I am, by no means, adept at translating Classical Chinese literature - much less classical Chinese poetry. However, I can’t help but try anyway. I was thinking about Li Bo the other day, and a poem that I read in my undergrad Mandarin classes with Jonathan Pease. I couldn’t remember the exact name of the poem, only that it was four lines long and he talked about the moon in every one of them. I saw the poem as simplistic after reading it, but Professor Pease talked for over an hour about the use of the moon to represent the woman that Li Bo was admiring in the poem. While 靜夜思 is not the poem that we read back then, it is still beautiful, and I had some fun trying to translate it this week.

In Chinese medicine, we talk often about Yin and Yang, the moon and the earth, etc… and I think that one of the best ways we can understand what these concepts mean is through reading classical Chinese poetry.

靜夜思

床前明月光。
疑是地上霜。
舉頭望明月。
低頭思故鄉。

Jìng yè sī
Chuáng qián míng yuè guāng.
Yí shì dì shang shuāng.
Jǔ tóu wàng míng yuè.
Dī tóu sī gù xiāng.

Still Night Considerations
Before the bed shine the beams of the moon.
Doubtfully is there frost atop the earth.
Raising my head to gaze longingly upon the moon.
Lowering my head in consideration of my homeland. 

The way I have translated this poem makes it seem so completely simplistic that I don’t know what to do. Even so, I went to bed thinking about this, and in the only way that I know how - I started to think about the moon as a woman. This character, 前, shows the foot radical over the character for ‘boat,’ and can be thought of as someone standing at the prow of a boat. It does mean “in front,” “ahead,” “formerly,” “preceeding,” etc. And I can see so many meanings in this, one of which could actually point towards something like, “before I took the moon to bed,” or, from a vantage point of the bed, he is looking at the moon.

明月 means not only the moon, but a beautiful type of pearl. I don’t doubt that it could also serve as a name, or pet name. 光 has the meaning of “brightness,” but can also denote nakedness or smoothness. It was originally made from the fire radical 火 over the person radical 人. Given this, another way to translate the line might be: “Before bed Luna with fiery nakedness,” or something like that… :) 

In the second line, 疑 tells us something about “suspect,” or “doubt.” This could be taken as a verb or noun (or maybe even something else). 是 is the simple “to be,” followed by 地上: on top of the earth. Or, perhaps, we can read it as simply “earth,” and then “atop,” as separate entities. The last character, 霜, shuāng, can be frost, or “white,” or even something “hoary,” “old,” “grey,” “silver.” The simple translation is stated above, but to take this to some deeper levels, perhaps what is suspect is the frost upon the earth… the old man upon the young, fertile girl?? It makes sense that he admires her either from the bed, or before the bed, but doubts that he would ever be able to be with her. I’m not sure how old Li Bo was at the time of this poem, or perhaps I could consider that idea further.

Moving on to the third line: 舉 is raising, made of the character for give, 與, over the radical for hand, 手. So, this is the idea of raising, but it’s a raising with generosity. 頭 is “head,” “the first,” the top end of something, the “chief.” Here it is raising the head in generosity - which, can be interpreted in some more erotic ways or perhaps it is just the idea of raising his head. I would be willing to bet that he meant both. 望 is a pretty brilliant character to use here, because not only does it mean “look,” but it means “full moon.” It’s the idea of gazing into the distance, there is hope, expectation. And once again, there is 明月. Raising his head to gaze into the distance at 明月 - almost as if he wants to give his love to her, but he cannot because he is the frost, the cold, the old, and as he said above, he doubts as if he could give that to her. All he can do is see her from afar, as all a human being can do is gaze up longingly at the full moon.

And in the fourth line: 低 is “low,” made of the person radical next to the foundation radical, 氐. Interestingly though 氐 is also an ancient constellation.  低 has the meaning of “lowering,” “submitting,” “drooping,” “hanging down,” or “reducing.” Again we have the head: 頭, and so we can see that in the previous line the head was raised towards the distance and now it has been lowered. 思 is “think,” “deliberate,” “consider.” It is a field 田 over the heart 心. The earth was referenced in line 2, and perhaps this is a reference to it again. Some sources say that the field radical was originally a representation of the brain… who knows. 故 is often translated as “therefore,” “reason,” “cause.” It is made of the radicals for ancient 古 and beat 攴. And then there is 鄉, a picture of two people, 乡 and 阝, sitting down at a table. It has the meaning of a countryside or a village. 故鄉 together can mean “birthplace.” This has some meaning about the humbling, submissive lowering of the head to the considerations about his home. All I can think is that the character for village is two people sitting by a table and so perhaps he is considering his loneliness in the world… which can reflect back on all of this and the constant references to the moon - something that is not unlike the poet in it’s ability to profoundly reflect the light on one side and hold the darkness on the other.

One of the questions that’s been puzzling me this week is the idea of the resolution times in the Shang Han Lun. The picture above shows the times of resolution for the 6 conformations overlayed on the high tides for the bodies channel system.

太 陽 病 ， 欲 解 時 ， 從 巳 至 未 上 。
Taiyang disease desires to separate at the time from 巳 until 未. (9am - 3pm, May (summer solstice) - July)
 陽 明 病 ， 欲 解 時 ， 從 申 至 戍 上 。
Yangming disease desires to separate at the time from 申 until 戍. (3pm - 9pm, August - (fall equinox) October)
 少 陽 病 ， 欲 解 時 ， 從 寅 至 辰 上 。
Shaoyang disease desires to separate at the time from 寅until 辰. (3am - 9am, February - April)
 太 陰 病 ， 欲 解 時 ， 從 亥 至 丑 上 。
Taiyin disease desires to separate at the time from 亥 until 丑. (9pm - 3am, November - January)
 少 陰 病 ， 欲 解 時 ， 從 子 至 寅 上 。
Shaoyin disease desires to separate at the time from 子 until 寅. (11pm - 5am, November (winter solstice) - February)
 厥 陰 病 ， 欲 解 時 ， 從 丑 至 卯 上 。
Jueyin disease desires to separate at the time from 丑 until 卯. (1am - 9am, January - April (vernal equinox))

In Craig Mitchell’s translation of the SHL, they say that it is possible for these times to have been added from a different source than Zhong Zhangjing, when the book was being recompiled. However, considering the possibility that they were part of the original text, do they actually mean that the diseases clear up at these times? Probably not, as that doesn’t seem to be clinically relevant (from what I’ve heard, since I’m not in clinic yet.)

What else could this mean? Well, the earthly branches that define the times, and are often translated as such, have more far reaching meanings. For example, 巳 is not only the 4th double-hour, but also the 4th month: May and 未 is not only the 6th double-hour, but the 6th month: July. I wonder if there isn’t something in the energy of these time periods that is able to infuse the channels with exactly what they need in order to expel the pathogen.

Taiyang separates during May and July - at a time when the Yang energy is really building up full force and OPENING… which is pretty much how we talk about it functioning in the body. This energy seems to line up with its general character. The same is true for Yangming and Shaoyang. Once we get to Taiyin, it is said to resolve around the time from November to January here, and it is also the OPENER for the Yin conformations - something I understand as being the opener that allows the contraction of yin. This would also match the idea that the channel can clear itself best when it is engorged with Qi. Jueyin is the CLOSER for the yin conformations, and as such, it resolves during the period at which the yin is lessening and the world is expanding. 

Shaoyin is considered to be the pivot for the yin conformations - and this is the pivot where the yin starts to contract down so that it can be expressed when it’s opener (Taiyin) allows for it. While I would expect this to occur before the Taiyin action of opening can take place, it’s resolution time comes later. This is the one thing boggling me about the resolution times. Could it possibly be that this time does not match the character of the energy of the channel itself? Could it be that I’m confusing the idea of a yin pivot with a yang pivot and expecting Shaoyin to behave more as Shaoyang does?

It consists of Wu Mei, Asarum, Dried Ginger, Coptis, Dang Gui, Aconite, Szechwan Peppers, Cinnamon twig, Ginseng and Phellodendron. We know Mume as the Ume Plum, Japanese Apricot or Plum, and the Umeboshi Plum, and the blossoms of the plum tree are what we know as plum blossom. The unripened plums are dried in a fire oven until about they are about 60% dehydrated. They remain quite sour with a bit of a smoky flavor.

I am making only 1/3 of the recipe listed in the SHL. That amounts to 100 plums. I soaked the plums in vinegar over night as directed. 

Most of the herbs had already been ground at the clinic, so while the plums were soaking, all I had to do was blast-fry the Fuzi (aconite) and try to remove the peel. The Fuzi I used had already been prepared, so I’m not sure that blast-frying it was very necessary. I was slightly successful at scraping the peel off with a steak knife, but must admit that I didn’t get it all. I then roasted the Szechwan pepper with my electric heating coils (not a flame, as it says to do in the recipe) until the skin was brown and crispy and it started to leak it’s juices.

The next day I strained the plums and saved the vinegar:

All of the kernels then had to be removed from the plums. I thought this would take about 15 minutes, but ended up taking close to an hour. A few of the plums had obviously been burnt in their preparation process and so I tossed those to the sides. Some of the plums didn’t reconstitute in the vinegar either, and so I had to cut as much of the flesh off as I could. If I ever do this again, I would prefer to get the fresh plums and roast them myself before starting. I feel like the quality would be much better.

My little helper and I then measured out 1100 mL of rice. I assumed that I should use polished rice (as opposed to brown), and we picked an organic basmati. We used a measurement of 700 ml = 1 dou. The original recipe called for 5 dou = 3500 mL. We made the rice with the normal 2:1 ratio and steamed it with the plums:

Once this was done, we were supposed to grind it to a paste. Here’s where the Kitchenaid came in VERY handy:

I threw the roasted pepper into this mixture to be blended (and had already ground the fuzi in our coffee grinder). I got a pretty gelatinous mixture that we added the other herbs to:

At this point, I boiled about 2 cups of honey and stirred this into the medicinal mixture.

The amount of honey in the mixture was not stated in the SHL, so I just went with what was left in the jar. After all of this, I used some rice flour to knead the medicinal dough. I ended up with 5 “loaves” of dough.

I made the pills by sitting on my couch and taping a large piece of parchment paper to my coffee table. I pinched off a small piece of dough and rolled it into a long ’snake.’ Using a butter knife, I cut the snake up into very small pieces. Each pill is supposed to be the size of a firmiana (Chinese palm) seed - which measures approximately 7mm:

After I had cut about 50 pieces off, I used a little rice flour in my palm to roll each one into a ball and then dropped it onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. After about 6 episodes of House, and running through the new Chrisette Michele CD 2 times, I had filled one cookie sheet. (These sessions were over a 2-day period). This was about one loaf (and remember, I made 5).

I’m sure that I don’t need to mention that I will be making these for days and days and days. I haven’t gotten much knitting done, because I have been rolling pills like a maniac. At one point, I decided to give up and buy some, but nobody sells Wu Mei Wan made the classical way, so I had to freeze some of the dough until I could get to it. 

These pills are to be taken 10 before each meal (3x’s a day) and then gradually increased to 20 pills before each meal. That’s a lot of pills to be taking in one day, and it’s not so easy to swallow them down. I had originally wondered why Zhang Zhong-Jing didn’t just use less rice and have the patient take 1 pill, building up to two pills before each meal. I came to the conclusion that this amount was ridiculous. Then I went to wash the dishes, and realized that not only did the dough clog up my dishwasher (and coat everything in it so that it all had to be washed by hand), but it was impossible to wash off the utensils. It becomes a gelatinous coating of medicine. And then I realized that ZZJ is a time-release genius. 

This pill is originally taken for roundworms, and it seems to be prescribed in modern times for diseases that could be linked with faulty ratios of gut flora. It’s genius to use a small amount of toxic medicine (there was less than 1/2 cup of dried herb to 12 cups of rice) and then put that in the stickiest medium ever. If this stuff coats the intestines and hangs out there with the small amount of medicine for a quite a while, it will be less detrimental to the person, while being more detrimental to the bad bugs. Maybe that’s not quite the way to think about this, but I think I am even more in love with ZZJ and the Shang Han Lun after this whole process.

Yesterday in Qi Gong, our teacher asked us if we had a Qi Gong practice outside of school. We all raised our hands, but when she asked whether we were using the Jin Jing Gong that we are taught at school - only one student said that he was practicing it regularly. For myself, when I have time (which I am still learning how to create) I go to a yoga studio in town or practice yoga in my living room. I consider this to be my Qi Gong. Our teacher was curious as to why many of us were choosing other methods of Qi Gong - and this prompted me to thinking about why I have not been moved to practice the Jin Jing Gong. I realized that I am not attracted to most of the Chinese style Qi Gong that I have been taught and I find this problematic, considering my career choice.

I started to think about what else, besides yoga, has really made me feel energized and as if I am able to release and find some receptivity in the moments I am practicing. I had the realization that all of the forms of exercise or Qi Cultivation that I prefer have some degree of pain and it is through this pain that I find satisfaction with the practice. It’s almost as if I can only bring myself into the present when I have the pain of a stretch to hold onto, or the shaking legs from a never-ending horse stance to deal with.

This brings up all kinds of questions for me about what Qi Gong really is - and what I expect of it. I wonder what my teachers expect of it. I wonder if I am somehow stuck on a physical level in all of this when everyone else around me is able to transcend to higher levels of awareness when making motions of turning an old-style waterwheel. Perhaps I need to use my imagination and concentrate more when doing these exercises and in this way I will begin to feel something. These are all questions that I plan on investigating during the course of this next quarter.

When it all comes down to it, I wonder if it might have to do with the difference between a corn farmer from the midwest and a rice farmer from China. I wonder if my Qi might require a loud and dirty, diesel-driven tractor and huge amounts of sun to grow - or if maybe I am just trying to hard and once I stop, I will come to a place where nature just takes over and the wildness of the crops can come back.

The Chinese symbol of Earth can be used to direct our minds towards the meaning of the Spleen/Stomach organ network in the body. If we use the Tai Ji symbol as a representation of the five phase processes at work, the Earth “phase” is the axis upon which the whole process turns. The axis of the turning wheel is what offers it stability in space. The axis of this wheel is what allows the upwards energy to turn and flow downward and then to be lifted again. The entire cyclical nature of the process is based upon the axis of the wheel, for without the axis, there would be chaos and no repeating cycle.
We can think of this axis as having two parts: half of the axis corresponds to an upward movement and half of the axis corresponds to a downward movement. It is somewhat silly to divide an axis in this way, since the upwards movement cannot function without the downwards movement, but we have already divided the outside of our Tai Ji symbol in this fashion, and as all things are holographic, the same rules can be applied to the axis itself.
It is also important to note that the movements of the axis do not come from the axis. The axis just denotes the point that is central to the rotational movement. From Newton’s Principia, we know that any mass following the circular path around the axis will be subject to a centripetal force pointed inwards towards the axis. The mass itself will exert an equal force in the opposite direction (hence, directly away from the axis); the reactive centrifugal force.
The Spleen and Stomach have a central location in the body, and all of the grains and liquids are taken into this middle part of the body to be distributed outwards. We can think of the Spleen and Stomach as the two parts that make up the axis of the functioning body system. The Spleen will fit with the half of the axis that corresponds to upwards and outwards movement, while the Stomach will fit with the half of the axis that corresponds to downwards and inwards movement.
In this way, we can see the Stomach as being related to the centripetal force that Newton described. All of the food is pulled into the Stomach, where it is held and worked on and eventually pushed even deeper into the body on it’s way to excretion. If we use the symbols of the centripetal force and the reverse centrifugal force then we know that the Spleen will have to exert an equal and opposite force on the Stomach in order to keep the balance of the system. As the food is pushed deeper towards the center, there must be a force coming from it that is equal and opposite. We see this in the healthy Spleen process of extracting the Gu Qi from the food, thus allowing the body to maintain balance and order, and thus life.
When all of these motions (upwards, downwards, centripetal force, reverse centrifugal force) are working correctly, we say that the physiological processes of the Spleen and Stomach are healthy. This will be seen in the ability of the body to extract the Gu Qi from the food and send it upwards towards the Lung where it will mix with the Kong Qi to form the Zong Qi. This is the basis for the Zheng Qi and so we will also see the health of the Spleen and Stomach in the ability of the body to defend itself from external pathogens, create the Blood and nourish all of the organs through the Blood.
Because the axis keeps everything inside by tethering it, the Earth organs rule over keeping the blood in the vessels and the organs held in their proper places. This also applies to the thoughts (which is just another form of digestion) and so a healthy Earth process in the body will manifest in pleasant and simple thinking that is not uncontrollable or worrisome.
Since the Earth organs are the axis upon which all of the other organs spin - if there is a stuckness in the axis, there will be problems with the moving of the entire wheel which can manifest as symptom patterns in any organ. Therefore, whenever the functioning of the other organs is disturbed, one should check and see if the root of the disturbance can be attributed to the Stomach and Spleen.
Specifically, when the Earth organs are diseased, there will be a heavy sensation in the body. This results because the axis is stuck and the materials and essences within the body cannot be lifted up. There will be swelling and malfunction in the center of the body resulting in symptoms like abdominal distention, diarrhea, vomiting and constipation. The rotting and ripening function is attributed to the Stomach which should be doing it’s job of pulling the materials inwards and downwards. When this does not happen, there can be a build up of bilirubin in the body and that results in the yellow color associated with the Earth phase.

In the Tai Ji symbol, we can see the interplay of extremes, which, even though they are opposites, when the apex of each is reached, the beginning of the next is born. We call these two extremes “Yin” and “Yang.”

Because of the complexities that are created from the interplay of the two extremes, the Chinese divided the pie of possibilities into five categories. Each category was named after a natural symbol, which could be used to point at the various occurrences born from the interplay between Heaven and Earth (or Yin and Yang). Fire represented the apex of Yang and Water represented the apex of Yin. Wood represented the birth and rising of the Yang after the Yin had reached it’s apex, and Metal represented the death and decay that builds after the height of the Yang. Earth represented the central core that held the entire process together - for if it were not held together, the extremes would separate and the Qi would return to it’s Wu Ji state.

Every material thing and experience in the world could then be described by this macrocosmic view. Zang Fu theory is the story of the macrocosm with it’s pertinent symbols applied to the human body. Each Chinese organ in the body is considered to be either more Yin or more Yang. Because some of the organs (Liver, Heart, Lung, Kidney and Spleen) have a denser nature and are considered to store the spirits, they are classified as Yin organs. Because some of the organs are viewed as filled with space (Gall Bladder, Small Intestine, Large Intestine, Bladder and Stomach) , they are classified as the Yang organs. This does not mean that the organs are completely Yin or completely Yang (because by definition, such a thing would mean they could not exist), but rather that some of the organs embody more of the characteristics of these ideas. Once an organ has been classified as either Yin or Yang - it can then be classified under one of the five symbols.

For example, the Heart is classified as a Yin organ, and within it’s Yin classification, it has an association with the Fire phase of the Tai Ji cycle. The Fire phase represents what can be seen at 12:00 on the symbol (if we were to place an analog clock over the top of it). This is the apex of the Yang, as it has reached it’s height, but it must also be understood that this is the most Yin part of the whole process. The Tai Ji symbol shows us this with a small black (yin) circle in the center of the Yang head. Just as a seed is the most concentrated nature of a plant, and an egg is the most concentrated nature of the human being - so we find here the seed of the Yin. With this we know that in the Wu Xing (五行), we can see that the symbol of Fire represents this hot, expansive and upwards moving Yang energy, but it also holds the information that the seed of Yin has now been planted and will soon begin to take over. We see this in all things at this phase of their cyclical nature: the summer, adulthood, volcanic eruption, etc… Zang Fu theory strives to make these connections in the body, and in doing so, it uses the symbol of Fire to point at the meaning of the Heart within the body.  It is very important to note that the Heart is identified as the Yin-Fire organ, and so what exactly is the Yin at the Fire time? It’s the seed of Yin that is settled there, and only because it is there can the Yang burn so very brightly and be at it’s most expansive.

When we think about one of the biggest roles of the Heart in Chinese medicine, it is to hold the Shen spirit, and in this way, it must be the most concentrated of all of the Yin organs in the body.  It is through this dense nature that the vibrant and heavenly Shen spirit is able to burn, like a fire on precious oil, within our bodies. The Heart rules the blood, which is one of the dark Yin fluids of the body, but it is responsible for transmitting the warmth of the Shen throughout the body. Here again is the concentrated Yin holding onto the Yang. Because everything in Chinese medical philosophy is holographic, the Heart can be split into more and more divisions (Heart Yang, Heart Yin, Heart Qi, etc…), but if taken back to the Tai Ji symbol, the answers can be deduced in the same way.

To move to a different place in the cycle, we can use the Small Intestine as another illustration. The Small Intestine will stand very close to the Heart’s realm on the Tai Ji. This is a sensitive time for the dark and congealing energies and while they are beginning to manifest in potential, the Yang is burning at it’s brightest. The Small Intestine is considered to be a Yang-Fire organ, and so is going to represent more of the Yang nature that is taking place at the Fire phase of the clock; the end of the summer, the flowing of the lava. From Chapter 8 of the Suwen, it can be said that the Small Intestine holds the office of he who acts as Receiver and Repository and takes care of the transfer of matter. At the end of the summer, we can see that the fruits are filled with sunlight and nutrients and explode with their seeds. I think that this is the role of the Small Intestine in the body. It is said in Zang Fu theory that the Small Intestine separates the clear from the turbid. This can be seen as the end of summer process in which the sun is beating down on the mountains and the sea, evaporating their essences (and almost succussing them for the planet) so that they can rain back down onto the world in the Fall. Whereas the Heart plays more of a holding and storing function, the Small Intestine plays more of an evaporation and separation function.

If we move our attention to the opposite end of the symbol, we find water represented. We can take a look at Kidney function in the body now, which is described as Yin Water in Zang Fu theory. This can be seen as the Yin of the Yin, and should be noted as the time in nature when things are congealed, condensed and covered. A great symbol for this is the seed buried beneath the snow. It holds the memories of all the plants that have produced it through the ages, and in this memory lies the pilot light of it’s species. The Yin within Water is the time of rest during which this seed sits and waits. It is the will of the seed, the fidelity it has to it’s origins that is really stored inside.

Zang Fu theory connects the Kidney to the storing of the Zhi spirit, which is often translated as “will” or “fidelity,” and we can see this connection in the seed, the winter and the ocean. The Kidney is also connected with the reproductive function of the human being, and this is easy to see with the seed metaphor. Through the controlling of the water metabolism, the Kidney also plays a role in separating the clear from the turbid, which is a major function taking place during the winter time.

Now that I have reached the point of at-least-three-tests-per-week, I’m really trying to figure out how to memorize all of these acupuncture points and herbs. I’ve got the flashcard making thing down, but that’s just helping me to pass the tests. I don’t feel like I’ve got the greatest handle on things, since the information seems to get farther and farther away as the test is completed. I’ve read the sight/sound/taste, etc… information, but it just doesn’t seem all that real, and it honestly doesn’t seem all that concrete. I’m searching for some really specific methods to help.

Some methods I’ve found so far:

Flashcards: I originally started by going through these in order (so HT 9, HT 8, HT 7, etc) and I found that I organized the information based on which card came next. It took me a couple of channels to learn that I really needed to shuffle the cards throroughly each time I went through them. This is the same for herbs, I am actually memorizing herbs based on the other herbs they are listed by, or the herb that they follow in my flashcards. This is not something I’m doing on purpose, but something that seems to be happening pretty spontaneously - and while it works for the test, it doesn’t last and I can’t see it working in clinic. The pre-made flashcards are sitting in the corner, cause they just don’t work for me. Part of the learning is making the cards, and I’ve got specific information that I’m focusing on and the only way I can get that is to make the card myself. I have also enjoyed using this online flashcard creator.

Joe Curcio: Okay, holy Golden Dragon, Batman. This guy rocks. I found these great CD’s called Tunes on Tangs and Songs on Sans, and these are fantastic. He’s got songs on almost 60 formulas. You can click on the link to listen to 12 of the songs and decide if you want to pay the 40 bucks to buy it. I’m not in formulas yet, but I’m definitely grabbing this (while the financial aid is still flowing). If you’ve ever had a tune get stuck in your head, this should work for you.

I’m using my herb samples to make a binder with flashcards and samples side by side and I’ve been printing off pictures of the live herb. That’s definitely been helpful for remembering, but not fullproof.

Any other ideas? Thank you so much!

Josiah McElheny: Modernity, Mirrored and Reflected

I’m getting a little anxious to start school next week. I’ve got to do some shopping over the weekend for the minor supplies like pencils and paper - the major ones have to wait until I cash that financial aid check. I don’t know how prepared I am for this next year. It’s going to require a greater degree of memorization than the previous year did (which while challenging was in a more philosophical manner than an academic one).

I was reminded of a quote by Sydney J. Harris: “The whole purpose of education is to turn mirrors into windows.” I can’t think of a better way to describe the growth process that we are all going through.

It’s interesting to notice the classification scenarios we had started to use last year as we learned about the five phases and the possibility of constitutional types. We began to put ourselves into boxes based on these ideas and when we thought we had figured it out for ourselves, we started putting the other students in those boxes. Lo and behold, a teacher finally hauled each one of us up to the front of the class and had us read an excerpt from a sales catalogue. Based on the energy in our voice reading, he determined the phase energy that we most emobodied. I embodied wood. Another student fire. Still another earth - and that was fine tuned even more until she became “A Stomach.”

During the last year I have been pegged as A Heart, A Pericardium, A Triple Warmer (San Jiao), A Spleen and A Gall Bladder. When things have seemed a bit foggier, I’ve just gotten stuck with, “she’s a wood,” or, “I can see how you’d be a fire.” I even called myself these things. Based on our classifcation of each other, we are not only treated in certain ways, but we begin to take those roles on in the group. If you classify me as A Gall Bladder and treat me as a champion with an anger control problem, I will certainly become that…and that’s where I have started to see this as a real learning experience in our education - one that is going on under the scenes and we aren’t receiving any credit for.

We all come into this school with projectors on our foreheads - and we’re playing movies of ourselves on our classmates foreheads. OUR illnesses, OUR habits, OUR energies - they’re all playing out on our classmates foreheads, so how do we break those mirrors and start enabling ourselves to see through the windows? How do we stop projecting?

I can’t help but wonder: if I’m sitting next to a classmate and I am judging them as Fire - is it because they “are” really Fire? Is it because I “am” Fire and I’m feeling too much heat? Is it because I “am” Wood out-of-control and I am hypersensitive to your balanced Fire because of it? Is it because I am Metal out-of-balance and sitting next to you is making me feel warm and whole, but it’s just because I am so Fire deficient that your healthy amount of it is causing a change in me? Or is any of this constitutional stuff even real???

What happens to a patient when they come into my office for the first time and I do something like this?  I listen to a passionate account of their bike ride to my office, and then use this information and tell them that they are a particular phase type and describe that phase type to them. Most certainly they will take on whichever characteristics of that phase type that are lacking in their personality, and I would even expect that they would go out of their way to play that role for me when they came back to my office.

Bill Frazier says that as individuals, we play certain roles within certain groups - but those roles are by no means the same everytime. I “am not” a Lung, but in THIS group at THIS time, I have taken on the Lung’s role of Prime Minister. I think this is a much better way to identify what’s happening, as it has a spacial and temporal quality to it that allows the person some ambiguity, and that ambiguity leaves lots of room for change and growth.

As it is right now, I’m still seeing mirrors everywhere and hoping that at some point I can get to know and recognize myself so well that I can see when I’m looking at myself, move the mirror out of the way and start enjoying the view out the window!

Certainly, meditation is important for all of us - in terms of centering and clearing the energies of our all too busy American lives. That said, when do we do it? When do our patients do it? Meditation is clearly part of the lifestyle change that is so much more important than anything we can do for our patients in the clinic. But this lifestyle change requires some time that is hard to find in our schedules.

As a student of Chinese medicine, I find that my program takes up a horrendous amount of my time: so much so that my child will be in school/daycare full-time (meaning an 8-hour day) when I start school next week. This is similar to so many graduate programs in this country - regardless of the fact that these long hours spent sitting are not conducive to the cultivation of health in the student (who is supposed to be, someday, advising other human beings on healthy lifestyle practices). Similarly, the jobs of working Americans require eight, ten and sometimes twelve hour days spent sitting or standing. Many of these working Americans come home to families that they get to spend little time with and eat meals that had to be prepared with minimal, if any, cooking time.

If my patient would like to have increased energy, better sleep, a healthier weight, less anger or depression, etc… much of how they might achieve this lies in their ability to find an inner peace that can certainly be helped along by meditation - but how do I recommend such a practice when doing it would require the loss of family time, the loss of their lunch break, or is just plain impossible to squeeze into the schedule that they are barely managing as it is? For many working Americans, finding a place to meditate, that is clear of the sounds of the TV in their house or the traffic outside can also be a huge barrier. I know that my own home, which is occupied by a 3 year old, is hardly the place for quiet time. I am lucky enough to have a quiet space at school that I can utilize during breaks, but most Americans don’t have that option.

One of my friends, a single parent, says that meditation is very important to her and so she does it in her car on the way to work. She explained to me that it’s the only time in the entire day that she has to herself, and so she utilizes it as best she can. She breathes into her abdomen and tries to focus her energies and awareness there while she calms down the worry and constant thinking that she suffers from. Leave it up to an American to figure out the multi-tasking of meditation! For me, the jury is still out as I try and think of how I can solve this problem in my own life and pass it onto my busy patients!

Starting in mid-August, we began receiving baskets of blueberries from our CSA. I wanted to know how to put these berries are put to use - from a Chinese medicine perspective. However, there’s not much written anywhere that I can find. Because the blueberry (Vaccinium Cyanococcus) is a native American plant species, it’s definitely not going to be found in the Shen Nong Ben Cao or other classics, but it grows rampant at this time of year in Portland and it can be powerful medicine. The biggest question for me is how to fit it into the medicinal philosophy that I’m learning.

In his Pharmacodynamic Basis of Herbal Medicine, Ebadi talks about the blueberry as an antioxidant, an anti-inflammatory, a cardiovascular protectant, a memory and vision enhancer, and something that can fight both urinary tract infections and cancer. This is great information, coming from a Western viewpoint, but is there a way that we can use this information to see the blueberry as a component of Oriental medicine? If we can manage to classify it within Chinese medicine, how then would we be able to determine it’s use and amount in a formula?  I am a big believer in the Chinese Classical approach that we are taught at NCNM, but I am also a big believer in the use of local and seasonal plants. There must be a way to integrate both of these philosophies for the benefit of our patients.

With the little I know, I believe that I still have a good starting point for the classification of this plant. It is blue in color, hence the species name having the component cyan. Cyan comes from the Greek, kyanos, meaning “dark blue enamel,” or “lapis lazuli.”  This association with lapis lazuli is interesting because the rock was believed to be associated with power and certainly with higher beings. The nobility of the past were often buried with massive amounts of it to carry into the afterlife.  The power within this color is also seen in it’s pairing with the Water phase of Chinese thought. The blueberry really does embody the blue/black color that can be connected with the Water organs of the body: the Kidney/Bladder. This association can be enhanced by the western recognition that the blueberry is beneficial for the memory function, plays a role in fighting urinary tract infection and it is helpful for enhancing vision, but most specifically, the enhancement of night vision, which is linked to the Kidney.

The calyx of the berry is a star with five-points. The numerology of the organs would relate the number five to the Heart…if for no other reason than the number 5 falls into the middle of the numerology graph and is the only number that is surrounded on all sides by other numbers; hence, the number 5 is in the middle and is the harmonizer. This correlates with the Emperor who is surrounded on all sides. Because of this centering and harmonizing, we can also see a relationship with the Earth phase, which is often attributed to the Stomach and Spleen in the body, but it must be remembered that the Heart also has Earthly phase components to it. The blueberry serves in western medicine as a cardiovascular protector - thus showing this correlation that the blueberry has to the Heart.

The blueberry certainly has a sour flavor to it, as all berries do. However, in comparison to schisandra (wu wei zi), it is much sweeter. The sour flavor is considered to reduce the Wood phase and tonify Metal. One of the older students at my school, Nic Buscemi, gave me a piece of paperwork that included the work of sour on the Fire phase. It is attributed with “recollection.” Qi Bo says something in the Neijing to the effect that the Heart has a capacity for recollection and that is called reflection. The retention of the reflection is what we call the will - which is stored in the Kidney. Now, in the generation and control cycles, Metal controls Wood, and Wood creates Fire - so, if Metal is being tonified by the sour flavor, and Wood is being reduced (which logically makes sense), then from that, sour increased the ability of recollection within the Fire element. Perhaps there is the idea of putting too much wood on a fire - which can suffocate it, but when reducing the wood, the fire is actually able to breathe. This would make sense, in terms of the sour flavor allowing the Fire phase to breathe…and, going back to the western attributions to the blueberry, we’ve got a serious relationship here between the Kidney and the Heart, both of which benefit from the berry.

I’ve got a long way to go in thinking about this, but hopefully after I have herbs and formulas, I can put this together a little better and put some of these native plants to use.

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