Balancing Emotions With Acupuncture
Diane Gross, L.Ac.

Feeling emotionally stressed is an experience we all share at one time or another. In Chinese medicine, emotions are an essential aspect of overall health and are part of being human. Chinese medicine recognizes and addresses the important connection between emotional stress and disease. The Neijing, one of the oldest and most authoritative Chinese medical texts, tells us that emotional imbalance can create physical disharmony in the body. Excessive emotions can lead to impairment of Qi (pronounced ‘Chee’), Blood, and Yin. Qi is essentially the body’s energy system. Just like blood has a circulatory system in the body, so does Qi. If Qi does not flow freely, or is depleted or impaired in some way, then emotions may become unstable. In Chinese medicine, Blood is considered to be the physical basis for the ‘Shen’ or Spirit, which includes the emotional and mental aspect of our lives. Yin is essential to moisten and nourish our body and to ‘anchor’ our Yang energies, which tend to be more moving, dynamic and aggressive.

Just as the harmony of Qi, Blood, and Yin is necessary for emotional well-being, our physical health may be affected by our emotions. Repressed or excessive stress and emotions such as anger, mania, sadness or worry, can result in illness. In the same way, illness and disease may disrupt emotional balance. In my practice I have seen numerous examples of this phenomenon, known in many circles as the body/mind connection. I remember, for example, treating a woman who had a history of severe depression. At the time we started treatment; her feelings of depression were debilitating and impeded her ability to function normally. She also stated that she experienced aches and pain everywhere on her body. She had daily headaches, severe muscle soreness, and chronic fatigue. Within a few treatments she not only started to feel better emotionally, but her physical symptoms began to dramatically improve as well, even though I was not focusing on the physical symptoms. On the other hand, I have also treated patients for some kind of physical symptom, only to learn later that they had also experienced coinciding, and unexpected, relief from some stressful emotion.

Specific organ systems are related to, and affected by, particular emotions. Grief can injure the lung, rage may damage the liver, manic moods can negatively affect the heart, worry or obsessive thinking may compromise the spleen and digestive system, and fear often will hurt the kidneys. Substantial harm to the organs themselves generally happens only after prolonged and severe imbalances. Conversely, when there is harmony within these systems it fosters the ability to “let go and move on,” and enhances feelings of benevolence, joy, harmony and faith. A good example of the intimate connection between emotion and disease is the link between worry and digestive issues. It is not at all uncommon for people to experience an upset stomach during times of stress. Worry impairs the function of the spleen. It is this system that transforms food and drink into Qi and Blood for the body. If the spleen energy is not balanced, the long term result may be exhaustion and fatigue.

Acupuncture, Chinese herbs, nutritional interventions, and physical disciplines such as Tai Chi or Qi Gong can be vital tools with which to support emotional health and balance in our lives. The acupuncture points to be treated and the herbal formulas are determined by diagnosing the specific pattern according to oriental medical diagnosis principles. Treatment may be different even for two people who are both experiencing depression, for example, because the root cause of each person’s depressive state might be very different. It is important not only to address the presenting symptoms, but also the underlying, or root cause. Acupuncture and herbs can help by balancing the energetic flow of the body, calm the spirit, and treat the underlying root condition. Tai Chi and Qi Gong are useful in helping to move Qi and Blood in the body. This is helpful in preventing a state of “stuckness” in which illness and emotional discomfort can flourish. Diet can be instrumental in providing the body and brain what it needs in order to balance brain chemistry, nourish and calm the body and mind, and promote healing and balance within all the body’s systems.

So, while Chinese medicine does not categorize any particular emotion as “good” or “bad,” but recognizes that emotions simply “are,” balancing and harmonizing the body’s systems may provide welcome relief from emotional as well as physical discomfort.

Diane Gross, L.Ac., Dipl. OM, CI, CT, is a licensed Acupuncturist at Stillpoint Acupuncture in Greensboro, NC, and a nationally certified sign language interpreter. Call 336.510.2029 for more information or visit www.stillpointacupuncture.com.