Grappling with Spirit in Chinese medicine

There are a few concepts in Chinese medicine that always inspire animated discussion. One of those topics, often the subject of debate and confusion, is that of spirit. I deliberately use the English word here simply because it is the presence of so many different concepts (Shen, Ling, Hun, Po, etc) that relate to the English word spirit. In fact, that creates part of the mystery and interest at least among English speakers.

For my part, Ive gone through various phases in my quest to learn about spirit in the context of Chinese medicine. Ive sometimes avoided the thing entirely, opting instead to focus on simpler ideas. To be frank, it has seemed to me that people focus a little too much on spirit, and not enough on other things! Sometimes, Ive jumped in all the way and waded through the stream of information, talking to many people and reading many texts to clarify my own thinking. Still other times, Ive taken a more personal and internal approach to grappling with spirit and how it relates to my clinical practice of Chinese medicine.

All of these approaches have merit, but I think that the most powerful phase has always included working with spirit from as many different angles as possible. Talking to my teachers, my peers, my students, my patients. Reading classical texts in Chinese medicine, other ancient and sacred manuscripts and modern treatments of the subject from authors from all corners of the world. It is in doing this that I have made the biggest strides in my comprehension of spirit. Maybe this tells us something about the nature of spirit itself it is global, it is all-pervasive and it is socially mediated.

One person who has taught me quite a bit, often without meaning to, about spirit in Chinese medicine is Dr. Liu Lihong most well known! for his popular Chinese treatise concerning a renewal of focus on the classics. I am fortunate in my geographic location, as he is a semi-frequent visitor to the Portland area. In his presence, in his deep scholarship, in his simple and powerful herbal practice and in many of his teachings, I have learned more about spirit than in all of the other sources combined.

Because of all of this, I decided to bring together several different viewpoints about spirit in Chinese medicine, including one view from Dr. Liu Lihong, in a form easily shared with you. Over the next 10 days, Ill talk a little more about this topic and the offering weve put together. In fact, in just a couple of days, Ill be very excited to share a synopsis of what I learned from Dr. Liu, as well as telling you a little more about the offer Im talking about and how you can get involved.

In the meantime, I was hoping you might help me out by answering a question in the comments below this post. How have you understood spirit within the context of Chinese medicine and how has that understanding grown or changed over the years? Do you find that spirit has a lot of relevance for Chinese medicine, or only a little? Please, share your thoughts in the comments and help us come together to learn.

Grappling with Spirit in Chinese medicine