-IBIS-1.5.0-
tx
musculoskeletal system
hernia
psychospiritual approaches

metaphors and correlations

• I am willing to change all patterns of criticism. I love and approve of myself. My thinking is peaceful, calm, and centered. (Hay, 1984, p. 170-1)

Chinese psychophysiology:
Liver ~ Gan is the home of the Hun (Ethereal Soul); it relates to decisiveness, control, and the principle of emergence; maintains smooth flow of Qi and Xue (Blood); controls the muscles, ligaments, and tendons, especially the contractility of the muscles and moistening of the sinews; has an intimate relationship with the Lower Warmer and the genitals; and reflects emotional harmony and movement.
» Healthy expressions are kindness, spontaneity, and ease of movement.
» Liver Xu (Deficiency) signs include impotence; frigidity; pain in thighs, pelvic region, and throat; ready tendency to "the blahs" (Seem, p. 28); timidity; depression; irritability; vertigo; pruritus; dry eyes, skin, and/or tendons; asthma; aching at the waist; hernia; and difficulty raising head up and down.
» Liver Qi Stagnation reflects and accentuates emotional constraint as the Liver's function of facilitating smooth flow in the body is constricted. Stagnation is associated with frustration, irritability, tension, and feeling stuck. With time this pattern tends to produce a gloomy emotional state of constant resentment, repressed anger or depression, along with tightness in the chest, frequent sighing, abdominal tension or distension, and/or a feeling of a lump in the throat with difficulty in swallowing. (Maciocia, p. 216)
»
Mental signs of Liver channel disorders include irritability, difficulty developing ideas, depression, and lack of energy. (Seem, p. 28) The Liver channel circles the genitalia.

Spleen ~ Pi transforms food into Qi and Xue (Blood); governs the Xue (Blood); maintains upbearing; resolves Dampness; and relates to the ability to assimilate, stabilize, and feel balanced and centered.
» Healthy expressions are fairness, openness, deep thinking, and reminiscence.
» Spleen Xu (Deficiency) signs include slightness (deficient "form"); abundant elimination; morning fatigue; cold, wet feet (Seem, p. 28); abdomen taut and distended like a drum; craving for sweets; flatulence; nausea; mild edema; memory failure; prolapsus; heavy feeling in legs; easy bruising; pale lips; loose stools; muscular weakness; and, indirectly, obesity.
» The excessive use of the mind in thinking, studying, concentrating, and memorizing over a long period of time tends to weaken the Spleen and may lead to Xue Yu (Blood Stasis). This also includes excessive pensiveness and constant brooding. (Maciocia, p. 241) Likewise, inadequate physical exercise, overexposure to external Dampness, and excess consumption of sweet and/or Cold foods will also deplete the Spleen.

Kidney ~ Shen stores Jing (Essence) and governs birth, growth, reproduction, development, and aging; houses the Zhi (Will); expresses ambition and focus; carries the constitutional endowment from the parents; and displays the effects of childbirth, overwork, chronic degenerative processes, and extreme stress.
» Healthy expressions are gentleness, groundedness, and endurance.
» Kidney Xu (Deficiency) signs include indecisiveness; confused speech; dreams of trees submerged under water; cold feet and legs; abundant sweating (Seem, p. 28); fearfulness; apathy; chronic fatigue; discouragement; scatteredness; lack of will; negativity; impatience; difficult inhalation; low sex drive; lumbago; sciatica; and musculoskeletal irritation and inflammation, especially when worse from touch. As always, chronic deficiency predisposes to acute inflammation.
» Intense or prolonged fear depletes the Kidney. Often chronic anxiety may induce Xu (Deficiency) and then Fire within the Kidney. (Maciocia, p. 250) Overwork, parenting, simple aging, and a sedentary or excessively indulgent lifestyle all contribute significantly to Kidney Xu (Deficiency).


therapies

imagery:
• Go into pain, and see, hear, feel what happens (pressure, pulling, rigidity) and follow to symbolic meaning. (Bry, p. 76)
• beaver dammed (Chavez): liver-related tension

affirmation:
• My mind is gentle and harmonious. I love and approve of myself. I am free to be me. (Hay, 1984, p. 168)


theotherapy:
• Atlas, Prometheus (Lemesurier, p. 99)

process paradigm: (experientially oriented)
• What is the symptom preventing me from doing? What is the symptom making me do?
(see process interview: male reproductive system or process interview: female reproductive system)

related materia medica listings:
the shadow and physical symptoms
converting a symptom to a signal
affirmations: guidelines and precautions
theotherapy
process paradigm


footnotes

Reprinted from The Foundations of Chinese Medicine, Maciocia, Giovanni, 1989, by permission of the publisher Churchill Livingstone, a division of Elsevier Limited.