Heart & Joy

by

Ramsay Z Falcove LMT

The Body and the Mind are seen as one  inseparate, independently existing entity in Chinese Medicine. The Body is the material basis for the mind, which is seen as the natural expression of the functions of the body. The Mind, in western thought is seen as a function of the Brain. The Mind, we think is constructed in the Brain. But when you think about it, when we experience an emotion we generally feel it in our chest or abdomen. So why do our thoughts or our mind have to be in our head? Emotionally, the heart is the “seat “ of the mind. Its highest expression is love, enthusiasm, warmth in human relationships and conscious awareness. Its lowest expression is sadness and depression.

When imbalanced, we may either lack joy(depression) or have an excess of joy (manic condition). Think manic/depression.  When balanced emotionally, we express sensitivity,and have true fulfillment. The equilibrium between the heart and mind are our greatest rewards. Joy can be the antidote to all kinds of negative emotions. How does this work?

In previous articles,I have explained that Qi is the equivalent of Life Energy. Life Energy creates our essence. Essence produces our spirit which is housed in the mind which is housed in the heart. Our spirit is an accumulation of physical Qi (life energy)in our physical heart. We come into this world with a certain amount of Qi or Essence(life energy) that defines our character.

As we grow, that essence is either added to or taken away from by the conditions of our life.  Our parents give us energy but they can also take our energy away. The quality of food we eat and our living conditions may have an effect on our total life energy. . We maintain a certain equilibrium by how we live our lives.

I wrote earlier that joy can be the antidote to all kinds of negative emotions. How this works is  understood by the physical response to joy. When we feel joy our physical response is relaxation. When our bodies are relaxed our Qi(life energy) flows freely through our bodies. When our energy flows freely, we feel at ease and ready for life. Relaxation is the perfect antidote to fear, anger, anxiety, sorrow, and worry.

The quantity of Qi in our hearts affects our quality of life. The goal is not to pack as much Qi in our hearts as we can but to maintain an equilibrium so that the energy flows freely and we are ready for what comes.

Although good feelings can be beneficial to our health, joy can also be a cause of disease. The Chinese understand that any extreme emotion can cause illness. If we experience sudden and overwhelming feelings of joy, we can be left wide open. We may temporarily feel wonderful but our resistance to disease is lowered. There are many ways we can experience this. Football teams can suffer from this when, say, they defeat a highly favored opponent in an extremely hard fought contest. The next week they may lose even though they are favored against an inferior team. ( Think Alabama vs. Tennessee and Alabama vs. ULM). Of course it isn’t that simple, but you get the idea. Say you set an unusually high sales goal at work and you work and work to achieve that goal. The day comes and the goal is achieved and you receive the big bonus check. Afterwards there is a let down maybe even a minor depression.

The experience of joy you feel in the accomplishment has left you open and vulnerable. Excessive joy consumes heart energy, which leads to deficient heart energy. Also excessive joy relaxes the heart to the extent that the heart cannot focus on its activity. This impairs the capacity of the heart to function effectively. If you sit in a chair and relax every muscle in your body, even though you are sitting in the chair you will fall out of the chair. It takes a certain amount of tension to create form and if you lose the tension, you lose the form. If you relax too much the heart Qi loses its form and leaks out, leaving us deficient.

Some signs & symptoms of Heart Qi deficiency include palpitations, mild physical activity causes shortness of breath and/or feelings of oppression in the chest, spontaneous sweating, fatigue, listless, pale complexion,lack warmth to connect with people, trouble making conversation, trouble communicating one’s meaning or intentions (slow), absence of joy.

There are other forms of joy which have their nature in multiple organ involvement and don’t affect the heart in this manner. An extreme form of joy occurs a person becomes overexcited and manic. In this situation, they may remain excessively joyful and overactive for long periods of time. In time they burn themselves out. This feeling of being “up” is usually combined with feeling agitated and unsettled. The other side of this “joy” can be a sad and empty feeling. Many people laugh and show joy to the world when inside they are deeply unhappy. This type of joy has liver and anger issues and is treated is treated accordingly.

I intended this article to deal with the issue of joy and its affect on the heart and not necessarily deal with heart disease. Heart disease involves multiple organ systems and not within the scope of this article.

Joy is a good thing and not something with which to be afraid. Please have your joy so that you energy may flow smoothly.

Ramsay Falcove became an acupuncturist through five years of apprenticeship with a well known licensed acupuncturist from China. He has been in practice on his own for two years and is eligible to take the NCCAOM licensure exam. He recently passed the “Clean Needle Technique” Exam in Orlando, Florida. He can be reached at 205-369-0385 or on the net at www.ramsayfalcove.com. See ad