Heart Strings

Anxiety (and depression) are unfortunately becoming some of the most common ailments in our modern day reality. We are overworked, traumatized, burning the candle at both ends, and under insurmountable pressure; a breeding ground for emotions gone awry. There are a ton of different manifestations of anxiety specifically. Showing up as heart palpitations or chest pain, anxiety can look or feel a lot like a heart attack. Depending on the severity, it can turn into a panic attack or high blood pressure. On the lighter end, some people just get an upset stomach or a nervous energy coursing through their veins at various times of day. Whatever the manifestation, none of it is fun. 

In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), we have answers for nearly all presentations of anxiety, but we just have to get to the root of the cause. Most of the time, the heart organ is involved. The root of all joy, or lack thereof, the heart’s energy is easily tampered with. Is it feeling harassed by other aggressive energies coursing through the body? Or does it not have enough energy to function properly? We call that either an excess or deficiency and both are treatable. Other organ systems can also be at play. If the anxiety is fear-based, the kidney organ system is involved. If it’s all stress-induced, the liver organ system could be at the root. If you’re overthinking and a worry-wart, the spleen energy could be part of the problem. It just takes some intentional questioning to find the pattern and understand where it’s coming from. 

I recently listened to a podcast that featured a New York Times best-selling author, Johann Hari. He wrote a book called Lost Connections which had the most succinct description of anxiety and depression I had ever heard. He says, when those two symptoms specifically pop up for someone, it’s actually a manifestation of GRIEF. Grief of our needs not being met. This was a profound epiphany for me, and another incredible lens to look at how we treat anxiety with TCM. I never thought of anxiety as a process of grieving, but it makes sense. It’s our body’s intelligent way of telling us something isn’t right and sending up the red flares. There might be many stages and emotions tied to the anxiety and as long we hash those out, we might have the answer to why its happening. Just like in stages of grief. Consider Hari’s book at the top of my reading list. 

So what can you do to treat your anxiety? Acupuncture and herbs are incredibly helpful. Eating a clean, healthy diet will also help control your mind’s ability to stabilize. They don’t call the gut the “second brain” for nothing! Exercise and move your body. Also, find a spot in your house you can meditate. In TCM, the lungs control the emotion of grief, so if we aren’t taking deep breaths, we won’t be able to move through the stages of anxiety. Finally, if you need to talk to someone, a third party, to help you with anxiety, ask us for a referral for a good therapist! Sometimes the act of being seen and heard can go a long way when dealing with this particular affliction.