WORRY AND ANXIETY ARE FEAR-BASED EMOTIONS. They project negative outcomes for our problems. Worry is certainly milder than anxiety, but it’s still destructive if it’s habitual. Anxiety is so powerful that it can spill over from one difficult situation to other, unrelated ones. It can spread and become a jittery, suspicious approach to all of life. Sadly and ironically, focusing on catastrophe is more likely to attract catastrophe to us.
Frequent worry and anxiety are emotional cancers that eat away our peace of mind and our enjoyment of life. They also compromise our physical health. Chi kung and Traditional Chinese Medicine say that anxiety and worry can literally “eat us up” — they consume the life force, the chi, of our digestion and absorption organs, the stomach, spleen, and pancreas.
The most obvious source of these learned emotions is our parents. They may teach us directly when they are overly concerned about our physical safety, reacting with alarm at every minor tumble. Or we may learn these emotions unconsciously if our parents themselves are habitual worriers or anxiety-prone. In some unfortunate cases, a parent’s rejection or abuse of a child creates a realistic dread of emotional or physical pain that is later projected onto the child’s adult relationships.
On a deeper level, the process of “civilizing” children is a major culprit. Many of us were taught to disregard or deny our spontaneous emotions of anger, fear, or sadness in favor of socially approved ones. Be nice! Don’t be nasty! Grow up — don’t be a scaredy-cat! Stop crying! What are you, a baby? This last one is, for many boys, the ultimate put-down.
Looking beyond the family for sources of worry and anxiety, we can see that our materialistic society thrives on creating fear. The media, advertising, and many elected officials deliberately highlight possible dangers, diseases, and disasters. Get people worried, really worried, and they will buy your newspapers, your escapist TV shows, your tranquilizers, and your wars.
When worry or anxiety takes over, we become unbalanced. We live in our heads. Our minds become “monkey minds,” endlessly chattering to us about dire consequences that will probably never happen. We waste our life-force energy, our chi, on useless thoughts.
Here are some suggestions for breaking the worry or anxiety cycle. If you have a genuine problem to resolve, adopt a calm, positive attitude; this will help you sort out the relevant details. The Six Healing Sounds are remarkably helpful for quickly creating calmness and clarity. Undistracted by fear, we can look objectively at possible solutions. We can discuss these with our family or friends. We can consult an expert, if necessary. If a clear solution doesn’t appear for a while, probably some crucial information is missing. Dena’s favorite reminder to herself at a time like this is: “Not all the info is in. When you know the answer, you know it!” You feel that kinesthetic sense of certainty.
Dena first heard this profound saying in 1993 and took it to heart. She found that listening to her heart’s messages is the best way to live a joyful, productive, peaceful, healthy life, without becoming a hermit. The only certainties in anyone’s life are change, transformation, and our personal direct line to Original Spirit, in our heart. Original Spirit is our ultimate authority.
We’re speaking here about trust. If we ask for and follow our heart’s guidance, we will never go wrong. We will be amazed at the daily hunches, the synchronicities, and the good fortune we attract. We will overcome every obstacle, or we’ll learn a valuable lesson we needed to learn. Often we don’t understand the reasons for adversity until some time has passed. If we trust our Original Spirit, what seems like a disaster may eventually turn into an amazing blessing.
Worry and anxiety are symptoms of a lack of trust. And which internal organ is the home of trust? The heart, of course. To increase our ability to trust, the Six Healing Sounds, Inner Smile, and Releasing One Emotion practices are superb tools for strengthening our trust and transforming worry and anxiety.
The emotion of shame is a serious problem for many people. Learning to ignore or repress our true feelings creates a deep sense of frustration. It may cause us to feel unworthy due to our natural responses. Shame may be the hidden reason for a persistent fear of failure that manifests as worry or anxiety.
Guilt is self-reproach for having done something harmful to others or to oneself. Guilt can be a healthy response when it moves us to change our wrong behavior. But it’s an emotional cancer when we imagine or exaggerate our fault, or if we allow it to continue to haunt us. If we did something wrong, we need to make amends if possible. Then we need to forgive ourselves and move forward.
Self-pity is the “poor me” syndrome — believing that adverse events in our lives are caused by outside forces that are arbitrarily harming us. It’s seeing ourselves as unfortunate victims of circumstances beyond our control. The Taoist way is to respond courageously and positively to everything we encounter in our lives. If we have attracted illness, financial loss, or other misfortunes, these are opportunities for us to learn from our trials and grow. These are opportunities to change the underlying imbalances or disharmonies that are blocking our health, happiness, or prosperity. In any crisis, if we trust our Original Spirit, in our heart, it will guide us, moment by moment, to the most beneficial actions. As the Sufi poet Jelaluddin Rumi advised back in the thirteenth century:
FIGURE 10: Stomach, Spleen, and Pancreas
These troubling emotions make their home in the stomach, spleen, and pancreas. These organs also store the positive emotion of openness, and the psychological traits of stability, fairness, honesty, and powerful intention. Frequent worry, anxiety, and their variations impair these desirable qualities.
Western medicine describes the stomach as a muscular sac shaped like a gourd. Its function is to liquefy, churn, and partially digest food and drink received from the mouth and esophagus. The stomach secretes gastric juice containing hydrochloric acid and enzymes. The acid softens connective tissue in meat, kills bacteria, and activates the enzyme that begins digesting protein. Alternate contractions and relaxations in the lower part of the stomach mash and mix the food with the gastric juice and mucus until it’s a soupy paste. The stomach then squeezes the liquefied food into the small intestine to complete its digestion and absorption.
The spleen filters out old, worn-out red blood cells and destroys them. It forms white blood cells, which destroy bacteria and viruses. It also produces antibodies against specific diseases. The spleen is an emergency reservoir of red blood cells in case of hemorrhaging or other contingencies.
The pancreas secretes insulin to regulate blood sugar levels. It produces pancreatic juice with digestive enzymes, which it sends into the small intestine to digest fats, proteins, and carbohydrates. It also produces an alkaline fluid for neutralizing the acidity of food in the small intestine.
TCM and chi kung view the stomach’s role as that of transforming ingested food and drink by fermentation. The stomach is the origin of fluids in the body. The stomach and spleen control the transportation of food essences, and they are both origins of chi in the body. A strong stomach is regarded as essential for healing any disease. The stomach is the yang partner to the yin spleen.2
In TCM, the spleen is crucial for digestion and for the production of Life Force Chi and blood. The spleen extracts food chi from ingested food and drink and sends it throughout the body to nourish all the tissues. Specifically, it sends food chi up to the lungs to form gathering chi, and to the heart to form blood. The spleen energetically controls the muscles and the four limbs: spleen chi must be strong enough to send food chi to these areas, or they will be weak. The spleen chi connects to the mouth and lips; if the spleen is healthy, the sense of taste will be good and the lips will be moist and red.3 The spleen dislikes dampness. It is harmed by a damp environment and by wearing damp clothes.4
Spiritually, the spleen houses the Power of Intention Spirit, or Yi in Chinese. Intention influences our ability to concentrate and focus on what’s essential. No wonder chi kung and TCM emphasize the importance of a fresh, natural, balanced diet. How can we think clearly if we’re eating junk food, food with toxic preservatives, or poorly prepared food?
Older Chinese medical books ignore the pancreas. Some modern ones link it to the spleen, calling the pair the spleen-pancreas.
Earth is the element of the stomach, spleen, and pancreas. The energetic nature of earth is stabilizing and grounding — which is exactly what is missing from our heady, chaotic, stressful Western lifestyle. If our earth energy is compromised by excessive worrying, anxiety, shame, guilt, or self-pity, we are likely to experience one or more of these symptoms: belching, hiccups, acid reflux, poor appetite, nausea, diarrhea, fatigue, muscle flaccidity, or muscle weakness. The Healing Sounds and Inner Smile are superb for improving our grounding and stability.
Since we’re focusing on the digestive and nourishing organs, let’s talk in more detail about eating. Excellent nutrition is essential for emotional, physical, and spiritual health. An important way to maximize the nutritional value of our food is to approach the entire process with attention, love, and reverence. Where we buy our food, how carefully we select it, how we store it, how we prepare it, how we serve it, and how we eat it — all these details contribute to the food’s chi, its visual appeal, its scent and taste, and its nutrition. Think of eating as a sacred act — it sustains our lives. Every single meal is a gift from Tao, the Source, as well as from the sun, the earth, the rain, and a staggering number of people: farmers, pickers, distributors, market workers, and others.
Avoid canned, packaged, processed, or genetically modified food. As much as possible, eat fresh, organic, locally grown food. Your very best choice for nutrition, taste, safety, and economy is to grow your own fruits and vegetables. If this is not an option, go to a farmers’ market with an organic section. The food will have been picked one or two days before, and you’ll have an opportunity to meet the people who grow or pick your food. Most organic farmers and their helpers are proud that they provide healthful and nutritious food. That positive vibration goes into your food. For other items, shop at a health food co-op or an independent health food store. Read all the labels carefully; even these stores sell many nonorganic, sugar-added, processed foods. For each day’s menu, include items covering all five tastes and a variety of colors, especially raw or lightly cooked greens.
When you get home, take vegetables and fruits out of their plastic bags. Place unripened fruits in a bowl, and tomatoes on a plate, stem side up. Wrap the rest in waxed paper, put them in containers or back in the plastic bags they came in, and store them in the refrigerator. This will better preserve their nutrients and freshness.
What about raw foods? Most practitioners of TCM recommend eating mostly cooked food, believing that too much raw food weakens the immune system. However, research by the late Dr. Edward Howell, a noted pioneer in the study of enzymes, found that a diet primarily made up of cooked foods led to an enlarged pancreas, a shortened life span, illness, and poor resistance to stress.5 We suspect that coping with the stresses of modern living may require more energy than a largely cooked diet provides.
A number of people, especially young people, have switched to a predominantly raw food diet because raw foods have more vitamins, minerals, and digestive enzymes. If you are very yang and have abundant chi and strong digestive fire, you may flourish with mostly raw foods. A raw diet may also be useful for a short-term cleansing. Otherwise, we suggest that you include some raw food each day and see how you feel. It’s excellent for overcoming constipation. Keep in mind the principle of balancing yin and yang: since raw food is very yin, start by eating raw foods at lunchtime, which is the most yang part of the day. As your body adjusts to raw food, you may wish to increase the amount, again assessing its effects. However, as Sally Fallon and Mary Enig point out, “there are no traditional diets composed exclusively of raw foods. Even in the tropics… [people] build a fire every day to cook their foods… In general, whole grains, legumes and certain types of vegetables should be cooked.”6 When you cook vegetables, retain their nutrients by steaming them or stirfrying them lightly in a small amount of water or olive or coconut oil, so they remain crisp and retain most of their color.
Also, you can increase your digestive enzymes and strengthen your immune system by eating some organic fermented food each day, such as raw unpasteurized sauerkraut, raw nonvinegar pickles, live culture yogurt, raw kefir, miso, tamari, and artisan-quality unyeasted sourdough bread. (See index: Fermented Foods.)
Taoist chef and teacher Michael Brosnahan taught us that a good cook “makes love to the food as he or she prepares it.” Admire its vibrant colors, unique shapes, and various textures. When you cut vegetables, use an excellent quality, sharpened knife and a good cutting board. Slide or roll your knife through your vegetables in a graceful rhythm; don’t hack at them. Cook your food with care and attention. Arrange your food attractively on the plate. When cherished by you in this way, your food will return your love with enhanced nutrition and exquisite tastes.
If we take a few moments before eating to give silent or verbal thanks for the blessings of each meal, we further improve both our digestion and the chi of the food. A quick way to include all those involved is to give thanks to Tao, or God (or whatever you call the Source), and all the providers and preparers. When eating out, a discreet expression of gratitude gives us “more chi for our cash.” Even if we never cook, we can choose restaurants that take pride in healthy and appealing food.
There are also many individual cooks and private companies who prepare and deliver healthy, organic, beautiful meals. To find them, go online or ask at your local health food store.
For excellent digestion, it’s important to eat slowly and enjoy your food. Take small bites and chew each one thoroughly, mixing it with lots of saliva, until it turns liquid and glides down your throat. Saliva begins the digestive process, especially of carbohydrates. Obesity is a serious problem in the United States. Consider eating only until you are 70 percent or 80 percent full. This worked for the ancient Taoists, who were noted for longevity. Avoid extremely hot or extremely cold foods; they harm the digestive organs. Ice cream, iced drinks, and ice water extinguish our digestive fire.
Late summer is the season when our stomach, spleen, and pancreas are working the hardest. They prefer food cooked lightly, steamed, or boiled in a little water, with few seasonings and a mild taste. Support them in late summer, and all seasons, by eating yellow or orange foods. These contain carotenoids, which support the digestive system.7 The foods that provide carotenoids include apricots, cantaloupes (eat these separately from other foods), carrots, pineapples, pumpkins, summer squash, and winter squash. Foods that grow under the ground are also beneficial — they’re grounding! These include potatoes (especially red ones), rutabagas, sweet potatoes, turnips, and yams.8
The taste that alleviates worry, anxiety, shame, guilt, and self-pity by strengthening the stomach, spleen, and pancreas is sweetness. Please don’t run amok in your local bakery, gorging on double chocolate cake and lemon meringue pie. Or stock your freezer with ten tubs of gourmet ice cream. These temptations are sweetened with processed cane sugar, which not only harms our teeth and makes our blood more acidic but also is the favorite food of bacteria, viruses, and molds growing in our bodies. According to Mikio Sankey, cane sugar also lowers our spiritual vibration.9 (So eating sugar-sweetened foods probably reduces the power of the Healing Sounds and Inner Smile.) We crave sweet foods when our personal lives lack the sweetness of caring relationships. It’s best to eliminate processed cane sugar altogether. Substitute a small amount of organic raw honey or 100 percent pure maple syrup. For a healthy snack, eat a few organic dates or dried figs. And rely on the multitude of delicious, mildly sweet foods listed in the next few paragraphs to satisfy your sweet tooth. After a little retraining, your taste buds will reject extremely sweet junk foods.
Many other healthy foods are in the sweet category, including vegetables such as corn, cabbage, cucumber, eggplant, jicama, lettuce, peas, shiitake mushrooms, and string beans. Cabbage is best eaten as raw unpasteurized sauerkraut or cooked; plain raw cabbage inhibits the absorption of iodine.10 Whole grains are considered sweet, and these include buckwheat, millet, oats, brown rice, spelt, and wheat. Wheat is a common allergen. It’s usually well tolerated in artisan quality sourdough bread, because a long fermentation process destroys its gluten, which causes the allergic reaction. Amaranth, rye, quinoa, and red quinoa (delicious!) are both sweet and bitter; both types of quinoa must be washed with at least three changes of filtered water to lose their bitterness; use a fine mesh strainer to remove each change of water. Sweet legumes include adzuki beans, black beans, chickpeas, lentils, mung beans, black-eyed peas, and soybeans. Soybeans are very hard to digest. Go easy on soy products such as tofu and protein powders; they are very high in phytic acid, an enzyme inhibitor that blocks the absorption of calcium, magnesium, zinc, and other minerals. Raw organic hemp powder is a better source of protein.
All whole grains and beans contain phytic acid, but presoaking them neutralizes it. So first wash them a few times, with the help of a fine-mesh strainer, and then soak whole grains and beans in filtered water and a little sea salt for eight to twelve hours. Then discard the soak water and replace it with filtered water, and cook.11
Fresh, raw, unprocessed seeds and nuts are sweet; they should be eaten in small quantities. They also contain phytic acid, so they, too, should be soaked in filtered water for a few hours or overnight. These include almonds, brazil nuts, chestnuts, coconuts, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds (lightly roasted in a frying pan or as tahini), sunflower seeds, and walnuts.
Chocolate, even if organic, is high in oxalic acid, which blocks the absorption of calcium, and high in theobromine, a caffeinelike substance; in addition, most chocolate contains sugar. If you have a chocolate “habit,” it may reflect a need for magnesium. Get your magnesium from whole grains, beans, vegetables, nuts, or seeds. Satisfy your sweet tooth with sweet fruits.
If your stomach, spleen, or pancreas are very weak, it’s best to minimize the sweet foods and emphasize bitter and spicy foods. (See index.)
Wearing yellow, gold, or orange will strengthen your digestive organs and lift your spirits. Friends and strangers alike are apt to smile and compliment you when you wear these cheerful, sunny colors.
To improve your grounding and stability, and to dissipate worry, anxiety, shame, or self-pity, spend more time in nature. Talk a walk in the country or a park. Do some gardening or at least grow house-plants. Taking care of a pet is a wonderful grounding experience. And every day, we can give thanks to Mother Earth for nurturing us.
1. Jelaluddin Rumi, “A Basket of Fresh Bread,” in The Essential Rumi, trans. Coleman Barks (Edison, NJ: Castle Books, 1997), p. 256.
2. Giovanni Maciocia, The Foundations of Chinese Medicine (Edinburgh: Churchill Livingstone, 1989), pp. 111–114.
3. Ibid., pp. 89–93.
4. Ted J. Kaptchuk, The Web That Has No Weaver (New York: Congdon and Weed, 1983), pp. 124–125.
5. Sally Fallon, with Mary G. Enig, Nourishing Traditions, 2nd ed. (Washington, DC: New Trends Publishing, 2001), p. 47.
6. Ibid., p. 47.
7. Maoshing Ni, Secrets of Self-Healing (New York: Avery, 2008), p. 77.
8. Paul Pitchford, Healing with Whole Foods: Oriental Traditions and Modern Nutrition (Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books, 1993), p. 300.
9. Mikio Sankey, Discern the Whisper: Esoteric Acupuncture, vol. 2 (Inglewood, CA: Mountain Castle Publishing, 2002), p. 46.
10. Fallon and Enig, Nourishing Traditions, p. 44.
11. Pitchford, Healing with Whole Foods, p. 418.