having on your physical, emotional, or spiritual sense of health and well being, contact us at 336-739-0317 or respond to this email to determine how acupuncture, herbs, and qi gong and meditation can support your healing process.
