Traditional Chinese Medicine follows a traditional belief that organs not only provide vital functions in the body to promote and maintain health, but that they are interconnected in their functionalities and energies, sharing an overall dynamic system on which the body thrives. Emotions are linked into these physical energies and one can affect the other. The Liver and Gallbladder pairing is associated with anger, flying off the handle, and when they are balanced, our blood smoothly flows and we are more courageous, decisive yet flexible and adaptable, more easy-going. This pairing is a perfect study for the spring months, as its element is wood. It is vital that the liver is healthy and steeped in strength and stability to ensure optimal health, like a tree.
The liver is both the largest solid organ and the largest gland in the body; its very name denotes its importance to life, its root literally means “to live”. Its main function is to regulate chemicals in the blood and to produce bile. The Liver Meridian takes a long energy pathway beginning at each big toe and runs along the inside of the foot to the ankle, on up the inside of the leg and joins up with the torse at the groin. Then it continues across the torso to the liver, just under the ribs and diaphragm on the right side of the body, then journeys into the lungs and up through the throat into the head, circling the lips as it makes its way up into the eyes. If ever you have experienced imbalance in the liver, you may have also noticed impaired eyesight, as it can cause blurriness or itchy eyes.
The gallbladder is a small organ nestled just under the liver, receiving and distributing bile secreted from the liver, playing an important role in digestion. If we lose it, the liver takes over the bile production responsibilities, yet we still feel the imprint of its energetic presence. If our liver and gallbladder chi are overstimulated, we tend to fly off the handle and make rash decisions, yet if they are depleted, we are timid and hesitant. And our digestion is disrupted. The Gallbladder Meridian begins at the outer corner of the eye and travels down the side of the torso to the outer hip. A branch of it goes through the chest and neck into the liver and the gallbladder and continues to travel down the outer hip to the outside of the knee, down the calf and eventually into the fourth toe.
In our yoga practice, as we create stronger legs and a stronger torso, as we promote better limb alignment and create more space for the muscles, the joints, the bones and the fascia, the tissue that holds all these things together, we provide more space for this energy, called Chi or Prana, to freely flow throughout the body by way of these long, dynamic channels, stoking optimal health and teamwork among the body’s vital organs.
In our studies this session we learned that when our Kidney and Urinary Bladder Meridians are blocked we experience fear. When our Liver and Gallbladder Meridians are imbalanced we experience anger, we are likely to easily be exasperated and fly off the handle. Our physical bristling turns into an emotional defense mechanism, our emotions bristle and we are steadfast in our ideas, unable to let go of our beliefs and accept others and their ideas. Most psychiatrists and gurus alike will tell you that anger stems from fear, a base emotion. TCM tells us that Liver and Gallbladder health starts in a sound Kidney and Urinary Bladder pairing and as we ponder their connection, we can see the connection between the physical and the emotional. Imbalance in the Kidney and Urinary Bladder stokes fear, fear stokes anger and imbalance in the Liver and Gallbladder. If you feel angry and fearful, practice yoga that stimulates energy along these channels in the legs and torso and you may feel not only stronger in the muscles, freer in the joints, but lightened in mood as well, negative emotions dissipated.
When I was in a life-threatening car accident almost a decade ago I severed my liver in half. When I awoke from my coma and learned this, I was confused. Where did it go? Is it just floating about? Did they go in and take it out? Turns out they didn’t. My body broke it down and dissolved it. And like a lizard who loses its tail and grows it back, so does the liver restore itself and grow back to its original size, just a bit scarred and fattier.
While I recuperated I was afraid. Afraid of the pain and discomfort, the drugs they kept handing me or sticking in my arms, afraid of being alone and not understanding what the many doctors were telling me, afraid of the disappointment I felt from my family of being in this situation, and afraid of what was to come, or maybe not to come, now that I was broken. And boy, was I pissed. I snapped at anyone and everyone, I was angry at myself for getting into this situation, I was mad that my yoga practice and studies were sidetracked, I was mad that I had to move out of my home I had created, I was mad that it was so hard for me to do the simplest and most mundane tasks and that my life had been so massively disrupted. In hindsight, I see how the two emotions were so wrapped up in each other and how both stemmed not just from the situation, but from the disrupted energy in both my Liver and Kidney Meridians, for in addition to accident injuries, I was also dealing with a kidney stone and urinary tract infection.
Though I was immobile the first 4 months of my recuperation, yoga was there for me constantly, my steadfast friend always at my side. I’d visualize my yoga practice, I’d sit or lie in a comfortable but stable position and meditate and breathe, breathe, breathe. Firing up nerve impulses in the physical body as I worked my way through sequences in my mind, coupled with the oxygen my strong breath carried to my injured as well as healthy cells sent me into a fast-tracked recovery. I was back on the mat and steeped again in my yoga teacher certification studies within the year. While I am very appreciative of the care from the many doctors and nurses, I am even more thankful for yoga, yoga teachers, and, ultimately, for me, the person who really put much stock and faith in the healing powers of yoga, breath and meditation, all with good reason.
Sometimes I feel my liver moving about in my right rib cage, like a lava lamp. I notice that this happens if I move my body suddenly or if I am angry and afraid, confused. Knowing what I do now, I slow down and breathe through it and settle the liver back into its home. The first few times it happened I didn’t realize it. It was pretty scary! It took a yoga teacher who specializes in anatomy to help me realize the connections and understand what was happening. It takes yoga and breath to resolve it. I am Yoga.