Your Liver, according to TCM (traditional Chinese medicine), works 24/7 for you to regulate your blood. Hardworking and smart she is, there is a time your Liver is not able to perform her tasks. This is the time when she encounters her natural enemy, an enemy that beats her and makes her so angry to the point of inflammation. This enemy is invisible but sometimes powerful and it is also something you hate. It is the emotion of ‘anger’.
Experts in this post
- Anthony William, the chronic illness expert, and originator of the global celery juice movement
- Robert Ko, a Professor in the Division of Life Science (the Hong Kong University of Science & Technology), served in the Chinese Medicines Board of the Chinese Medicine Council of Hong Kong
- Yu-ming Lee, a TCM practitioner earning his PhD from the Beijing University of Chinese Medicine
- Angela Hicks, joint principal of the College of Integrated Chinese Medicine in Reading (UK)
Emotion & sickness: 2 strangers on the same street?
We usually have a thought about sickness: that it is caused by bacteria or virus. Yes, this is ‘correct’. However, if you go deeper, as in TCM, this is not 100% correct.
It is true that sickness is caused by bacteria or viruses. However, there is a question unanswered: during Covid 19 why did a friend fall sick but another did not (even if they stayed in the same flat)?
In the world of traditional Chinese medicine, there is something other than bacteria and viruses that make you sick. It is nothing but your emotion. Emotion and sickness, in the words of Dr Lee, are not two things separated, but in most cases, they are two in one:
In traditional Chinese medicine, physical illnesses originate from emotional issues ……
(Towards Healing, 2018, P. 54, text in Chinese)
Simply put, emotion and sickness are not, absolutely not, two strangers on the same street that emotion can be a root cause of your sickness. And if you still think the idea is unusual, the following number, provided by Angela Hicks, may make it easier to understand one of the root causes of your IBS:
It has been said that approximately 90% of all illness has an emotional component.
(88 Chinese Medical Secrets: How to Cultivate Lifelong Health, Wisdom and Happiness, 2011, P.79)
How IBS is triggered by your 90%
So what are the 90% you have been ‘carrying’ making you suffering from IBS? If Liver affecting your digestive system (as mentioned in the previous post) is the reason why you have IBS, then the 90% is the emotion of ‘anger’. However, before we get to the process of how anger triggers your IBS, the term ‘anger’ needs some explanation. In the world of TCM, anger is not just about anger that it also includes four other related emotions:
frustration, resentment, repression, and depression
So let’s take the example of anger, a common emotion in daily life, to talk about why you have IBS. When you experience, anger, and if you do not release it (I mean, properly), the emotion will block or sometimes stop Liver Qi from moving. Then this blocked Liver Qi will turn into a from of energy that is too strong, a kind of excessive energy.
This excessive energy will do one thing that makes you suffer from bloating, loose stools, and diarrhea. This Liver Qi will go out of Liver and overact on your digestive system. Yes, you are right. There are linkages between Liver and your digestive system, and through the linkages Liver Qi affects your digestive system, in a negative way.
The above process of triggering can be wrapped up into 5 steps:
anger ——> Liver Qi blocked ——> Liver Qi too strong ——> Liver Qi flowing to digestive system
——> IBS
Solutions: The next 2 posts
Explaining with a three-level solutions, the next two posts are about three things:
- how to stop Liver Qi from overacting
- how to manage or self-heal your IBS
- how to tackle a root cause of your IBS
