The Causes of Sickness in the View of TCM
Still Qi Gong as a Way to Health
The fact that sickness is part of human existence cannot be denied. Nevertheless the question remains: what is sickness and where does it come from? Traditional Chinese Medicine gives the following answer: sickness is an imbalance between Yin and Yang within the human body and therefore caused by anything that disturbs the balance between these two universal forces. The classic medical book “Suwen” written at the time of the legendary Yellow Emperor Huangdi (2697–2597 B.C.) gives the following explanation: “An abundance of Yin leads to a weakening of Yang, and an abundance of Yang leads to a weakening of Yin“ (5, p.20).
The well-known Chinese symbol for Yin and Yang shows the polarities of light and dark surrounded by a circle representing the perfection of the Universe. This symbol expresses a deep wisdom: all that exists can attain completeness, unity and harmony only if the tension between the seeming opposites and their creative interplay can be maintained and effectively balanced. Only perfect beings can do that. The average human being falls out of harmonious completeness from time to time, as he naturally finds disharmonies within himself and in his surroundings.
We shall first have a look at the various reasons, without any claim to completeness, which lead to disharmony and cause sickness. This will be followed by a Still Qi Gong exercise as taught by the Qi Gong Master Zhi Chang Li in Munich. This exercise helps to balance Yin and Yang and leads into deep silence. Overcoming restlessness by stillness – this is the purpose of Still Qi Gong.
1. Inner causes
Disharmonies or disturbances of balance can manifest on the bodily plane, i.e. the formed, solid (Jing), as well as on the plane of the Qi and the mind (Shen), and show various symptoms. As all three planes – called the model of the three cosmic zones – are interrelated and mutually influence each other, any disturbance on the bodily plane also affects the Qi and the mind of a person and, vice versa, disharmonies of the Qi and the mind may cause sickness of the body.
Let us have a closer look at the role of the Qi. According to the conceptual model of traditional Chinese philosophy, Qi represents the link between the material and spiritual energy, which nevertheless has different qualities. There is a form of Qi which is very close in its structure to the bodily plane, and another Qi that gets increasingly fine and subtle, so that it is also called the mental or spiritual Qi. When an organ is affected, it is first of all the Qi – be it Yin Qi or Yang Qi – that came out of balance. This in turn has a direct impact on the emotions related to the specific organ. This may also be considered the other way round: when our emotions are constantly out of balance, the Qi of the related organ and thereafter the organ itself is affected until sickness strikes.
In Traditional Chinese Medicine, the five pairs of organs are associated with 5 emotions as described below:
- The function of the liver and gall-bladder are disturbed by constant anger;
- the heart and small intestine by overenthusiasm,
- the lungs and large intestine by endless grief,
- the spleen and stomach by permanent sorrow,
- the kidneys and bladder by severe shock.
Emotions as such are neither bad nor good. They belong to the human nature. It is the mission of man to take care of and develop everything he has been given. The goal is to reach a steady balance of emotions.
Anger
Besides anger, it is also emotions such as resentment, rage, bad mood and irritability that obstruct or even block the liver-Qi, according to TCM. It is always a reciprocal effect: a stagnating liver-Qi results in a blockage of emotions, which inevitably leads to emotional outbursts. Likewise, permanent dissatisfaction, irritation, resentment, and rage cause an imbalance of the liver-Qi. Subsequently, the person develops headache, dizziness, high blood pressure, problems with the spleen and stomach, and shows stubbornness, hardness or control in his behaviour. When the liver-Qi can flow freely, even such emotions remain in harmony.
Joy
Emotions producing a harmful effect on the heart may be better termed excessive agitation, exuberance or unbridled pleasure. ‘Exulting to the skies’, overactive, or hectic – all this leads to a state where the fire in the body gets out of control. This results in agitation, restlessness, rapid heart action, and sleeplessness. According to TCM, the heart is located in the head. This means that the heart controls the mind (Shen). If the heart cannot relieve the mind, it can lead to a broad range of mental and psychic disorders.
Worry
Endless brooding and depression, as well as excessive mental exhaustion lead to disharmony and mainly affect the spleen according to the understanding of Chinese medicine. When the Qi of the spleen is damaged, it causes anxiety and pessimism. This again results in sorrowful brooding leading to tiredness, listlessness and a lack of concentration.
Grief
Unrelieved mourning and long-lasting sorrow weaken the lung-Qi. As a consequence, the lungs can no longer fulfil their task of distributing the Qi within the body. Common symptoms indicating a lack of Qi include weakness, tiredness, oedema, perspiration, or even cough and asthma.
Fright
Due to repeated frights and fears the kidney-Qi is weakened. A disturbance of the kidney-Qi not only leads to various afflictions in the urogenitial area. As the Qi originates in the kidneys, a weak kidney-Qi also adversely affects all other organs. Bed-wetting in children may also be an expression of weak kidney-Qi.
2. External causes
Climatic factors, the so-called outer evils, can cause sickness and affect the equilibrium of the body. These outer evils include wind, heat, dampness, dryness and cold.
Wind
In nature wind causes movement. When it grows into a storm it can provoke serious repercussions. Wind has Yang qualities. When wind permeates the body, it gives rise to wind sicknesses which appear suddenly and often make serious progress. When accompanied by cold, the winds may easily descend and reach the bronchi and lungs. The body reacts by producing a common cold with symptoms of coldness such as shivering, sneezing, and a watery cold indicating an imbalance of wind. As soon as they reach peak intensity they suddenly change into heat symptoms with fever, dry cough, and yellow cold.
In Chinese medicine wind belongs to the spring season. Spring is associated with the element wood, and wood is related to the liver. According to TCM understanding, liver sicknesses occur more frequently during this season, but they can also be healed best in this time, as the ascending life force of the springtime can be used for healing. It is also called inner liver wind which may ascend and thereby upset the whole body through shivering and trembling. This can manifest in the form of epilepsy, Morbus Parkinson, or apoplexy, to name but a few.
Heat
The terms heat and fire are often used as synonyms in Chinese medicine. Both have Yang properties and belong to summer. Head dries out, fire creates flames with upward movement. Fire and heat sicknesses include all kinds of inflammation, burning, redness, or fever. Dry skin, obstipation, and scanty urine indicate that an abundance of heat has dried out the body liquids.
On a psychic level, an imbalance of heat may also manifest as restlessness, irritability or even delirium.
Dampness
Dampness has Yin quality and corresponds to the fire element in Chinese medicine. In nature, humidity is very heavy, viscous, sluggish, and sticky. When there is humidity is in the body, it feels quite similar: the extremities are heavy, the mind is blurred, the movements are sluggish, and the saliva is sticky. Mucus is produced in the body. Especially the spleen can be damaged by excessive humidity, i.e. excessive Yin energy. It often causes flatulence and diarrhoea, and may eventually result in oedema, problems in the joints and rheumatism.
According to the Chinese, dampness is attributed to late summer. However, this may greatly vary depending on the climatic zones. When dampness is combined with cold, as is often the case in cold regions in autumn, above all the lungs will be damaged.
Cold
In nature cold has a hardening, paralysing and contracting effect. Cold has Yin properties. Cold belongs to winter and is associated with the water element in Chinese medicine.
When cold invades the body up to the bones, all limbs are aching. The cold Yin replaces the warming Yang. This may occur due to permanent coldness outside, but also due to a lack of Yang in nutrition or an excess of cold food and beverages. It impairs the spleen and stomach leading to flatulence and belly pains with diarrhoea and vomiting. When the liver meridian is affected by this impairment, it gives rise to sickness in the urogenital area .
On the emotional plane it is fright and anxiety that may paralyse people just like water that has turned into frozen ice.
Dryness
Extreme dryness corresponds to harmful Yang. When it occurs in combination with heat and hot winds, the body fluids dry out, the body is exhausted, the skin becomes rough, the lips get chappy, and when the lungs are affected, it gives rise to a painful dry cough.
In Chinese medicine dryness is related to autumn. This varies greatly, depending on the climatic zone.
External influences always have an effect on man. Whether or not they cause sickness depends on the condition of Qi in the person, i.e. the equilibrium between Yin and Yang. When a person is balanced in himself, which is also expressed in his behaviour and eating habits, the external climatic influences don’t have such a strong effect.
3. Constitution and way of life as causes for sickness
In the TCM view, the original vital essence and the vital Qi, which have been acquired in previous lives, are seen as basic determinants for the constitution of man and his destiny. Everyone of us brings disharmonies and disharmonious dispositions into this life, but there are favourable and less favourable ones. This is where each individual must start as early as possible to assume responsibility with regard to food, the rhythm of life, or make responsible use of sexuality, in order to avoid or prevent excessive imbalances in the long run.
Ways to health – a Still Qi Gong exercise
Or: Stillness is the master of unrest
Many methods have been discussed to come out of sickness or even to anticipate it. In the Tao Te King ascribed to Lao Tse we find the following aphorism in chapter XVI:
“Who has reached the summit of abnegation, will maintain imperturbable silence. All beings emerge together and I watch their return. When the beings have developed, they return to the source. Returning to the source is stillness.”
The practicing methods of the Still Qi Gong refer to Lao Tse and hence emphasize silence and tranquillity to overcome restlessness. The essence of all exercises and methods of the Still Qi Gong is expressly to find the point from which silence and tranquillity emerge. If you manage to overcome restlessness by tranquillity and silence, you can restore and increasingly maintain your inner balance despite all internal and external disturbances.
1. Preparation of the exercise
As with all Qi Gong exercises of silence, the preparation represents the most important step in order to reach a sort of trance – the so called “Qi Gong State“.
- The spine should be straightened. It stands as a symbol for the connection between Heaven and Earth. In order to completely stretch the spine, the lumbar spine is slightly pushed backward, the chin sinking slightly to the breastbone, so that the cervical spine is aligned.
- Relax the forehead, i.e. let your thoughts stand still. Relax and widen the area between the eyebrows. The eyelids are like heavy curtains, falling down in front of the eyes. The inner look is no longer directed forward, but turns backward, up into the back of the head. All this should happen easily without any efforts.
- Perceive near and far sounds, “listen into the cosmos“ (Li), return completely unimpressed and listen deep inside.
- Let your breath become quiet. The respiration of the lungs becomes increasingly slow and deep, until it is hardly perceivable. Cut the “6 roots“, i.e. withdraw your sense organs and your awareness from the outer world.
- Sent out a smile from your heart, spreading all over the face and the whole body. “The one who can smile with the heart has found his centre“ (Li).
2. Course of the exercise
Use your inner attentiveness and the corresponding sounds while you travel through the centre of your body during this exercise.
OM
AH
HUM
SO
HA
OM: Intonate the sound OM with slightly pointed lips, first loudly and then more and more silently, while focusing your awareness in the centre behind the forehead between the eyebrows. The centre behind the forehead is called “Upper Dantien“ (Shang Dantien). This centre absorbs Qi from the cosmos. This may be perceived like a pull from outside to inside. The Qi is flowing from the forehead, accompanied by the regular never-ending sound OM, along the throat centre into the heart and into the whole body. The awareness, however, remains in the head: In the forehead (Yintang), at the crown of the head (Bahui), and at the jade cushion, representing an energy area of the size of a fist at the back of the head (Yuzhen).
Let Qi flow over the forehead into the body together with the sound OM for some 20 to 40 minutes, and quietly watch the flow of Qi with a smile, until you will no longer perceive the sound OM, the breathing or flow of Qi. If you succeed the influx of Qi is very subtle, so that many blockages in the body may be solved. The colour that may be visualized is brilliant white.
AH: The attention is focused in the throat centre. AH is uttered, first loudly and then more and more silently. At first your perception and sensation of the sound AH may be very concrete and gradually become more diffuse. This sound is and is not, likewise your breath. The colour of this sound is red.
HUM: The attention is gathered in the middle of the breast, i.e. at the crossing of the middle channel (Zhongmai) with a visualized vertical axis between the middle of the breastbone and the thoracic spine in the area of the 3rd and 4th thoracic vertebra. This area is called “the centre of the heart“ or “Middle Dantien“ (Zhong Dantien). Here HUM is intonated, first clearly and then more and more silently. The watchful awareness becomes more and more diffuse, inconcrete. The colour is blue. It slowly spreads throughout the whole breast area.
Thereafter you can likewise intonate all three sounds in the centre of the heart and gradually reach more profound stillness.
SO: This sound is connected with the yellow colour. Again on the middle channel, this time on the crossing of a visualized line between the navel and the area of the 2nd and 3rd lumbar vertebra. This area is called the Gate of Life (Mingmen).
HA: The attention is focused approximately 3 to 4 fingers below the navel. The colour of this sound is ruby. This area is called “Lower Dantien“ (Xia Dantien). Dwell on this point with silent attentiveness. Thereafter you can start this exercise from the beginning and, as it is recommended, repeat it 108 times.
3. Effect of this Exercise:
In Chinese medicine the head area is related to the Yang of Heaven, the belly area is related to the Yin of the Earth. The breast area including the heart centre stands for the human. The exercise described above leads from the most sublime Yang along —the centre to the most profound Yin, so that the two major poles of the macrocosm within the micro-cosm of man are harmonized through this exercise. When harmony is restored, silence occurs. When silence is reached through practicing, harmony develops. Silence and harmonious equilibrium pave the way to health.
References:
Lao-Tse: Tao Te King, German edition published by Manesse Publishing House, Zürich, 1959
Li, Zhi Chang:
Setz dich hin und tue nichts
(Sit Down and Do Nothing),
Heyne Publishing House, Munich, 2002
Cooper,J.C.: Der Weg des Tao
(The Path of Tao),
Scherz Publishing House, Bern, 1977
Williams, Tom: Chinesische Medizin (Chinese Medicine),
Mosaik Publishing House, Munich, 1998
Palos, Stephan: Chinesische Heilkunst (The Chinese Art of Healing),
Scherz Publishing House, Bern, 1984
Compiled by Brigitta Pflüger-Meienberg
Taken from Paracelsus Health & Healing, I/11
Photo: © Pixabay
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