Jueyin

I understand the Jueyin Conformation to be the deepest strata of the six channels, yet since it closes the Yin sphere, it also gives birth to the pivot of Shaoyang, allowing the first manifestations of Yang to begin taking expression.  Because it is still a Yin sphere however, I also conceive of Jueyin as having a closer relationship to the material body.  Through the association of the Liver and the Pericardium, I understand that it is related to the circulation of blood, and the physical means for that circulation, and further how this affects Tendons and the capacity for movement.  In terms of the cognitive or behavioral style, and an analysis of initial insults to Jueyin I also consider the Liver as a Wood expression and the Pericardium as an expression of Fire.  So I will assume, peering through the lens of DRRBF, that in some manner there was an inhibition of the free-flowing expression of Wood growth, and question whether this also has some bearing on the world of relationships.  Introducing the fire phase, I will consider whether there is something in the patient’s relationship to her father that might have influenced these phases of development.  In this case, I learned that the patient’s father was a “strict disciplinarian” who held very high expectations of conformity to his dictates.  This was even humorously expressed as extending to growing up eating the same breakfast of muesli every day: a practice the patient still follows.  The effect of such an inhibition is visited upon the realm of the Jueyin Liver, because the inherent drive of the Liver and Jueyin sphere to encourage and initiate new growth, as well as to meet resistance flexibly and smoothly is directly countered by authoritarian relations. Later in life, as circulation and Yang naturally diminish, and a lifetime of over-exercise takes effect, the vulnerability present in this sphere of physiology becomes a problem, and thus chronic knee pain develops.  The fact that this symptom effectively inhibits movement recapitulates the inhibited expression of the chthonic, contrary self that the patient experienced growing up.  It can also be taken as a message from the body, that rest and retreat from a lifetime of exercise are in order at this phase of life, and is a call to withdraw from the rigidified sense of self into a more flexible and easygoing posture.  By placing this symptom in an enlarged context that takes into account the whole of a patient’s experience, I am also helping to pry open a window into a world of fuller meaning and correspondence.  And it is through guiding a patient to have a felt sense of meaning in relation to a symptom, that one creates a dramatic shift in the emotional realm.  Since we hold as an axiom that both physiology and pathology move from the unseen realms into the manifest world, it behooves one to create conditions in which the patient can understand these unseen influences, and through assigning meaning to them render the pernicious aspects of them moot. Likewise, in the more rarefied realm of emotions and behavior, I will expect a newfound freedom to manifest in the patient’s experience.   When we examine the contents of the formula Dang Gui Si Ni Tang, if we look through all of these lenses simultaneously, we can see why it can yield these results in both the physical and non-physical realms.