05 The Herbal Medicine Approaches
The heart governs the mind, so these diseases are usually caused by problems with the heart subsystem. While the upper body is mostly hot, this disease is related to the kidneys and is not necessarily caused by fire, but by coldness and dampness.
From the perspective of the Yuanqi Circle as postulated by Huang Yuanqu:
The spleen and stomach transport the vital yuanqi and send it to the liver first. Simultaneously, the vital yuanqi stored in the kidneys rises to the liver and mixes with it. Then it travels from the liver to the heart. In a healthy person, the vital yuanqi descends to the lungs through the heart and then goes to the kidneys, completing a cycle.
Memory loss indicates that the heart-yuanqi is insufficient, meaning the vital yuanqi is not enough to reach the heart. Normally, the liver-yuanqi rises to nourish the mind, but in this case, the heart fire is not strong enough because the liver yuanqi cannot rise, and the supply of yuanqi is insufficient for the heart. This boils down to a liver problem.
01 The Liver Problems
There are two reasons for the liver-yuanqi failing to rise to the heart:
The liver is weak, and the yuanqi itself is insufficient.
There is a blockage somewhere between the liver and the heart, so the vital yuanqi cannot pass through.
How do we determine which situation it is?
We look at the eyes. If the eyes are cloudy and there are diseases such as cataracts and glaucoma, it means that the liver is blocked. If the eyes are still clear, even if they are not as bright as those of young people, as long as there is no turbidity, it is due to liver-deficiency.
Liver-yuanqi comes from the spleen-stomach and kidneys, so it is essential to strengthen the spleen-stomach and kidneys. When the vital yuanqi is sufficient, the blocked places will naturally be unblocked. The kidneys are characterized by water, and it needs to be heated for the yuanqi to rise, so that the kidney-yuanqi can become liver-yuanqi.
02 Imbalance of Water and Fire
Patients with memory loss and Alzheimer’s disease have problems with their mental state due to insufficient heart-yuanqi, which arises from insufficient liver-yuanqi, which in turn arises from insufficient kidney-yuanqi. Insufficient heart-yuanqi and insufficient descending vital yuanqi will affect lung-yuanqi, and insufficient lung-yuanqi will affect kidney-yuanqi, forming a vicious cycle.
Traditional herbal medicine calls this “the imbalance of water and fire,” and the vital yuanqi circle cannot function normally. Therefore, the first step is to strengthen the spleen and nourish the stomach.
According to The Theory of Vital Yuanqi Circle by Huang Yuanyu, we compare the wheel to the Yuanqi Circle, and the hub of the wheel is the spleen-stomach. The spleen is the axle of the wheel. Only when it is healthy can the wheel be driven by the axle. The spleen is in the circle of vital yuanqi, and it controls both the rise and the fall, acting as a hub.
When the spleen and stomach are well regulated, the rising vital yuanqi will be available, ensuring that the liver-yuanqi, heart-yuanqi, lung-yuanqi, and kidney-yuanqi are all sufficient. This can further ensure the normal operation of the circle of vital yuanqi and the health of the human body.
The question then is, how do we ensure sufficient liver-yuanqi and that the conduit is not blocked?
06 The Traditional Herbal Solutions
In order to prevent memory loss and Alzheimer’s disease, we should
01 Revitalize the Spleen-Stomach Subsystem
If Alzheimer’s disease is not serious and only involves memory loss, we need to revitalize the spleen-stomach with wu-xing-jian-pi-san as mentioned before. This builds the foundation for a healthy body.
02 Use Private Prescription for the Heart Subsystem
If we also suffer from insomnia related to the heart subsystem, we may use the private prescription of:
- zhi-huang-jing 制黄精
- chao suan ren 炒酸仁
- longyan rou 龙眼肉
- zhizi 栀子
03 Rubbing the Ears
Another daily routine is to rub our ears. There are numerous acupuncture points on the ears. We can press our hands on the ears, cover them all, and rub vigorously up and down and forward and backward. This action is useful for memory loss, brain power decline, and hearing loss. Rubbing back and forth with our fingers is also very effective. This technique helps unblock the related meridians.
04 Tapping the Liver Meridian with a Tapping Stick
We may use a tapping stick to tap the liver meridians on our body. The liver-meridian starts from the foot, goes from the inside of the thigh upwards, makes a turn at the groin to the side of the body, and goes upwards towards the Qimen Acupoint under the head.
As long as the general direction of the tapping is correct, finding the exact acupoints is not necessary. We can use the tapping stick to tap all over our body while watching television, which is beneficial to the body.
07 Brief Summary
As practitioners of life cultivation, to prevent memory loss, you should:
Revitalize your spleen-stomach subsystem.
Revitalize your kidney subsystem.
Use the private prescription of four herbs if you have insomnia.
Use a tapping stick to frequently tap on the liver meridians, especially while watching television or being inactive.
Rub and knead your ears frequently every day.
Remember, herbal medicine does not only rely on drugs to regulate the body. Rubbing the ears and tapping with a stick are also means of regulating diseases in herbal medicine.
08 What is Up
In the next episode, we will learn more about the liver meridians and how to activate related meridians to revitalize our health.
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Part two of two.