08/01/2025
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/16iJwvE38f/?mibextid=wwXIfr
In Western medicine, the body is often treated like a machine: if something breaks down, you repair or replace the part. But Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) takes a more integrative view. It sees the body as an ecosystem where physical, emotional, and spiritual health are deeply intertwined. One of the most profound insights of TCM is that unexpressed or chronic emotions can directly impact the health of our internal organs.
In this framework, each primary organ is associated not only with physiological functions but also with specific emotions:
• Liver → Anger
• Lungs → Grief
• Heart → Joy (or the absence of it)
• Spleen → Worry or Overthinking
• Kidneys → Fear
The liver is responsible for the smooth flow of Qi (energy) throughout the body. When anger is repressed or chronically activated—especially when unexpressed—it causes the liver’s energy to stagnate. This can lead to irritability, headaches, menstrual irregularities, and digestive disorders. In TCM, a “stuck liver” often shows up as both emotional tension and physical discomfort.
The lungs govern breath and are considered the interface between the inner and outer world. Grief—especially when prolonged or unacknowledged—can literally take the breath away. Lung Qi becomes weak or stuck, often manifesting as shortness of breath, chronic coughing, immune weakness, or tightness in the chest. Emotional closure leads to physical contraction.
The heart is the seat of shen—spirit or consciousness. In balance, it radiates joy, clarity, and connection. But when joy is deficient (due to trauma, depression, or emotional numbing), or when it is excessive and unregulated (as in mania), the heart can be disturbed. Insomnia, palpitations, anxiety, or emotional instability are signs of a heart-spirit imbalance.
In TCM, the spleen is central to digestion—not just of food, but of thoughts. Chronic worry, overthinking, and rumination impair the spleen’s ability to transform and transport nutrients. This often results in fatigue, bloating, poor appetite, and mental fog. The mind and gut mirror each other.
The kidneys are the root of life—they store jing, or essence. They are deeply affected by fear, especially existential fear or long-term anxiety. When kidney energy is depleted, it can manifest as lower back pain, frequent urination, adrenal fatigue, hearing issues, or premature aging. Fear drains the body of its foundational energy.
Modern neuroscience is beginning to affirm what TCM has known for centuries: our emotions are not just psychological—they are embodied. Chronic stress and unprocessed emotions impact immune function, hormonal balance, inflammation, and even gene expression.
From a TCM perspective, emotional regulation is not just a mental health strategy—it’s a medical intervention.
Acupuncture can release stuck emotions by regulating organ meridians.
Qi Gong and Tai Chi help circulate emotional energy through gentle movement.
Herbal formulas can calm the spirit, nourish the blood, or drain heat caused by emotional excess.
Food therapy aligns nourishment with the emotional needs of the body.
Meditation and breathwork cultivate internal stillness, giving space for emotion to arise and move.
Healing in TCM is not about erasing emotion but learning to feel fully and move wisely. Anger is not a flaw—it’s a message that a boundary has been crossed. Grief is not weakness—it is the heart’s way of remembering what mattered. Fear, worry, and joy—all have their rightful place.
But when emotions are denied, suppressed, or held for too long, they sink deeper into the body. The result? The organs begin to weep the tears the eyes refuse to shed.
The body is not merely a passive recipient of our emotions—it expresses them, stores them, and sometimes even suffers because of them.
To care for our organs, we must also care for our emotional lives:
Allow grief to rise.
Let anger move and then transform.
Soothe worry with stillness.
Ground fear with breath.
And above all, seek joy—not as a fleeting feeling, but as a way of being.
