Japanese Acupuncture, LLC (480) 246-0624:
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Volume 2, No. 1: March, 2008
Oriental Medicine & On Human Conditions
Chapter One
Liver: Anger, Love, and Redemption #1
I often say to my clients that men are very much
suicidal because they do not try to maintain good
health until too late, in a case of stroke for
example. Women are fundamentally attune to the body*
and I think because of childbearing, they are more
survival oriented. The difference makes the relation
between man and woman difficult. I have seen many
wives crying and worrying about her husband's health
but feeling impotent to convince him to do something.
[*the body: recent surge in heart problems and
diabetes are concerning, however]
Most men do not easily reveal his weakness. He could
be stubborn, difficult, and stuck-headed. He does not
easily admit his faults and mistakes either. His
emotions are congealed, and he surrounds himself with
a shielded and knows less about how to come out from
it than putting up. Such characters are depended on
up-bringing and social circumstances. However, I
believe, it is partly based on the man's spirit or
shall I say fortitude that he sworn sometimes in his
life. It is the conviction that his spirit should not
be easily broken when difficulties arise. It is his
part of making an effort, as a man, and to go out in
the world to supply sustenance for his family.
In Oriental Medicine, the fortitude comes from the
Liver. The Liver is considered to be the general of
an army. It has the greatest influence on others, and
it is the Qi (Energy) mover. If the Liver starts to
fail, all the other organ will, too.
Liver houses the Spirit of Hun, the Ethereal Soul,
which gives the purpose and the guidance to the soul.
It pairs with the Gallbladder, and both are the
decision makers and the sources of determination. As
a boy goes through the puberty age and becomes an
adult, the energetic of the Liver gets stronger and
influences his state of being much so than for girls.
Being an adult male is to have the healthy and strong
Liver and Gallbladder.
As the Liver* energy gets stronger, he is no longer
susceptible to crying. His muscles and tendons grow
stronger. He desires to be independent and to be
individual. The desire conflicts with the mother's
nurturing instinct, and he rebels against her. At the
same time, the strong Liver energy along with the
hormonal secretion desires to mate and to explore sex.
The conflict juxtaposes a secret longing for the
mother and the mother-ness in an opposite sex.
[*Liver: controls the muscle and tendons, stores the
Blood, opens into the eyes, manifests in the nails,
and influences the sexual functions.]
However, the openness of the heart does not belong to
the Liver. If the Liver energy gets imbalanced, he
shuts emotions down and conceals it in the Liver*.
When he does this, he could be irritable and quick to
anger since his emotion has nowhere else to go. He
feels trapped, unable to communicate. He thinks he
can alleviate situations but lacks actions to change.
As he goes through the stage, his congealed anger gets
stronger. He is not only angry at someone or
something, but mainly at himself.
[*Liver: if not controlled, he becomes neurotic and
manic]
Anger is the intrinsic nature of the Liver. It is
such a strong Qi mover. It gives a direction and it
balances with worrying*. It is usually under control
because anger hurts so much*. When anger is properly
handled, it turns to excitement, joy, and bliss. If
not, through anger comes regret and remorse, through
regret and remorse comes repentance and shame, and
through repentance and shame comes humility and
humbleness. If one masters how to control anger, he
is truly a master of life.
[*worrying: the Spleen element, sometimes the Ke
Cycle is needed to be reversed
(Ke Cycle: from the Five Element Theory, the
destructive direction of five organs).]
[*anger hurts: physiologically, it hurts in the
stomach, in the shoulder, the neck, and the temporal
area of the head. One common place to store anger for
men is in the lower back.]
The transition of anger to excitement, joy, and bliss
depends on what the Japanese call it "a paper thin"
trait. There is not much difference between a great
man and an ordinary. Flip a paper, and you are great,
and flip the paper again, and you are ordinary. What
separates us is whether we have a substance or not at
the time it is truly needed. A few have it, most of
us struggle with it. For some, deep fear* hold them
back. Success and failure depend only on a very small
personal trait we all have. It is a click in the
brain saying "I want to change," "I can do it," or
something simply saying "No" or "Yes." It creates a
cross road in our lives.
[*fear: the Kidney element, also the Mother element
of the Liver/anger = I discuss this in later chapter]
Most of us are successful in the clicking, but
sometimes his humility comes too late as in a marital
conflict. As he ages, the Liver energy gets weaker,
and he senses that he is easily swayed by emotions and
is susceptible to tears in the eyes. He becomes
little more sentimental but is more grounded. He
knows that he is no longer invincible and somewhat his
health is failing. Strong emotions are weakened and
he slowly accepts the need to open his heart. As he
looses the Yang (male) energy, he begins to understand
and feels the female side of the energy. However,
this coincides with the wife's Yin (female) energy
loosing out after the menopause. She no longer needs
to deal with the female cycle. As she looses
femaleness, her Yang energy rises, and a desire to be
independent becomes stronger. This is why the time
shortly after the menopause is a crucial period for a
married couple, especially, when all children are gone
from home. She who has given so much love through out
her life wants to be independent more than ever
before. For a husband, he faces with a choice of
keeping his regular appearance or to change his
attitude to open up more. Unfortunately,
most men do not know how to change or his ego blocks
it.
Anger, unhappiness, and regrets are abundant. But the
Liver belongs to the Spring, the beginning of the
season, and the life must go on. As spring turns to
summer, anger will subside, reconciliation will
happen, and our thoughts will turn.
Simplest Thing You Can Do For Your Health No. 14
Abdominal Breathing:
It is blissful if we can be at the alpha brain wave
length at all time. To be in the alpha stage, we must
begin to learn how to breathe. It takes some
practice, but try to breathe air into the lower
abdomen rather into the lungs. The abdomen should
rise before the chest. Concentrate. Breathe slowly
into the abdomen, feel that it is expanding, then as
you exhale, feel the stomach goes down, at the same
time, relax the abdominal muscles. Do this a few
times. Then, as you exhale, start concentrating on
relaxing not only the abdominal muscles, but the
shoulder,
the neck, and the muscles around the eyes.
In Oriental Medicine, the inhalation belongs to the
Kidney and the exhalation belongs to the Lungs and the
Heart. If you find a difficulty in the process, you
need to consider that an appropriate organ maybe weak.
Qi Gong, zen/monk, and marshal art masters all can
breathe air down to the foot*.
[*foot: Kid-3, the Yuan Source of the Kidney (Yuan
Source: origination of basic Energy of the organ0.]
© 2008 Dr. Y. Frank Aoi/Japanese Acupuncture
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