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submissions to | Home > Newsletters > December 2007 > Chinese Medicine and the Mind |
Chinese Medicine and the Mind |
 By Efrem Korngold, LAc, OMD and Harriet Beinfield, LAcHOW CHINESE MEDICINE VIEWS THE MIND Chinese medicine does not make absolute distinctions between what we in the West classify as the mind, the activity of the central nervous system, and the physiology of the visceral organs. Within traditional Chinese medical thinking, a person represents a field of Qi, a continuum of dynamic structures, functions, processes, sensory perceptions, and cognitive faculties that range from the gross, substantial, and visible (fluids, blood, flesh, muscles, vessels, sense organs, nerves, and bone) to the subtle, insubstantial, and invisible (sensations, perceptions, feelings, emotions, thoughts, images, and dreams). Although flux and transformation are the fundament of the field, there is a coherence and unity that exists within this continuum, known as Shen-Jing. Shen refers to the psyche or the intangible qualities of mind, and Jing refers to the soma or the tangible qualities of the material body. Shen-Jing implies the mutually arising, interpenetrating nature of Shen and Jing, a microcosmic manifestation of the interdependence and interaction of Yang and Yin. Both spheres are characterized by
incessantly motile patterns of form and action. The structural parts of
the organism have shape and move (with a distinct configuration and
patterns of activity, fluids, blood, muscles, bones, and internal organs
are in constant motion). Similarly, the contents of the mind emerge,
assume form, and shift from place to place in recognizable patterns
(images and ideas take shape, thoughts are shallow and deep, jump from
one to another, move in circles, and habits of mind develop). Human
development is construed to be a seamless, formative process, an
expression of embodied intelligence in space and time that involves the
intermingling of creative imagination and innate constitution initiated
and sustained by the organizing power of Qi. THE THREE LEVELS AND FIVE ASPECTS OF MIND Mental activities and experiences occur
at three levels, again proceeding HOW THE FIVE ORGAN NETWORKS ORGANIZE OUR MOTILE, SENSORY, AND COGNITIVE LIFE All activity is an expression of the movement of Qi occurring in various layers of the organism. At the level of sensations and perceptions, Qi manifests as the qualities of movement associated with muscles, nerves, and sense organs. At the level of thoughts, ideas, and images, Qi manifests as intellectual activity of the mind, or cognition. At the level of our response to sensations, perceptions, and thoughts, Qi assumes the form of feelings and emotions that are experienced simultaneously as physical and mental events, actions, or movements. Qi organizes that which moves, and all movement is a manifestation of Qi. Fundamentally, motility is Qi, and what is motile is alive. When we consider the role of the central nervous system as it is defined in Western terms, we think of the organism’s ability to regulate and coordinate a myriad of complex and interrelated functions including locomotion, perception, cognition, circulation, digestion, elimination, detoxification, reproduction, regeneration, growth, maturation, and even degeneration and dying. All of these processes involve patterned movement at the macroscopic level of organs, muscles, nerves, and vessels as well as at the microscopic level of cellular metabolism. In the Chinese view, it is the Organ Networks that modulate and coordinate all these processes. HOW CHINESE MEDICINE VIEWS DISTURBANCES OF THE MIND AND NERVOUS SYSTEM Since the sensory, neuromuscular, emotional, and cognitive aspects of the nervous system and mind are linked to the movement of Qi and the functional activities of the Five Organ Networks, disturbances of sensation, perception, mentation, and emotion are interpreted as being the consequence of disturbances of Qi, leading to Organ Network dysfunctions. In particular, the faculties and functions associated with the Liver and Heart Networks are considered to have a predominant influence over the tone, tempo, and clarity of behavior and consciousness. The Liver is the abode of the Hun, and
the Heart is the abode of the Shen: Hun represents the active, seeking,
goal-directed, reactive, executive aspects of the mind and nervous
system and Shen the receptive, globally aware, intuitive, insightful,
and integrative aspects. There is a saying that the Heart receives and
understands, whereas the Liver feels and acts. In other words, whereas
the Liver perceives what the mind and body experience (sensation), the
Heart gives it meaning in reference to a person’s true nature or self
(insight). The Liver acts in accord with the dictates of the self
(producing feelings and reactions), and the Heart interprets the
feelings and reactions in relation to their congruence with the self and
its ideology and purposes (integration). In its role as feeler and
actor, the Liver gives the tone and temperament to one’s inner life, the
effort and ease, confidence, and tenderness with which one responds to
experience. In its role as receiver and integrator, the Heart gives
breadth and depth, meaning and coherence to one’s inner life. When the
Heart is well, the Mind is tranquil, the senses are clear, and the body
is comfortable. When the Liver is well, the Mind is flexible, the
disposition cheerful, and the structure supple. The hallmarks of
dysfunction are the unnatural distortions of healthy function. With
disturbances of the Heart Network, the capacity to witness, understand,
and integrate can transform into obliviousness, confusion, and
incoherence. Because the Heart also governs the perfusion of blood
throughout the body, disorders of the Heart may also manifest as
flushing and chilling, labile hypertension or hypotension, and localized
ischemia or insufficiency. With disturbances of the Liver Network, the
capacity for good judgment and an even temper can transform into
impulsivity and volatility. Because the Liver also governs the muscles
and nerves as well as the volume of circulating blood, disorders of the
Liver may manifest as cramps and spasms, numbness and pain,
in-coordination, hyper-reactivity, and paradoxical conditions of heat
and pressure: cold hands and feet coupled with heat in the chest and
head; heat in the upper body and chill in the lower body; strength in
the extremities and weakness in the torso or vice versa; fullness in the
head and emptiness in the abdomen and vice versa. |
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