Koutei Daikei, the most ancient Chinese medical text, mentions something interesting on the relationship between the “Seven Emotions” and the movement of the “Ki.” The seven emotions mean the seven emotional states of joy, anger, distress, thought, grief, fear and surprise. All of them exist in each one of us and under normal conditions none develops into anything troublesome. However, if an unexpected shocking event should occur, or one’s worry should last for an excessively long time beyond his/her natural biological power of control, unwelcome physical problems might follow. Especially those who are not able to handle these problems properly, the situation may deteriorate and end up with serious physical symptoms.
The Movement of the “Ki”:
As long as the “Ki” flows evenly through the body, one feels well and fine. But once this flow is disrupted and the seven emotions lose balance the “Ki” gets lopsided and causes
disorder in the bodily functions. Excessive anger makes the “Ki” rise high as shown by the bristling hair of a cat mentioned in Part I. There is a literal phrase in Japanese to describe the symptom: “Gyakujou” meaning the “Ki” rising to the head. Since anger is related with tension, being excessively busy and tight may lead to anger. Excessive fear makes the “Ki” fall and settle lopsidedly at the bottom. Frightened at an earthquake, for instance, one may lose the ability to keep standing, as the “Ki” has left one’s system. Excessive astonishment makes the “Ki” lose its order. We say in Japanese in such a case that the “Ki” is “tumbling.” Excessive grief makes the “Ki” disappear, as we say in Japanese “My grief is so great that I have lost the will to live (lost the “Ki”). Thus grief reduces our power of resistance and render us susceptible to colds. Excess of thought makes the “Ki” get hard or stiff, settling around the abdomen. In Japanese we describe it by saying the “Ki” is closed off due to excessive thought (Ki ga fusagu). Worrying too much makes the “Ki” shrink up, as we say “Ki wo momu” in Japanese.
Excessive Anger Makes the “Ki” rise:
Here, I will give some clinical instances of these emotional symptoms giving rise to physical problems based on my own experiences of treating many clients.
Not long ago, I went to see one of my patients who had had a slipped disk and was not able to walk. Her husband was helping her use the bathroom, but it took as long as two hours both ways. Her trouble was triggered when she had tried to lift a large desk. But how did it happen? I wondered why it had developed into such a serious case. Asking the patient about her personal lifestyle prior to the unfortunate happening, I came to know that she had been leading an extremely busy life and had to cope with lots of irritating problems. In other words, she had been in an incorrigible state of anger for some time. In fact, this patient had weakness in the kidneys (there is a close relationship between the kidneys and the waist) and had had chronic pain in the back for a long time. Moreover, the chilly northwest wind of June kept her feet very cold. An overall description of her condition can be that her “anger” raised the “Ki” higher and her cold feet pushed the heat upward, thus disrupting the balance of the distribution of the “Ki” in her system. As a consequence, her waist was in a very vulnerable condition and the pain was triggered by an outside impact.
Not a few patients who come to me complaining of pain in the waist mention excessive “anger” and “tension” in their recent past. To put it simply, this process fits into an equation in which the pain in the back equals extreme anger/tension plus weak kidneys/waist.
The treatment of this patient was aimed at lowering her “Ki” and warming up the lower part of her system. Just one session improved her condition and she became able to travel to the bathroom all by herself taking only 15 minutes .
In Japanese, there are numerable phrases that carry the word “Ki.” This word is written in kanji or Chinese character “気.” Let me give a few examples: “Genki” meaning good health, “Byouki” meaning sickness, “Kiraku” meaning being relaxed, “Kibun” meaning the mood, “Ki ga mijikai” meaning short-tempered, “Kiga nagai” meaning patient, “Yuuki” meaning courage, “Ki ga meiru” meaning depressed, “Ki ga hareru” meaning
refreshed, “Tsuyoki” meaning confidence, “Yowaki” meaning lacking in courage, “Yaruki” meaning enthusiasm, “Uchiki” meaning diffident, “Konki” meaning perseverance, and so forth. As you can see, all these expressions are related to the state of one’s mind and spirit. In Oriental medicine, this word “Ki” carries great significance and is used as a matter of course every day.
The “Ki” Refers to the State of the Mind:
Byouki, which means sickness, carries the Ki in it but it does not mean a problem only of the mind. Oriental medicine attaches much importance to the relationship between the state of the mind resulting from the character and lifestyle of a person and his/her physical problems. Thus, in Oriental medicine the two cannot be considered separately, detached from each other. For instance, a spiritual shock often causes an ulcer in the stomach; an unpleasant happening may cause diarrhea; tension may cause coughing, as proven by different people in different cases.
As I interview my patients, these things clearly come to light in each case. Not a few people are suffering from such psychological problems as protracted stress, a sudden occurrence of a shocking event, exhausting work schedule, or stress-caused overeating, giving rise to various physical problems.
What Is “Ki”? Does It Really Exist? Can It Be Seen?
It is an intangible entity. The interactive principles of yin and yang put it in the yang category, which means it is something light in weight and is likely to “rise high,” as the case may be, when some abnormality occurs. Feeling cold in the feet, or feeling hot in the head means that the cold falls down and heat goes up in the body together with the “Ki” under abnormal circumstances. To give some familiar example, an angry cat’s back rises mountain-shaped with bristling hair. The “Ki” of the cat is up, as described in Japanese. The point of the body, which is called “Hyakue” in oriental medicine, is on the top of the head of a human, but its comparable point in a quadruped animal exists in the middle of its back. Unlike in the case of a cat, the anger in a human is not so apparent in “bristling hair,” but a close look may detect some baby hairs actually bristling. Also, we see people whose eyes undergo conspicuous changes of expression in anger such as turning up or getting bloodshot, or people who complain of smarting or itchiness in the scalp. These symptoms prove that the “Ki” has risen to the head together with the heat.
As I say, the “Ki” really exists as a motivating factor behind all our conduct and emotions. In our daily lives, we make rough observations of ourselves or others psychologically and use such expressions as “one is tensed up, depressed, or relaxed, etc.” All these expressions, as it happens, carry the kanji “Ki” in them in Japanese as I said at the beginning of this column. Oriental medicine bases its diagnosis and treatment on the observation of our body surface in terms of the presence, absence or lopsidedness of the “Ki” in our body. More to follow in Part II.
