Liver qi stagnation

[Trunk]

That's very interesting about the importance of having free-flow of energy in the groin area.

 

I had an incident back around 10 or so years ago...

 

BUT, it did cause a whole lot of tension to form in this area which I hold to this day, and I do know it is habitually contracted almost all the time. It's almost impossible to just "let go". Whenever I try, things start to spasm wildly, major discomfort and frustration ensues and I pretty much give up right on the spot.

Bingo! *Very* pertinent to "Liver qi stagnation" for you. (Obviously, I assume you've realized this.) Super important to tell your dr of Ch.medicine, and perhaps also something you'll need to work on yourself as a long term project.

[voidisyinyang]

if you have the SFQ materials I would highly, highly recommend the "Harmony of the Universe" exercise. I've been focusing on it for the last month or so and I'm finding it incredibly helpful in resolving my liver qi stagnation. I'd also recommend massaging along the Liver channel as Trunk mentioned. Focus on the tender spots you find and that will be a great help.

 

[CrunchyChocolate555]

That's not so easy to do haha. My last TCM doc/acupuncturist, I e-mailed him a detailed description of my groin issue since I didn't mention it during my first few visits. He never got back to me on it and when I questioned weather he received my e-mail he just said "yeah, I'll get back to you on that in a bit" but never did. I suppose he just doesn't deal with this kind of thing *shrugs*

 

 

Bingo! *Very* pertinent to "Liver qi stagnation" for you. (Obviously, I assume you've realized this.) Super important to tell your dr of Ch.medicine, and perhaps also something you'll need to work on yourself as a long term project.

[kevin_wallbridge]

Hi CC555, if I may call you that.

 

肝鬱 Gan Yu is the usual term that is translated as "liver Qi stagnation." When we talk about Qi stagnation we usually say 氣滯 Qi Zhi. I mention this because 滯 Zhi is really a word that is similar in meaning to stagnation. 鬱 Yu means something like lush and overgrown. The image is that so much is growing there it has become impassable. I mention this because of the word "stagnation" creates an image of a lack of movement while the reverse is actually the problem. I prefer to translate 肝鬱 as "liver profusion."

 

The main function of the liver in Chinese medicine is 疏泄 Shu Xie coursing and dredging. It is the basis of all movement of Qi in the body. There is no rising, descending, entering or exiting (升降入出) of the Qi that does not involve the influence of the liver. Rather than thinking of liver as stuck like a fly in a spider's web, consider it more like a beast in a cage that occasionally shakes the bars and screams (outburst of anger). Your liver is pacing its cage desperate to run free and course.

 

While it is possible for liver profusion to lead your mind astray it far more likely (by great orders of magnitude) that it is your mind creating the profusion that is disordering your liver. This means that treatments that seek to relieve the profusion will have limited success without being linked explicitly to the mind. The beginning point for this is for you ask yourself with brutal honesty "what is my relationship to frustration?" When you experience things in life that exasperate you, you are presented with an opportunity to ask "who is it that holds the offence? Where lies the desire that is unsatisfied?" Where is humility in the anger? When we are angry or disappointed in another person then were is our compassion? If I can lay my judgement upon the world, what does it reveal about ego?

Edited July 28, 2013 by kevin_wallbridge