Digest Number 568]

[Guest guest]

bonmotSarah

 

> Just a question Al:

> Then you state times for the stomach and

> large

> intestine which again do not correlate to the time of day for these

> organs as

> I have learned them (5-7 a.m, large intestine, 7-9 a.m, stomach). So I

> am a

> bit confused about all this.

 

I don't blame you. This is because the method of applying the meridians to

the 24 hour clock that you're using is different from the one that I'm using.

Yours is generally called the " Meridian Clock " or " circadian rhythm " . That

" circadian " term is probably a more recent translation. So, you and your

acupuncturist are absolutely correct in the times and associated

channels/organ systems.

 

However, there is an important book in TCM called the Shang Han Lun which goes

into great detail as to how to treat the common cold and what happens if you

ignore it or don't treat it correctly. This book follows a pathogen from the

common cold stage (Tai Yang disease) into the flu stage (Yang Ming) into the

malaria stage (shao yang) into the chronic fatigue stage (Tai Yin) into the

dehydration stage (shao yin) and finally into the intestinal parasites stage

(jue yin).

 

Now what I just described is an extremely superficial expression of the Shang

Han Lun so don't let my words limit your understanding of the Shang Han Lun.

There are people who spend their whole lives researching this book. As a

young man, my own teacher memorized the entire thing, word for word. I guess

that was before TV was imported into China or something. : )

 

Anyway, he was deeply influenced by this book, and by association so was I.

This book talks about how certain diseases are better at certain times of the

day and how these diseases are worse at other times of the day.

 

People who have insomnia can suffer from a variety of problems such as Liver

Blood deficiency, or Heart Yin deficiency, etc... but at one point, I noticed

that people who suffer from a Liver deficiency, or even an excess condition

such as Liver Qi stagnation will awaken in the wee hours of the morning and be

unable to fall back to sleep. They often report that they lie awake planning

their day. That's a very Liver type activity, making plans.

 

I also know that the Liver is a Jue Yin organ. Now, if you look at day as

yang and night as yin, you can also break both the night and day into three

segments. Shao Yang or little yang is the dawn. Tai Yang or big fat hairy

yang is around noon. Yang Ming or " Yang brightness " is the heat of the

afternoon till dusk. Then comes Shao yin, tai yin, and Jue yin. So, Jue YIn

is the wee hours of the morning, and look at that... the Jue Yin organ's

pathology is aggravated or manifests at that time of the early early morning.

 

That got me thinking. Now, the meridian clock is sort of a manmade

designation. Of course it also has a few thousand years of clinical successes

presumably associated with it, and so I really don't mean to call into

question its usage or accuracy, but it just never had that relationship with

the nature that I can see and touch myself.

 

However looking at the organs associated with the three yin and three yang

phases of the day makes much more sense to me. There are holes in this

theory, but to me there are more holes in the meridian clock theory.

 

> Is

> it just that some ancient physicians disagree about how to divide up the

> times of day for the organs and functions?

 

Yes, exactly. welcome to TCM : )

 

I would like to say too that what I'm presenting is non-standard TCM as it is

taught in the schools nowadays. However in the Shang Han Lun there is a

chapter that talks about when the six stages' pathologies are aggravated as

well as tend to get better and in my limited research of the subject, I found

a direct correlation to the times of day that I've presented as being the

natural expression of the three yin segments and three yang segments of the

daily cycle of the sun and how these phases resonate with the times of day in

which organic pathologies are aggravated and/or helped.

 

Best of all, I asked my teacher specifically about this Liver issue causing

insomnia during the wee hours of the day, because of the Jue Yin period that

it is associated with, and he nodded his head " yes " . Not that everything he

says, I believe. But just between he and I, this was his way of saying...

you're headed in the right direction, and so I'm still clarifying this thoery

in my own mind while making sure to consult with the Shang Han Lun so I

maintain this theory within the context of that book. Ultimately, it will

require clinical efficacy before I really going public with this. (Yeah, like

a mailing list with 500+ members isn't? ha ha)

 

I may end up making this a doctoral thesis, depending on how the doctoral

programs' requirements develop. I woud very much like to. It seems to me that

this particular way of thinking is more consistant with the natural world than

the (Chinese) clock derived " meridian clock " that you're describing.

 

Sorry about the confusion, hopefully I've been able to fill in any blanks here.

 

> I am having trouble

> staying

> warm, but it is always during the time of the day for which I believe

> the san

> jiao predominates which is 9-11 p.m. My practitioner also tells me I am

> in

> Shao Yang.

 

9-11 pm would be the Shao Yin time which is associated with the Kidney and

Heart. The Kidney is where the San Jiao gets its warmth. The San Jiao is a

distribution network. However it is the Kidneys and/or the Ming Men fire that

the San Jiao is actually distributing (I encourage those on this list to

correct me if my particulars aren't quite right here). The Ming Men fire in

like the listserver or webserver. Its where stuff comes from, while the San

Jiao is the telephone lines that bring these words into your computer.

 

So, according to the way that I'm looking at things, your problem with staying

cold may be pointing to either a deficiency in the Kidneys or perhaps a

stagnation of the Heart leading to a circulatory issue.

 

I need to look at the Shang Han Lun more to develop this understanding better,

though.

 

One more thing. It doesn't matter what your practitioner says, or I say. The

proof is always in your unique experience. If your acupuncturist is treating

your San Jiao and your problems are going away... he or she was probably

correct. : )

 

One of the cool things about TCM is its flexibility, though this is also one

of its weaknesses. Its nice that we can look at one problem many ways (Eight

principles, Shang Han Lun, Wen Bing school, Zang Fu, Five Elements, etc...)

because these different ways of looking at things all have certain strengths

in one area and weaknesses in others. However, its also easy for a

practitioner, especially in the West where these is little cultural

understanding of TCM to just start making stuff up (heretofore referred to as

" MSU " ) that sounds like TCM, but really isn't.

 

My theory on the six phases of the day and how they're related to organ

systems isn't really MSU, but getting close. Like I say, if I can tie it in to

existing text, test it out in the clinic and find that it works, I'll feel

that its more appropriate to espouse this theory as a deeper understanding of

the Shang Han Lun. I know for me, in my clinic, it has proven valuable, but

I'm still working on understanding it.

 

-al.

 

--

Al Stone L.Ac.

<AlStone

http://www.BeyondWellBeing.com

 

Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional.