Rebellious Wei Qi?
Yesterday I was talking to a massage therapist here at work about the class I am teaching: Acupuncture Therapeutics: Immunology. It is an interesting challenge in that TCM does not recognize that there even is such a thing as an immune system. As with all things in Chinese medicine we talk about it in a totally different way.
In TCM it is the "Wei Qi," or what is also called the "Defensive Qi" that protects one from invading pathogens, or "Evil Pernicious Influences." If a person has certain deficiencies in their constitution they will not generate adequate Wei Qi. Then when they are exposed to a pathogen it can more easily enter into and overcome their natural defense system. The function of Wei Qi is to keep the pathogen from gaining a foothold as it attempts to invade.
As a corollary to this there is the concept of "Latent Heat/Lingering Pathogens" which is when a pathogen has entered in and for some reason was not expelled; either wrong treatment or incomplete treatment is usually the case. We tend to find that many allopathic treatments create Latent Heat/Lingering Pathogens. The problem then is that the pathogen tends to 'morph' into something unrecognizable from its original state. Think of a catepillar and a butterfly.
It is understood that if a pathogen is 'locked in' it will morph and one of the manifestation becomes "Heat." But "Heat" is a pathogen of its own right, so lingering heat is another way of saying lingering pathogens.
Anyway, back to my conversation.
I was saying that it is hard to talk about the immune system for these reasons, but to talk about an auto-immune disease creates a completely different set of concerns. If there is no immune system how can it turn back on itself and attack the body?
Sara, the massage therapist I was talking to said, "Would it be like Rebellious Wei Qi?"
When ever an acupuncturist is talking about qi that is not flowing in the right direction, say Stomach Qi that is flowing upwards (burping, hiccoughs, even vomiting) it is called rebellious qi.
I got to thinking about what she said and there is some validity in this. I need to consider it more. So after the end of my last lecture in the Immune class I dropped this on the students. I do have compassion for any of my students, I come off-the-wall with some of the strangest ideas. Actually the students had some good ideas and we refined this thinking a little more. It is something to consider, so over the next few months I am going to ponder it.
Till the next entry.
Which may be a while as I have several personal agendas to complete...
In TCM it is the "Wei Qi," or what is also called the "Defensive Qi" that protects one from invading pathogens, or "Evil Pernicious Influences." If a person has certain deficiencies in their constitution they will not generate adequate Wei Qi. Then when they are exposed to a pathogen it can more easily enter into and overcome their natural defense system. The function of Wei Qi is to keep the pathogen from gaining a foothold as it attempts to invade.
As a corollary to this there is the concept of "Latent Heat/Lingering Pathogens" which is when a pathogen has entered in and for some reason was not expelled; either wrong treatment or incomplete treatment is usually the case. We tend to find that many allopathic treatments create Latent Heat/Lingering Pathogens. The problem then is that the pathogen tends to 'morph' into something unrecognizable from its original state. Think of a catepillar and a butterfly.
It is understood that if a pathogen is 'locked in' it will morph and one of the manifestation becomes "Heat." But "Heat" is a pathogen of its own right, so lingering heat is another way of saying lingering pathogens.
Anyway, back to my conversation.
I was saying that it is hard to talk about the immune system for these reasons, but to talk about an auto-immune disease creates a completely different set of concerns. If there is no immune system how can it turn back on itself and attack the body?
Sara, the massage therapist I was talking to said, "Would it be like Rebellious Wei Qi?"
When ever an acupuncturist is talking about qi that is not flowing in the right direction, say Stomach Qi that is flowing upwards (burping, hiccoughs, even vomiting) it is called rebellious qi.
I got to thinking about what she said and there is some validity in this. I need to consider it more. So after the end of my last lecture in the Immune class I dropped this on the students. I do have compassion for any of my students, I come off-the-wall with some of the strangest ideas. Actually the students had some good ideas and we refined this thinking a little more. It is something to consider, so over the next few months I am going to ponder it.
Till the next entry.
Which may be a while as I have several personal agendas to complete...
posted by Michael Clifford, L. Ac. | 12:20 PM
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