How to regulate health through emotions in traditional Chinese medicine

The core of emotional regulation and health care in traditional Chinese medicine is not to suppress emotions and act like a "good old man with no temper", but to follow the emotional correspondence rules of "happyness hurts, anger hurts the liver, thinking hurts the spleen, sadness hurts the lungs, and fear hurts the kidneys", so that the ups and downs of emotions are always within the threshold that the body can handle. It should be relaxed when it should be relaxed, and it should be restrained when it should be restrained. Many people reverse the order and suppress their emotions, but they develop a whole body of diseases.

Not long ago, I met an elder sister who worked in finance at a state-owned enterprise. She had been doing the year-end audit for three weeks, checking reports half as high as a person every day. She couldn't eat and was always suffering from abdominal distension and constipation. She went to a Chinese medicine doctor and said she was overthinking and wasted her temper. She was quite aggrieved, saying that she was afraid of affecting the team atmosphere. Even if her subordinates made mistakes, she didn't dare to get angry. She forced herself to smile every day. Doesn't this count as being able to regulate her emotions? This is actually a misunderstanding that many people have about emotional health care. There are currently two extreme views on emotional regulation. One group believes that the mind should be completely "still like water" and that no negative emotions should be allowed. Even being angry and sad is considered "insufficient practice."

Think about it, our body is like a sheepskin bag containing emotions. If you only stuff air into it every day and refuse to let it go out, sooner or later it will swell to the point where it will become hard and cause problems. But if you are fine, you will tear the hole so that the air will flow out, and all the essence hidden in it will leak out. Let’s just talk about the quarrels and anger that everyone often encounters. If you are really angry that your chest feels tight and your throat is tight, don’t hold it in with your fists and pretend to be generous. Find a place where no one is around and let out a few long sighs, or grab a soft pillow and hit it twice. Just let go of the liver qi that is pressing in your chest. There is really no need to chase the other person and fight to the death. I once saw a young man quarreling with someone until his nosebleed. His anger was too much, and the liver yang was so high that it reached the top of his head.

People who usually feel that their chests are blocked for no apparent reason or have something pressing on their mind don’t have to force themselves to look away or put it down. When sitting down, you can place your hands on both sides of the ribs and rub them slowly. This is where the liver meridian circulates. Many people will sigh involuntarily after rubbing for two or three minutes, and the feeling of congestion will immediately relax. This is actually the body regulating its own emotions, which is more effective than any number of truths.

Of course, we must make it clear that emotional regulation is only a part of traditional Chinese medicine’s health care. Nowadays, some publicity has promoted emotional health care to the extreme, saying that all kinds of difficult and complicated diseases can be cured by regulating emotions. This is definitely unrealistic. If there is an organic disease, you still need to seek treatment from a regular medical institution first. Don’t delay treatment by just regulating your emotions.

In fact, the old sayings "Don't be angry when you eat, don't eat when you are angry" and "Don't compete with yourself" are the simplest principles of emotional health care. There is no need to engage in complicated spiritual rituals. When emotions come, don't hold them back, and don't hold them back after they are gone. Don't store bad emotions in your body, which is more effective than any number of expensive supplements you take.