February is Heart Health Month
Because February is Heart Health Month (and has that special day honoring love), I wanted to share some information about the heart from a Chinese Medicine perspective.
The word for heart is written as: 心 “Xīn” (pronounced “hsin”), and is the center of intelligence and consciousness. The brain just executes the will of the heart!
Each organ has a specific emotion associated with it, and the heart’s emotion is Joy.
In the clinic, I combine different methods of diagnosis to determine heart-health and develop a more accurate picture of your health:
♡ Tongue Diagnosis: The tongue has anatomical landmarks I use:
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- For example, dark distended veins on the underside may indicate a heart weakness.
- But before you look at your tongue and worry, note that I use specific characteristics along with other indicators to gauge the likelihood of heart issues.
♡ Pulse Diagnosis: The pulse for the heart organ is located on the left wrist. I look at:
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- rate (slow = weak yang, fast = heat)
- strength (weak, or forceful?)
- depth of the pulse (just below the skin, or do I have to push deep to feel it?),
- shape and tension in the vessel (thin, tight, wiry, etc.)
For example:
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- Heat in the heart is forceful pulse (showing up as agitation and insomnia).
- Cold in the heart is a tight-constricted pulse (showing as chest tightness or pain).
♡ Auricular Diagnosis: There is a point on the ear which represents the heart, and if this point is discolored (eg: a brown spot, a capillary, or redness, etc.) there may be an possible issue with the heart.
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- Some studies point to the ear lob crease as a sign of potential heart disease.
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Healthy Heart: Some ways to keep our heart healthy includes:
♡ Exercise: Keep moving!
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- Regular exercise – running, yoga, Tai Chi … it doesn’t matter. Get your heart working and your blood circulating.
- Or make movement fun with silly walking (for you Monty Python fans).
♡ Diet: Avoid foods which can damage the cardiovascular system and reach for foods that nourish the body.
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- Eat colorful vegetables, healthy fats and pastured animal products. Avoid processed foods and sugar.
- TCM Food Energetics: You can nourish your blood with: beets, cherries, berries, dark leafy greens (chlorophyll rich foods), as well as red-meat (beef, lamb), and liver.
♡ Mindfulness: It is indeed possible to prevent stressors in your life from affecting you.
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- Here are are a few heart-centered meditations I like:
- Heart Coherence (15 min)
- Feeling and Offering Love (13 min)
- Find a mindfulness practice, breathwork, or meditation that works for you.
- As I’ve written before, meditation changes your brain so you no longer see things or react to things the way you once used to.
- Here are are a few heart-centered meditations I like:
