When Your Energy Rises: Anxiety explained by the Classical Chinese Medicine

That all-too-familiar tightness in your chest, a racing heart, dizziness, or sudden sweat? These are all common physical manifestations of anxiety.

But have you ever wondered what exactly is happening within you, beyond just 'this is because of anxiety'?

Classical Chinese Medicine (CCM) offers a powerful framework for understanding not just anxiety, but your overall health and well-being

This article delves into the core concepts of CCM, revealing the root cause of anxiety from a unique perspective

By understanding Yang Qi risingthe energetic imbalance at the heart of anxiety according to CCM, you gain a deeper understanding of your experience. This knowledge empowers you to take control of your well-being and explore solutions tailored to your specific needs.

Let’s dive into it!

TaiJiTu - Unveiling Your Body's Hidden Energy System

Qi: The Invisible Force Shaping Your Health and Anxieties

Yin & Yang: The Balancing Act That Controls Your Anxiety

Anxiety: the Yang Qi rising pathologically and why knowing it is helpful

The Circle of Life: How Qi Flows Through Your Body

Two reasons why Yang Qi Rises and Creates Anxiety

Summary

太極圖 TaiJiTu - Unveiling Your Body's Hidden Energy System

You’ve probably seen the TaiJiTu symbol of two swirling halves countless times. But did you know that, in CCM, it represents you?

The TaiJiTu depicts the interplay of Yin and Yang, where Yang descends from Heaven and Yin ascends from Earth: their interaction creates all phenomena in this world, including the human beings.

Yang and Yin are like two faces of the same coin of the Qi. In essence, we are the Qi, condensed into a human.

But what is the Qi, exactly?

氣 Qi: The Invisible Force Shaping Your Health and Anxieties

The concept of Qi (pronounced 'chee') is pervasive in Chinese culture and is central to Chinese philosophy, art, and Medicine. It is an ancient word, appearing in some of the earliest writings found in China.

Like many Chinese characters, the character for Qi is densely imbued with information, making it difficult to translate its meaning with a single word in English.

The most common translation of Qi is “energy”, or “Life force energy”. In Chinese philosophy and Medicine, Qi can also be used to depict: air, ether, breath; information; qualities or nature of people, objects, or phenomenon; general mood or atmosphere; strength, moving power, and even destiny, or life itself.

Ultimately, Qi is the thing everything is made of. Just like western science considers that everything is comprised of molecules, and protons, photons, electrons, and it’s in a perpetual search of smaller and smaller particles, the Chinese life and Medicine philosophy understands that Qi is something even before these detectable particles form.

It is like the basic principle of existence, the existence itself, that energy that moves and can be felt as emotion, and the energy that condenses and thus forms the matter. The energy that is in itself the information.

Interestingly, the concept of Qi understood as the finest matter, echoes the idea behind Einstein's groundbreaking E=mc2 equation (energy equals mass), reflecting the interconnectedness of energy and matter.

 "The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science." - Albert Einstein

If we imagine the Universe as an ocean of water, all the material things that exist, us included, are like waves in that ocean.

In this way, we are all one with the Universe – because the Universe itself and everything in it is the same Qi in different densities, the same Yin and Yang interacting in different ways.

And like this, what happens to the ocean, happens to us. The energetic anatomy is the same in us and the nature around us, in the life on this earth, because we are comprised of the same Qi, same information, same energy.

And we function abiding the same principals.

陰陽 Yin & Yang: The Balancing Act That Controls Your Anxiety

One of the most important principals in Chinese philosophy and Medicine is Yin and Yang, and their relationship of interdependence, mutual engenderment and transformation, and mutual consumption.

Yin Qi and Yang Qi are simply different qualities of Qi:

Yang Qi being the qualities of light, heat, movement, ascension, expansion, everything that is less condensed, vaporous, elusive, related more to the function.

Yin Qi being the qualities of darkness, cold, stillness, descending, receptivity, condensation, hardness, related more to the form, or matter. 

 

In the body, the Yin and Yang are in constant play, constant movement, supporting, controlling, and transforming each other.

According to Chinese medical theory, the Yin and Yang must interact, move and transform in a certain order in the human body in order for it to be healthy. The cold, inert, and dense Yin must be warmed, supported, and impulse by the Yang. The hot, ascending, and hyperactive Yang must be rooted and controlled by the Yin.

All illness stems from Qi stagnation, which is to say the Qi is not properly changing or transforming, and so the Yin and Yang qualities are not in right relationship with each other.

Anxiety: the Yang Qi rising pathologically and why knowing it is helpful

Do you recognize the feeling of 'something rising from your gut into your chest and throat' during anxiety? This is because energetically, Anxiety is the Yang Qi rising pathologically: it’s either it is rising where it has to descend, or it is rising too fast, because it is not correctly rooted in Yin Qi.

This understanding of anxiety as an energetic movement, as an imbalance in how the Qi moves in your body, is a crucial first step on your way to eliminating anxiety from your life.

1.    It gives you a comprehensible explanation of the physical symptoms that so often accompany anxiety:

✓      Symptoms in the upper part of the body, or that physically feel like something hot and rising: hot flashes, migraines, dizziness, heart palpitations, blurry vision, etc. – are the Qi rising, just like anxiety itself.

✓      Symptoms of pressure, tension, and pain: tension in your neck and shoulders, feeling as if you can’t get enough air (that happens because of the tension in your diaphragm), fibromyalgia, abdominal pain that appears when you’re anxious, and the like – all these are Qi blocked, or not moving in a particular area of your body.

A lot of times, our anxiety is made so much worse because we get scared by these ‘unexplained’ physical symptoms that make us believe there’s something wrong with our body.

Understanding how those symptoms arise, that they are energy imbalances in your body, can serve as reassurance, and provides you with a clear solution: Chinese Medicine healing modalities as acupuncture and phytotherapy (herbal remedies) are designed to solve these energetic imbalances that the Western medicine often times is helpless to deal with.

 

2.  It also gives you clues on how to manage your anxiety:

✓ Knowing that what you are experiencing is the Qi rising, you can employ many of the self-care practices designed to ground you and help the Qi go down.

✓ Knowing that your symptoms steam from Qi stagnation, you can help yourself with practices that helps you move the Qi. 

✓ Knowing that the problem is in uprooted Yang, you can make sure you strengthen your Yin.

 

3.   Understanding how the energy moves in your body and how to interpret the symptoms you’re having empowers you by giving you clues on what inner work could help you flow more effortlessly in life, as a lot of times the factors that stagnate our Qi are our habitual reactions to life, and our lifestyle choices.

 

So let’s first look at how the energy is supposed to move in our bodies in order to then dive deeper into the exploration of the root causes of anxiety: where the energy blocks occur and why.

The Circle of Life: How Qi Flows Through Your Body

Imagine Qi flowing in a circle, with each stage playing a crucial role in our health and well-being:

Let´s look at each stage:

  1. Receiving the Yang Qi:

We take in nourishment and information from Heaven (the Universe, the external world) through food, air, sunshine, the information we receive from others, the media, and the world around us.

This first stage is governed by the Heart and the Fire element.

The Heaven’s nourishment includes the obstacles and difficult life situations we encounter along the way – this is how, according to the ancient Chinese philosophy, we receive our destiny – by receiving life lessons hidden in different situations.

Energetically, all this information coming into us in life is first received by our Heart. The Heart in Chinese Medicine is said to represent the consciousness of one's being. It is responsible for awareness, intelligence, wisdom, and houses our brightness.

In a healthy state, our Hearts are open and receptive to these experiences, accepting them without resistance and seeing them just as they are, our internal vision not tainted by past traumas or unconscious toxic beliefs.

 

2. Filtering, Transformation and Assimilation:

The information we receive is then passed down to the Intestines.

This process is governed by the Metal element that carries the energy of autumn, emphasizing accepting what life offers, keeping what is good and useful for us, and letting go what is not needed any more.

First, to the Small Intestine which acts like a filter, separating the good from the bad, the useful from the harmful. Here, our discernment and ability to set boundaries for what we’ll accept into our lives come into play.

Then, to the Large Intestine takes the filtered information and transforms it, assimilating the nourishing aspects (both physical and emotional) and eliminating what we don't need.

In case of difficult life situations, ideally, we accept what life is showing us, we keep the lesson, and we let go of the pain we had to go through in order to learn it.

 

3. Building ourselves:

The Earth element, represented by the Stomach and Spleen-Pancreas, takes the essence of our experiences and transforms it into who we are.

We use the nutrients from food to build the cells of our bodies and we utilize the life lessons to grow and evolve.

Interestingly, modern science is catching up with this concept, recognizing the gut's role in processing emotions.

 

4. Integrating Life Lessons:

The Kidneys, associated with the Water element, guard our essence, our blueprint in this life.

They ensure the transformation and assimilation of experiences aligns with our deepest truths and our potential, according to this Blueprint. This is how through all the changes and transformations in life, we maintain our individuality.

In the Inner Tradition of Chinese Medicine, it is said that:

the Heaven sends us concrete life experiences in accordance with this Blueprint: depending on who we are to become in this life, on the potential we have, we will encounter the experiences in life that helps cultivate these qualities in us.

 

5. Sharing Your Authentic Self:

After integrating life experiences, it's time to share your authentic self and wisdom with the world. This stage, governed by the Liver and the Wood element, carries Spring energy and represents action: creation, growth, and expansion.

Ideally, and to keep our Liver healthy, how we act in life is aligned with our deepest truth and potential according to the Blueprint guarded by the Kidneys.

  

This process is perpetual, and the circular movement of Qi always comes back to the Heart:

our mind and our consciousness are affected by the flow of Qi in all and every stage.

The more we flow with life's natural processes, the less we resist, less energy blockages we create. This allows us to grow and expand as individuals. With an open Heart-Mind, our interpretations of life experiences become more accurate, fostering enjoyment and flourishing.

Resistance leads to anxiety and a stunted personal journey.

When we don’t flow with these Qi movements, when we have resistance to life in any of these stages, we create one of

Two reasons why Yang Qi Rises and Creates Anxiety:

✓ Energetic Blocks: When we resist life experiences or refuse to accept and integrate lessons, energetic blocks form.

This stagnation disrupts the flow of Qi, causing the Yang Qi to rise instead of following its natural course.

✓ Weakened Yin:  Yin Qi is the anchoring, grounding force that keeps Yang Qi in balance. If our Yin Qi weakens due to overwork or poor lifestyle habits, it can no longer properly root the Yang Qi, leading it to rise unchecked.

 

Depending on where the energetic block or weakness occurs in the Qi flow circle, we experience different types of anxiety.

Want to identify the Root Causes of your anxiety? Stay tuned for the next article where I'll delve into the different ways and reasons our Qi gets blocked or weakened and how it manifests as anxiety. We'll also explore how to identify the location of your Qi block based on your physical and emotional symptoms.

Summary:

Anxiety is Yang Qi rising where it has to go down, or Yang Qi rising too fast because it is not properly rooted.

✓ The Yang Qi rises instead of going down when there are energetic blocks on its way.

✓ The Yang Qi results in not being rooted when the Yin aspect of the Qi is weakened.

✓ These energetic blocks and weaknesses are what we in Classical Chinese Medicine call the Root Causes of Anxiety.

We create these blocks and weakness by our habitual reactions to life, when we do not flow with life but reject it.

Depending on where in the Qi movement circle we create the block or the weakness, our physical and emotional symptoms will differ.

Understanding anxiety as Yang Qi rising and knowing the Root Causes empowers you to take control of your well-being. 

By addressing these energetic imbalances through acupuncture, herbal remedies, and lifestyle adjustments, you can help your Qi flow freely and experience lasting relief from anxiety.

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The Heart of Classical Chinese Medicine: A Journey Beyond TCM