When it comes to traditional Chinese medicine, the heart is considered central to your body’s health. Ancient Chinese texts of the past, such as Huainanzi and Guanzi, Daoist classics, consider the heart “the ruler of the five organ networks”, also known as the “emperor of the human body”.

The Heart According to Traditional Chinese Medicine

The heart is known as one of the five Zang organs, together with the spleen, kidneys, lungs and liver. They are also known as the yin organs, as they produce, regulate and store the vital substances of the body, such as bodily fluids, blood and qi. The Zang organs are vital to the regulation of the body’s internal functions.

Each of the Zang organs is paired with a fu organ, also known as a yang organ. The yang organs include the small intestine, the gallbladder, stomach bladder and large intestine. They help you digest food, absorb its nutrients and get rid of bodily waste. The fu organs are busy with external functions.

If you keep your heart healthy, you can keep your body healthy as well. If you are taking good care of the organs that generate qi, then your heart will be protected and well-nourished.

How to Keep Your Heart Healthy

Heart disease is one of the leading causes of death all around the world. Some of the risk factors surrounding it include inactivity and an unhealthy diet, as well smoking or inadequate amounts of sleep and stress. Each of these risks can be addressed, according to traditional Chinese medicine. You can stay motivated by following the examples below:

• The Risks of Inactivity

The solutions to this particular problem can be found with Tai Chi, Yoga or other activities that promote movement and flexibility. Set a regular schedule, stick to it and alternate activities together with friends or alone if need be.

• The Risks of Unhealthy Diets

According to traditional Chinese medicine, red foods help strengthen the heart by making up for the loss of the yang from the body, the fire energy. Some of the red foods in question are cherries, tomatoes, red beans, apples, watermelon, strawberries, beef and more.

• The Risks of Smoking

You should let people know you’re planning on quitting smoking, making it easier to stick to it by having people keeping you in check. YOu can also look for astragalus with your herbalist, which helps reduce the anxiety of quitting. If you feel withdrawal symptoms, you should look to friends and family for help. You can also join a support group for former smokers if you feel it’s necessary.

• The Risks of Inadequate Sleep

Poor sleep is caused by imbalances in your yin and yang energies. Depending on your type of problem, your herbalist might give you a customized formula that works for your specific needs. You need to practice good sleeping habits, such as having a specific bedtime schedule, turning off your electronic devices before bed and making the room comfortable for sleep, among other things. You need a way to remind yourself to stick to that habit, so set alarms and stick to your schedule.

• The Risks of Stress

You can find a solution by practising meditation, tai chi, qigong, whatever works to calm your nerves. Drinking calming teas recommended by your herbalist also helps, as well as practising deep breathing before stressful situations bring you down. You need to understand that stress is the body’s natural reflex to threats, real and perceived. Take a deep breath once the danger has passed and repeat a mantra that helps you shed the fear.

©The Acupuncturists Ltd

I guess this book is useful to those Christians who are interested in trying out some of the less westernised medicines and does a great job of exploring the many alternative therapies that are available. This book is really only for Christians who are exploring areas of health and wanting to understand the spiritual implications of the various practices. Having worked in the insurance industry for quite a while I have been exposed to a few of them, particularly reflexology, where apparently the practitioner can tell all about your health by simply looking at your foot and attempting to cure various ailments by playing with your feet. I remember reading one of these reports once and was somewhat surprised about what the practitioner was saying.

My exposure to medicine though has been in a very specific field, and that is of personal injury. Health can be very subjective at times, and I still believe that the mind has a lot to do with it. There is a story of an ancient Roman that I read in Montaigne who had a dream that he was blind and he woke up blind, and I am sure all of us have attempted to will ourselves sick because we simply did not want to go to school (or work). The other reason I say that it is subjective is that doctors can only go on what we tell them and they can only measure certain symptoms. For instance, there is no way (short of a lie detector test) to be able to tell is somebody is being truthful about having a headache (not tonight darling, I have a headache). Further, when money is involved (or a chance to get off work) people are going to be tempted to exaggerate their symptoms, and it is not always a doctor's prerogative to call a patient a liar (though some simply will not give you a medical certificate, despite the fact that you come crawling into their rooms and can barely stand up).

As for spiritual aspects of medicine and health we have biblical accounts where people suffer ailments simply because they are possessed by demons, however we must remember that this is not true for all of the ailments. Leprosy, for instance, is never mentioned as being connected with demons, and the prophecy in Isaiah about the messiah bearing our sicknesses does in fact refer to physical illness (as opposed to spiritual oppression).

I remember once reading two different accounts from mid 19th century Europe about two people suffering from a similar condition (ironically the same condition that the man possessed by the demon Legion that is mentioned in the gospels). One of them came from the Bethlahem Asylum (Bedlam) in London and the other from the back mountains of Bavaria. The London report talks about how this person was diagnosed with madness, the condition incurable, and was pretty much locked up. The Bavarian account talked about how he was demon possessed, and the victim was prayed for by the people, and surprise, surprise, he was cured (I wish I could remember where they were, but I believe they are somewhere amongst my law school notes).

Finally, I wish to make a comment about what some Christians have said about illegal drugs (marijuana, ecstasy, etc). They have generally referred to them as being associated with witchcraft, which is why they are bad. While the Greek word Pharmacia means to practice sorcery it also means to administer drugs. This is interesting because it suggests that sorcery and medicine back in those days were inextricably linked, which is not surprising because the power to heal sickness and the knowledge of drugs was a gift from the gods. Note that this is a common theme around the world, including in Christianity where Christ heals people simply by his word (or his touch, though sometimes it was a little more involved). However, taking note of this rather narrow minded view of pharmaceuticals that these Christians take it is not surprising that they will take one aspect of the word and twist it for their own purposes. However, it also makes me laugh since everytime I walk past a pharmacy, especially one owned by a Greek in a suburb with a large Greek population (it is always spelt in Greek) and I automatically translate it as 'witchdoctor'.