The Organ-Emotion Link - Find the emotional root to your problems

Check out the first chart in the links below for a great overview of the organ-emotion connection.  Find out how your organs hold emotions and problems in your emotional health can show up in physical symptoms in these organs.

     Organ-Emotion Link Chart http://www.totalfitness.net/Chinese_5_elements_emotions_chart.pdf

Print this chart out and have a good look at it, you'll start seeing some amazing connections. 

In classical Chinese medicine, detailed knowledge of the dynamics and interrelationship of the five organ networks is considered the foundation for successful practice. This system of knowledge describes the body as a dynamic system of intertwined functional circuits that reflect and resonate with the macrocosm of the universe.

The following are examples of quotes from the various texts, one selected for each organ network:

Liver: The liver marks the beginning of cyclical action, the stirring of spring yang which all living things rely upon as a catalyst for their growth. By avoiding outbursts of anger and by fostering this particular type of yang energy, your prenatal qi will keep generating forever. The liver is also in charge of color; if its qi is in harmony, the body will exhibit a healthy luster. If its qi is injured, the body will appear dry and brittle. Nourishing the liver, therefore, first of all means to refrain from anger. This is the key for the maintenance of good health.

Heart: The ancient book of definitions [Neijing] refers to the heart as the ruler of the human body, the seat of consciousness and intelligence. If we decide to nourish this crucial element in our daily practice, then our lives will be long, healthy, and secure. If the ruler's vision becomes distracted and unclear, however, the path will become congested, and severe harm to the material body will result. If we lead lives that are centered around distracting thoughts and activities, harmful consequences will result. The sage regards his body like a country: the heart is the ruler, and the jing and the qi are the citizens. If the heart does not abuse its superior position, if it remains centered and focused on the essential matters, the jing will flourish and the qi will be steady, noxious intruders will always be fought off, the dantian will be full with treasures, and every part of the body landscape will be light and at peace.

Spleen: If we regulate our daily lives by adjusting them to the prevailing energy of the seasons, if we avoid exposure to extreme cold and extreme heat, if we eat and drink in regular intervals, if we protect our shen by avoiding states of extreme anger or extreme ecstasy, and if we strive for balance by living in moderation during all four seasons, there will be peace. Otherwise, the spleen and stomach will suffer harm, and our true qi will leak downward in trickles or currents, with the possibility of failing to rise again. This, then, would be like having autumn and winter but no spring and summer, and a situation would arise in which the functions of birth and growth are muffled by the qi of death and extinction.

Lung: The lung is the lid of the five organ networks. It produces the voice, and it provides proper moisturization to the skin. As soon as there is either internal damage due to the seven harmful emotions, or external injury due to the six climatic influences, the rhythmical process of inhaling and exhaling and the general qi flow between the body's inside and outside are disturbed; the lung metal then loses its clear quality. If we want to restore purity in the metal, we must first strive to regulate the breath. Once the breath is regulated, erratic movement will not occur and the heart fire will calm down all by itself.

Kidney: Everything between heaven and earth that is made from qi and blood has the urge to mate. Once fire and water separate and desire finds a match, the essence leaves the source, and what creates the body will turn into what kills the body. If you are a student of the Book of Change (Yijing) and align your desires by fooling around with the lofty hexagram 41 [Sacrifice, Decrease], then this is like being worried about floods at one moment and about water leakage the next-you 'sacrifice' again and again, thus using yourself up until there is nothing left to spare. Therefore, if you want to protect your source of longevity, there is no better way than to guard yourself against sexual desires.

Internal energetic disharmony can cause unbalanced emotions:  "Excessive joy is associated with slow and scattered Qi; excessive anger induces the Qi to ascend; excessive sadness and grief, weakens Qi; pensiveness generates knottedness or stuckness; excessive fear induces chaotic Qi. The seven emotions are thought to correlate with the five Yin organs: joy with heart, anger with the liver, sadness and grief with the lungs, pensiveness and over thinking with the spleen, and fear or fright with the kidneys." The two organs considered most susceptible to emotional disturbance are the heart and the liver. A major function of the heart is to store the Shen (spirit).  Disharmonious emotions can lead easily to disturbances of the Shen, resulting in insomnia or muddled thinking, inappropriate crying or laughing, and in extreme cases, fits, hysteria and insanity. The liver harmonizes the emotions through its sprinkling-of-Qi function. Thus, 'liver Qi' going in the wrong direction can be a result of excessive anger or the source of it. Disharmonies of liver Qi and anger accompany one another. Stagnation of liver Qi may be associated with any emotional frustration, or with inappropriate and extreme mood changes."