The Emperor Within: Understanding the Heart in Traditional Chinese Medicine

In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), the heart is far more than just a muscular pump for blood. It's revered as the "Emperor of all organs" and the "palace of the Spirit". This ancient perspective offers a profound understanding of how our emotional, mental, and physical well-being are intrinsically linked to the health of our heart.

The Heart's Royal Decree: Governing Body and Mind

The heart plays a central role in managing blood circulation, controlling the veins and arteries. Beyond this physical function, however, lies its true "monarchical" power: it houses the Shen (Spirit/Mind). The Shen is considered the most refined and subtle form of qi, capable of receiving, synthesising, storing, extracting, and transmitting information.

Ancient Chinese scholars believed that thinking is one of the functions of the heart. This stands in contrast to modern Western medicine, which attributes thought to the brain. The subtlety of the heart's qi and the qi motion of the five Zang-organs (heart, liver, spleen-pancreas, lungs, kidneys) influence the depth and quality of one's thoughts.

The relationship between the heart and other Zang-fu organs is like that of a monarch and their ministers.

The heart, as the wise monarch, commands the other organs, ensuring they perform their duties well and that the body operates in good order. For instance, the liver is the "Prime Minister," the spleen-pancreas the "official taking charge of expostulation". If the heart is muddled or its power is seized, the entire system can fall into turmoil, leading to illness and emotional disorder.

The Emotional Core: Joy and the Fire Element

The heart is strongly associated with joy as its primary emotion and pertains to the element of Fire. When heart qi is activated, it can demonstrate the qi vision of a "Vermillion Bird" and its qi colour is red. Conversely, the heart suffers when affected by strong emotions like suffering, anger, jealousy, or sadness. While emotions are generated by the motion and transformation of the five Zang-organs' qi, they all ultimately originate in the heart. The heart senses the situation and exerts its dominating influence over the Zang-fu organs and their qi distribution.

Interestingly, emotions can also be used therapeutically. TCM doctors have historically applied one emotion to restrain diseases caused by another, based on the inter-promotion and inter-restraint cycle of the five Zang-organs' qi. For example, "joy prevails over sadness" and "anger prevails over thinking".

Cultivating a Healthy Heart with Traditional Chinese Medicine

Nurturing a healthy heart in TCM is a holistic endeavour. It involves:

• Embracing positive emotions: Laughter, smiling, and singing are direct ways to cultivate heart health.

• Integrating emotion effectively: The key is to manage emotions so they arise "just to the point" and don't overwhelm the Shen. This can be achieved by allowing the Shen to remain motionless and independent in the face of emotions, causing qi and qi motions to follow their natural course.

• Nourishing the body: Eating foods that nourish the blood, such as red fruits, dark green vegetables, pulses, and soups, supports the heart.

• Engaging in spiritual and physical practices: Practices that awaken the inner spark and increase heartbeat are beneficial.

• Developing Inner Perceptions: This is a core methodology in TCM for understanding and healing the heart. It involves reversing the mind's usual outward focus to instead perceive inwardly.

  • Perceiving emotions: By focusing on psychological changes as emotions arise, one can trace their origin and perceive the "heart".

  • Perceiving the heart organ: Concentrating on the physical heart and its surroundings can reveal emotional changes and "marks" left by past experiences.

  • Inner Contemplation: This practice involves the mind returning to itself, reflecting on negative marks without emotional involvement, allowing them to dissolve.

  • Intervention with the Mind: Actively changing a diseased mental state by focusing the mind on improving the situation, carrying positive information.

  • Inner Composure: Feeling the vast, void universe within the heart to dissolve negative thoughts.

  • Keeping the Shen in the Interior: Focusing attention on the Shen itself to reinforce its energy and stability, preventing it from being consumed externally, and allowing it to transform less refined matters like emotions and characters.

By cultivating these aspects, one not only supports the physical heart but also the Shen, fostering a life that is more authentic, joyful, and sacred. It ensures the heart retains its role as the ultimate commander, guiding one's health and destiny.

References:

Zhen, Q., & Liu, L. (2017). The Psychology of Inner Perceptions: A New Branch Originating from Traditional Chinese Medicine (Paperback). Independently published. ISBN 1521411638.

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