Category Archives: Eye problems

SPRING FOOD

Anger, Detoxification, Eye problems, Food, Reflux, Sour, Spring, Tendons & Ligaments, Wood Element, , , , ,

The tide of energy that swells through the year has moved on from winter to spring, from the Water Element to the Wood Element. In fact, since we have passed the spring equinox here in the southern hemisphere, we are now more than halfway through the season. It is high time to continue our series on the foods of the Elements by exploring those foods that can support our Wood and its yin organ, the Liver.

The taste of the Wood Element is sour. It is a taste that puckers the mouth and is called astringent. It shrinks and contracts. This is remeniscent of the tendons, the tissues of Wood, which contract in order to lever the muscles and thereby propel movement.

This astringent taste generates and preserves fluids, nourishes yin, helps to hydrate, and cools any heat in the liver. Lemon water, quenching and refreshing, is a great way to support the liver. Grapefruit acts similarly.

The Neijing chapter 10 teaches: “the liver is benefited by the sour taste. However, this never implies that one may overindulge. Excessive consumption of sour foods can make the skin rough, thick, and wrinkled, and cause the lips to become shrivelled.” Too much sour impacts upon the grandson Element of Earth and its organ of Spleen. It injures the Stomach and creates acid reflux, and damages the teeth and the tendons.

Lemons, grapefruit, kiwifruit and apple cider vinegar are obvious examples of the sour taste, but there are other less obvious sour foods which belong to more than one flavour group. These include tomato, cheese, plums, grapes and strawberries; the aromatics of chive, leek, onion and shallot; cinnamon, turmeric, mint, kombu (seaweed) and honey; and goji berry, hemp seed, black sesame and olive oil.

The colour of the Wood Element is green. Therefore, green foods support the Element and the liver. Green, leafy vegetables are best, the darker the better. My favourites are kale and collards; others include rocket (arugula), spinach, cabbage, beet greens, cos (romaine) lettuce, endive, bok choy and microgreens. Other green foods include peas, broccoli, green beans and avocado. Fortunately, all of these are in abundant supply in the springtime as nature puts on its skates and rockets into action. Farmers markets are brimming with these vegetables at this time of year. Make a salad with a mix of these greens and dress with olive oil and cider vinegar. Your liver will light up.

The organ of the liver has hundreds of functions; one of its most important is to detoxify the blood. Besides the foods listed above, here are some important herbs that help with detoxification: coriander (cilantro), dandelion leaves or its roasted roots, milk thistle, nettle, liquorice and peppermint.

Green tea, besides having the appropriate colour, is known for its positive effect on liver markers, as well as its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. At my place we have a daily ritual of Japanese green tea with two pourings from the kyusu.

Springtime tends to reveal imbalances in the Wood Element, in the organs of liver and gall bladder, the eyes, and in the emotion of anger and frustration. This is because the tide of the year is rising in the Wood Element, putting pressure on the Wood resonances that are not flowing freely. On the other hand, it is a great time to detoxify as the same energies are supportive of positive change. So bulk up on sour, green and cleansing foods while you have the tide in your flavour.

Next week I will share a recipe that incorporates many of these foods.

WIND

Agitation, Arm pain, Ear problems, Eye problems, Headache, Jaw, Neck pain, Shoulder pain, Throat, Wind invasion, , , ,

The other morning, I was woken at 5 am by a strong gusting wind swirling round the corners of the house, probing and rattling the eaves. I had gone to bed thinking about writing this blog about wind, so it felt as if I’d summoned it up, like some ghost or jinn. Indeed, wind is a curious creature, mysterious and intangible. We see the effects of the wind, rather than the wind itself. Yet we also feel its effects in the body as a disturbance in our field. Some people find this exciting, others troubling, while some are so distressed by it that they cannot leave the house.

These effects of wind are more common in the spring when the Wood Element, of which wind is a resonance, is in its ascendency. Any imbalance in this Element is more likely to be revealed in springtime when the Wood ‘tide’ is at its highest. Last month in South Australia we had 4 or 5 consecutive days of very strong, gusty winds, and I had numerous clients who felt very disturbed in themselves, couldn’t settle, and felt unusually agitated and irritable.

The Chinese character for wind is Feng (sounds like tongue).  The outer part of the character represents breath while inside is an insect. Ancient China was an agrarian economy, and damaging insects were abundant in spring when gusty winds were prevalent.

Feng suggests movement or motion, and wind conditions include those that produce shaking or jerking movements. According to the Ling Shu, its adverse influence is so great that “the sages avoided the winds like avoiding arrows and stones.” The Chinese practice of Fengshui (literally wind and water), recommends not living in a place where winds are strong as they are considered a malevolent force.

Pathogenic wind conditions are among the most numerous of diagnoses in Chinese medicine. This is largely because wind can act as a spearhead for other external climatic factors to penetrate the body. Thus, there are wind-cold, wind-heat, wind-damp and wind-dryness patterns. Of these, wind with cold is the most common. A person can be thus afflicted by being exposed to cold winds and rain, sleeping in a draught, or sitting in the flow of air conditioning.

Symptoms of wind-cold invasion include pain and stiffness in the neck and shoulders, headache, running nose, cough, sneezing and fever, and an aversion to cold. The upper part of the Gall Bladder channel is particularly affected, as well as Bladder and Small Intestine channels where they pass through the neck and shoulders.

To complicate matters, there is also internal wind which is not caused by the external climatic factors. It is produced by blood or yin deficiency or internal heat, and primarily affects the Liver. Shaking or jerking conditions such as epilepsy, Parkinson’s and restless leg syndrome are examples of internal wind. Conversely, paralysis and strokes are also thought to be the effects of internal wind. The 14th century physician Zhu Danxi coined the term windstroke, and in modern Chinese medicine, zhongfeng still means stroke.

If someone expresses an aversion to wind, or an unusual craving for it, this is considered to flag an imbalance in the Wood Element. While one would not diagnose a Wood imbalance solely on a person’s attitude to wind, if there are other Wood resonances present, this would be corroborating evidence. These might include issues with the organs of liver or gall bladder, the eyes, the tendons and ligaments, or signs and symptoms along the pathways of the Gall Bladder and Liver meridians. And certainly, a tendency to headaches and neck stiffness when in contact with wind, or a psychological disturbance when seeing the effects of wind outdoors, would lead one to a diagnosis of Wood imbalance.

Point names that include feng

Point names are very instructive as to their clinical uses, so anything with feng in the name is of interest here. There are six such points. All dispel wind from the body.

Gall Bladder 20FengchiWind Pool
Gall Bladder 31FengshiWind Market
Bladder 12FengmenWind Gate
Small Intestine 12BingfengGrasping the Wind
Triple Heater 17YifengWind Screen
Governor Vessel  16FengmenWind Palace

All these points are on yang channels, appropriate as wind is a yang pathogen. Most of them are in the neck and shoulder, in the yang half of the body, with only GB 31 in the leg as the exception. These points dispel wind, in particular from the part of the body where the pain or stiffness lodge: GB 20 and GV 16 at the occiput, TH 17 behind the ear, BL 12 and SI 12 in the shoulders.

GB 20 Wind Pool is located at the occiput, two fingers width lateral to the hollow at the base of the skull. Treats headaches and neck stiffness.

GB 31 Wind Market is located on the side of the leg where the tip of the middle finger lands when the arm is by the side. Treats pain the leg, sciatica, itching.

BL 12 Wind Gate is located in the upper back, two fingers width lateral to the midline at the level of the junction of the 2nd & 3rd thoracic vertebrae. Treats symptoms of common cold and fevers, neck and shoulder rigidity.

SI 12 Grasping the Wind is on the middle of the top of the scapula, in a depression found when the arm is raised. Benefits when there is difficulty raising the arm or turning the head. Treats pain and stiffness in the neck and shoulders.

TH 17 Wind Screen is in the hollow behind the earlobe. Treats ear disorders, lockjaw, pain and swelling in the cheeks, toothache of the lower jaw.

GV 16 Wind Palace is in the middle of the occipital hollow at the base of the skull. Treats pain the head and neck, visual disturbances, shivering, sweating, loss of voice, high blood pressure. This is a powerful spirit point, calms the mind and spirit, regulates the nervous system, activates the vagus nerve.

Other points known to dispel wind include LU 10, LU 11, LI 11, LI 15, ST 6, ST 36, SP 6, BL 40, KI 2, HP 8, GB 30, GB 34, GB 38, LV 1, LV 2, LV 7, GV 20, GV 22, GV 26. Most of these points clear wind anywhere in the body, and in particular treat symptoms of wind in the local area of the point.

One final tip: sweating helps to eliminate wind. As the pores of the skin are considered to be the portals via which the wind enters the body, so too they can be the point of exit of the wind. Thererfore sweating can aid in the expulsion of wind. Just be careful not to sweat profusely while being exposed to wind.

Take care during the remainder of the spring. I’ll be back in the summer with a look at Heat.