Chapter Sixteen: The Method of Emotional Control: The Unique Wisdom of Health Preservation by Overcoming Emotions

IV. Emotional Control Method

The method of emotional regulation is a way of regulating emotions by "using emotions to overcome emotions". Specifically, there are two methods: the method of emotional regulation of the five internal organs and the method of emotional regulation of yin and yang.

(I) The Five Internal Organs Emotional Regulation Method

The Five Organs Emotional Regulation Method is a method of regulating emotions and restoring the balance of Qi and blood in the internal organs by utilizing the mutual regulation relationship between the five elements of the five organs to which emotions belong.

The "Suwen·Yin Yang Ying Xiang Da Lun" states: "Anger injures the liver, grief overcomes anger... joy injures the heart, fear overcomes joy... worry injures the spleen, anger overcomes worry... grief injures the lungs, joy overcomes grief... fear injures the kidneys, worry overcomes fear."

This is a unique method of regulating emotions, namely "using emotions to overcome emotions," established by traditional Chinese medicine based on the dialectical relationship between mental factors and the internal organs, emotions, and physiological and pathological interactions, and on the principle of "using one's own bias to correct another's bias."

As Wu Kun of the Ming Dynasty said in his "Medical Prescriptions Examination": "Excessive emotions cannot be cured by medicine. The way to overcome them is to follow the natural course of emotions. The "Inner Canon of Medicine" has been followed by generations of people. It is an invisible medicine."

Zhang Zihe of the Jin Dynasty pointed out in more detail in his book "Confucian Family Matters": "Use grief to control anger, and move it with words of sorrow and bitterness; use joy to control grief, and amuse it with words of joking and playfulness; use fear to control joy, and frighten it with words of fear of death; use anger to control thought, and provoke it with words of insult and deception; use thought to control fear, and subdue it with words of concern for others and forgetting oneself."

The above methods may involve making them laugh, provoking them to anger, inducing them to cry, or instilling fear, thus guiding them according to their natural state, allowing them to vent their pent-up emotions, express their feelings, and harmonize their qi, blood, and internal organs.

The theory that emotions can both cause and cure diseases has special significance in the cultivation of mental and emotional health.

When using the "overcoming emotion with emotion" method, it is important to ensure that the total intensity of the emotional stimulus exceeds or surpasses the pathogenic emotional factor. This can be achieved by using a sudden, strong stimulus or a continuous, intensifying stimulus. In any case, the latter should appropriately exceed the former; otherwise, it will be difficult to achieve the intended purpose of "overcoming emotion with emotion."

(II) The Yin-Yang Emotional Restraint Method

The Yin-Yang Emotional Restraint Method is a method of regulating emotions and restoring the balance of Qi and blood in the internal organs by utilizing the opposing and restraining relationship between the Yin and Yang attributes of emotions.

Human emotional activities are quite complex, often involving a variety of emotions that are intertwined, and sometimes it is difficult to clearly distinguish which of the five internal organs governs them and which of the five elements they belong to.

However, emotional activities can often be distinguished using the Yin-Yang attribute.

The Suwen (Plain Questions) chapter "On Governing the General Principles" states: "Anger causes qi to rise, joy causes qi to relax, grief causes qi to dissipate, fear causes qi to descend... fright causes qi to become disordered... and excessive thinking causes qi to stagnate."

The abnormal Qi mechanism caused by excessive emotions has a bipolar tendency.

According to the Yin-Yang classification, a person's various emotions and feelings can be paired, such as joy and sorrow, joy and anger, anger and fear, surprise and thought, anger and thought, happiness and worry, joy and hate, love and hate, etc.

At the same time, emotions of opposite nature have exactly opposite effects on the body's yin and yang, qi and blood.

Therefore, opposing emotions can regulate and control each other, so as to restore the balance of Yin and Yang and the normal function of the internal organs and blood.

Joy can overcome sorrow, and sorrow can overcome joy; joy can overcome fear, and fear can overcome joy; anger can overcome fear, and fear can overcome anger; and so on.

In summary, stimulation methods that induce targeted emotional changes should be adopted. By altering the emotional state in the opposite way, the body's Qi mechanism can be adjusted, thereby regulating emotions.

The "emotional restraint method" is actually a method for adjusting the overall Qi mechanism. As long as we understand the characteristics of the influence of emotions on the operation of Qi, we can adopt the corresponding methods. We must not mechanically and rigidly copy it in a one-size-fits-all manner.

If one simply adheres to the principles of mutual generation and restraint of the five elements and abuses the method of emotional control, it may create new adverse stimuli.

Therefore, only by grasping its essence and applying the methods properly can it truly play a role in regulating emotions and maintaining mental well-being.

(Dong Huxing)

Dietary therapy and medicinal cuisine

Dietary therapy and medicinal cuisine is a health preservation method that, under the guidance of traditional Chinese medicine and its health preservation theories and principles, involves rationally consuming food and combining food with medicine to create special diets with health-preserving effects, thereby maintaining health and prolonging life.

Dietary and medicinal diet therapy includes both dietary and medicinal diet therapy.

Dietary health

Diet is the source of nutrients for the body, an indispensable condition for maintaining human growth and development, performing various physiological functions, and ensuring life.

Dietary health preservation is a method of maintaining health by taking advantage of the properties of food and consuming it rationally, in accordance with the theories and principles of traditional Chinese medicine and its health preservation practices, in order to strengthen the body, prevent diseases, improve health, and prolong life.

The main role of diet and nutrition

Diet and nutrition are very important to the human body, and they play a major role in health preservation in three aspects:

1. Nourishing the body and maintaining life: Food is transformed into essential nutrients such as essence, qi, and blood through the function of the spleen and stomach.

When the body receives proper nutrition, the internal organs can maintain normal physiological functions, and the human body can maintain normal life activities.

2. Strengthen the body and prevent diseases. A reasonable diet provides the body with sufficient nutrition, which can ensure sufficient essence, qi and blood, vigorous organ function, and thus a strong body.

This strengthens the body's ability to resist pathogenic factors, effectively preventing disease.

3. Anti-aging and longevity: Essence is generated at birth and nourished by postnatal factors. Essence is stored in the kidneys and nourishes the internal organs. When essence is sufficient, kidney qi is abundant. When kidney essence is abundant, the body is healthy and the spirit is vigorous.

Nourishing the kidneys and replenishing essence is key to anti-aging and longevity.

Consciously choosing foods that replenish essence and qi, nourish the kidneys and strengthen the body during meals can have anti-aging and longevity-promoting effects.

Since nutrition is essential for human physiological functions and life activities, and improper diet can damage the spleen and stomach, it not only easily leads to spleen and stomach diseases and gastrointestinal disorders, but also often causes insufficient vital energy and weakened constitution, thus affecting health and shortening lifespan. Therefore, dietary health preservation is an important part of traditional Chinese medicine's health preservation, specifically including the following three aspects: