Blood Nourishing
Welcome,
I’m glad to have you here. I’d like to start with a couple of acknowledgements, and then share some nourishing things with you.
My intention with this blog and piece, is that you take and make use of what feels helpful to you, and that I am thoughtful with how I deliver the support I’m offering. Rather than using the term dietary support, which can have associations attached to controlled eating, I’m shifting the focus to talk about eating patterns as part of a network of things that can support your health and wellbeing in a holistic way. My intention is to bring in connections and ideas, and then let you make choices about how you want to use and integrate what’s shared. I also want to find a way of putting information together for people that they find useful and use in their lives that doesn’t feel like another thing they should be doing better at. The more enjoyable and pleasurable something is, the more likely we might want to keep coming back to it.
The second thing to acknowledge is that these offerings of wisdom based in whole systems East Asian medicine that I’m sharing aren’t part of my cultural heritage in any way. They began to inspire me 20+ years ago while I was working in a whole food co-operative at the same time that I was introduced to acupuncture, and I’m particularly inspired by the connections between nature, food and wellbeing. I’ve spent meany years dipping in and out of spaces that grow, make and serve food and medicines, always making connections to the foundational knowledge that inspired on this meandering pathway of healing. I’ve applied the knowledge to my life, as the seasons keep on passing and yearly cycles keep moving in their rhythm, I’ve carried on reading, listening, observing, learning, This writing will be based in whole systems East Asian medicine, but will have my flavour and way of working woven through it. I’ve also tried and tested most, if not all of the offerings I share here.
As always, I hope you take and make use of what feels helpful to you,
Orley
Embodiment and Enriching Your Blood
The core part of blood which contains all the nutrients our bodies need to thrive, comes from our bodies ability to make use of the nutrition it takes it. Please read this blog post on spleen qi and optimising its’ role in digestion before you read anymore, and then come back here and carry on reading, or carry on reading below and then go back and read up about spleen qi after.
Qi and blood are deeply connected in whole systems East Asian medicine. They move through the same channels and pathways in the body, with the blood providing a home of nourishment and anchoring, and the qi providing the movement, as they travel and do their work together. The blood is also comparable to yin, and the qi to yang, another pairing that are deeply connected.
When talking about blood deficiency, this can cover things like iron deficiency in the blood, or being low in essential vitamins and nutrients such as folic acid, magnesium and b12. It’s understood people can have healthy level test results and still be blood deficient in whole systems East Asian medicine.
Nourished Blood In Whole Systems East Asian Medicine
When the blood is rich, abundant and full of vitality, people feel more resourced and resilient, less overwhelmed by stressors, more grounded and embodied. They are adaptable, mentally in their thoughts and physically through their muscles, tendons and sinews. They have a sense of direction and clarity about their life, and are generally calm, settled and steady. They sleep well and have enough resources to get through what ever demands are brought their way. All of their energy, their qi, is rooted and expressed through their body. The qi creates animation in the body through being rooted in the blood.
The blood is particularly connected to the energetic function of both the liver and heart in whole systems East Asian medicine. The liver is connected to the wood element and the heart to the fire. To really expand on the meanings of the all that the liver embodies interms of the psyche, emotions and mind as it comes into contact with the blood and it’s embodiment (and the same for the heart) this piece of writing would need to be much bigger than I have capacity for at the moment. I’d like to invite you back in the spring, the time of the wood element and the liver and gallbladder, and in the summer, the time of the heart, small intestine, pericardium and triple burner (this is a WSEAM term), to really get to know these seasons and organs well, and all that they embody. For now, I’m going to offer some signs and symptoms, and suggestions for nourishing blood so if we’re working together in clinic, you have this as a resource. As the seasons turn, I’ll come back and expand more.
Some Signs And Symptoms of Blood Deficiency
Dryness and dullness in the skin, hair, nails, and greying hair. Muscles and tendons that have a tendency to be injured easily or aren’t very flexible, blurry eyes, dull frontal headaches or pounding temple or crown headaches, high pitch ringing in the ears and dizziness standing up. Feeling sensitive to internal or external stress, like noise, light, emotions, demands, and feeling overwhelmed, like you can’t cope. There’s a general sense of anxiety, trouble getting off to sleep or easily startled awake, possibly some heart palpitations and a mind that won’t switch off from worry. There may also be waking at night with leg cramps. A tendency to be more impacted by intensity, shocks and other people. There can be a directionless in life or lack of orientation. These are nearly all manifestations the qi and yang not fully rooted in the blood, and not embodying the potential of the qi.
How To Support The Blood And Embodiment
Nourishing the blood through supporting the spleen and earth element is the foundation for well nourished blood, along with directly blood nourishing foods. After this, supporting the mind-body connection, finding ways to keep connected to your body and keeping connected to your mind and spirit. Perhaps gently ask yourself, what activities help to bring your mind into stillness? What activities support you being in the present so you can tend to all of how and who you are? What things bring you into the present so you can tend to your mind and spirit, manifesting and moving with your body? What things help you to feel embodied that you don’t leave any part of you behind, or any part of you out?
If you’re not sure yet, perhaps you can explore, see if you can notice how you feel in different environments and doing different activities. Which ones make you want to be present, engaged, physically there and expand into? Which ones make you want to shrink, pull away, or feel on edge? Which ones are a mix or are you not sure about?
Food Which Help To Nourish The Blood (in addition to foods which nourish the spleen)
- all grains, kidney, aduki and black beans, black sesame, fermented soya and legume products (miso, tempeh, tofu), eggs, all meats including organic liver, seaweed, leafy green vegetables. carrot, beetroot, nettle tea, hawthorn berry tea, dandelion root, artichoke leaf, cherry, date, blackcurrants, red and black grapes.
Medicinal Mushrooms To Support Blood
- Reishi (Ganoderma Lucidum), Xiang Gu (Lentinula Edodes),
That’s all for now. As always, please take and make use of what feels helpful to you.
And as the seasons turn, I’ll come back and expand around the Wood element in the spring and Fire element in the summer. If you’d like to understand more about them in the meantime, and if you haven’t seen it already, there is some information about the five elements on this page of the website, and if you are keen to learn a lot more about the elements, organs and seasons, the books Taoist Tales of The Acupuncture Points, and Recipes For Self Healing will be good places to start. You can find links to them on the resources page.
Orley