Why Qi can Stagnate

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Once you've recognized that Qi is Stagnant, the next question is why is the

Qi Stagnant? Qi Stagnation (Qi blocked or not flowing very smoothly) can

arise from a number of causes.

 

One of the main ones is emotional problems. What is meant by this is that

the person either is repressing emotions or giving in to them too much.

Emotions - like energy - only cause problems when they're blocked or

inappropriatedly channeled. Blocking emotions includes things like refusing

to acknowledge them, being in denial about them, etc. Inappropriately

channeling them includes things like a person who substitutes one emotion

for another. Like a person who substitutes feeling anger in order keep from

having face a more threatening emotion like fear or feeling helpless and

vulnerable. This often is a person who throws temper tantrums, is always

angry, and is abusive towards others. The giving in to anger and over- and

inappropriately expressing anger is a way to keep from having to face and

deal with emotions which are more threatening to the person than anger is.

Scapegoating is another form of inappropriately channeling emotions.

Instead of confronting the person who is responsible for the original pain

and rage, the person will take it out on others. Needless to say, this

never works for very long, and the abuser who engages in this starts to

require more frequent and more severe " fixes " of taking the anger out on

others. The only cure is for the person to eventually confront the true

source of the pain and rage.

 

TCM looks at the effects that various emotions have on energy flow in the

body. Each meridian (pathway of energy) has a proper direction of flow, and

each emotion will affect energy flow in a different way. Energy in the

Stomach meridian is supposed to descend. If it " Rebels " and flows upward

instead, a person can experience problems like nausea (not the only possible

cause of nausea but one of the possible causes), vomiting, and burping. The

flow of energy in the Spleen meridian is supposed to ascend. When it

" Sinks " instead of rising, the person can experienced problems like a

prolapsed stomach, prolapsed uterus, prolapsed anus, etc.

 

Each of the emotions have an effect on energy flow. Anger and frustration

will cause it to rise inappropriately or to Stagnate. Stagnation can

trigger another TCM imbalance. Energy that stays in one place for too long

and can't move freely produces Heat, and if this goes on too long, this Heat

can change into destructive Fire, and the person has some major health

problems. Think of the analogy of an electric wire carrying more

electricity than its diameter can safely carry. The thinner wire - unlike a

thicker one - will overheat. If it gets too hot this can cause a fire.

Another analogy is a pressure cooker. All pressure cookers have a vent for

realeasing excess pressure. If it didn't and the pressure rose too much,

the entire pressure cooker would cxplode. Something similar to this can

happen in the body when Qi Stagnates.

 

Note for those new to TCM: The Liver and the Gall Bladder are the two Organ

systems most vulnerable to anger and frustration.

 

Something else which can cause Qi to Stagnate is Cold. If a person suffers

long enough from Exterior Excess Cold (cold weather) and it invades to the

Interior, or, if the person is Yang Deficient (not enough Yang energy to

warm the body properly), Qi Stagnation can result. Cold slows things down

and congels. Think of a stream or river frozen in the winter. Even if the

stream or river doesn't freeze entirely, the water isn't flowing like it

usually does. And even the water at the bottom of the stream or river which

is still flowing is flowing much slower than it usually does.

 

An excess of foods that are too Cold or foods that are too Hot also can

trigger Qi Stagnation problems.

 

Mechanical injury can produce Qi Stagnation problems. Accidents or surgery.

In these cases, Blood Stasis (Blood not flowing properly) developing

because of the accident (bruises) or after the surgery usually is the more

immediate problem, but Qi Stagnation also can result. Blood Stasis if not

treated can trigger Qi Stagnation problems just like Qi Stagnation (in

particular Liver Qi Stagnation) can trigger Blood Stasis problems if left

untreated long enough.

 

Spinal misalignment also can trigger Qi Stagnation problems. Massage may be

able to take care of some of these problems. In other cases the person may

need to see a chiropractor or a DO (Doctor of Osteopathy). Spinal

misalignment can arise due to different causes. Sometimes a person is born

with one leg longer than the other. Sometimes an accident will cause the

problem. Sometimes cold can cause the problem. In addition to cold being

able to trigger Qi Stagnation by causing the muscles to contract

excessively, these muscles staying contracted too long because of cold can

throw the alignment of the spine off in some susceptible individuals, thus

creating further triggers for Qi Stagnation.

 

There are other possible causes of Qi Stagnation. These are some of the

main ones.

 

I want to make some additional comments here. Once there has been damage to

the Liver and/or Gall Bladder whatever the initial cause - emotional,

poisoning, virus or bacterial infection, mechanical trauma such as accident

or surgery, parasites - the person is going to be more prone to experiencing

anger and frustration than before. This is a snowballing situation. Once

the Liver is damaged from whatever initial trigger, the person will be more

prone to feeling anger, the increased anger will further damage the Liver

which results in more anger which then further damages the Liver, and so on.

It snowballs - just like a snowball rolled in snow will keep getting

bigger and bigger and bigger.

 

When someone appears very angry suspect and rule in or rule out Liver

imbalance and/or pain. People in chronic pain very often will appear and

be angry. Even low level chronic pain that a person has learned to ignore

consciously can produce this effect. This correlation between pain and

anger is not surprising to someone in TCM. One of the possible

manifestations of Qi Stagnation is pain. Be it headaches due to Liver Yang

Rising or Liver Fire Blazing or pain in the sides due to Liver Qi Stagnation

or pains in the lover abdomen that move around a lot. Not all pain is due

to Qi Stagnation (there are other possible Roots) but in cases of pain due

to Qi Stagnation, that pain can be relieved by the appropriate herbs,

acupoints, or massage techniques that get Qi flowing properly again.

Sometimes the appropriate herbs may be a combination of different classes of

herbs. For example, in cases of pain due to Qi Stagnation due to Cold,

herbs to move Qi by themselves won't be enough. You also will need to

include warming herbs to correct the Cold which was and is the trigger for

the Qi Stagnation. In the case of pain due also to Blood Stasis as well as

to Qi Stagnation, both herbs to move Blood and to move Qi will need to be

used.

 

Knowing the basics of TCM and how things work will enable you to analyse

more thoroughly than you otherwise would be able to. For example, someone

comes in who complains of having felt cold and having trouble warming up for

a very, very long time. In this particular case, Yang Deficiency stands out

as the major analysis. The Yang Deficiency is so severe that it dwarfts

everything else and may even mask some other problems. In cases like this,

you can just about bet that there are going to be some Qi Stagnation

problems. Yang tonic herbs and herbs to warm the Interior may or may not be

enough in one of these particular cases. You may also need to include an

herb to get Qi moving properly. When problems go untreated for a very long

time and trigger other problems, the other problems can assume lives of

their own. In other words, they gain such a foothold that they will

continue even if the original imbalance which gave rise to them is

corrected.

 

Victoria

 

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