Acupuncture and Your Emotions: Lung and Grief

by

Ramsay Z Falcove LMT

Traditional Chinese Medicine has provided the Western Community with a clear, concise definition of how the mind, body and spirit interact and communicate with each other. They provide evidence and demonstration of how there is no separation of the mind, the body and the spirit. It provides explanations based on 5000 years of empirical observations. In this article and following articles I will explore this connection and try to explain in plain language and experience how these processes work and how they relate to you and your health.

The Lung and Grief

Traditional Chinese Medicine takes a holistic approach to dis-ease. One organ cannot be out of balance (yin & yang) for  very long without affecting the function of another organ. The lung is a most important organ since it is responsible for bringing  vital oxygen and Qi to every organ and part of the body. The dysfunctioning of the lung can have direct effects on the heart, the liver, the kidney or the spleen. It is vital to keep the lung as healthy as possible.

As I mentioned in the previous article,each vital organ(Heart, Lung, Liver , Kidney, Spleen) has an emotion that most directly affects its functioning. The emotion that most directly affects the functioning of the Lung is Grief. Grief is a process that can have a very healthy effect on the lung and personality, if it is not indulged in for an extended period of time.

Grief can come to a person in many forms. The most obvious one is the death of a spouse or loved one or a pet. These can be very devastating and intense in themselves, but there are also unconscious grief cycles we may be in and not be aware.Meaningful relationships(marriage or significant other) could dissolve  through divorce or abandonment. A belief system you may have about a friend or a parent may prove itself to be false.This friend or parent, whom you believe to be reliable,dependable and loving may prove themselves to be neglectful,arrogant and overtly betray you. Your belief system or delusion about this person must be grieved through and let go. This allows you to establish newer and healthier relationships. In another example, a  person may put their heart and soul into a business venture and it may  fail. When someone dies or  we fail at something,  we go through the grief cycle as describe by Kubler-Ross: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance.

As I wrote in my article on the Liver and Anger, as long as you do not stagnate in these emotions they will not cause disease. If anyone has ever experienced a loss you understand the process. Time slows down and a state of confusion overcomes you. There is fatigue, lack of motivation, rationalization over “What went wrong?”. Usually this culminates in a letting go process where there is crying, bargaining and finally acceptance of what is and what will never be(Led Zepplin). The process of confusion, fatigue, lack of motivation and finally crying is a necessary process. To do this we must come out of our natural center and indulge in the process of letting go. This process(natural & necessary) causes our energy and our Qi to scatter and disperse out of the body. If you have ever done any serious grieving you know that at the end of the crying you feel cleaned out and whole but weak and scattered. If this continues for too long, this leaves our lung yin weak and vulnerable to disease processes.

The letting go of the person,place or thing is the most important part of this process. It allows you to return to a state of normalcy. The holding on is what causes disease.  A person can get stuck at any stage of this process and experience symptoms. Many people are caught is grief cycles and don’t even know it. This is especially true for men and especially true for men in the South. They have been denied the right to feel for a very long time.

Symptoms of weak and scattered lung yin are chest distress, pain in the chest shoulder and back, cough with sputum, vexation, asthma, dryness of the mouth and throat, hoarseness, loss of weight. These symptoms are what people mostly experience when they are going through the crying and letting go process. If they continue for too long then the weakness of the lung Qi begins to affect the other organs and that is where a disease process can set in. Prolonged grief can cause pneumonia, heart failure,liver and spleen diseases and a negative impact on the kidneys.

As time goes by, we  grieve our relationships, our  childhood, our failures, our memories. We need to understand where we are in the cycle and allow nature to take its course. We need to give ourselves time to ponder, to negotiate, to be depressed and eventually to let go and be joyful. We need to do this to maintain our health and keep ourselves free of disease. 

Acupuncture can help in the grief process by stimulating points that tone up the Lung Qi. The decision to go through the steps of grief and let go and be joyful is a personal choice that each one of us has to make.

Ramsay Falcove became an acupuncturist through 5 years of apprenticeship with a well known licensed acupuncturist from China. He has been in practice on his own for 2 years and is eligible to take the NCCAOM licensure exam.Look for Ramsay’s next article , Kidneys and Fear. www.ramsayfalcove.com