Chat #41~Chat #50

Chat #41

Vacuous Yin, Vacuous Blood have their Differences

Defining Quality of Vacuous Yin involves Heat Induced Sweat

In the last chapter, we discussed formless phlegm among cancer pathologies and questions relating to thermo toxins.

When thermo toxins form, the tumor turns into something even more uncommon. In what way is it uncommon? As we discussed, heat belongs to the category of fire which is easily combustible, burning the tumor tissue itself, triggering the bursting of pus, putrid ulceration, and spurring on the opportunity for cancer cells to spread.

During one of my lectures, there was a person in the audience who heard this and asked: ‘I am already in a late stage of cancer and fear cold all over my body. My hands and feet especially yearn for warm weather and I also need to wear gloves. When the slightest wind blows, I feel uncomfortable. According to the theory presented, I have a great insufficiency of yang qi and can’t feel the slightest warmth. Should I be using Bai Hua She She Cao type medicine which clears out heat and disperses poison?

My answer to this is that the thermo toxin produced by tumors have two kinds of manifested forms; one kind can be perceived, for example if the mouth and tongue are dry and cracked giving rise to boils, emission of heat, swollen and painful throat, ulcerated internal organs or skin, dry stool, etc. The other kind is hidden inside the tumor and cannot be seen, however according to theory we can deduce its certain existence. Therefore, it is correct that all patients with tumors must use medicine which clears out heat and disperses poison. Nevertheless, selecting which type, implementing which combination, especially the control of pharmaceutical dosage all require diligent attentiveness. I will introduce more on this subject in a later chapter.

Having finished our discussion of qi stagnation, blood stasis, water obstruction and thermo toxins, we’ll now begin to talk about the problem of tumors which initiated vacuous yin, vacuous blood and vacuous qi as well as vacuous yang.

First let’s look at vacuous yin. We already know that so-called yin represents the dark facet of things, and yang represents the light side. For example, the sun is yang, the moon is yin. Daylight is yang, and nighttime is yin. Applying this concept to the human body, all that dwells within, in the deep layers, with their back to yang, are considered yin. All that dwells outside, the surface layers facing yang are considered yang. For example, with reference to the five organs corresponding to the six viscera, the five organs dwell within and are considered yin, whereas the six viscera dwell outside and are considered yang. The backside of the body faces yang and is considered yang. The front side correspondingly has its back to yang and is considered yang. With respect to pulse, the blood which flows within is considered to be yin, and correspondingly, the outside pulse wall is considered to be yang. Furthermore, we can deduce that the male reproductive organ has a light aspect, therefore the active and functional properties are yang. Passive properties and physical matter properties are considered to be yin.

Now we turn to the main topic. The water and blood components inside the human body all have physical matter properties. They all rely on qi to propel them and only then are they able to move and flow. Because of this, their motion has passive properties. Water and blood components both belong to the category of yin. Of course, in the case of vacuous yin, its essence is insufficient matter in the body which also includes the water and blood components. When water and blood components are insufficient, we call this vacuous yin. How then can we detect a water and blood deficiency?

Diagnosis of water and blood deficiency must come from the discerning of symptoms. Chinese medicine has a specialized term for water deficiency called insufficient liquids and humors because the physiological name of the water component is liquids and humors. Whether it be insufficiency of water or insufficiency of liquids and humors, the symptomatic manifestations show the same signs. Please be aware that although vacuous yin includes both water and blood, yet in order to clearly distinguish them, Chinese medicine habitually designates types of illnesses of insufficient water as vacuous yin, and refers to insufficient blood directly as vacuous blood.

Now we understand that water insufficiency, also called liquid and humor insufficiency or vacuous water can all generally be designated as vacuous yin. Vacuous yin has three special characteristics; dryness, heat and perspiration. So-called ‘dryness’ is the phenomenon of the body emitting dryness. This is very easy to understand since when the water component is insufficient, it is just like farmland lacking water and of course there is drought. This kind of dryness manifests itself as ‘Three Dries’; dryness of the mouth, stool and skin. So-called ‘heat’, is also easy to understand with some explanation. Looking at it using the yin-yang theory, if yin is insufficient, isn’t yang correspondingly hyperactive? Yang represents heat, therefore when yin is vacuous, it can trigger the ascension of fire, and Chinese medicine refers to this as; ‘Yin is vacuous, yang is hyperactive.’ However, this kind of ‘yang hyperactivity’ has corresponding properties, triggered by insufficient physical matter, therefore it is called ‘vacuous heat’. Vacuous heat is not like replete heat which can trigger a high fever. It appears as ‘Five hearts in vexing heat.’ What then are the ‘Five hearts in vexing heat’?

The five hearts in vexing heat are the ‘four hearts’ of the arms and legs emitting heat and in addition the ‘vexed heart’ which is the fifth one. Aside from the five hearts vexed with heat, vacuous yin can also appear as ‘tidal heat.’ What is ‘tidal heat’? As the name suggests, tidal heat is like rising ocean waves, at times rushing in and at times flowing out. This kind of heat in particular will occur regularly in the afternoon and evenings. When the ocean tide recedes, oftentimes it will leave behind some seaweed and seashells on the sandy beach. After a tidal heat occurs in the human body, it will also leave a red imprint on both sides of the cheekbones. Isn’t that interesting?

Having explained ‘Vacuous Yin Emits Heat’, let’s take a look at what is ‘sweat’. Who doesn’t know what sweat is? However, here we are talking about sweating as a condition of vacuous yin and this is something different. When the weather is hot, the body disperses heat by perspiring, expelling the extra heat in the body, a normal phenomenon. After expelling water, drinking water will then replenish the water insufficiency in the body. However, if the body’s water component was originally insufficient, in a state of vacuous yin, then expelling out more perspiration becomes a serious issue. If vacuous yin gives off more perspiration, doesn’t this exacerbate the existing condition? The special characteristic of this vacuous yin is that it is partial to evening flare-ups. After falling asleep, one wakes up in a full body sweat not knowing when the sweating occurred. It is as if a burglar had stolen something from you and yet you had not the slightest knowledge of it. Therefore, in Chinese medicine this kind of sweat is called ‘stolen sweat’. Why then does it occur at night? It is because the water component belongs to the category of yin, and nighttime also belongs to yin. When yin and yang encounter each other, it is as if they were old friends, easily uniting together and turning topsy turvy.

Dear Reader, if you’d like to deepen your understanding one step further, please read on to the analysis in the next chapter.

Chat #42

Chemotherapy’s Desert Hair is Vacuous Blood

Vacuous Qi and Vacuous Yang Need Differentiation

In the last chapter, we analyzed the problem of vacuous yin among the eight pathological key links of a tumor.

The manifestation of vacuous yin for patients undergoing chemotherapy manifest a classic response. Based on my observation, at least fifty percent of chemotherapy patients, all have a light red color on their tongue. This light red is a manifestation of severe injury to yang humors. Another sign which can also be seen on the tongue, is that the tongue fur is almost completely gone. Chinese medicine calls this ‘bright red, no tongue fur,’ and I often describe this as ‘Light red, no tongue fur.’ Those of us who engage in oncology in Chinese medicine all know that when we see this kind of tongue fur, whether or not there are symptoms of vacuous yin, it is definitely necessary to begin therapy for nourishing yin.

Yesterday, a cancer patient called me after reading my discourse on vacuous yin and raised a pertinent question. In the course of receiving chemotherapy she began to lose her hair. Moreover, after being informed about hair loss, she very quickly went completely bald. She asked whether or not hair loss was considered to be vacuous yin. My response to this from the perspective of Chinese medicine is that ‘hair is the surplus of blood,’ which is to say that hair is the extension of blood. To clarify further, it is blood which has the function of providing a moist sheen for hair, determining whether hair is luxuriant or dry, the quantity of hair or whether it is exuberant or debilitated. All these factors reflect whether or not, the blood is brimming with energy.

In the last chapter, we discussed in broad terms that vacuous yin includes a component of water insufficiency and blood insufficiency. However, in the narrow sense and by convention, Chinese medicine refers to water insufficiency as vacuous yin and blood insufficiency as vacuous blood. Therefore for hair loss, I still use the specialized term called ‘desert hair’, the pathology of which is in fact vacuous blood.

Vacuous blood is one of the key links in the eight pathologies of cancer. Let’s follow this discussion of desert hair with a look at the problem of vacuous blood. A reader once commented that he knew what vacuous blood is, asking if it was anemia. This is only partially correct. In Chinese medicine, there are two concepts of vacuous blood, one which passes through analysis in a blood lab proving the existence of anemia, and the other which although its existence is not supported by lab work, shows clinical manifestations of vacuous blood in the patient. Looking deeper into this matter, in judging vacuous blood in Chinese medicine, it is primarily based on the patient’s clinical appearance. What kind of appearance is this?

The special characteristic of vacuous blood can be summed up in the word ‘white.’ Using words from Dream of the Red Chamber to explain this is the following excerpt:

‘How beautiful a flock of flying bird, each one hastening to the forest,

Falling flakes, a boundless white, great snow truly clean.’

If we reflect on the human body, however, it is not a classic example since only some specific locations express the distinctive feature of ‘whiteness’. What locations are these? The first are nails, that is to say the color of fingernails and toenails which have turned pale and white. The second are lip and face color which has become ashen white. The third are eyelids whose color has turned pale and white. Lastly, is the body of the tongue with its intrinsic color which has changed to pale and white. Of course speaking from the point of view of a physician, it is still necessary to take pulse, and a vacuous blood pulse manifestation is fine like strands of silk, referred to as ‘fine pulse.’

The phenomenon of vacuous blood can utilize the appearance of whiteness in making a diagnosis. Whiteness is a kind of objective sign.

       What are the subjective signs felt by the patient’s own symptoms? We can infer that if the blood is insufficient, then definitely the nourishment given to all parts of the body will be insufficient. If blood does not nourish the heart, in a mild case, the result will be multiple dreams, in a medium case, the result will be insomnia, and in a severe case, he result will be panic and palpitations. If blood does not nourish the brain, then dizziness and blurry vision occurs. If blood does not nourish the tendons, then the limbs will cramp. If blood does not nourish the skin, then the skin color will be ashen white. If blood does not nourish the muscles, then the limbs will be numb. Blood vacuity in women can also lead to the emergence of reduced menstruation with a change to a pale color of menses, etc. In making a concrete diagnosis, one must link together the appearances of white discussed above.

       Another standard of diagnosing blood vacuity is examination through laboratory tests including the reduction of white and red blood cells, hemoglobin and platelets, etc. These problems occur very easily, especially for people undergoing chemotherapy for cancer. Under these circumstances, regardless of whether or not there are symptoms of vacuous blood, they can all be judged as having vacuous blood and steps to supplement and nourish the blood need to be taken to reduce the side effects of chemotherapy.

Now let’s take a look at vacuous qi. Qi is a moving force, a functionality and an energy. If there is vacuous qi, then the body’s moving force is insufficient, functionality drops and energy is reduced. Judging vacuous qi is not very hard, it is summed up in the one word ‘fatigue’. That is to say, the primary clinical manifestation of vacuous qi is exhaustion and lack of strength. Under these circumstances, we can see the manifestation of fatigue through the following symptoms; limbs without strength, laziness and infrequent movement, listlessness, desire to sleep and yet sleep does not alleviate fatigue, lack of appetite and semi liquid stool. When vacuous qi is severe, it can cause the internal organs such as stomach, kidney, uterus or anus, etc. to prolapse. Chinese medicine refers to this as ‘Descending and Sinking Vacuous qi.’ Looking at pulse which contends for movement and lacks strength, a moderate plus emerges [slow and without strength], or soggy pulse [ floating, fine and soft], etc. As for tongue appearance, the tongue fur is white and the tongue body is pale. I have often encountered patients who ask: ‘Recently I discovered marks on the side of my tongue that look like teeth bites, I’m a bit worried as to why this occurred.’ This kind of situation is called ‘teeth prints’ or ‘teeth scars,’ and are both manifestations of vacuous qi, especially vacuous qi of the spleen. Usually, teeth marks on the side of the tongue are not indicative of serious illness, so you can put your mind at rest.

Continuing on the topic of vacuous spleen, lets go deeper into this question and briefly introduce the fact that vacuous qi can occur in any part of the physical body whether it be viscera, organs or tissue. For example, when lung qi is vacuous there is the emergence of coughing and lethargy; when spleen qi is vacuous, there is the emergence of distended bowels and sloppy stool. When the heart qi is vacuous, there is the emergence of palpitations and shortness of breath; if the kidney qi is vacuous, there is the emergence of aching lumbar and limp thighs; and if the liver qi is vacuous, there is the emergence of flank pain and fatigue, etc.

Both vacuous qi and vacuous yang express functional insufficiency. What then is the difference between them?

       Dear Reader, if you’d like to unravel these clues, then please read on to the analysis in the next chapter.

Chat #43

Vacuous Qi causes Lack of Strength,

Vacuous Yang causes Coldness,

The Eight Major Pathologies Mutually Interact

as Cause and Effect

In the last chapter, we discussed the problems of vacuous blood and vacuous qi among the eight major links to the pathology of cancer. Now we’ll take a look at the last link, the problem of vacuous yang.

Vacuous qi and vacuous yang are both functional insufficiencies of the body. The biggest difference between them is that vacuous qi is primarily exhaustion and fatigue and vacuous yang is primarily the body fearing cold. Speaking about the internal pathological mechanism, the qi function is to propel and regulate but when qi is vacuous then its propulsion and regulatory function is below capacity. Yang has a function of warmth, brightness and steaminess, and if yang is vacuous, then the functionality of warmth, brightness and steaminess is below capacity. In the natural world, qi is air which nourishes all the creatures on earth; yang is the sun which warms all the creatures on earth. In the human body, qi is the kinetic energy which propels the human body’s functions and movement; yang is thermo energy, warming the human body and maintaining an appropriate heat level.

Qi and yang, are in fact two different names for the same category, they both belong to manifested forms of body functions, it is only that their functions are different. We know that all of the ‘ten thousand creatures’ can be subsumed in the categories of yin and yang, and qi, which belongs to the yang category, is often combined with yang as ‘yang qi.’ However, from the clinical aspect of discussing treatment, these two must be strictly differentiated in order to reach accuracy and precision. I will discuss this problem specifically in a later chapter.

Everyone already knows that the symptom of vacuous yang produces fear of cold in the body as if the body has lost the warmth of the sun. This kind of fear of cold might involve the entire body or only certain places in the body.

       Now as I write, it is the month of May and those of us in Northern California have recently felt the shift to very warm weather, with everyone hurriedly changing from heavy clothes to lighter ones, from long sleeves to short. Two days ago, an elderly woman came to my clinic suffering from a late stage of cancer. The weather was already warm and yet she was wearing a sweater, wool pants, wool gloves and a knitted wool hat. In this case, we can imagine to what extent she suffered from vacuous yang. Therefore, as a starting point, the therapy I gave her was warmth from yang. Among late stage cancer patients, a relatively large number of patients all have severely injured yang, with the need to replenish yang. At an urgent and crucial moment, a sudden supplementation of yang is a life saving turning point. In the chapter concerning treatment therapies, I will discuss this in detail.

This example of the elderly woman discussed above is a classic case of fearing cold symptoms all over the body. What then are the manifestations of localized fear of cold? The most common are the four limbs fearing cold, especially hands and feet. There are also some people who have lung cancer and fear cold in their chest and chill in the back of the chest. Those with stomach cancer feel cold in their abdomen and the center of their back, and those with bone cancer in localized places feel cold in those diseased parts when going outdoors etc.

As in the case of vacuous qi, vacuous yang can appear in any organ of the body. Vacuous yang in the lungs results in coughing with clear and thin phlegm and drool, or it can manifest itself as coldness on the back expanding to the size of the palm of the hand. If the kidney has vacuous yang, both the lumbar region and knees are cold and painful, for men this results in sexual dysfunction, for women the uterus is cold and does not conceive children. If the heart has vacuous yang, then the area in front of the heart is cold and painful and lips turn purple. If the spleen has vacuous yang, then the central abdomen is cold and painful and stool becomes semi-liquid. If the liver has vacuous yang, then both flanks are cold and painful, as well as male testicles.

       Vacuous yang brings coldness which can reach the point of iciness. Therefore when yang qi is severely vacuous, it will appear icy cold. Ice is transparent white, and it reflects in the human body as a face color of ashen white, lips, finger and toenails which turn white, white tongue fur and a pale, white tongue body. You might have already noticed that this vacuous yang is similar to vacuous blood, both exhibiting a overall white appearance.

Nevertheless, the original key distinguishing point is whether or not this kind of white hue is accompanied by a fear of cold, which would indicate vacuous yang, otherwise vacuous blood would be under consideration. Speaking in terms of pulse, vacuous yang can emerge as a fine or weak pulse. Similarly, vacuous blood can manifest this way as well. The distinguishing point still depends on different symptoms.

Chinese medicine has a phrase; ‘Vacuous yin produces internal heat, Vacuous yang produces external cold.’ This means that if there is vacuous yin, this includes insufficient water and blood components, which will lead to internal heat such as a low grade fever, heat effusion during the night, the five hearts vexing heat, stolen sweat, swollen and painful throat, dry formed stool, etc. These are all internal phenomena.

In the case of vacuous yang, this will trigger an external manifestation of cold, for example the four limbs will turn cold. There is another phrase which says; ‘Thin people have an abundance of vacuous fire, Fat people have an abundance of damp phlegm.’ The reason why the thin person is thin, it is due to insufficient matter, so the yin properties of water and blood components are also insufficient. As a result, we have the phrase: ‘Vacuous yin produces internal heat.’ Why are fat people fat? This is because the movement function of the spleen and stomach is below capacity, leading to fat tissue which is like phlegm and has indigestible matter accumulating and producing fat. In this case, why is it that the spleen and stomach function has movement which is below capacity? It is because there is insufficient yang qi in the spleen and stomach. In a mild case, this will be vacuous qi, in a severe case, this will be vacuous yang.

Dear Reader, above we have discussed the eight pathological keys to cancer. I believe that everyone can already see that these eight major links are mutually connected, and have mutual cause and effect. For example, stagnant qi can lead to blood stasis. Stagnant qi and blood stasis can lead to water obstruction, and all three together can produce thermo toxins. After the formation of stagnant qi and blood stasis, water obstruction and thermo toxins, they very quickly can deplete the body’s functions and matter, resulting in vacuous yin, vacuous blood, vacuous qi and vacuous yang.

Some readers might say all of this is eminently logical, yet it is very difficult to remember. Don’t worry, I will now tell you a method that will allow you to remember quickly. First let’s analyze these four things; qi stagnation, blood stasis, water obstruction and thermo toxins. These are all the byproducts of pathology, things that should be expelled so that the body’s functions are then able to run smoothly. Since these pathological products have already formed into substance, they can be summed up in two words: ‘Malevolent substance.’ If we look once again at vacuous yin, vacuous blood, vacuous qi, vacuous yang, the yin, blood, qi and yang are all indispensable for the body, they need only to be replenished and cannot be expelled. Since these are things inherent in the body and yet are now insufficient, we summarize with the two character phrase: ‘Correct the vacuity.’ Therefore, the eight key links in the pathology of cancer can be summed up in the four word phrase; ‘malevolent substance, correct the vacuity.’ This is why, in the fight against cancer, Chinese medicine repeatedly emphasizes the reasoning: ‘Support what is correct, dispel what is malevolent. ’

Mention of ‘support what is correct and dispel what is malevolent’ shows that we are familiar with the theories of pathology on the origin of cancer and now we’ll move on to cure, therapy and prevention.

Dear Reader, if you’d like to deepen your understanding further, then please read on to the next chapter.

Chat #44

Three Levels of Prevention and Treatment for Cancer

Consotherapy divides into two Categories

In the last chapter, we discussed vacuous yang among the eight major pathologies of cancer, and the mutual relationship which evolves between them. Since we have an understanding of the origin of disease factors, we’ll continue with the question of prevention and treatment which will be even easier to understand.

We already know that Chinese medicinal science has a written history of over three thousand years. During this long period of time, Chinese medicinal science, up until the last hundred years, has been the mainstream medical science of China. Clearly this mainstream medical science has had sufficient time to accumulate a vast body of clinical experience and moreover expand and develop theory. In terms of cancer, Chinese medicine has accumulated a wealth of experience in both prevention and treatment and has clearly shown effective results. However up until now, the rich experience of Chinese medicine in fighting cancer with its unique characteristics has been not fully embraced even at model traditional Chinese medicine hospitals or at hospitals that combine Chinese and Western medicine. In examining this situation, in 1986 I began to compile materials and follow the guidance of my Master’s and Ph.D. advisors in doing my own theoretical research and clinical exploration and in the end finding a path which culls the wisdom of the ancient scholars and truly embodies a unique method of preventing and treating cancer. I have coined this method with the term consotherapy.

Why consotherapy? Firstly, the word comes from consolidation which means to secure and to combine. I selected these five letters ‘conso’ and added therapy to form the new term consotherapy. Consolidate what? Consolidate means to stand firm and we need to make our bodies stand firm, only then are we able to have the full power to fight off illness. This embodies what Chinese medicine calls: ‘To cure illness, strive to seek out the root.’ Combine what? We must take all of the methods for achieving health which have accumulated over thousands of years, dig out all the methods for fighting cancer, distill their essence and combine them to protect health and to fight cancer. These protective health measures, especially in the realm of fighting cancer, are derived from both Chinese and Western medicine, and step by step combine in solving problems.

The Chinese characters I selected for the term consotherapy are not just based on sound but also on meaning. The first sound means health and the second refers to the ancient sewing loom which has complicated movements, yet maintains sequence, and functions with regularity. Therefore, the meaning of the term consotherapy is health which like the circular movement of the sewing loom has both sequence and regularity.

From the English term consotherapy, there is an even deeper level of meaning. If we look at Western medicinal methods for fighting cancer; chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and surgery, they are all translated into Chinese with two word abbreviations. Therefore the goal of my corresponding term, consotherapy, will hopefully be that it is easy to remember and easy to popularize. I also hope that with effort, I will be able to propel consotherapy to become a treatment option on a par with chemotherapy, radiotherapy and surgery as one of the methods for fighting cancer.

What then are the praiseworthy characteristics of consotherapy which might dare to place it on a par with Western methods? We can say that the unique feature of consotherapy is to blend together traditional Chinese medicinal methods which make use of; Chinese herbal medicine, acupuncture, food therapy, massage, and Qi Gong, etc. These strategies are absent from today’s Western medicinal treatment systems.

Consotherapy includes two categories; one is a method for health protection, the other is a method for fighting cancer. The former is used for a healthy person who is working to prevent illness. The latter is used to expedite recovery from cancer.

Oftentimes in terms of concrete application, consotherapy for health maintenance and for fighting cancer are intertwined. Chinese preventive medicine has three levels and all three focus on prevention. Their different designations are divided by level: Level one is for prevention when there is no illness, level two is for prevention of further changes after illness has occurred, and level three is for prevention of recurrence after the illness has ended.

Level one, prevention when there is no illness, refers to taking the initiative to nourish the body so as to avoid the occurrence of illness. This kind of prevention focuses on carrying out prevention of disease causing factors. What disease causing factors? These are the factors of emotion, food and beverages, lifestyle habits and environment that we previously discussed. Therefore, level one prevention when there is no illness is categorized as the responsibility of health maintenance consotherapy.

Level two, focuses on when illness has occurred and the provides preventive measures which can be taken to stop changes which worsen the condition. As far as cancer is concerned, this includes guarding against both metastasis and spread.

Level three, guarding against recurrence after recovery from illness, still requires taking preventive steps to make sure that recurrence does not occur.

       In looking at these three levels of prevention, we need to realize that preventive stages for levels two and three cannot be separated from therapy protocol. Prevention in level two is to a great extent governed by therapy, it is only that their starting points are not the same.

Consotherapy for fighting cancer clearly belongs to level two prevention which guards against changes after being stricken with illness. The crucial role of this level is to guard against malignant changes and metastasis.

Consotherapy in fighting cancer concretely includes this eight kinds of treatment; Consomate Number One,a renewal of health decoction, moxibustion, needles, compresses, vital points, heart consotherapy, and food consotherapy, etc.

After a cancer patient has recovered, it is absolutely necessary not to fall into complacency and to guard against recurrence and metastasis. This is the joint responsibility of both health maintenance consotherapy and cancer-fighting consotherapy.

Therefore, consotherapy utilizes the method of taking the essential skills of Chinese medicine and adding a scientific dimension; in prevention there is cure and in cure there is prevention. They are united together.

       Dear Reader, now that you have an initial understanding of the foundation of the concepts discussed above, I will give a concrete introduction to consotherapy in the following chapters. I believe that once everyone has grasped the major points and concrete methods, you will be able to completely reach the goal of protecting your health, guarding against and fighting cancer. If you’d like to unravel the clues, then please read on to the next chapter.

Chat #45

Each and Every Person Needs to Prevent Cancer

Consotherapy has Four Methods for Health

In the last chapter, we introduced the fundamental concepts of consotherapy. From this point on, we will begin to discuss the concrete questions of consotherapy.

First let’s talk about consotherapy for health maintenance. We already know that this therapy primarily belongs to the category of preventive medicine and the first level of three is guarding against illness before it strikes.

       It is important to think about whether you as an individual feel the need to take measures to guard against cancer. I believe most people would agree that it is necessary and yet those who actually take concrete steps to guard against cancer are probably only a few. This doesn’t indicate that people don’t attach importance to cancer prevention, but rather shows their insufficient familiarity with how serious and urgent it is to do so. Another reason is an inadequate understanding of the concrete steps necessary to prevent cancer.

       Please take note of the report based on research by the American National Cancer Research Center that one in every three males and one in every two females have the possibility of being stricken by cancer at some time during their life.

Looking from another perspective, unhealthy emotional upheaval, poor choices in food and beverages, sedentary lifestyle habits, and unknown environmental changes, are all factors which revolve around each and every one of us almost all the time. We could say that without realizing it, in everyone’s daily life, there is the possibility of suddenly being exposed to hidden cancerous influences.

       Let’s take a look at a research finding. Within the normal human body, for people under the age of 30, there may be as many as several hundred cancer cells. At 40, the number of cancer cells reaches into the thousands. Yet these cancer cells, in the ordinary course of events, are destroyed by the body’s own immune system. However, if someone’s body is exposed to cancer causing influences for a long period of time, then it can spur the cancer cells to proliferate furiously. Medical research also shows that cancer can occur at any age but as we get older, especially over 55, the number of cancer cases increases dramatically, almost topping seventy percent.

A thorough understanding of the discourse above leads us to the conclusion that cancer prevention must be incorporated in the lives of every person and every family. Preventing cancer needs to be treated the way taking daily precautions to avoid car accidents is treated.

If we take the situation with SARS as an example, major metropolitan cities like Beijing, Guangzhou, Xianggang, Taibei, even though they all have a population over several million people, yet the number of cases of infection have been strictly controlled. This is because the danger is sufficient to impact all the people in an entire area as well as each and every business on various levels, and it carries a potential influence affecting almost the whole world. Because SARS is a new kind of infectious disease, people are fearful of its eruption and its serious consequences.

Turning back our attention to cancer, in the United States alone, counting from 1990, cases have already accumulated to seventeen million, and on average every year there are over a million new cases. In the whole world, every year the occurrence rate of new cases is often above ten million. If we add together the cases of illness over the last ten years throughout the world the number would be staggering! Unlike a contagious disease or a war which breaks out and in an instant shakes up mankind, cancer has a clandestine and concealed nature which influences us. Yet the results produced, as we already know, far outweigh war or the power of any contagious disease to injure or kill.

Preventing cancer requires the active participation of every individual and every household. Fortunately, I can report that Chinese medicinal methods to prevent cancer are extraordinarily plentiful and have a unique character. Consotherapy for health harmoniously blends the essence of Chinese medicinal elements and includes four main methods.

Dear Reader, please note that these are the four principles of health previously mentioned and can be summed up as ‘The Four Ways to Health with One Goal.’ They are; healthy emotions, healthy food and drink, healthy lifestyle habits, and healthy environment. The sole goal is to reach a healthy state for the body. Grasping these four principles of health can enable us to reach a condition completely free of illness, preventing illness, nipping bad habits in the bud, preventing cancer, as well as fighting and beating cancer. Below I will concretely expound on the four principles of health.

       Number One: The way to emotional Health:

       The first principle of health is emotional health.The sky has the sun, moon, water and fire and human beings have the seven emotions and six desires. Normal emotions can protect the body’s health; but if the emotions are unhealthy, they can produce a negative influence on the body. Understanding this aspect was discussed in detail in the beginning chapters of the book. As you begin to delve into how emotions can protect against cancer, review once again the contents of the earlier chapters. Here I would like to introduce the concrete steps to show how emotions protect against cancer and keep the body healthy.

       Optimism and the way of Joyfulness:

       Take an optimistic and bright attitude towards life, use broadmindedness and a carefree mood in managing the affairs of the world. From this, you will be able to protect your emotions and cheerfulness will follow naturally. What then are the concrete methods to implement optimism and cheerfulness?

Dear Reader, if you’d like to unravel the clues, then please read on to the next chapter.

                                   Chat # 46

Four Tranquilities, Six Regularities, Fifteen Delights

Optimism and Cheerfulness, Enjoying Human Life

In the last chapter, we began to discuss one of the four major methods for health maintenance in consotherapy, using emotions as a way to achieve health and preventing cancer. This chapter will continue with related questions.

The method for attaining optimism and cheerfulness goes back over two thousand years to the classic work on Chinese medicine, The Internal Classic of the Yellow Emperor. The opening chapter of the book focuses on this issue first, putting forth the method of the ‘The Four Tranquilities Without Worldly Desires’: ‘find goodness in your food, make comfortable your clothes, take delight in local customs, don’t envy others based on high or low rank.’ ‘Find goodness in food’ means to not be picky about food, eating grains, meat, fruit and vegetables, the five staple grains and others, following the one rule that if the flavor is good then eat it. ‘Make comfortable your clothes’ means to disregard style and be practical, choose clothes that feel natural. ‘Take delight in local customs refers to enjoying the societal customs of the times, gladly welcoming them and living harmoniously within them. ‘Don’t envy others based on high or low rank’ means that regardless of your position in society, don’t be blinded by envy, and find peace without worldly desires.

I believe that if we take the ‘Four Tranquilities Without Worldly Desire’ from The Internal Classic of the Yellow Emperor and combine it with ‘The Six Regularities’ recommended by Shi Tianji, the Ming Dynasty scholar who specialized in healthy living, then we can come even closer to reaching our goal of optimism and cheerfulness.

‘Sustain a peaceful heart’:, don’t daydream, don’t covet desire, don’t worry about gains and losses, maintain a mental attitude of serenity.

‘Sustain a benevolent heart’: Others are depraved, I am upright, others are evil, I am benevolent; others cause trouble, I settle matters, others injure people, I aid them.

‘Sustain a heart with upright awareness’: maintain awareness, safeguard righteousness, have clarity of mind, brightness of vision, naturally eliminate worries and disputes.

‘Sustain a joyful heart’: feel at ease under all circumstances, follow your wishes and what’s appropriate for you, don’t overdo things, don’t injure a good-natured heart, a peaceful heart gives rise to joyfulness.

‘Sustain a contented heart’: treat people amiably, with modesty and prudence, hold magnanimous aspirations, consider harmony as precious, when others are happy, you are happy.

‘Sustain a heart of comfort’: take a step forward in rising to face difficulties, take a step back from the vast and boundless, face the ten thousand things with calm and confidence, be satisfied and always joyful.

To fully reach this state of mind, I ask everyone to comprehend the foundation by often repeating the following mantra: “Find goodness in your food, make comfortable your clothes, take delight in local customs and don’t envy others based on high or low rank. With serene and benevolent awareness, be joyful and happy.” If this phrase is often repeated, it will certainly help in reaching a peaceful mind and a harmonious qi, fostering both a healthy spirit and body. We can intuit that the Four Tranquilities Without Worldly Desire, and the Six Sustaining Regularities are primarily focused on the aspect of mood, regulating a peaceful frame of mind. If we then combine this with a regulation of movement, then we can reach one level higher. What kind of method is there for regulation of movement?

The method for regulating movement promotes the goal of optimism and cheerfulness. Based on the experience of our predecessors, we can sum it up as the method of “The Fifteen Delights,” introduced below.

The delight of cultivation: Work with passionate love, take pleasure in your work, use your work of plowing and weeding as an offering. How joyful is its delight.

       The delight of washing and sweeping: Diligently attend to household affairs, washing and sweeping the entry of the house, cleaning and washing the tables, taking home duties as one’s own responsibility. How joyful is its delight.

The delight of teaching children: Explain in one’s own words, teach by personal example, entertain with stories, delight in allegorical teaching, instruct children so that the child’s heart is not lost. How joyful is its delight.

The delight of cheerful chat: With friends, confidants, family members and neighbors, talk freely about everything under the sun, using a cheerful chat to open up one’s mind. How joyful is its delight.

The delight of strolling: A winding path under shady trees, on a mountain range or on the ocean’s edge, and even better is to choose walking barefoot on the grass or sand, using a stroll to free the mind. How joyful is its delight.

       The delight of sun exposure on your back: Expose the soft warmth of sunlight on your back, enjoy the sun rays as they gently penetrate the body, bask in sunlight which comforts the joints and enlivens the blood. With sunlight on the back, the hundred vessels flow freely. How joyful is its delight.

The delight of sitting serenely: Both day and night find leisure, for a moment sit serenely, carefree and undisturbed, using a peaceful sit to dispel the ten thousand worries. How joyful is its delight.

The delight of sleeping unclothed: Sleeping unclothed, the body has no constraints, the heart is without concerns, through nakedness both body and mind are fully relaxed. How joyful is its delight.

The delight of bathing: In warm water, bathing often, repeatedly soaking, the whole body feels cool and refreshed, the pine mountains clear out the toxins. How joyful is its delight.

The delight of study: Selecting topics of interest to study, the wise one will become a sage, the dull one will become intelligent, the ignorant one will become clever. Through the study of books one will be fully aware of facts and principles. How joyful is its delight.

The delight of observation: Admiring the flowers and the moon, appreciating books and scenery, the benevolent one delights in the mountains, the wise one delights in the water, using appreciative observation to penetrate the mood of contemplating antiquity. How joyful is its delight.

The delight of hearing birds: The birds warble in the morning forest, the oriole sings, the swallow dances, the heart follows as the birds fly, the voice follows the birds song. Listening to the birds sing makes us content and satisfied. How joyful is its delight.

The delight of unrestrained chanting: Humming on the edge of the riverbank, singing on an ascent to high peak, following one’s heart desire, through unrestrained chanting outspoken and open-minded. How joyful is its delight.

The delight of musical instruments and dance: Strum the lute and be charmed, start the music and dance, soothing the mind, setting a mood, through music and dance entertaining mind and body. How joyful is its delight.

The delight of Tai Ji,: Tai Ji, Qi Gong, yoga, the martial arts, and ‘conso’ vital points, select what is suitable and practice it. The body performs energetically using Tai Ji to make the body healthy and to discipline the temperament. How joyful is its delight.

Please quickly review the Four Tranquilities, Six Regularities, and the Fifteen Delights. Chant them often as a mantra as in the following:

The Four Tranquilities: find goodness in your food, make comfortable your clothes, take delight in local customs and do not envy others based on high or low rank. The Six Regularities; with a peaceful and benevolent awareness, be joyful and content. The Fifteen Delights: plow and weed, wash and clean, teach children and chat cheerfully, stroll and sun your back, sit serenely, sleep unclothed, bathe and study, observe and listen, chant without restraint, delight in music, dance and Tai Ji.

If you only read the content above for understanding but do not commit it to memory, then it will be of little use. The marvel is in chanting it memorized, until it rolls off your tongue, then selecting the part or whole that is appropriate for you, and practicing it. If you put in this effort for half a month you will start to see results, and after three months you will see dramatic results. If you persist and continue on, then the points of excellence will be countless.

Dear Reader, if you’d like to take a step further in your knowledge, then please read on to the next chapter.

Chat # 47

Controlling Selfish Desires, Regulating the seven Emotions

Belief and Commitment Increase Hope

In the last chapter, we discussed one of the four major conso-health methods to emotional health. This is primarily optimism and cheerfulness and among the many methods to achieve it, we have already talked about the Four Tranquilities, the Six Regularities and the Fifteen Delights.

Optimism and cheerfulness are the most basic emotional strategies for preserving one’s health. Aside from these, there are some others which can be utilized. We will divide them into methods; to control selfish desires, to foster belief and commitment, and to regulate the seven emotions.

 The way to control selfish desires: All people have desires. What then are they? They are composed of all kinds of human needs. People have seven emotions and six desires. The seven emotions are; happiness, anger, worry, yearning, grieving, fearfulness, surprise. Of the six desires, there are different points of view on pinpointing exactly what they are. Some say they are fame, music and women, wealth, taste and flavors, obsequious flattery, injurious envy. Some say they are: Life, death, sound, sight, taste and smell. Others say they are: sensual desire, physical desire, word and sound desire, insincere desire, yearning desire, desire for a dignified appearance. To facilitate understanding, I follow my predecessors in summing up their understanding of desire into these categories: material desire, emotional desire, desire for fame, desire for position, desire for food and desire for strife. It isn’t hard to see that these needs must be brought under control, and each person must demonstrate the ability to exercise restraint. If one day the limits are transgressed, then in a light case there is self injury, in a serious case there is injury to others. Not only is one’s own health impacted, but it will be damaging to both family and society.

It is necessary to point out here that desires are divided into two categories: constant desires and selfish desires. All people have constant desires, it is only their degree of expression which is different. Constant desires which transgress the limit then become selfish desires. Controlled desires are within the sphere of constant desires and do not transgress the limit. What concrete devices do we have for control of desires? There are six devices.

Firstly, lessen material desire. There are many forms of physical matter with wealth being a representative example. Wealth is necessary for life, and there are three key principles. The first is: The wealth of a gentleman should be obtained ethically. The second is: Find a purpose in life. If you are poor, then you become good person on your own, if you are wealthy, then benefit the world and rescue others. The third principle is: Love and don’t be greedy, take appropriate actions without transgressing the standard. If these are done, then the heart will maintain serenity without worldly desires.

       Secondly, curb feelings and desires. There are many kinds of feelings, broadly speaking, there are feelings of love, kinship, and friendship, etc. In the narrow sense, primarily these point to sexual desire. Chinese medicine has excellent research on the relationship between sexual desire and healthy living. Sexual desire is a human biological instinct, including the need to proliferate and fulfill the needs of mind and body. It is easily controlled but not easily released. The classic work of Chinese medicine, The Internal Classic of the Yellow Emperor, points out early on the text: “If you take recklessness as the norm, intoxicated and entering the bedroom, allowing desire to exhaust one’s essence, then you have taken it’s true vital energy and squandered it .” In addition, Chinese medicine points out that under normal circumstances the following guidelines are recommended: at thirty years old, one sexual release every eight days; at forty, one release every sixteen days: at fifty, one release every twenty days; at sixty, if the body is strong, then one release every thirty days, and if the body is weak then use restraint and no release.

Thirdly, take lightly the desire for fame. Fame is a symbol of a person’s honor and social position, and with diligence one can obtain public recognition which gives body and mind an excellent sense of well being, resulting in benefits to health. However, excessive searching for fame can create a mental burden and in the serious case, can injure health. Assiduously working to achieve fame, yet at the same time maintaining a feeling of ease under all circumstances, “seeking for it, yet taking it lightly’ is the most ideal mindset.

Fourthly, lessen official career desires. Being an official is the dream longed for and sought after by many people. In everything from the government to each and every trade and occupation, the rankings are competitive, and those seeking and pursuing higher levels are numerous. Among many is the hope for a meteoric advancement in career. In China, from ancient times up until today, the concept of ‘Excellence in scholarship leads to officialdom’ is deeply rooted. The so-called route to career in government, is the route to officialdom. In China, the term official primarily points to a government official.

The American system on the other hand, is significantly different from the Chinese system, yet they share the commonality of competition in the official arena. In the end, those who find satisfaction are very few. There is nothing inherently wrong with being an official. A good official is able to provide many advantageous benefits for people and for society. However, it is also necessary to make adequate psychological preparation; first comes the desire, then it is sought after, when you reach the forefront, lessen it.

Fifthly, curb food desires. The desire for food is part of human nature. The people of ancient China list food and sex together as part of human nature. Therefore, beverages and food are critically important to human health. In chapters six through twelve, we discussed how beverages and food can lead to cancer and influence health. Although we’ve expended words and ink to discuss related questions, in talking about contemporary life, the most important point is to eat less greasy meat and eat more vegetables and fruits.

Sixthly, guard against the desire for strife. There are two categories for the desire for strife.

First is the external expression of strife, in the minor case through argument and fighting, in the major case, through the initiation of warfare. How these lead to injury of the human body and consequently to mankind, is evident and obvious.

Second is internal strife which is concealed inside the body, its chief manifestation being a jealous heart. On the Chinese mainland, this phenomenon is pejoratively called: ‘Red eye disease.’ Red eye disease was a term originated in folk medicine referring to an anxious temperament with eyes forming an inflamed membrane. The symptoms are primarily redness all around the eye. If one day someone has a fit of jealousy, with envy burning in their heart, then a blazing fire arises and shoots up to the eye, and the two eyes can’t help but spurt out fire; burning to injure, burning to kill the person who is the object of jealousy. Doesn’t this have an influence on health? From this fire of jealousy which burns internally, can’t be openly expressed and festers within, the result is truly harm to oneself. Jealousy cannot change reality so rid yourself of it, cultivate inner ethics, follow what is natural, wish many blessings on other people, be happy for others, and as a result, benefit will come to one’s own health. In this way, it will be even easier to obtain friendship and caring.

       By controlling selfish desires and regulating the seven emotions, there is a way to entrust self confidence. Cancer is a difficult problem for medicine, and oftentimes the populace calls it a incurable illness. Therefore, when someone is suddenly is stricken with cancer, especially late in life, it is synonymous with arriving at the edge between life and death. Because of this, the problem remains, how to view life and death. For over thirty years as a medical professional, I have managed treatment for a large number of cancer patients, and I discovered that if a person has the determination and confidence to beat cancer, then oftentimes they can free themselves spiritually to a great extent and become lighthearted.

Between 1968 to 1992, Duke University Medical Center conducted observational research focusing on the physical and mental condition of four thousand people over the age of sixty five. What were their research conclusions?

Dear Reader, if you’d like to move a step forward in information gathering, then please read on to the analysis in the next chapter.

Chat #48

Regulating the Seven Emotions;

Restrain Happiness, Anger, Anxiety, Preoccupation, Grief, Surprise and Fear

In the last chapter, we discussed the way to emotional health through controlling selfish desires and fostering belief and commitment. Now we’ll continue to talk about the way to foster belief and commitment. The research from Duke University Medical Center clearly shows that prayer, silent meditation, tranquil thought, etc. and other similar methods, provided the function of reducing the body’s pressure, thereby lowering non-beneficial kidney gland secretions, thus increasing the body’s immune system strength. Observations over a six year period found that the death rate of elderly who didn’t exhibit belief or commitment in their behavior was fifty percent higher than those who did. Chinese medicine considers that those who go through silent meditation, tranquil thought as well as Qi Gong, Tai Ji Quan, and conso-vital points etc., all help their body’s qi and blood circulate harmoniously, causing the waste in the body to be expelled promptly, allowing fresh air to be absorbed and the essence of consumed food and beverages to be digested properly, thereupon safeguarding health.

Yet witnessing the efficacy of treatment, I stand on the sideline oftentimes with no way of understanding how the cancer patient can hold such faith, especially as they face the prospect of death. Luckily, my patients are extremely straightforward and honest about expressing their thoughts and feelings. As a result, I discovered that those who have faith, though many of them face the threat of death, are able to maintain composure. On the contrary, it seems that among those who don’t have faith, a relatively large number of them, although we cannot say all, face the threat of death with extreme despondency, helplessness, fearfulness, agitation and fury. Moreover, the medical condition for this type of patient oftentimes easily worsens.

                The way to regulate the Seven Emotions

Humans have seven emotions and six desires. Previously, we discussed methods for controlling selfish desires, emphasizing the problem of the six desires. Now we will focus on the seven emotions. What are they? The Confucians consider the seven emotions to be: happiness, anger, grief, fear, love, hurtfulness and desire. They advocate the regulation of the seven emotions through sincere intent and a truthful heart, cultivating virtue for healthy living. These regulations extend from small to large, starting with the individual extending to governing the country and reaching as far as pacifying the world. They can be applied to everything from treating from illness before it occurs to harnessing a chaotic situation before it erupts. Buddhist theory articulates the seven emotions as: happiness, anger, worry, fear, love, hate and desire. They advocate transcending human nature’s low and vulgar feelings and desires, breaking out of the sea of suffering, emptying the ten thousand thoughts, reaching the Buddha nature’s highest realm of cultivation and finding the path to a healthy life.

Ancient China’s physicians relying on the Confucian and Buddhist theories of the seven emotions elaborate further by taking the seven emotion theory of happiness, anger, anxiety, preoccupation, grief, fear and surprise, then linking their emergence with the organs of the body. Happiness is the will of the heart, anger is the will of the liver, worry and preoccupation are the will of the spleen, grief is the will of the lungs, surprise and fear are the will of the kidneys. Moreover, they considered that the seven emotions are the first culprit in causing illness. This logic stating the seven emotions lead to illness and cancer has been a topic discussed in detail in the earlier chapters of the book. Now, I will approach this topic from the perspective of healthy living.

When a person is happy, the qi is moderated, but when brought to the point of excess, happiness can then lead the spirit to stop guarding its domain, contaminating and dissipating the heart’s qi. These are expressed as an unfocussed spirit, with the heart palpitating faintly and when the point of unending laughter and play is reached, the mind turns irrational. In earlier chapters of the book, we talked about excessive happiness leading to injury of the heart. Preventing disease before it strikes, means that when encountering joyful events, maintain happiness without going overboard and in that way avoid unexpected results. From a piece of ancient Chinese literature entitled Shuo Yue Quan Zhuan, we find a story called: ‘Laughing to death, Niugao, Angry to death, Jin Wushu.’ These are amusing cautionary tales which exemplify how excessive happiness and anger can result in death. Anger causes qi to rise, and during a burst of anger, the liver qi breaks out, initiating a disorderly direction of qi and blood in the body. Consequently, following the rise of liver qi, irritation easily turns into rage. The head becomes dizzy, the eyes blurry, blood pressure increases and its rise can result in a sudden fainting spell or a loss of consciousness. In the end, sometimes life itself is dangling precariously, or upon awaking half the body is paralyzed. This unexpected development from injury to the blood vessels in the brain is a stroke. In the story above, we can deduce that Jin Yuanshu, in his great fury, caused the qi and blood to follow the liver qi surging up to the brain, leading to rupture of blood vessels in the brain, resulting in death.

Anxiety and preoccupation bind to qi and when they reach excess, the spleen is injured. The spleen and stomach qi are then unable to move and this sluggishness and stagnation are manifested as distention of the gastric cavity and glomus, loss of appetite, and leaving ingested food undigested. When the spleen is vacuous, then the body’s blood production is affected, often leading to insufficiency of blood to the heart, with the occurrence of heart palpitations, insomnia, multiple dreams, loss of strength, etc. Additionally, for women this can also manifest itself as a small quantity of menses of light color, or bleeding which affects the functionality of the uterus.

       The emotion of grief dissipates qi, and excessive sorrow, anxiety, loneliness and disappointment leads to injury of the lung’s qi. Lungs are the master of qi, and since they are in control of inhaling and exhaling qi, they also command the qi of the entire body. If the lung qi is vacuous, then inhaling and exhaling qi results in shortness of breath, movement that  lacks strength, and a whole body that feels feeble since the upper qi does not connect with the lower qi.

The emotion of surprise sends qi into chaos, and fear makes qi descend. This means that surprise and fear can lead to disorder of the kidney qi, with pathological changes occurring in the lower half of the body expressed as incontinence of bowel and bladder, nocturnal emission of sperm and involuntary emission of sperm. On another level, the result of disorderly qi from surprise leads to disorder in the function of gallbladder qi, and is manifested as being timid, fearful and overly cautious in managing affairs, exhibiting signs of being frightened and jittery, etc.

When the seven emotions are abnormal, they can lead to pathological changes affecting the functioning of the body’s organs as well as triggering many illnesses. Therefore, it is necessary to be attentive in regulating them. There are two concrete steps to be taken. One is to understand the theoretical foundation that different emotional abnormalities can injure different organs of the body and two is to aim directly at every kind of emotional abnormality wherever a tendency occurs, and promptly add control. How do you exercise control?

Dear Reader, if you’d like go a step further in obtaining information, then please read on to the next chapter.

Chat #49

Methods for Regulating the Seven Emotions During an Emergency:

Qi Sinking Down to the Lower Abdomen

 Turning the Eyeballs

In the last chapter, we discussed that among the ways for emotional health, there are the abnormalities of the seven emotions which can injure internal organs. Therefore, with the intention to prevent illness before it strikes, one must know oneself and others. Since different emotions adversely affect different organs, emotions which tend to go in an abnormal direction must promptly be brought under balance and control.

There are many methods for balance and control, here I will introduce two of the simplest and easiest to implement. They can be selected for reference based on one’s own physical condition.

       The method for lowering qi to the Dan Tian abdomen: In any situation that  brings on feelings of nervousness and pressure, especially if it is intense, violent or sudden, it is necessary to be conscious of the fact that these kinds of emotions can immediately create a strong reaction in the body. Respond quickly using the method of lowering qi into the Dan Tian abdomen. We know that intense and abnormal emotions, for example, nervousness before an examination, giving a talk in front of an audience, anxiety before any particular event which causes nervousness, a sudden burst of anger, or feeling an intense sadness gripping the throat, all of these things cause the normal flow of the body’s qi to change in an instant, with the sudden flow of qi gathering and quickly surging up. The principle of lowering the qi into the Dan Tian abdomen is to take this kind of surging qi and rapidly guide it down.

       Where is the Dan Tian part of the abdomen? It is three inches below the navel. However, due to height differences between people, how can we establish precisely the location of where three inches below the navel is? Chinese medicine resolves this using a measurement method based on people of the same height. If you lift one hand and put three fingers together except for the thumb, this then is the three inches mark for your body type. This Dan Tian, is referred to when engaging in Qi Gong and other martial arts. In Chinese medicine it is called ‘Guan Yuan,’ a key juncture, and it is an extremely important acupuncture point path that takes care of the qi of the entire body.

       If you close both eyes slightly, only allowing a small amount of light to come in, take a deep breath and very slowly and gently swallow over and over, then this breath of air will sink deeply into the Dan Tian part of the abdomen. Pause for several seconds up to a minute, and while holding your breath, take the qi from deep down in the Dan Tian, raise it up slowly, using energy to exhale deeply until it is expelled. The whole process can last from several seconds up to a minute. Under ordinary circumstances, effects are seen after one practice. This exercise can be repeated several times according to one's own wishes. Once the essentials are grasped, then if the need should arise, it can be used in an emergency.

Method for turning the eyeballs

       The nervous system of the eyeballs is one of the key nervous systems of the entire body. Moreover, it is closely related to the section of the brain which controls feeling. Chinese medicine considers that the liver governs the eye, and therefore the liver function can control the eye function. Emotions are governed by the liver and the categories of anger include depression, agitation, explosive anger, nervous spirit and anxiety. Moreover, these feelings all are clearly manifested through the eyes. Because of this, using movement of the eye to distance feelings, or in other words, restoring the liver to bear down on the fire, has a definite efficacy.

       The eyeball method is extremely simple. When all kinds of emotions, such as depression, explosive anger, anxiety, grief, nervousness, etc. occur or are about to occur, you can turn your eyeballs from left to right, back and forth stopping when the feelings are inclined towards stabilization.

       The method of regulating the emotions introduced above is simple and easy to implement and appropriate for everyone to practice. In the clinical practice of Chinese medicine, there is also ‘Method for using emotion to conquer emotion,’ which follows the Five Element Theory, using one kind of emotion to regulate another. This type of method will be briefly introduced below as a reference guide to help gain understanding but is not  suggested for use.

Do you recall the example of Fan Jin passing the examinations in our earlier discussion of the seven emotions leading to cancer? Because of his injured  heart, he lost his senses. Happiness is governed by the heart, and when Butcher Hu got angry and slapped Fan, he responded and was cured. According to the Five Elements, the sequence to engendered emotion is wood, fire, earth, metal and water, with the corresponding internal organs being liver, heart, spleen, lungs and kidneys. When the heart that controls emotional states reaches happiness to the point of hyperactivity,  rapid and acute intensification of the condition of the liver occurs, thereby restraining the heart’s emotional state. From another aspect, according to the Five Elements, the sequence to restrain emotion is wood, earth, water, fire and metal. The corresponding internal organs are Liver, spleen, kidney, heart and lungs. Usually, Fan Jin was most afraid of Butcher Hu, and therefore the feeling of fear was produced which was equivalent to rapid and acute intensification of kidney water, reaching the point of water extinguishing fire. This was a remarkable outcome resulting from using fear to control happiness. In Chinese medicine it is called; ‘the method of using emotion to conquer emotion,’ which relies primarily on utilizing the actualization of the restraining sequence of the Five Elements.

Anger conquers thought, and excessive anxiety and worrisome thought produces disharmony in the spleen and stomach, manifesting symptoms of flavorless food and beverage, undigested food, fully distended gastric cavity and abdomen, torpid intake, aversion to food, fatigued limbs, insomnia and multiple dreams. Using anger to conquer thought means making many intentional selections which go against the heart’s intent or intentionally robs the victim of what he likes, stimulating the production of angry feelings. Excessive thought binds the qi, passing through the diffusion and discharge of angry outbursts.

Thought conquers fear and fear is the emotion of the kidneys. Symptoms of fear are manifested as restlessness while sitting or lying down, hearing noises and being startled, urinary incontinence, nocturnal emission, involuntary emission of sperm, brittle bones, feeble legs and thighs, thin physique and emaciated spine. Use thought to conquer fear by pinpointing the groundless irrationality of it and begin to advance thinking forward, broadening sight and sound, standing firm on what is known for certain, constantly spurring on the kind of thought which frees itself from a single fearful thought, thinking more and more about many aspects of life. When the illness of fear occurs, penetrate through it with many thoughts to help resolve it.

Fear conquers happiness and happiness is the emotion of the heart. Symptoms of excessive happiness are manifested as contamination and dispersal of the heart’s qi , an uncontained spirit, an absent-minded mood, laughing and playing with no restraint, appearing as if mentally deranged, etc. Refer back to the example of Fan Jin for the method which uses fear to conquer happiness.

In addition, there are also the methods for using happiness to conquer grief, and using grief to conquer anger.

Dear Reader, if you’d like to move ahead another step in your understanding, then please read on to the next chapter.

Chat #50

The Way to Health by Preventing Cancer with Food and Drink

The Rules of Color, Flavor and Cleanliness

In the last chapter, we discussed that one of  the ways to achieve emotional health is the regulation of the seven emotions by using emotion to conquer emotion, such as anger conquers thought, thought conquers fear and fear conquers happiness. Now we’ll continue on to look at how happiness can conquer sorrow and sorrow can conquer anger.

Happiness conquers sorrow. Sorrow is the emotion of the lungs, and the symptoms of sorrow and grief are manifested as a despondent spirit, a haggard appearance, withered and dull hair, shortness of breath and sighing, etc. The method for making happiness conquer sorrow is to utilize every possible way for the sufferer to once again  find ways to enjoy listening, seeing, smiling, feeling open and broadminded, stirring the spirit to reach happiness that comes from the heart. Fire exuberantly restrains metal, the heart exuberantly holds back the lungs and therefore sorrowful grief can then resolve.

Sorrow conquers anger. Anger is the emotion of the liver, and the symptoms of exuberant anger are horizontal counter flow and upward surge of the liver's qi expressed as a short tempered flare-up, a red face, headache, blurry vision, ringing ears, spitting blood, and fainting, etc. The method for using sorrow to conquer anger is by suddenly causing this sorrow to subdue the excited emotions of an angry temper, which allows the rise of liver fire to rapidly descend. An even easier way to grasp an understanding is through principle, moving the emotions, consoling effectively, mediating skillfully, moving the feelings to tears to restrain the liver’s qi. Since the liver qi regulates the lung-metal and restrains it, there is no way that it can once again become aggressive, and therefore a moderate resolution is achieved.

In the concrete implementation of emotion conquering emotion as mentioned above, Chinese medicine oftentimes accompanies treatment with methods of herbal medicine, acupuncture and food therapies, etc. to reach an even more effective result.

We know that conso-therapy for health has four key entry points and now we have already finished a systematic introduction of the first method of emotional health. Below we will begin a discussion of the second key entry point.

The second main principle for health is the food and beverage method. Chapters six through twelve of this book all focus on the influence of the food and beverage factor with respect to the formation of cancer and overall health. Among the food and beverage factors, four aspects are divided into the categories of; uncontrolled eating and drinking, biased preferences for food and drink, unclean food and drink as well as food and beverage habits. Among them, unrestrained food and drink includes both excessive hunger and overeating, with hunger and indulgent eating reaching inappropriate levels. Preference for certain foods and beverages includes a bias toward the five colors of green, red, yellow white and black, and the five flavors sour, bitter, sweet, acrid and salty. Unclean food includes consumption of food items that have been affected by additives and pesticides. As for food and beverage habits, please refer back to the lifestyle habit factor already elaborated on in earlier chapters.

Based on these factors I have divided the health concerns for food and beverages into three categories; regulations of food and beverages, blending of colors and flavors, and purity of food and beverages. Below they will be divided and set forth accordingly.

The regulatory method for food and Beverage:

       We know that both excessive hunger and overeating are inappropriate manifestations of irregular eating and as time passes, can result in illness even spurring on the formation of cancer. I have read many books on food therapies for the prevention of cancer and what surprised me is that the writers all talk on the grand scale about how to make use of foods and their combinations but seldom do they raise the problem of regulating foods and beverages. Among the methods of food and beverage therapy, I consider of foremost importance are their regulations. If there are no regulated habits for food and beverage, then even when good food products enter the body, it will be difficult to initiate functional use, and may even reach the point of being expelled by the body as waste. Because the gastrointestinal system moves regularly, the body’s life activities are regulated. On our discussion of the biological clock, we discussed the fact that man and nature, as if one entity, both have an invisible time clock and move according to those regulations. When to eat, when not to eat, how much to eat, all have a definitive, regulatory sequence. Therefore, I advocate that at the beginning of all food therapies, first set up a regulated chart of all food and beverages consumed. By doing this, half the work of food therapy is done and the results are doubled. Even more important is a regulated food and beverage intake which effectively adjusts the body’s metabolic processing of food items, allowing all the nutrient matter of ingested food to be fully absorbed. All the other refuse matter will be expelled by the body. The actual implementation of food and beverage regulation is really not difficult, and two methods are most important. One is eating three meals at regular time intervals and eating the appropriate amount. The other is controlled snacking. Eating three meals at regular intervals means that breakfast, lunch and dinner basically follow a time schedule and portion control is used for food quantity. Chinese medicine theory considers that in the morning when the sun rises and the earth is renewed, a zestful vitality emerges, and the human body’s capabilities are moved to follow the rising of the sun, the earth’s renewal and a new beginning. Because of this, the morning meal is the ideal time to eat foods rich in nutrients, as the sun gradually rises on the horizon. At noon, when the sun is at its height and sun rays are the most plentiful, the body’s internal capability also responds by reaching a state full of energy. The five grains as well as all the other grains can be eaten until satiation. At sunset, when the sun gradually slants west, the sunlight weakens and the body’s capability systems respond and also begin to weaken. Gastro-intestinal digestion and absorption functions are also reduced and the movement of a whole day’s metabolic waste material is also gradually weakening its speed of expulsion. Ideally, it is best to eat before sundown, and the kinds of food items consumed should be light and bland, eating only until eighty percent full. This is beneficial to the expulsion of waste material and also helps avoid sustaining the burden of additional gastro-intestinal activity. Clinical experience shows that coronary heart disease and angina pectoris, oftentimes occur after eating a full meal because the gastro-intestinal digestive power is weakened and there is insufficient time to digest additional foods. They pile up in the gastro-intestinal system leading to increasingly high negative pressure in the abdominal cavity, moreover this causes the internal pressure in the abdominal cavity to also increase, and the blood vessel system of the heart follows with high pressure. As the Chinese proverb says: ‘At breakfast eat hearty and excel, at lunch eat just well, at dinner don’t let the belly swell.’ This is truly scientific logic.

Controlling snacking means avoiding eating a large quantity of additional food items after the three meals are consumed. We already know that the body’s capability systems and gastro-intestinal activity both follow according to a definitive regulated movement. After breakfast, lunch and dinner, the gastro-intestinal system need a span of time in order for the food to be completely digested and absorbed. Excessive amounts of snacks clearly adds extra weight to the burden of the digestive system and after a long period of time can influence the functioning of the stomach and intestines. When the intestines are obstructed, then nutrient matter that should be digested is not digested, and malabsorption occurs. What happens to these food items that are not digested or absorbed? Chinese medicine considers that they develop into phlegm-dampness. After phlegm-dampness is produced, in order to move it out of the way so as to give the gastro-intestinal system a chance to continue receiving food stuff, phlegm-dampness is pushed aside into muscle and obesity is triggered. Speaking from Western medicine perspective, excessive food consumption is stored in the form of fat and results in obesity. After becoming fat, there are external changes in the form of the body, and internal changes which trigger abnormalities in blood lipids, blood pressure, liver function, heart and brain blood vessel functions, etc.

Dear Reader, if you’d like to go one step deeper in your understanding, please read on to the analysis in the next chapter.