heart spirit

The Spirit of Heart-Shen

Shen is the ebullient spirit of the Heart. Shen embodies mind and thought and is reflected in our higher consciousness. Shen was first discussed in the Huangdi Neijing medical classic in the chapter called the Root of Spirit:

 

‘Heaven abides so that we have virtue;

Earth abides so that we have Qi;

When virtue flows and Qi is blended there is life.’ 

 

Sentient beings synchronize to the energy of their environs. The capacity for synchronization is fundamental. Electromagnetic fields encompass ‘information’ and once synchronized there is a rapid flow that is energetically exchanged. A person uses part of the healthy patterns of the places and people with whom we share resonance to solve concerns and health conditions, and to form connection and a compassionate context. The fundamental nature of Heart resonance allows a person who is ill a pathway to cultivate truth and healing. In clinical practice of Chinese medicine this puts focus on the practitioner to embody the essence of Chinese medicine including its spiritual context.

The Heart creates unity through connection. The brain, different from the all-knowing of the Heart’s compassionate nature, can help us to understand but it can also separate us from the essence of true knowing with its causal/scientific/analytical process of creating distinctions and its drive to deny there is anything outside analytical sense. The mind and its collection of facts vies to become master although it is indeed the servant of the sovereign  Heart’s heavenly status as ruler. Heart is like an aperture that allows us a state of resonance, rapport, and connection with everything else. Harmonious resonance with one’s place in the Universe is the ultimate expression of the state of one’s Shen.

 

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Stillness of Heart and Mind

The Heart never stops storing impressions and yet it also knows emptiness. From birth, we have the capacity to know things by creating distinctions, differentiations, divisions, partiality, and thus duality; and yet also the Heart presence knows unity. In its experiencing, the Heart keeps moving, and yet also knows stillness. When the mind is used, it reflects. When the Heart sleeps, it dreams. When it takes its ease, it indulges in wandering in reverie. The pure essence of the present instills unification of Heart and mind.

Posted by Wendy in analytical

WATER INTAKE AND HEALTH

Glass of Water

Turning to traditional Chinese medicine and a Taoist concept of health and long life, one is taught to be moderate in every action and attentive to the signals of the body, and to the prevailing influences of nature. Eating when hungry and drinking when thirsty, we should ingest only enough food and drink to satisfy actual needs, needs which match our level of activity. Advice regarding water intake is to drink only when thirsty or to drink a few sips regularly throughout the day. To consume more than what is essential is considered in defiance of natural balance.

 

There are obvious cases where higher fluid consumption is important, such as for people who are perspiring profusely [due to exercise, hot weather, or resulting from a feverish disease], those who are losing fluids due to diarrhea, as well as one who tends to form kidney stones. But by eating the suggested five servings of fruit per day, plentiful amounts of water are provided; many fruits and vegetables being more than 80% water in content.

Water is inherent in Vegetables and fruit

 

Most yin quality foods in a healthy diet contain a significant quantity of water making it feasible to get the 2.5 liters a day without drinking copious amounts of water. However, the popular impression is that for good health one must drink 2.5 liters of water per day, when essentially, emphasis needs to be placed upon consuming fresh fruits and vegetables, not on high volume water-intake. Health advisories recommend that sedentary women consume approximately 2,000 calories per day, for which the suggested 1 ml/calorie translates to only 2.0 liters of total water needed. Adding 1.9 liters of water from drinking glass after glass of water simply doubles such suggested intake.

 

Drinking large volumes of water appears to be inconsistent with age-old advice regarding health maintenance.

 

Posted by Wendy in analytical

The Pivotal Role of Emotions

How All Disease Is a Matter of Heart-Spirit, According to Classical Chinese Medicine 

The defining classics of Chinese medicine establish that it is the invisible forces of Shen [Heart-Spirit] and Qi [vital energy] that rule matter. While western medicine is rooted in the modern science of matter analysis, modern and ancient physicians of classical oriental medicine view nature, energy, and consciousness in the relationship of matter..

“Heaven comes first,” states the Ling Shu, “Earth is second.” Or in the more elaborate words of Liu Zhou, a 6th century philosopher: “If the Spirit is at peace, the Heart is in harmony; when the Heart is in harmony, the body is whole. If the Spirit becomes aggravated the Heart wavers, and when the Heart wavers the body becomes injured. If one seeks to heal the physical body, one must therefore first regulate the Spirit.”

Chinese medicine asserts that discovering well-being comes from appreciating the real goodness inherent in very simple experiences, pivotal to emotional wellbeing.

Posted by Wendy in analytical