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Volume 2, No. 1: January, 2009
Oriental Medicine & On Human Conditions
You are what your deep, driving desire is.
As your desire is, so is your will.
As your will is, so is your deed.
As your deed is, so is your destiny.
(Brihadaranyaka Upanishad: IV.4.5)
Chapter Two
Heart: Joy, Arrogance, and Transcendence #1
知不知 上、不知知、病
老子
To realize that one does not know is superior,
Not to realize that one does not know is a (spiritual) disease. Lao Zi (Tao Te Ching, 71)
A virtuous person learns ten and thinks he has learned one, but an arrogant person thinks he has mastered ten by learning one. It is important here that Lao Zi used the word "disease (病: Bing in Chinese, Byo in Japanese)" to describe the arrogance of man. His teaching also tells us that irrationality (craziness) comes from ignorance and conceit comes from shallowness. We could say that arrogance is the beginning of mania.* He concludes that a sage knows that it is a disease, therefore, he does not get sick (聖人不病…是以不病).
*Mania: The Heart of the Fire Element is represented by joy, but ancient Chinese warned us that over-joy is a mania, a disease. In Ling Shu chapter 8*, it reads: when the Heart (energy) is Excess, there is an unceasing laughter.*Ling Shu (Spiritual Pivot): from Huang Di Nei Jing (Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon).
The Heart is the Element that radiates and creates with respect and confidence. It is the realm of "I think, therefore I am." Its purpose is to transcend like a phoenix rising from the ashes of fire. Before the transcendence, however, we must cut off an illusion, arrogance. The ultimate ignorance is to think that one is superior without realizing that there is yet a higher entity, God, or not realizing the Self within.
Before I lead you to the spiritual level of the Heart Element, I would like to start with its physiological aspect. I often mention in my lecture series that men are terrible at taking care of themselves, and whereas women are more aware of their bodies and act when they need help. They are more survival oriented. Men are suicidal. Whereas men are blocked by their own egos and arrogance, they tend to wait too long for help. I have a good friend whose father died of heart disease, so he is subconsciously fearful that he may face the same fate. Yet, he has not gone to see a doctor or to have a blood test done in the past 15 years. All he does is complain about how expensive his health insurance premium is.
Once a man experiences a stroke and brushes with death, he understands that he is no longer invincible (or at least the awareness that he is no longer a 20 year old but a middle-aged man). The primordial fear of death sinks in and he starts to search for more meaning in life. He may have a pale complexion and slightly fearful eyes that do not focus and his face always turned away from you as he speaks. His Spirit (the Heart stores Shen (神), the Spirit) is weak and wandering. He is in search for spirituality.
Oriental Medicine is always whole body balancing. While western medicine focuses on the heart itself, Oriental Medicine focuses on the Liver, the Kidney, meridian channels, and other organs. Nan Jing* says that the Heart itself does not malfunction but the peripherals do. According to the book, treating the heart alone cannot cure the disease.
*Nan Jing: one of the must read Chinese classics, written by Bian Que during Han Dyansty.
As in the Chakra system, a certain energetic in the body has a spiral movement.* Ren and Du,* and to some extent the Spleen, are spiral in motion. Ren energy is not only spiral in nature, but as with the Chakra, it entwines like a snake, connecting with organs in its pass. The one branch of the Ren energetic passes through the left Kidney, then moves to the right, connects with the Liver, then turns once more to the left, connecting with the Heart. Ren then connects with the tongue and the eyes.
*Spiral movement: I believe this movement is primordial, since the beginning of life form (when a life form developed a mouth and an anus: (the mouth to anus connection: Dr. Kiiko Mastumoto).
*Ren & Du: Ren, the mid-center energy line of the anterior of the body; Du the mid-center energy line of the posterior of the body)
*Connecting with the Heart: note here that this is the Sheng Cycle (相生: please read my last newsletter).
Therefore, from the Oriental Medicine perspective, treating the Kidney and the Liver is essential, especially when the Heart is disturbed by Liver Excess energy or it is weakened by Kidney Deficiency or Excess (Kid Excess: Japanese understanding; i.e., any kidney failure). Master Sawada mentioned that Heart ailment was due to the imbalance and unstableness of San Jiao*. Since his approach is directly on the Ren line, it is a spiritual treatment* as well.
*San Jia: one of the 12 main meridians.
*Spiritual treatment: three Daintiens must be balanced (please read my past newsletter).
The Heart has a direct connection with the Kidney. Any kidney ailment will affect the heart function. They are inseparable. They form a symbiotic Yin and Yang relationship and are inseparable. If you have read my past newsletter, you will know that the Heart has also a direct relationship with the Uterus (the Bao Mai).
The Five Elements diagram shows that the Liver is the Mother element of the Heart. Therefore, any ailment of the liver will affect the heart function as well. It is common in the case of a heart attack which occurs at night. During the time 1 am to 3 am belongs to the Liver. At this time, the Liver is the strongest and if it is excess in energy, it disturbs the Heart during the hours. Conversely, if the Liver is deficient and weak, then during the hours between 1 pm and 3 pm, when the Liver is the weakest, one might feel palpitation and other heart symptoms.
How do we treat the Heart with acupuncture? For prevention, the adrenal system must be in balance. We can needle Kid-6 and Kid-27 (Matsumoto-Nagano style) or Ren-4, Ren-6, and Ren-12 to calm the autonomic nervous system (avoid Ren-4/6 if a patient has very slow pulse). Ren-14 as I mentioned in the past newsletter is an important point for prevention. Add, Sp-4 or Sp-3, but avoid Sp-4, if a patient has an ischemic condition, for Sp-4 draws blood away from the heart (Dr. Matsumoto). Any Heart or Pericardium point is good. If you choose a Pericardium point, I would advise to combine with a Spleen point.
With almost all heart ailments, SI-11 (天宗)* on the left side is tender. In this case, perform the Dr. Matsumoto's Zong Qi treatment: Right Hua Tuo Jia Ji at L-2 (Ming Men), bilateral Hua Tuo Jia Jia at T-7, and the Left SI-11. This will alleviate pressure pains for the heart reflex (for details, please read her book, Kiiko Matsumoto's Clinical Strategies, Vol One/Two).
*SI-11 (天宗: Tian Zong = Heavenly Gathering, on the scapula, about one third of the distance from the midpoint of the inferior border of the scapula spine to the inferior angle of the scapula).
For angina with mental and emotional stress, HT-7, PC-4 (Japanese point), Ren-14, Ren-17, Du-11, Du-12, etc. For arrhythmia, HT-7, PC-4, SJ-5 or 6, Ren-12, Du-12, UB-15, UB-18, UB-20, etc. In addition, I would loosen up the scapula* and all the muscles of the neck.*
*Scapula: the scapula bone is not attached to any other bone but floats by attached muscles. Freeing the movement of the scapula will help reduce tension in the pectoral muscles and the heart function.
*Muscles of the neck: mainly, all the scalenes, the SCMs, the upper trapezii.
Reduction of stress and changing of habits are most important in our daily life. Since the Heart stores the Shen, the Spirit, emotional stability and balance is important as well. How to balance the Joy, the Heart element and the Fear, the Kidney element, is the topic of my next newsletter.
Lao Zi
© 2009 Dr. Y. Frank Aoi/Japanese Acupuncture
