SHEN and the Three Treasures         

 Well, if you have been keeping up with my newsletters this year, you will recall that I have been focused on the concept of LONGEVITY in general and the THREE TREASURES of Chinese Medicine, QI, JING, and SHEN in particular. The terms QI, JING, and SHEN translate (roughly) as energy, vital essence, and spirit. If you missed the profiles of QI and JING, or wish to be reminded, I can refer you to March and April's newsletters in my archives and/or to this video from the herbalist Roger Drummer, who sums up the Three Treasures very nicely.

This month I am featuring SHEN or spirit.

Classical Chinese tradition asserts that it is through our SHEN that we radiate ourselves into the world. This "spiritual radiance" is our conscious self, and when healthy and whole manifests as our wisdom, emotional well being, and ability to see all sides of an issue.

And though immaterial in a spiritual sense, in a more clinical context, SHEN is considered a "fundamental substance," and its manifestation and clarity in our experience both influence and is influenced by all other factors which affect our health. Here it represents all aspects of our consciousness, mental life, and emotions.

As we all know, our emotions and mental life can be healthy and balanced, or they can be out of balance and even manifest pathology.

Chinese Medicine sees body, mind, and spirit as a simultaneous manifestation. Certainly, intense or prolonged emotions and extreme levels of stress can impact our organs and other body functions. Likewise, imbalances in the organs and in our physiology can also affect our SHEN, creating out of balance emotions and mental states, and influencing our behavior and sleep patterns as well. This often creates a reciprocal feed back loop that is sometimes tricky to break.

 Two of the core assumptions of the classical Chinese world view, however, and certainly of its medicine, are "QI follows thought" and "SHEN is primary."  This means that our thoughts and emotions as cause ultimately take priority over more physical influences, and that proper and positive thinking and expectation, and a calm and peaceful demeanor go far to benefit our health overall.

In the clinic, a practitioner initially reads a person's SHEN through the brightness of the eyes, shine of the complexion,  patterns of speech, and tendencies of behavior.

Issues with SHEN/spirit range of course from everyday stresses and emotional effects from the wear and tear of life, to mental issues such as attention deficit and obsessive compulsive disorders, and to the more serious issues of clinical levels of depression or anxiety, and full blown mental illness. Chinese Medicine can be a great therapy by itself for the less serious of these, and an effective complement for the more serious of these disorders.

If you would like to read more about how Chinese Medicine, (and Chinese herbal medicine in particular) sees and can be helpful for these issues, this article will give you a great deal of information.

There is nothing like a good night's sleep! It is our greatest rest during the day and time for rejuvenation of body and mind. This is when our body functions slow down, and according to Chinese medical theory, whatever surplus QI we have accumulated during the day (through healthy diet, meditation/breathing/tai qi practice, positive thoughts, and appropriate amount and quality of activity) has the opportunity to be transformed into JING essence. (And after my last few newsletters I expect you should be familiar with these principles by now!)

So, when we have difficulty sleeping, not only are we likely robbed of energy the next day, but it can also, over time, deplete us to the point where our health and well being become deficient and vulnerable.

Since human beings have been sleeping as long as they have been around, insomnia and other sleep difficulties have likely been around as long as well.

So, you will not be surprised that Chinese medicine has been successfully treating insomnia for as long as IT has been around (which is at least a two or three or four thousand years which is a good track record if you asked me).  It is a great alternative to sleeping pills, as contrary to a pill which just covers up a symptom and often creates dependency, Chinese Medicine seeks to understand and treat the root causes of insomnia, so that ultimately one can get a healthy nights sleep on their own.

Chinese Medicine identifies various reasons for different patterns of sleep disturbance. These often include aspects of our SHEN which are out of balance.

For more detailed info, here is one of those articles I usually recommend for more information.