Category Archives: mental aspects of acupuncture

mental aspects of acupuncture, women's health

Healing the Mental Aspect of the Liver, the Hun (Part 1)

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The classic Eastern Medicine text, the Huang Di Nei Jing (Yellow Emperor’s Inner Canon) explains that “ the liver opens to the eyes”.  The health of our physical eyes but also our ability to *see* on a more mental plane is related to our Liver, and the spirit of the Liver, the Hun.  Our vision has two parts. One is the physical ability to see objects outside ourselves, such as reading the words on this page.  The other is a little more subtle: the vision in our mind, the vision where we “see” the life we want, the dreams we weave as we stare out the window in our quiet moments and picture life in 1 year, 10 years from now.  Or it may happen when we see others living in ways that we long for; we light up when we “see” our future dream through theirs.  

From our inner visions, inner seeing, we use dreaming to craft a plan which we then use to bring these dreams into reality.  This planning

aspect is the subtle aspect of the Gall Bladder energy, the sister organ to the Liver.  This is affirmed by the expression “to have a lot of gall” in describing a courageous person.  To have gall, is to have the guts, the courage, the chutzpah to make our dreams real, to plan and act on those plans without fear, fear of what others will think, or what might happen next.  The vision comes first, then the gall, the courage to plan and act out that plan. 

In the same vein, the Chinese character for gall bladder contains the character, “dan”, which means courage, bravery. When someone’s gall bladder is weak, there is the opposite, timidity.  Timidity is a clear sign of gall bladder deficiency. Tonifying points are used on the Gall Bladder channel to bring back courage.  

Inability to plan also shows up when these channels are weak.  Problems with planning curiously can manifest as chronic habitual lateness.  Do you experience habitual lateness even when you conscientiously try to not be late,  or are you embarrassed by your chronic lateness?  It comes down to poor planning which falls under the jurisdiction of the Liver, the mental aspect which is the Hun. All the steps to get to where we need to go, the ability to nail down how much time it takes to do the various things that have to happen before we can get out the front door, and allocating the right amount of time for each part of the journey are the jobs of the Hun.  When our Liver system is working well this happens easily, perhaps without a lot of conscious thought. But when the Liver Hun is weak, well, not so much. So there you have it, a very esoteric (but valid) explanation for being late should you need one.  Your acupuncturist said its your liver/gall bladder (Hun) systems  that are too weak.  

The Liver/Gall Bladder is associated with the Wind element.  When the Wind blows, leaves scatter.  Apply this to your own life.  Are your plans often getting scattered?  Blown around and changed far too often creating little structure or consistency for your dreams to be realized?  What were your goals , hopes and dreams one year ago?  Have you been anchored enough to put those plans into action and see them through, or did things get blown by the wind and scatter, waiting another year?  If one is so often changing ones mind, flitting about from this to that, it actually works against the liver system and our ability to plan and see manifestation in our lives.

But it can get better with the right tools.  One tool I use to help people with this situation is to book their appointments at the same time every week.  So if Thursday works, then Thursday at 11AM, for every appointment, every week.  This  commitment helps patients healing the Hun to develop their planning muscles.  They start to get used to having a clear plan. They can “see” their week in advance because it stays the same, EVERY SINGLE WEEK. 

With this time commitment to work around, people with weak Liver/Gall Bladder systems also find that other parts of their lives start to become more structured and routine.  If you are feeling very scattered, take one small activity and try committing to a routine time to focus on it. See what happens.  This regular stable rhythm is a magic sauce that nurtures our plans so that they come to fruition; providing enough anchoring for goals to be completed, for dreams to come true.  

Women need special advice when it comes to their Liver and the spirit of the Liver, the Hun.  With the blood loss we go

through monthly for much of our lives, our Liver Blood runs low, especially during the menses.   If it’s not  replenished monthly by a diet rich in foods that build the liver blood (dark greens, red meats, beets, egg yolks, molasses), our Liver, and hence the Hun become weak and deficient.  This shows up in many ways in  our lives.  We can be inexplicably held back from moving forward, lacking plans and initiative to move towards our dreams, sometimes from not even having a vision for our life, or lacking actionable clarity in this regard.   This can also show up as depression, feeling stuck in a rut and feeling unable to plan a way out, or envision another kind of life, the one we actually want. This is where acupuncture and correct diet therapy for the Liver help create the physical and mental terrain to support us living out our true calling.

Some keys signs that the Liver Hun is healing:

  1. A steadiness in your chosen path, less shakiness or switching directions too often due to indecision
  2. A greater ability to *see* your life path, why you are here, and envision a healthy, happy future, resulting from a more lavish and vivid imagination
  3. Greater courage to be assertive about one`s beliefs
  4. More propensity to take action on making your dreams come true, with less stalling, delaying or feeling stuck in a rut.

If any of these themes are resonating for you, please reach out to Kingsville Acupuncture at 519-800-4903. Let’s talk about how we can get your liver and gall bladder systems running at greater capacity so that you can move forward and make your dreams come true.  

Yours in health,

Cynthia McGilvray, R.Ac.

References:

  1. Dechar, Lorie Eve, M.Ac. 2006. Five Spirits: alchemical acupuncture for psychological and spiritual healing. Lantern Books.

mental aspects of acupuncture

Why do I have no motivation?

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Energy that`s too low to do anything. Its not that one is lazy or slothful, because of a character defect. Its about one`s biological reserves being so low that the body has gone into conservation mode. There`s a biological drive to it much like a bear gone into hibernation.

There`s only enough energy for core bodily functions and not a whole lot left over. This puts a person in a state where they have no motivation. It can be confusing. Before the energy crash, there were all these goals, a to-do list. Now, much of that got backburnered and for no particular reason. At least it may not be a conscious decision, its more that the reserves are low that any amount of pushing oneself to do more backfires, leading to lower levels of energy, and possibly getting sick. The person may be needing a lot of sleep and still wake up tired, lethargic and need naps during the day. There`s just not enough juice to get the jobs done.

When the Kidney energy is low, this can affect a person on the mental level, their motivation. It can lead to feelings of depression and hopelessness. The mental aspect of the Kidney system is called the Zhi

(“juh”). Other ways to describe the Zhi include willpower, drive, or ambition. When the Zhi is strong, we set long term goals and are easily able to follow through and see them to completion.

When the Kidney system is deficient, the pulse will typically be weak overall and even weaker on the Kidney position. The tongue will appear as either pale, swollen, or the root of the tongue may show pathologies such as a thick coat (not enough Kidney Yang to burn off the phlegm) or a peeled coat (not enough Kidney Yin).

Balanced Kidney energy looks like a person moving through life getting important things done without needing to apply a whole lot of consciousness will power to do it. Activity is slow and steady towards meaningful goals. There`s not much daily thought about those goals, because the Zhi is operating in the unconscious and the tasks get done without a lot of forcing or willpower.

Does that seem unusual? If so, well I agree with you. To me it often seems we`re either whipping ourselves like a race horse trying to get more done, or, perhaps as a consequence of that, feeling burned out and having a lack of will. The reason for both is that Kidney energy has become depleted.

For an acupuncturist, it`s one of the most common health patterns in modern people. This can come from inheritance, our emotions and our lifestyle. When we were conceived we got what our parents bodies could spare. If their Kidney energy (Essence, also called Jing) was depleted, there wasn`t much extra for the developing embryo. This can also come from the experience of fear. For healthy Kidney energy, fear is always overcome or balanced with faith. Faith can mean a lot of things to people, faith that we have the strength to overcome our challenges, or faith in a higher power, faith in a brighter tomorrow, faith that if we do good unto others, that good will come back to us in some way.

Now fear can be a very unconscious thing, like an iceberg, where we are only aware of the tip on the surface of the water of our conscious mind. What lies below the surface is vast and profound. All this to say, that we may have fears that are more unconscious or subconscious. We may be labelling this experience as “stress” but the root of it is fear. Addressing fear that may be driving us excessively to the point of burn-out can be very helpful in healing and improving our energy.

Kidney energy also relates on the mental level, the Zhi, to the acquisition of wisdom. When we move through life with healthy balanced Kidney reserves, we learn gradually through our experiences, trials and tribulations, gathering up bit by bit stores of wisdom, so that by the time we reach old age, although our Kidney reserves (Jing) tend to be low, we are compensated by our wealth of wisdom.

Low motivation can be addressed using acupuncture on the Kidney channel. I like to use a tonification gua to solidify and secure more Kidney energy to allow for a healthy flourishing of ones energy and ones life goals.

If low motivation is getting in your way call us at Kingsville Acupuncture at 519-800-4903 and let’s get you back to normal.

Yours in health,

Cynthia McGilvray, R.Ac.