Points of Connection - The Path to a Harmonious Heart
As we enter the last half of the Fire Element season (roughly June 21 – September 21 in the northern hemisphere) it feels appropriate to talk a little more about the Fire element and especially about the Heart. The Heart meridian and the Heart Protector meridian are two of the energy lines in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) associated with Fire – the element of warmth, connection, and joy.
I am inspired to share a little more about the Heart this month largely because of an article shared by one of this year’s Energy Medicine Retreat participants, Connie Ng. Connie writes about the five elements and how imbalances (emotionally, mentally or physically) point to an interconnectedness that we normally do not see or comprehend. These connections can actually give us a faster route to healing a condition. In the article, for example, she focuses on Lungs and skin problems. But Connie also addresses the long-held understanding that the Heart is the monarch or the ‘sovereign ruler’ of the entire Body/Mind and that a calm and undisturbed heart-mind is essential for health. “Conversely,” she writes, “a heart burdened by fear, grief, or lingering sorrow becomes fertile ground for dysfunction and disease.”
From a purely physical perspective, the heart is a pump which circulates oxygen and nutrients to every cell in the physical body. If and when it stops, the whole body shuts down. So, the Heart is kind of ‘central command’ for the entire Body/Mind in both Western and Chinese medicine.
But TCM also sees the heart as possessing more subtle attributes like:
• The monarch who excels through insight and understanding
• I/Thou - relationships with others with self and with spirit
• Namasté – I honour that place in you where we are both the same
• Exuberance, Passion, Love, Laughter, Joy, Enthusiasm, Inspiration
• Consciousness
• Communion, Community
You can see how this understanding of the heart connects so strongly to the Fire element, with its qualities of connection, vitality, and transformation. The perfect match for the full vibrant energy of the summer season.
I remember reading a biographical book called Travels by Michael Crichton, famed author of Jurassic Park and the hit medical drama ER. From a young boy, Michael had always wanted to be a writer, but his father kept encouraging him - and maybe pushing him - to become a doctor. So he goes to Harvard Medical school, and on his Cardiology rotation he decides to ask his patients how they got their heart attack. One of them replies – ‘I got this huge promotion, but it meant moving to another city and my wife did not want to move and threatened to leave me if I took the job.’ Another replied – ‘I always imagined myself as a grandmother, but then our son told me he was never going to have children. It broke my heart.’
Every patient had a story of hurt, disappointment, betrayal or grief – an ‘attack’ on the heart every bit as impactful as a physical injury. And perhaps it was this Cardiac rotation where Michael asked his patients what they knew about their ‘heart attacks’ which prompted him to abandon medicine as a career and become the writer he had always wanted to be.
I sometimes listen to my patients saying things like, ‘This relationship is killing me.’ And I usually respond by saying – ‘Did you hear what you just said?’ I say these words not in a critical or judgmental way. There is no judgement in the treatment room. Just a gentle invitation to self-awareness and a possible call to action. Action which each of us can only take for ourselves on our own journeys.
So here the invitation is to reflect on the ways that you can support and take care of your heart – in all its manifestations – so that it can continue to take care of you. And please enjoy Connie Ng’s article about the Five Elements. Not only will it help you understand why we have chosen TCM as the lens through which we research and understand Pacific Essences, but it will deepen your own understanding of what is going on in your own Body/Mind.