TCM - Blood (xue)

[Yasjua]

Observations and deductions regarding Blood (xue) in TCM. Contribute, amend, discuss.

 

About two months into my TCM program I've taken a strong interest in Blood and its role in human life, particularly in its role of nourishing and supporting the mind (broadly defined as total activities of body & narrowly defined as consciousness, thought, memory, etc.).

 

Here are some basic features that stand out to me:

• Blood (xue) is a dense form of Qi - it is yin compared to Qi, which is yang compared to Blood.
• Blood (xue) is the material-energetic foundation for Mind (Shen), which resides in the vessels, which are an extension of Heart
• Blood (xue) returns to Liver during sleep, nourishes and moistens body while active
• Blood (xue) is held by Spleen, so as not to spill from the vessels
• Blood (xue) is governed by Heart

 

I'm doing what I can to give flesh and function to the skeletal information we've been given so far, and I may be off the mark in my efforts, but it seems to me that TCM concepts proliferate toward mind-body-spirit holism by means of some sort of system of analogies.

 

So here are my efforts, likely misguided, to understand the Blood - Mind connection, particularly as it manifests in a typical American body (with our diet of chronic excess):

 

• Movement and activity, by virtue of moving Blood, ought to make it lighter and easier to move.
• Dense, heavy, or excess food intake would theoretically make Blood thick, slow, difficult to move - this is reflected in sluggishness of Mind after heavy food.
• Liver Qi is likely not strong enough to effectively move such dense Blood on a regular basis. Chronic Liver Qi efforts to move thick Blood exhaust Liver, leading to stagnation of emotions and other bio-energetic functions
• Excess sleep should theoretically make the Blood more dense due to resting for prolonged period of time in a Yin state.
• Deficit of food and sleep make Blood 'thinner,' more like Qi, and easier to move - thus the proclivity to daydream more when sleep is restricted (mind "floats," as its material basis is made thin, vaporous), and why many meditation teachers inhibit students' food intake on retreat - to make the mind lighter, like vapor.
• So if a light mind is desired, one should 'thin' the Blood by sleep restriction and dietary restriction and/or "regulation" to suit the particular body's optimal state.
• The Spleen ought to also play a role in the condition of Mind as it governs Blood by keeping it in the vessels.
• It seems to me this is a simplistic and inadequate conception of Spleen's role in governing Blood, as Spleen deficiency conditions only rarely manifest as hemorrhaging.
• I think that by analogy, Spleen ought to play a role in conditioning the circuitry or "outline" of Mind, just as Earth sets the outline for rivers to flow.
• A weak or overburdened Spleen cannot contain the Blood, resulting in floods (of what, if not literal Blood in the stool, uterus, or skin?) - the Mind's clearly delineated material infrastructure (vessels) is overflowing and thus Mind is exposed to pathological conditions outside the vessels, like a river gathering mud and turning brown during a flood.
• Spleen opens into the Mouth (speech - connected to mind)
• [...] and plays a role in digestion (could this be a more Gestaltian sort of assimilative function - pertaining not only to food, but emotions, experiences, etc?) [...]
• [...] and transforms dampness.
• If Spleen is overworked, dampness will affect the whole body - Blood will be thicker, slower, leading to sluggishness, fatigue, and decreased mental acuity.
• Essence and Blood can transform into one another. Conservation of Essence through sexual moderation ought to support healthy Blood levels and vice versa.

I'm not optimistic regarding the coherence of any of the above thoughts, but it's my way of trying to anticipate where the outline of information we've gotten so far may be headed.

 

I'll note that as it pertains to personal health, exploring the concept of Blood in this manner has made me more protective of my body. If only as a metaphor, Blood (xue) - the concept - has provided a much needed physical anchor for my concept of Mind. I've unwittingly harbored a very Descartian mind-body dualism my whole life, so I've frequently ignored or downplayed the effects of my eating, sleeping, and sexual activities on the condition of my mind.

 

I'm sharing this in hopes of generating discussion I can learn from, and to hopefully have my thoughts - which are no doubt uneducated - amended to better reflect Chinese medical philosophy.

[z00se]

To me blood is the nutrition your body has refined. I would put essence as pretty much the same category as blood, but perhaps there are difference essences of different types that get refined into blood. Yin. Oxygen from breath, nutrition from food gets absorbed into the blood.

 

I would say blood is stored in the liver, and the liver controls the blood, decides when and where to release it. The heart pumps the blood so obviously it has an effect on the blood, and the spleens strength depends on how quickly and effectively essence can be absorbed from food so that it can be turned into blood.

 

Kidneys are said to hold essence, but i think that it is like a storehouse for essence that the liver can transfer into blood. Ie bones are linked with kidneys, calcium can be pulled out of bones when needed to suppliment blood.

 

Blood is important but so is every other TCM concept.

 

I haven't any formal training in TCM, just trained with a chinese doctor in pulse diagnosis (he didn't teach me much else), and studied from various different sources myself for about 10 years. I found so much conflicting information so i just absorbed what made sense when i combined it with my qigong practice. It would be good to learn it all from one source like you are doing so theres not so much conflicting advice... but i've already been to uni, i don't want to do it all over again. Would be interesting if you posted similar things like this with other things you learn so i could check my understanding with you're formal training.

 

I think there could be as many different TCM styles as qigong styles.

[gendao]

 

• So if a light mind is desired, one should 'thin' the Blood by sleep restriction and dietary restriction and/or "regulation" to suit the particular body's optimal state.

Interesting, so if one had hypertension due to thick blood...they should theoretically sleep less and eat "lighter" foods?

 

That actually sounds sort of unhealthy...and I don't think would work, either.

 

Is it possible that blood may thicken due to an overactive liver or underactive kidney? As in too much wood sucking up insufficient water...leading to "dehydrated" blood?

 

Along those lines, how do the 5 elemental states correspond to each organ? Do only 1 or 2 of them apply to each one? For example, I believe yang excess in the liver is similar to, but just one step below, liver fire. But, yang excess in the lungs is never referred to as lung fire? So, would a yang excess in the lungs instead be dampness...since the next generative element is water (kidneys)?

Edited June 23, 2015 by gendao

[Andrei]

[Yasjua]

Interesting, so if one had hypertension due to thick blood...they should theoretically sleep less and eat "lighter" foods?

I think hypertension would fall under a totally different syndrome differentiation pattern. I don't think the aim would be to thin the Blood, but to tonify the energies responsible for moving Blood through the body. Spleen (which 'holds' Blood in the vessels) and Liver (which helps Qi move) come to mind, but there could be issues with Lung, Heart, or even Kidney - lifestyle and diet also have to be accounted for. It's also worth noting that Blood in TCM is not always the same thing as blood in WM. Sometimes it is, sometimes it isn't - the thinking in TCM is flexible, loose, and somewhat irregular.

 

What I'm saying about Blood specifically pertains to its function of housing the Mind. Chapter 26 of Suwen says, "Blood is the Mind of a person." In Blood deficiency the Mind loses its physical anchor and 'floats' giving rise to restlessness, insomnia due to mental chatter, or excessive dreaming. That's all I'm aware of their official connection, so everything else I'm extrapolating.

 

Is it possible that blood may thicken due to an overactive liver or underactive kidney? As in too much wood sucking up insufficient water...leading to "dehydration?"

Unfortunately the five-element natures of the Zang Fu mostly fall apart in diagnosis, which is based more on the cooperation of the organ functions rather than their elemental associations. So an overactive Liver would have the opposite effect on Blood, as Liver is responsible for ensuring the free-flow of Qi and Blood through the body. Hence it would be the opposite - Liver Qi stagnation would lead to inadequate Blood movement. The Kidney is a really complex organ, but it's relation to Blood is mostly that its Essence can supplement or even help create Blood. More likely a TCM understanding of hypertension may relate to Spleen, Liver and (maybe) Heart function - respectively they "contain," "move," and "dominate" Blood. We haven't gotten into diagnosis, so here's a whopping serving of Himalayan sea salt to take with my words: [...................]

 

Along those lines, how do the 5 elemental states correspond to each organ? Do only 1 or 2 of them apply to each one? For example, I believe yang excess in the liver is similar to, but just one step below, liver fire. But, yang excess in the lungs is never referred to as lung fire? So, would a yang excess in the lungs instead be dampness...since the next generative element is water (kidneys)?

No. The five elements get everyone's attention at first, including my own, because it seems so interesting and mystical and most of all applicable. But the role it plays in TCM treatment is quite different than what we'd expect. One place where the five elements make an important appearance is in determining tonification and reduction points along the meridians. For example, to tonify weak Kidneys one might needle the metal point along the Kidney meridian. This is because needling the mother (metal) helps tonify the son (water).

 

As to yang excess in the lungs, that would not be dampness, for two reasons:

(1) Dampness is very yin in quality - think wet, soggy, slow, dark... the sun, which is very yang, would dry it right up;

(2) Back to the point about the elements not working how we think they'd work in TCM - dampness is probably more closely related to the Spleen in that its function is the transportation and transformation of: a) Food Drink and c) Dampness itself!

 

The most common reason Spleen would fail at function c, at least my guess, is that it is either overburdened from overeating and can't perform its function properly, or that it has been weakened and made lazy by an excessively sugary Western diet. This is where Five Elements come into play again - why is Spleen affected negatively by sweetness? Spleen is Earth, and one of the many qualities/states associated with Earth (Yellow color, Late Summer, Transformation, Pensiveness) is sweetness. Sweet flavors go to the Spleen and affect it. Then in treatment, someone might tonify the Spleen by needling the Fire point on the Spleen channel. Similarly, one could (theoretically) get bitter herbs (which would help with dampness, since they are related to fire) to enter the spleen by including something sweet in the formula.

 

Hope that clears things up a bit!

[gendao]

I think hypertension would fall under a totally different syndrome differentiation pattern. I don't think the aim would be to thin the Blood, but to tonify the energies responsible for moving Blood through the body. Spleen (which 'holds' Blood in the vessels) and Liver (which helps Qi move) come to mind, but there could be issues with Lung, Heart, or even Kidney - lifestyle and diet also have to be accounted for. It's also worth noting that Blood in TCM is not always the same thing as blood in WM. Sometimes it is, sometimes it isn't - the thinking in TCM is flexible, loose, and somewhat irregular.

Hmm, so you would propose that hypertension may be due more to blood stagnation (from dysfunctional liver or spleen), than say, thick, "dehydrated" blood?

Unfortunately the five-element natures of the Zang Fu mostly fall apart in diagnosis, which is based more on the cooperation of the organ functions rather than their elemental associations.

Interesting, because you'd think that the elements should be a metaphorical descriptor of the organs' functions - and not purely arbitrary designations designed to delineate their relationships with each other...

 

Sometimes I wonder if TCM hasn't become overly convoluted and lost its primary focus (& potency)...or I'm just not advanced enough yet to fully grasp all the big devils in the details?

 

Has it perhaps discarded its "spiritual folk artistry" in becoming too "scientifically technical?" Sort of like robotically-perfect music - that lacks soul?  A phenomenon that can often happen as an innovative art keeps maturing well past establishment?

 

At the end of the day, the proof is in the pudding...and I guess more personal experience will tell. Although so far, I've only experienced underwhelming results with acupuncture and many TCM herbs compared to more "primitive" forms of hands-on bodywork (like qigong or cupping), for example..

Edited June 23, 2015 by gendao

[Aetherous]

In Blood deficiency the Mind loses its physical anchor and 'floats' giving rise to restlessness, insomnia due to mental chatter, or excessive dreaming. That's all I'm aware of their official connection, so everything else I'm extrapolating.

 

This "floating" associated with excess dreaming is especially related to the ethereal soul, the hun, of the Liver.

 

Your insights are cool, dude. The medicine progresses when people have their own insights, so long as those insights don't contradict the core principles of course.