KC

This is KC who is passionate in TCM.

Using Emotions to Heal Emotional Distress from TCM Perspective (Part 3/6) – Worrying

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A fortnight ago, I shared about how fear can overcome joy from the TCM perspective. This week, let’s take a closer look at the emotion, worry (思虑).

In TCM (five elements), the spleen is linked to the worry emotion. This is the reason why a person will have a poor appetite if one is very worried about something.

Perhaps you can recall a past experience when your worry has finally been resolved and all of a sudden, your appetite improves and you feel like eating again.

In TCM, the spleen represents the body’s ability to digest and absorb nutrients from the food we eat. Thus, long-term worrying will definitely weaken the spleen, resulting in reduced appetite and poorer food absorption efficiency.

Let’s learn what is the emotion that can counter worry in this simple summary:

  • In TCM five elements, the spleen is represented by the earth element.
  • The only element that can counter earth is wood.
  • The wood element is represented by the liver organ.
  • Liver is associated with the emotion of anger.
  • This means anger can counter worry.

I would like to highlight this scene from the drama, Story of Yanxi Palace, which depicts how the Emperor’s illness was treated by provoking his anger:

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The Emperor had been ill for several months and unfortunately, even the imperial physicians were unable to identify the exact cause or find a cure.

One day, a visiting physician arrived at the palace and observed that the Emperor had been overworked and burdened with worries about the state of the country.

The physician suggested to Yin Luo (the main female character) that provoking the Emperor’s anger might be a way to heal him, by using his emotional release as a cure.

Yin Luo decided to take on the task herself.

She entered the Emperor’s chamber and began provoking him with her words. Though others tried to stop her, she persisted in angering the Emperor. Her words enraged him so much that he grabbed a sword and attempted to strike her. After a few swings of the blade, narrowly missing Yin Luo, the Emperor suddenly coughed up blood.

At that moment, the physician entered the room and congratulated the Emperor, assuring him that his illness would begin to heal from there.

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Just some sharing for general awareness, enjoy your day!

Qiu Fen (秋分) Solar Term – Diet & General Wellness Guidelines

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We are into the Qiu Fen (秋分) solar term (节气) starting from 22 September to 7 October 2024. Qiu Fen is the 16th solar term out of the entire 24.

In Chinese, ‘fen’ (分) means divide. So the Qiu Fen (秋分) solar term basically separates the first half and the second half of the Autumn season. This means after 22 September, we will enter the second half of Autumn.

After Qiu Fen, the days will gradually grow shorter while the nights become longer. Temperatures will also get cooler as we step into the second half of Autumn.

As the air becomes cooler and drier during Qiu Fen, more people may experience coughing as the lungs get easily irritated by the dry air.

We will need to keep our lungs moisturized (润肺) by eating foods such as white fungus, pear, etc. Following are some diet recommendations that you can follow during this Qiu Fen solar term:

Diet Recommendation

One of the traditions during Qiu Fen is to eat yam biscuits. That said, you don’t really need to go out and find yam biscuits. Just consider adding yam into your diet will be sufficient.

yam benefits in tcm

Yam is a nutritional food that most people can eat safely. It has a neutral thermal nature, which means people who have heaty or cold body constitution can consume it without worries.

The most significant property of yam is that it helps to strengthen our spleen. This is important during Qiu Fen because when people consume cold or raw stuff, these foods can weaken the spleen. Apart from strengthening the spleen, yam can also aid digestion and relieve constipation.

Do make sure that you cook the yam thoroughly to remove its allergens. A simple way to include yam into your diet is to add chopped pieces of yam into your rice cooker and cook it with your favorite grains or brown rice.

In Qiu Fen, the environment will be cool and dry (凉燥). Hence, we need to consume foods that have warm and moisturizing properties, such as black sesame, walnut, lotus root, pear, hawthorn, apple, lily (百合), and white fungus.

A good habit during Qiu Fen is to drink lightly salted water in the morning and take some honey at night. But do take note for people who already have sticky stools, you need to avoid taking honey as it will worsen the situation. For people with constipation, honey is a good supplement to take in the evening.

A note of caution is that during the later part of Qiu Fen, the temperature will get cooler and people with weak spleen may experience diarrhea or loose and sticky stools at times. It is best to avoid cold drinks and foods during the Qiu Fen solar term as it can cause stomach upset in people with weak spleen. You can consider eating chinese yam or si shen soup to strengthen your spleen.

An Easy-To-Prepare Fruit Salad

During Qiu Fen, some elderly people may find their constipation worsening. If so, the following is an easy-to-prepare fruit salad that can help to relieve constipation during this period:

fruit salad (apple, banana, mulberries)

Ingredients:

  • Banana 100g
  • Apple 100g
  • Mulberry 50g

Steps:
De-skin the banana and apple and cut it to small pieces. Wash and rinse the mulberries then mix them together with the apple and banana.

Banana has a strong property of relieving constipation. It can also moisturize and cool the lungs.

Apple can increase the movement of the intestines and help to relieve constipation too.

Mulberries have been known as a great fruit to nourish the Yin energy in our body, and Qiu Fen is a great time for Yin nourishment.

Important notes: Be sure to choose fully ripened bananas because bananas that are not fully ripe will promote constipation rather than relieve it! Also, apple skin has an ingredient that can stop diarrhea, hence if you are consuming apples for constipation relief, do remove the skin before eating it.

General Well-Being Recommendation

Exercising during the Qiu Fen solar term is beneficial for building up your body’s immunity against flu and sinusitis, as temperatures can change rapidly during this period. Be sure to keep yourself warm at all times to avoid getting cold unexpectedly.

After a good exercise, you can consider consuming foods that moisturize the lungs like black sesame, pear, and white fungus.

If you sweat a lot during exercise, you can try drinking water with added salt to replenish the lost liquids.

I hope you find these recommendations useful in this Qiu Fen solar term!

Using Emotions to Heal Emotional Distress from TCM Perspective (Part 2/6) – Joy

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Last week, I shared about how sadness emotion can overcome anger. This week, let’s take a closer look at the emotion, joy.

In TCM (five elements), the heart is linked to the joy emotion.

Keep in mind that no matter what emotion, it is never a good thing to stay in one emotion for a prolonged period of time, or experience a great amount of that emotion in a short period of time.

For example, there is a Chinese saying, “乐极生悲”, which means when one is overtaken by extreme joy, it can lead to tragedy. You might relate to this when you hear stories of people fainting or even losing their lives after suddenly winning the jackpot.

In TCM, the heart represents the mental and mind (心主神明) of a person. Thus, excessive joy can lead a person to lose his mind (laughing or crying uncontrollably), and in extreme cases—to the extent of losing his life (as described in the above scenario) .

Let’s learn what is the emotion that can counter joy in this simple summary:

  • In TCM five elements, the heart is represented by the fire element.
  • The only element that can counter fire is water.
  • The water element is represented by the kidney organ.
  • Kidney is associated with the emotion of fear.
  • This means fear can counter joy.

There is a well-known story called Fan Jin Passes the Imperial Examination (范进中举), which tells of how fear was used to treat a person who lost his mind as a result of sudden, extreme joy. Below is an English translation of this story for reference:

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Fan Jin was a poor scholar who devoted most of his life to preparing for the imperial examinations. Despite years of hard work, Fan Jin repeatedly failed the exams (20 times), living a life of poverty and mockery from those around him.

Fan Jin’s in-laws constantly berated him for his failures. Even his wife–who has always been supportive–was deeply worried about their future. Despite the challenges, Fan Jin remained determined, believing that success in the imperial exams would bring honor to his family eventually.

In his old age, Fan Jin traveled to the provincial capital once more and at last, he succeeded in passing the imperial exams with flying colors. However upon receiving the news, Fan Jin was so overwhelmed with joy and disbelief that he lost his sanity. He ran through the city, laughing and shouting uncontrollably.

His family got worried, realizing that Fan Jin had lost his mind. But they were at a loss of what to do. 

At this time, someone suggested bringing in the person Fan Jin feared most—which happens to be his father-in-law, Mr Hu—to startle him and give him a slap. Though Mr Hu was reluctant, he had to do it for the sake of his son-in-law’s family’s future.

When Mr Hu found Fan Jin sitting on the floor and mumbling to himself, his anger grew. He shouted at Fan Jin and gave him a hard slap on his face. Fan Jin fainted on the spot.

After Fan Jin regained consciousness, he asked his family where he was and they told him that he had passed the imperial exam. After recalling the incident, Fan Jin coughed up phlegm and went back to his normal self thereafter.

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Have you encountered any situation before where fear overcame joy?

Hope you find this information useful!

Bai Lu (白露) Solar Term – Diet & General Wellness Guidelines

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Bai Lu solar term

We are now in the Bai Lu (白露) solar term, which is the 15th solar term of a year. Bai Lu starts on 7 September and ends on 21 September this year (2024).

In the Bai Lu solar term, the weather will start to turn cooler (the intensity depends on which part of the world you are living in). This also means that the difference in day and night temperatures will start to widen.

During this time, sudden temperature changes are likely to trigger sinus issues and headaches in more people. People are also more likely to catch the flu if they do not consciously keep themselves warm, especially at night.

Here are some simple diet and wellness tips that you can consider to help boost your body’s resistance to flu and maintain a healthy body during this period:

Diet Recommendation

In Fuzhou, China, there is a tradition of eating longan during the Bai Lu solar term. It is believed that consuming longan during this period provides a stronger tonic effect than drinking herbal soups.

Based on the records of the TCM herbs and foods, longan can boost blood and Qi in the body, and hence, it is a good food for boosting immunity. You can read more about the benefits of longan in this separate post (which includes a recipe for longan porridge).

Having said that, longan may not be suitable for certain individuals. For example, people who are having a sore throat, fever or flu should avoid consuming longan.

If you find longan too heaty for your body constitution, you can add some lily bulb (百合) to your longan drink. Lily bulb is cooling in nature so it can help to neutralize the heaty effect of longan.

tcm dried lilyAdditionally, lily bulb helps to nourish the lungs, calm the mind, and promote better sleep, thus making it ideal for evening consumption.

You can purchase fresh lily bulb from supermarkets or the dried form from TCM retail shops. If you are using dried lily bulb, make sure you soak it in warm water for 60 minutes before you cook it (cook for 15 to 20 minutes is enough).

 

General Well-Being Recommendation

As the day and night temperature gap widens, we need to take care to keep ourselves warm, especially at night.

While sleeping, ensure that your chest and stomach area are covered. Leaving the stomach exposed during sleep may result in diarrhea/sticky stools for some people with weak spleen. 

Having said that, it is also not ideal to keep yourself overly warm during this period as there is a saying, 春捂秋冻. Following this principle, it is important to ‘train’ your body to be resistant to the upcoming cooler weather as well. Thus, wearing just enough not to feel too cool is the recommended approach. 

Exercising is also good for improving your resistance to cooler weather ahead. Do consider this!

I hope you find this post useful!

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