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Mind and Brain in TCM

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Lori Anne
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« on: June 06, 2009, 04:15:20 pm »

A post at another forum on Men's vs Women's brains led me to do some reading up on the Traditional Chinese Medicinal views on brains and their function.

The whole idea of Yin-Yang theory is expressed by the Tai-Chi symbol.
The black and white areas in Tai-Chi symbol means that the whole world,
including human beings, consists by two opposing components, namely,
Yin (black area) and Yang (white area).

Importantly, each component exists within the other component;
the white and black areas contain small back and white circles,
respectively. This means that Yin/Yang is a relative concept, and
each part has a similar structure to the Tai-Chi symbol. Therefore,
the world is considered to be infinitely divided into Yin and Yang.

Interestingly,  the brain is not included in the organsof TCM!, instead

In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), the functions of the brain are dispersed to five
zang organs, and are maintained by comprehensive functional interactions among the
five zang organs. Therefore, brain diseases are regarded as systematic diseases in TCM,
and their treatments are aimed to normalize not only the activity of the organs, but also
the balance of functional interaction.

In addition, interestingly, the functional
interaction between the five zang organs in TCM resembles a biological model based on
chaos theory. These features of TCM derive from its theoretical basis in Yin-Yang and
the five elements. In conclusion, TCM had co-opted the basic idea of a complex system
for the diagnosis and treatment of human diseases thousands years ago.

CONCEPT OF MIND AND BRAIN IN TCM
In modern Western medicine, the brain is the most important organ, acting as a control
center. In contrast, the brain is not included in the organs of TCM

In TCM, the brain functions are scattered over the human body. For example, the five
zang-organs arouse various emotions: heart, liver, spleen, lung, and kidney arouse
happiness, anger, deep thinking, melancholy, and fear, respectively. In TCM, therefore,
brain diseases are regarded as systemic diseases rather than disorders of a single organ
(i.e., the brain), and their treatments are aimed at normalizing not only the activity of the
organs but also the balance of functional interaction among the organs.

http://www.codata.org/06conf/presentations/B6/Sakatani.pdf



« Last Edit: June 06, 2009, 04:19:26 pm by ~Lori Anne~ » Report Spam   Logged

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« Reply #1 on: June 06, 2009, 04:19:04 pm »

HOW CHINESE MEDICINE VIEWS THE MIND


Chinese medicine does not make absolute distinctions between
what we in the West classify as the mind, the activity of the central
nervous system, and the physiology of the visceral organs. Within
traditional Chinese medical thinking, a person represents a field of
Qi, a continuum of dynamic structures, functions, processes, sensory
perceptions, and cognitive faculties that range from the gross,
substantial, and visible (fluids, blood, flesh, muscles, vessels, sense
organs, nerves, and bone) to the subtle, insubstantial, and invisible
(sensations, perceptions, feelings, emotions, thoughts, images, and
dreams).

Although flux and transformation are the fundament of
the field, there is a coherence and unity that exists within this
continuum, known as Shen-Jing. Shen refers to the psyche or the
intangible qualities of mind, and Jing refers to the soma or the
tangible qualities of the material body. Shen-Jing implies the mutually
arising, interpenetrating nature of Shen and Jing, a microcosmic
manifestation of the interdependence and interaction of Yang and
Yin.

Both spheres are characterized by incessantly motile patterns of
form and action. The structural parts of the organism have shape
and move (with a distinct configuration and patterns of activity,
fluids, blood, muscles, bones, and internal organs are in constant
motion). Similarly, the contents of the mind emerge, assume form,
and shift from place to place in recognizable patterns (images and
ideas take shape, thoughts are shallow and deep, jump from one to
another, move in circles, and habits of mind develop).

Human development is construed to be a seamless, formative
process, an expression of embodied intelligence in space and time
that involves the intermingling of creative imagination and innate
constitution initiated and sustained by the organizing power of Qi.
This enables a person to maintain life, cultivate an identity, and
make a future—fulfilling destiny (Ming).


http://www.chinese-medicine-works.com/pdfs/chinese_med_and_the_mind.pdf
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« Reply #2 on: June 06, 2009, 04:20:21 pm »

THE THREE LEVELS AND FIVE ASPECTS OF MIND

Mental activities and experiences occur at three levels, again proceeding
from the more tangible to the more intangible: sensations
and perceptions, thoughts and ideas, feelings and emotions.

Sensations and perceptions arise from specific parts of the soma: skin,
muscle, viscera, ears, eyes, nose, mouth, and tongue. Thoughts and
ideas arise from the psyche: imagination, dreams, memory, attention,
and reflective contemplation. Feelings and emotions are the
outcome of our responses to sensations and perceptions, those that
arise inwardly, and those from the outside world that enter our field
of awareness.

Furthermore, whether we deem our experiences to be
physical or mental, somatic or psychic, our capacity to recognize
their influence is rooted in the physiological structure and functional
processes that correspond to five organ systems referred to as
the Five Organ Networks (Kidney, Liver, Heart, Spleen, Lung) that
govern all internal events and outward expressions. That is to say,
how the Qi moves in each of the Organ Networks and how they
interact from moment to moment is what determines the nature of
our life experience

HOW THE FIVE ORGAN NETWORKS ORGANIZE OUR MOTILE, SENSORY, AND COGNITIVE LIFE

All activity is an expression of the movement of Qi occurring in
various layers of the organism. At the level of sensations and perceptions,
Qi manifests as the qualities of movement associated with
muscles, nerves, and sense organs. At the level of thoughts, ideas,
and images, Qi manifests as intellectual activity of the mind, or
cognition.

At the level of our response to sensations, perceptions,
and thoughts, Qi assumes the form of feelings and emotions that
are experienced simultaneously as physical and mental events, actions,
or movements. Qi organizes that which moves, and all movement
is a manifestation of Qi. Fundamentally, motility is Qi, and
what is motile is alive.


When we consider the role of the central nervous system as it is
defined in Western terms, we think of the organism’s ability to
regulate and coordinate a myriad of complex and interrelated functions
including locomotion, perception, cognition, circulation, digestion,
elimination, detoxification, reproduction, regeneration,
growth, maturation, and even degeneration and dying. All of these
processes involve patterned movement at the macroscopic level of
organs, muscles, nerves, and vessels as well as at the microscopic
level of cellular metabolism. In the Chinese view, it is the Organ
Networks that modulate and coordinate all these processes.


I won't post it all, but there is a wealth of information here:
http://www.chinese-medicine-works.com/pdfs/chinese_med_and_the_mind.pdf
for anyone who is interested.

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« Reply #3 on: June 06, 2009, 04:22:57 pm »

Also from the same article:

The Spleen enables the Mind to consider and reformulate
thoughts and feelings—to give them shape—like a lens bringing images
into focus.

A well-formulated idea gives birth to intention that
transforms into motivation and, potentially, actualization. Depression
that engenders turmoil within the Spleen Network often displays
ruminative and obsessive features. When the Qi of the Spleen
is oppressed or congested, the process of thinking may become
stuck.

This manifests as incessant worry and circular thinking about
problems that seem to have no solution: a person feels trapped in
mental quagmires and dilemmas from which there appear to be no
exits. The unrelenting concern with intransigent thoughts leads to
physical and mental fatigue.

It becomes difficult if not impossible
to act effectively, literally walking in circles. There may also be
constant nail-biting and repetitive movements or sequences of
movement—a kind of memory lapse because of the inability to pay
attention to anything other than the Mind’s preoccupation.

With the loss of a meaningful purpose (intentions) in life, obsessive behaviors
become an alternative center around which daily life is
organized, but, because the ritual thoughts and activities provide no
real satisfaction, constant disappointment leads to futility that leads
to paralysis and ennui.

Because the Spleen Network is a pivotal source of Qi for the
entire body, disturbances of other Organ Networks, especially the
Heart and Lung, are part of the depressive syndrome.
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The Great Spirit, in placing men on the Earth,
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other no harm...
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