Guest guest Posted March 28, 2004 Report Share Posted March 28, 2004 My understanding, which I gleaned from my Chinese professor, of the character we sometimes translate as " excess " or " replete " is that it does not simply refer to too much. It has to do with density within a delimited space. In this way, when Qi gets pent up it becomes excess, meaning too much Qi for a physical location that can only hold a certain amount to be healthy. The Qi or Yang or what ever becomes pathologically excess. Same goes for Yin substances. When there is too much Yin for a certain space, it becomes pathological Yin. Rather than thinking of it in terms of quantity, like how much is in a cup, my professor had me think of it in terms of the density of what is in the cup. The other side of this is that deficiency/vacuity has not as much to do with how little there is in a cup as it has to do with the density of what is in the cup. When a substance or energy is vacuous it lacks density. This is more accurate in terms of the actual Chinese characters and is also, in my opinion and experience, very helpful clinically. I'm interested to know how others think of this. Sharon On Mar 28, 2004, at 9:44 AM, Chinese Medicine wrote: > Message: 2 > Sat, 27 Mar 2004 21:34:36 +0000 (GMT) > anand bapat <acubapat > excess & deficient > > hi friends, > i follow the very basic tenet of excess & deficiency > its all relative & is generally dependent on excess > compared to deficient. this is so as > one cannot have true excess. > a glass cannot be filled beyond its capacity. after > that it overflows. if the glass were made of special > material maybe we could put more in under pressure - > but only a tiny bit more. > same with the body. we can only carry so much at which > point its full. beyond that its always relatively > excess. > it can happen that we find we are increasing in energy > as we might have started with a lesser filled glass. > so our concept of energy has been less than what we > have at present. thenw e feel that we have excess. > our body is always losing energy & we are forever > battling the deficient syndrome. which is why we age, > & we have problems. > so keeping this in mind i find that its impossible to > have true excess of yin or yang. we can have true > deficiency & whenthe glass is empty we die. > wonder what others think of this simplistic way of > thinking. > anand > Sharon Weizenbaum 86 Henry Street Amherst, MA 01002 413-549-4021 sweiz www.whitepinehealingarts.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 28, 2004 Report Share Posted March 28, 2004 I think your view is very accurate. The body isn't just a container or cup, its a process, a series of simultaneous processes- life. Some people say for example, " The kidney can't have an excess. " But what about a hot Ling syndrome? Or, what about the stagnation of blood, qi, dead sperm, and damp that contributes to protatitis. An 'excess' situation because of stagnation or blockage of energy-qi primarily, and then the associated substances. So, thinking dynamically, as process, is key. I heard also someone say that you cannot tonify the kidney qi too much. But that too is a limited view. The process of transforming external matter into postnatal qi and blood involves most of the organism's abilities. This agrees with daily herbal amounts and substitutions, to overcome the limitations of uptake and assimilation. Humans aren't wild horses or beings of fire, they are very restrained for the most part, so easy in them to be circulation and 'qi hua' difficulties. An excess or deficiency can sometimes be thought to be a situation overlayed upon the normal processes. For example; a wind-cold invasion tightening the meridians of the head, lasting for 2 weeks as severe wandering headaches, without any head cold symptoms. Pulse is tight and superficial and gives an impression of quickness because the choppy quick up and down ramps of the pulsewave(pain and ext invasion), and tongue had no real coat, with most striking was a purplish body, showing underlying bld stagnation that adds to tendency to cycle into more pain, more stagnation, etc. Acupuncture for w/c invasion was not helpful after so long, so go to use five flowers ( chrysanthemum, honeysuckle, forsythia etc) to clear upper head channels and senses, and " Chin Koo " and " Tzin Tzat Tzo " for pain and bld and qi stagnation. Also, altho it mostly seemed a lingering w/c invasion, I added Yin qiao, to guide the other herbs to the surface and head, and to clear any non-resolving heat and cold tangling. Pain gone in a day, and after two days of this combination, switch to constitutionally balancing patient. I guess it might seem like I'm wandering from the point, but a channel/organ sytems' output supports or feeds the previous and next process in the link. Excess bottlenecks up the scene, deficiency just can't support it. (And I didn't say anything alarmist, critical or crazy this time. i'm so proud of myself) Just kidding, peace. Thanks for the thought Sharon. sharon weizenbaum <sweiz wrote: My understanding, which I gleaned from my Chinese professor, of the character we sometimes translate as " excess " or " replete " is that it does not simply refer to too much. It has to do with density within a delimited space. In this way, when Qi gets pent up it becomes excess, meaning too much Qi for a physical location that can only hold a certain amount to be healthy. The Qi or Yang or what ever becomes pathologically excess. Same goes for Yin substances. When there is too much Yin for a certain space, it becomes pathological Yin. Rather than thinking of it in terms of quantity, like how much is in a cup, my professor had me think of it in terms of the density of what is in the cup. The other side of this is that deficiency/vacuity has not as much to do with how little there is in a cup as it has to do with the density of what is in the cup. When a substance or energy is vacuous it lacks density. This is more accurate in terms of the actual Chinese characters and is also, in my opinion and experience, very helpful clinically. I'm interested to know how others think of this. Sharon On Mar 28, 2004, at 9:44 AM, Chinese Medicine wrote: > Message: 2 > Sat, 27 Mar 2004 21:34:36 +0000 (GMT) > anand bapat <acubapat > excess & deficient > > hi friends, > i follow the very basic tenet of excess & deficiency > its all relative & is generally dependent on excess > compared to deficient. this is so as > one cannot have true excess. > a glass cannot be filled beyond its capacity. after > that it overflows. if the glass were made of special > material maybe we could put more in under pressure - > but only a tiny bit more. > same with the body. we can only carry so much at which > point its full. beyond that its always relatively > excess. > it can happen that we find we are increasing in energy > as we might have started with a lesser filled glass. > so our concept of energy has been less than what we > have at present. thenw e feel that we have excess. > our body is always losing energy & we are forever > battling the deficient syndrome. which is why we age, > & we have problems. > so keeping this in mind i find that its impossible to > have true excess of yin or yang. we can have true > deficiency & whenthe glass is empty we die. > wonder what others think of this simplistic way of > thinking. > anand > Sharon Weizenbaum 86 Henry Street Amherst, MA 01002 413-549-4021 sweiz www.whitepinehealingarts.com Membership requires that you do not post any commerical, swear, religious, spam messages,flame another member or swear. 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