Spleen Qi Deficiency on Display
I have been checking my tongue a lot lately to see if the thrush is subsiding. It is, thankfully but I still feel a burning sensation and there’s still a pale yellowish white-coating on the back-end, towards my throat. In the process of obsessing over my tongue I thought about the scalloped edges that I only noticed earlier this year. I also thought about the crack going down the center of my tongue. I didn’t remember that crack being there in the past. If it was there I guess I never noticed.
Nonetheless, I decided to look into these physical expressions to see what Traditional Chinese Medicine would have to say. Come to find out, these two issues are not uncommonly found together. As I learned, the scalloped edges and deep center crack are indicative of Spleen Qi Deficiency also known as “Caregivers Tongue”.
When I was going to an acupuncturist to help treat my Crohn’s Disease, the practitioner told me that I had internal dampness and Qi deficiency. Maybe he told me more, I just don’t remember. So I looked it up and basically the emotions associated with Spleen Qi deficiency are excessive thinking, studying, concentrating, brooding, obsessing, etc. including feeling burdened as a caretaker.
Specifically, and what really hit home, was that the Spleen Qi deficiency is caused by feelings of being “stuck”.
WOW!! BINGO! I have felt stuck for years!! Trying to liberate myself from that persistent feeling of being stuck has been a major focus for me in my meditation practice. It has also come through in my journaling and came up quite a bit when I was in counseling. I have also spent a decent amount of time working on feeling “put out” and burdened by my lifelong role as caretaker and counselor for family and friends.
I’m so burned out on taking care of everyone and not going anywhere myself. Everyone gets help but me (feel sorry for yourself much Jeli?).
You know what this means? I’m still feeling stuck and I’m feeling really fucking sorry for myself on top of it.
Clearly I haven’t broken through this self-imposed limitation in my mind. Ha! I know this to be true, and now my body is throwing it right back at me. Time to get serious about releasing the emotions and recurring thoughts and fears that are holding me back.
To kickstart this process I looked up Qigong exercises for the spleen. I started my morning with 10 minutes of Spleen exercises then sat down for a 20 minute meditation focusing on a healthy spleen. I intend to continue and improve this process as part of my overall health routine. Anyone care to join me for a Qigong retreat?!?
Also, there are guidelines for eating to nurse a deficient spleen that I will consider and adopt into my diet. The recommendations are oddly similar to all the other diets being recommended for my Candida symptoms and constitution according to Ayurvedic Medicine (Pitta Dosha). Hey, I think these folks are on to something!
