Watch them one after the other.

The Kidney system is like the pilot light of the body for our internal furnace.  The pilot light is not what keeps you warm on a cold day, but rather the heat that is created from that little flickering flame.  The flickering flame here is the Kidney while the fire that arises from it to keep you warm is the Spleen.  We rely on the energy from the Spleen to supply that get up and go energy for our everyday existence.  However, it is the energy from the Kidney, which is our deep reservoir of energy that we can tap into when all else fails.  Kidney energy is not the energy we want to be tapping into everyday in order to survive.  If we do that, sooner or later, our reservoir will run dry and we will find our state of health in deep waters. 

Naturopathic doctors use the term adrenal fatigue or chronic fatigue to describe this state of emergency when the Kidney energy reserves become depleted and the pilot light goes out.  It can take years to recover from this deep exhaustion and to re-light the pilot. 

The Kidney system also rules the temperature of the body.  The Kidney has two complementary thermostats: one warm and one cool.  When there is balance between warm and cool, there is good health.  Those who have a weak warm thermostat may experience symptoms like low back pain, weak knees, low libido, always feeling cold, weight loss, or fatigue.  Those who have a weak cool thermostat may experience hot flashes, night sweats, or dryness.  These are all signs that you have overworked and need deep nourishment and rest.  (Interestingly, most of these signs correspond with thyroid issues and, indeed, there may be a connection between the Kidney system in Chinese medicine and the thyroid in western medicine.)

Here are some ways to nourish the Kidney system:

1.  Rest, rest, rest.  Try to take time during the afternoon to take a nap or otherwise lay down.

2. Get more restorative sleep.

3. If you are too cold, stay warm by using a hot water bottle when you go to bed and take Chinese herbs to warm you up.  If you are too warm, take Chinese herbs to cool you down.  (Chinese herbs should be prescribed from a board certified Chinese herbalist only.)

4. Don’t over-do.  Most people need to work, but set limits for yourself.  Working 12 hours day after day will deplete your reserves.

5. Ask for support if your life is too full.

Many things can impede the flow of Qi and Blood.  Stress is probably the most common in our society.  When we become stressed, our body tenses up.  Maybe our chest tightens or our stomach ties into a knot or our shoulders start to lift up to our ears or our breathing becomes shallow or we overeat or hold our emotions in.  All of these things stop the natural flow of Blood and Qi. Some of the possible effects of these stress reactions I listed above may include: heart palpitations, indigestion, headaches, dizziness, obesity, road-rage.  Those are some serious consequences all stemming from a stagnation of Qi and Blood. 

The Liver also regulates the menstruation because of its important role in storing and circulating the Blood.  PMS symptoms are most often a signal that there is stagnation.  If you experience irritability, crying, headaches, or cramps, then you can be sure that the Liver is stagnant in some way. In a healthy state, the body has a natural inclination to expand.  When we are stressed out or experiencing PMS, the body begins to contract.

Reduce Stress by:

1. Deep breathing.  Either do it intuitively or find a Pranayama class (an ancient form of breath work originating from India)

2. Exercise vigorously.  Most people feel better after a good workout.

3. Sigh.  That’s right, inhale deeply and let out a sigh, it softens and relaxes the Liver.

4. Everyone’s favorite: have an orgasm.

From the western medical perspective, the spleen is part of the immune system.  It produces white blood cells and filters the blood the remove damaged or abnormal red blood cells.  It also stores red blood cells.  The spleen is, in fact, surgically removed when it ruptures.  Although spleen removal is not considered a life-threatening issue, it does weaken the immune system.  

From the Chinese medical perspective, the Spleen is considered one of the most important organs.  I can best explain the function of the Spleen with metaphors, so if you are a visual person, this can really make a lot of sense.  For the rest of you, hang in there and try to tap into your imagination. 

The Spleen and Stomach are the two primary organs of digestion.  The Stomach is like the sous-chef, accepting the food as it comes into the kitchen and chopping it , organizing it, and making it ready for the soup that the Spleen is responsible for cooking.  The Spleen is like a bubbling cauldron.  As it begins to cook the food sent over (metaphorically–speaking) by the Stomach, steam arises from that bubbling cauldron.  The steam is the Qi, or the fuel, that all the other organs in the body need in order to function properly. 

If you were making a soup and your pot was beginning to boil and steam was starting to rise, then you poured a pitcher of ice water into it, it would certainly halt the process of cooking.  It would halt the process of breaking down the food, and extracting the nutrients.  The steam would not arise and therefore the function of the rest of the organs would begin to decline.

This is what can happen when drinking ice cold drinks with meals or when eating cold foods like ice cream or frozen fruit smoothies.  Salads and raw vegetables, although they may not come straight out of a cold fridge, are considered cold in their energetic properties.  The digestive system works best when it is kept warm by food and drink.

We all want our organs to function optimally, right?  Well, there are a few things you can do to avoid this scenario of pouring ice water into a boiling soup.  Here they are:

1.  Drink room temperature or warm water with your meals or all the time.

2.  Eat soup!  It’s the perfect food, according to Chinese nutritional theory.  It is warm, cooked, has vegetables in it and is already in the most easily digestible form.

3.  Lightly steam your veggies (even the ones you put on top of a salad).  Steaming starts the break down of cellulose or plant structure.  It gives your digestive system a little head start.  If you have any weakness in your digestive system (and most of us do), it can be hard for the body to break down purely raw vegetables.  However, you don’t want to cook them so much that you lose all the nutrients.  Find the balance by steaming your veggies (and even fruits like apples and pears) for a few minutes.

4.  Decrease your raw fruit and veggie intake in the winter.  Increase your raw fruits and veggie intake in the summer.  If you are going to make a fruit smoothie, use un-frozen fruits or defrost them first.  Then add some fresh ginger since ginger is warming and will balance the cool properties of the fruit.

5.  Eat more frequent, but smaller and easier-to-digest meals.

6. Follow a daily routine in regards to eating, exercising, and sleeping.  The spleen loves consistency and will function more optimally with a regular routine.   Eating your meals at about the same time each day, exercising during the same time of day, and going to bed and waking up around the same time each day will also contribute to a healthy Spleen. 

The Spleen is the organ responsible for the creation of Qi, or your body’s vital energy.  If you want to increase your Qi and live a life full of vitality and energy, respect your Spleen by adopting some of the suggestions above.  They are easy and simple and will nourish you on many levels. 

Wind is the environmental factor that carries cold, heat, dryness, and dampness into the body.  The first place where environmental factors can enter the body is the back of the neck.  So, when you go out running on a cold windy day, you might experience a stiff neck afterward.  Similarly, if you sleep next to an open window on a cold damp night, you may awake with a painful neck.   The wind, carrying with it the cold, in these cases, enters the back of the neck and gets lodged in there. This may cause a stiff neck, or worse, a cold. 

When the pores of the skin are left open, invaders can enter.  When the pores of the skin close after those invaders have entered the body, they get caught between the skin and muscle layer, which causes muscle aches with fever and chills.  The battle between the environmental factor and the Lung’s influence on the skin manifests as temperature fluctuations on the surface of the body.  This means the Lung is doing its job as the protector of the immune system.  It is trying to kick out that invader from just under the surface of the skin to outside.  The Lung does this by opening the pores of the skin and promoting sweating.  When the pores open, the sweat carries the invaders out through the skin to be rid of them.  That’s why when you get sick with a cold, you begin to feel better after you break a sweat.  And that’s why Chinese medical practitioners prescribe herbs that promote sweating to cure a cold and shorten its cycle. 

Improve your immunity:

1. Take a warm shower and end it with a minute of cool water to close the pores of the skin before going out into the world.

2. Always wear a scarf to cover the back of your neck when outside in windy weather (even if the wind is hot like in the desert – heat can enter the body and cause problems just as cold can).

3. Cover the surface of your body when exercising in the winter or in the rain.  Even if you get warm while exercising, wear a thin layer of clothing to protect your skin from the weather.

4. For more ideas, read Elie’s article called Top 10 Ways to Stay Healthy During Flu Season.

According to Chinese medicine, there are five solid, or Yin, organs and six hollow, or Yang, organs.  The organs are not just the mass of cells that create the actual organs, but rather a whole system unto itself which controls many aspects of the body. 

For example, the organ system of the Lung[1] controls respiration, but it also controls the opening and closing of pores, so it is associated with the skin.  It is the organ that is primarily responsible for protecting the body against invaders and so it is associated with the immune system.  Every organ has its prominent emotion associated with it and the Lung’s emotion is grief. 

In this series, I explain, using visual metaphors, each of the five Yin organs and their main purpose.  With each article I give useful suggestions about how to strengthen that organ system so that you can have better health and vitality. 

The five articles include:

• The Heart and Sleep
• The Lung and Immunity
• The Spleen and Digestion
• The Liver and Stress
• The Kidney and Stamina