Acupressure: Chinese healing treatment that uses hand and finger pressure and massage on meridian points and channels on the skin to stimulate energy in the body and provide symptomatic relief. Acupressure is similar to acupuncture, but employs no needles, and thus it is more limited in scope and effectiveness.
Acupuncture: Chinese healing treatment that uses thin sterile needles inserted into specific meridian points on the skin to stimulate energy in the body, encourage homeostasis of hormone function and Organ interaction, and give symptomatic relief of pain.
Acupuncture Points: Specific locations along the skin where Qi meridians (channels) run closest to the surface of the body. These points are stimulated by needles or touch to facilitate the circulation of Qi and Blood, encourage proper Organ function, relieve pain, encourage homeostasis of hormone function and Organ inter-action, and give symptomatic relief of pain.
Acute: Having rapid onset, severe symptoms and short duration. Opposite of chronic.
Adaptogen: A substance with qualities which increase resistance and resilience to stress, enabling the body to adapt around the problem and to avoid reaching collapse. Adaptogens work through support of the adrenal glands.
Affinity: One of the four healing properties of herbs. Every herb has a specific affinity for one or more Yin or Yang Organs.
Air Qi: The Qi received from the air we breathe.
Allergens: Substances that cause manifestations of allergy (these may or may not be antigens). See Antigen.
Analgesic: A pain-relieving substance.
Antigen: A protein, carbohydrate, or fat carbohydrate complex with the ability to identify cells as harm- less and belonging to the body, or as foreign cells to be destroyed. Antigens stimulate the production of antibodies which can neutralize or destroy invading organisms. Antigens on the body’s own cells are called autoantigens. Antigens on all other cells are called foreign antigens.
Anti-inflammatory: A substance which soothes inflammation or reduces the inflammatory response of the tissue directly. Anti-inflammatories work in a number of different ways, but rarely inhibit the natural inflammatory reaction.
Antispasmodic: Antispasmodics ease cramps in smooth and skeletal muscles. They alleviate muscular tension and, as many are also nervines, ease psychological tension as well.
Antiviral: Any substance which bears the properties of opposing the action of a virus.
Astringe: An herb’s therapeutic ability to consolidate, concentrate, hold, or condense weak and deficient Qi, Blood, Essence (Jing), Spirit (Shen), and/or Fluids. Also to dry up excess Damp imbalances. Herbs that astringe help the body retain essential fluids and energies, and strengthen tissues and Organs. In the simplest terms, such herbs “plug up” any “holes” in the body from which energy is leaking.
Balance (Harmony): In Eastern Medicine, the state of good health-also called harmony-which results from the vibrant and harmonious interaction of Yin and Yang energies.
Blood: One of the five essential energies of the body in Eastern Medicine. Blood is the physical manifestation of Qi and is responsible for carrying nourishment and moisture to the Organs, tissues, and muscles.
Channels: Also called “meridians,” these are nonmaterial pathways that run along the surface of the body and are connected via Qi energy to specific Organs. The channels are utilized for treatment both in herbal medicine and in acupuncture.
Chronic: A disease or illness of long duration showing little change or of slow progression. Opposite of acute.
Circadian Rhythm: Pertains to events that occur at approximately twenty-four-hour intervals, such as certain physiological phenomena.
Climates: In Eastern Medicine, the name given to the primary external causes of illness or imbalance, which include Wind, Heat, Cold, Dryness, Dampness, and Summer Heat or Fire. The latter are also called the Six Evils. External causes of illness can progress and penetrate to the interior of the body, where they then become internal wind, internal heat, internal cold, internal damp, etc.
Cold: An external or internal “climatic” imbalance or ailment characterized by chills, aversion to cold, lethargy and fatigue, loose stools or diarrhea, and profuse, clear urination. Cold can also penetrate to the interior of the body, resulting in internal-cold conditions. Cold is yin in character.
Damp: An external or internal “climatic” imbalance or ailment characterized by fluid accumulations, swelling and distension, particularly of abdomen, diarrhea, a feeling of heaviness in chest, heavy expectoration and discharges, and joint pains. Damp can also penetrate to the interior of the body, and often combines with heat and cold, resulting in internal damp-heat or damp-cold conditions. A condition of dampness often indicates a breakdown in a fundamental metabolic process within the body: fluids simply do not act the way they are supposed to. An apt metaphor might be a broken iron that instead of steam produces only dripping water.
Decoction: (tang) In Eastern Medicine, the method of boiling down herbs to create a simple broth or tea that may be taken medicinally.
Deficiency: Insufficient quantities of and/or weak functioning of Qi, Blood, Essence (Jing), Spirit (Shen), Fluids and/or Organs resulting in imbalance and illness. For example, deficient Blood does not adequately nourish organs, tissues, and muscles. Deficient Qi prevents Blood, Fluids, and Organs from performing their proper tasks.
Deficient Blood: Poor or weak Blood (anemia) that doesn’t properly nourish Organs, tissues, and muscles.
Deficient Qi: Weak Qi that prevents the Organs, Blood, and fluids of the body from performing their proper functions.
Diagnosis: In Eastern Medicine, the method of diagnosing illness through the process of listening, smelling, interviewing, and touching the patient, and observing how they look, dress, and act.
Dispel: An herb’s therapeutic ability to disperse, move, circulate, and/or redistribute stagnant Qi, Blood, Fluids, and phlegm, or imbalances of Wind, Heat, Cold, Damp, and Fire that are present externally or internally.
Effect: One of the four healing properties of herbs. Every herb has a specific effect or action in the body. Herbs either dispel, astringe, purge, or tonify Qi, Blood, Fluids, phlegm, and external or internal causes of illness or imbalance. Eastern Medicine’s eight-prong system of diagnosing illnesses by their yin or yang, cold or hot, deficient or excess, and internal or external natures. (See separate entries for each of eight conditions.)
Empty Heat: Also called “False Heat.” A condition of internal heat in the body that is caused by a deficiency of Yin. Empty heat symptoms include diarrhea and cold extremities (yin conditions), but there is usually a fever with flushed or red face (yang conditions) and no aversion to the cold. Despite the presence of fever, warming herbs are usually required to treat the overall yin deficiency.
Energy: A broad term used in Eastern Medicine and other alternative health disciplines to describe both the nonmaterial and material vital forces that both create and sustain the life of the body. In Eastern Medicine, Qi is pure energy and is also the driving and fundamental life force within the individual. Blood is another vital energy of the body, but it also has a physical aspect.
Essence: (Jing) The primordial energy all individuals are born with, similar to DNA, and responsible for the fundamental growth and reproductive processes of the body. One of the five basic energy substances of the body.
Excess: Over-function (hyperactivity) of Organs and/or Organ systems in the body possibly due to stagnation of Qi, Blood, Essence (Jing), Spirit (Shen), and/or Fluids, resulting in imbalances or illness in the body; hyper- function of any of the Organs and/or Organ systems.
Exterior: In Eastern Medicine’s diagnostic system, exterior symptoms of an illness or imbalance occur either on the surface of the body-in skin, hair, or nails-or in tissues, muscles, joints, nerves, blood vessels, or Organ systems near the surface of, as opposed to deep within the body.
External (Disharmony/Imbalance): Refers to the external causes of an illness (disharmony or imbalance): Wind, Heat, Cold, Dryness, Dampness, Summer Heat or Fire. (See “Climates.”)
False Heat: A condition of internal heat caused by a yin deficiency. See “Empty Heat.”
Fire: An extreme condition of internal heat, often accompanied by severe emotional excesses, called “inner-fire symptoms,” such as extreme anger or rage. May also be brought on by overindulgence in certain foods and alcohol. Symptoms include severe dehydration, skin rashes, red eyes and face, sparse urine, constipation, mental agitation and/or delirium. Fire especially affects Lungs, Liver, and Stomach.
Five Elements System: A complex system that organizes all the processes in nature, and the interaction between living organisms and nature, into five categories called Wind, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water. Illness is also classified according to these five categories. In this book, we use the Eight Principles of diagnosis as our focal point, and not the Five Elements (also called the Five Phases). Many of the books in the bibliography contain excellent discussions of the Five Elements System.
Five Energies: The five basic substances in the body: Jing, Shen, Qi, Blood, and the Jin Ye fluids.
Flavor: See “Taste,” one of the four healing properties of herbs.
Fluids (Jin Ye): Also called “Moisture.” Jin fluids are lighter fluids that moisten the Lungs, skin, and muscles and that work with Protective Qi to help protect the surface of the body. Ye fluids are heavier fluids that work with the Kidneys and Spleen to help Nourishing Qi. Fluids may become deficient (e.g., in conditions of dehydration and constipation), or they may accumulate (e.g., in conditions of congestion and edema). Phlegm or mucus is also a condition of accumulated fluids. See “Phlegm.”
Food Qi: The Qi received from the foods and liquids we ingest.
Harmony: Also called “Balance.” Refers to the state of good health resulting from the harmonious interaction of yin and yang that produces strong, healthy Qi.
Heart: Yin Organ that controls Blood and Blood vessels. It is associated with the Heart and face. Its complementary Yang Organ is the Small Intestine.
Heat: An external or internal “climatic” imbalance or ailment characterized by fever, aversion to heat, over activity, constipation, dehydration, sparse dark urination, and insomnia. Heat can also progress and penetrate to the interior of the body and frequently combines with damp to create internal heat-damp imbalances. Heat is Yang in character.
Herbal Properties: An herb is therapeutically categorized by its four healing properties: nature, taste, affinity with specific organs, and effect or action in the body.
Hot Blood: Also called Heat in Blood. Results from problems of yin/yang imbalance control within the body and may be a factor in conditions such as constipation.
Illness: Imbalance between yin and yang energies resulting in further imbalances of Qi, Blood, Jing, Shen, Organs, and/or Fluids.
Imbalance: The term used in Eastern Medicine to characterize illness, resulting from a fundamental imbalance between yin and yang energies that results in secondary imbalances in Qi, Blood, Essence (Jing), Spirit (Shen), Fluids, and/or Organs.
Interior: According to Eastern Medicine’s diagnostic system, interior symptoms of illness or imbalance occur in Organs, Organ systems, major blood vessels, and other organic systems found deep within the body, as opposed to on or near the surface. (See “Exterior.”)
Internal: (Disharmony/Imbalance) Refers to the seven primary internal or emotional causes of illness or imbalance: Anger, Sadness, Grief, Fear, Fright, Joy, and Rumination.
Jing: Chinese term for “Essence,” one of the five basic energies ‘of the body. (See “Essence.”)
Jin Ye: See “Fluids.”
Kidneys: Yin Organ that stores Jing and controls reproduction, growth, and development. It is associated with the ears, loins, and lower back. Its complementary yang Organ is the Bladder.
Liver: Yin Organ that stores and regulates Blood and ensures that Qi flows smoothly. It is associated with the eyes, muscles, and tendons. Its complementary yang Organ is the Gallbladder.
Lungs: Yin Organ that controls and regulates Qi, respiration, water passage, and metabolism. The Lungs are associated with the skin and hair. The Lungs’ complementary yang Organ is the Large Intestine.
Materia Medica: Any large compendium of Chinese herbs-plant, animal, or mineral in origin-that categorizes them by their botanical and/or biological characteristics and by their healing properties.
Meridian: Nonmaterial pathways, also called channels, which run along the surface of the body and are connected via Qi energy to specific Organs. The meridians organize the body’s functions and are utilized for diagnosis and treatment both in herbal medicine and in acupuncture.
Moisture: The essential Jin Ye Fluids of the body. (See “Fluids.”)
Musculoskeletal System: Pertaining to the muscles and the skeleton.
Nature: One of the four active healing properties of herbs. Herbs possess three essential natures: warm or hot (yang); cool or cold (yin); and neutral.
Nervine: Nervines help the nervous system and can be subdivided into three groups. Nervine tonics strengthen and restore the nervous system. Nervine relaxants ease anxiety and tension by soothing both body and mind. Nervine stimulants directly stimulate nerve activity.
Nutritive Qi: The Qi energy that provides nourishment to the Organs and tissues of the body.
Organs: In Eastern Medicine, there are twelve major Organs in the body, six of which are yin and six of which are yang in nature. (See “Yin Organs” and “Yang Organs.”) In Balance & Harmony’s literature, we capitalize Organ names to emphasize the fact that in Eastern Medicine, they are important not only for their anatomical properties, but because they embody complex energy systems that are crucial to many functions within the body.
Organ Qi: The Qi energy unique to each Organ and Organ function. In illness or imbalance, Organ Qi may be deficient, stagnant, sinking, or rebellious, depending on the specific yin/yang imbalance.
Original Qi: The prenatal Qi with which we are born, mostly received from our parents via heredity and during pregnancy.
Palpation: Light massage and/or stronger finger-and- hand pressure performed by traditional practitioner on the skin and other parts of the body along meridian points and channels that correspond to specific Organs. Palpation allows the practitioner to make a general assessment of body temperature and skin condition, determine where there may be areas of poor muscle tone and/or pain, and diagnose possible Organ disharmonies.
Pathogens: Disease-producing microorganisms and toxins.
Phlegm: Phlegm or “mucus” is a condition of accumulated Fluids that may have either a material aspect (e.g., chest, Lung, and sinus congestion, many kinds of tumors, and plaque deposits in the circulatory system), or a nonmaterial aspect (e.g., high blood pressure).
Protective Qi: The Qi that circulates on the outside of the body to protect it from illnesses and imbalances caused by external or climatic conditions. Also called “Surface Qi.”
Pulse Taking: The more than two-thousand-year-old science of sphygmology, a diagnostic system used to detect an individual’s past and present imbalances and. illnesses by reading twelve major wrist pulses, each of which corresponds to one of the twelve major Organs.
Purge: An herb’s therapeutic ability to eliminate, expel, and/or detoxify where there is obstruction, chronic stagnation, or “poison” (toxicity) in Qi, Blood, Fluids, and phlegm, or where there are external or internal balances of especially Heat, Damp, and Fire.
Qi: The fundamental life force or energy that is found in all living things and is formed from the interaction of yin and yang energies.
Qigong: A five-thousand-year-old Chinese system of physical movements and controlled breathing designed to consolidate and promote the free flow of Qi energy throughout the body both to enhance physical well- being and activate self-healing.
Rebellious Qi: Qi that flows in the wrong direction. (Gastric reflux is an example of Rebellious Qi.)
San jiao: See “Triple Warmer.”
Shen: Chinese term for “Spirit” or “Mind.” (See “Spirit.”)
Sinking Qi: Extremely’ weak Qi that can cause Organ prolapse.
Spirit (Shen): The higher consciousness involved in creative and mental activities. Sometimes called “Soul,” Spirit is one of the five basic energy substances of the body and may be either strong (calm) or weak (agitated).
Spleen: Yin Organ that governs transportation and trans- formation of Blood and Fluids and moves Qi. It is associated with the mouth, skin, and limbs. Its complementary yang Organ is the Stomach.
Stagnant Blood: Thick and sluggish Blood that doesn’t flow smoothly through the body. (Pain of Bumps and Bruises are due to Stagnant Blood.)
Stagnant Qi: Qi that is “stuck” and doesn’t flow freely. Occurs when the normal flow of Qi either slows down or is blocked by deficiency (not enough flow), excess (too much flow), or injury (obstruction to flow).
T’ai Chi Chuan: Chinese system of martial arts consisting of a series of slow movement physical exercises designed to concentrate and promote the flow of Qi and Blood.
Tao: The Chinese system of philosophy and religion that views everything in the universe as interrelated and striving toward harmonious balance, with no beginning and no end. Within this system, individuals are microcosms of the universe, subject to the same interactive energies that move toward harmony and balance.
Taste: One of the four healing properties of herbs. Herbs possess five distinct tastes, each of which has a specific healing character: sour, bitter, sweet or bland, spicy, and salty.
Three Treasures: In Eastern Medicine, the collective term used to describe Qi, Essence (Jing), and Spirit (Shen). When Qi, Essence, and Spirit are vital, healthy, and harmonious, a person is said to enjoy perfect health.
Tonify: An herb’s therapeutic ability to nourish, harmonize, support, and invigorate stagnant and deficient conditions of Qi, Blood, Essence (Jing), Spirit (Shen), Fluids, and Organs.
Triple Warmer: Also called “Triple Burner” and San Jiao in Chinese. In Eastern Medicine, this is a yang organ or, more precisely, an “energy system,” that has no equivalent in conventional medicine. The Triple Warmer is crucial to all phases of digestion and has three parts: the Upper Burner (from mouth to Stomach); the Middle Burner (from stomach to Large Intestine); and the Lower Burner (from Small Intestine to rectum).
Wind: Wind is one of the major external and internal causes of illness or imbalance and is characterized by symptoms of shaking, trembling, dizziness, and joint and muscle pains that move throughout the body. Wind symptoms are sudden and acute, frequently occur in the spring, and commonly occur in tandem with other external causes of illness, especially cold.
Yang: One of the two fundamental polar energies found in all living things. Yang qualities or conditions are hot, dry, excessive, and on or near the surface of the body. Yang complements yin.
Yang Deficiency: Because yang cannot function properly without yin, an imbalance in the energy systems of the body can create a yang deficiency, causing the yang organs to become stagnant. See Qi.
Yang Organs: The six hollow yang organs include the Large Intestine, Small Intestine, Bladder, Gallbladder, Stomach, and Triple Warmer. These organs are found closer to the surface of the body and are all gastrointestinal in function.
Yin: One of the two fundamental polar energies found in all living things. Yin qualities or conditions are cold, damp, deficient, and found in the interior of the body. Yin complements yang.
Yin Deficiency: Because yin cannot function properly without yang, an imbalance in the energy systems of the body can create a yin deficiency, causing the yin organs to become stagnant. See Qi.
Yin Organs: The six solid yin organs include the Lungs, Heart, Liver, Kidneys, Spleen, and Pericardium. These organs are considered the most important in Eastern Medicine. They are found deep within the body and are responsible for manufacturing, storing, and regulating Qi, Blood, Essence (Jing), Spirit (Shen), and Fluids.
Flavor: In Chinese theory, the fundamental principle of two mutually interdependent and constantly interacting polar energies that sustain all living organisms. The interaction of Yin and Yang produces Qi.
Zang Fu Organs: Zang Fu is the Chinese term used in Eastern Medicine to characterize the body’s complete Organ system. The Zang Fu include the six solid yin organs (Zang), which are located deep within the body and are responsible for manufacturing, storing, and regulating Qi, Blood, Essence (Jing), Spirit (Shen), and Fluids; and the six hollow yang organs (Fu), which are found closer to the surface of the body and which are all gastrointestinal in function.