In today’s episode we continue our exploration of the emotions through the lens of Traditional Chinese Medicine with the beloved emotion of Joy. Starting with a visualization of fire and concluding with how to use catnip to calm a restless heart, our journey winds from social connection to the importance of green vegetables and the therapeutic value of dark chocolate. Enjoy—and feel joyful!
Resources mentioned in this episode:
- Finding ethical chocolate: Food Empowerment Project’s Chocolate List
Opening Exercise: Visualization:
I want to begin with a little exercise and focusing. Let’s start by first imagining sitting in front of a warm crackling bonfire (or fireplace). See if you can notice the way that the flames move: What is the quality of the fire that you are watching; does it have a sense of speed and quickness? Does it seem to leap up toward the sky? What is the smell of the fire? Listen and see if you can hear that little crackling sound that we associate with leaping flames.
Just take a couple of breaths and as you imagine this fire ask yourself how joy is similar to the phenomena of fire? Maybe imagine a time when you felt really joyful about something and see if you can compare this memory of joy to what you notice in the fire. Does joy feel like it leaps up? Does joy feel warm like it gives off energy? Does joy feel contagious; like if it is not contained it could catch anyone nearby? How about the sound of joy? Is there anything about the sound of laughter that sounds like the sound of fire?
Just take a couple of breaths and let the visualization go a little bit but keep any feelings of joy you have brought into your heart. It is a great way to start or end your day.
The Fire Element and Joy:
The comparison of joy and fire in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is metaphorical in language; we use our muscles of observations to see how the phenomenon in the natural world work and acknowledge that we are of the earth. We are no different than some of the processes that unfold in nature- so these metaphors help us understand the kinds of processes that will support our health.
The fire element is considered to correlate with summer, the time when it’s hot outside and everything seems to be in peak fullness. Summer is the time of year when we are most active- it is warm and open. It is a time that many of us associate with fun and frolic. Yet, there are some hidden challenges in summertime; heat exhaustion, sunburn, and that hot and sticky causing us to feel depleted or lazy.
What does TCM teach us about the Heart*?
In TCM, the Heart is the organ associated with the Fire element and the emotion of joy. In TCM the Heart is not just a physical pump that moves the blood through our body- though it does include that organ. The Heart is the heart-mind; the mind and the heart are not to be separated. This is similar to the word for heart (citta) in the Thai-Buddhist tradition which means heart-mind; meaning that the heart and the mind are together.
The Heart is said to house the shen (spirit) which is the vital emotional part of us that you can see coming from the person’s eyes. A person who has a great meditation practice, or who is deeply wise has a certain kind of light shine from their eyes- this is a manifestation of a very strong shen. The emotion of joy and the heart are crucial for sustaining our shen.
*Heart is capitalized here to denote the TCM interpretation of the organ: not just the physical heart itself, but the functional system it represents.
Is there such a thing a too much joy?
It is possible just like all the other emotions to have excessive joy or have joy in an imbalanced way. Just like when it is really hot outside on a beautiful hot summer day if you are engaging in way too much volleyball and not getting enough rest and hydration it is possible to have heat exhaustion or heat stroke (which can be a very deadly situation if you don’t get the proper care). This is similar to joy that is not grounded, nourished and balanced boy other emotions- specifically the deep grounding of the Earth element and the Water element.
When our joy is not balanced we can actually experience mania or an ungrounded sense of enthusiasm that can lead us to a destructive place. Additionally, too much joy or this kind of exuberant activation of the heart can also weaken and deplete the Heart’s ability to be a secure and stable home for the shen.
Have you ever had the experience of feeling giddy- where maybe there is a sense of joy but there is a bit of anxiety of dis-ease that is not grounded? That sense of feeling giddy or happy but not in a way that is deeply nourishing and grounded. That is one of the challenges that can come up for the Fire element and the emotion of joy.
In a time where we are encouraged more and more toward positive thinking and thinking our way to feeling better it is easy for us to move into a place of ungrounded joy or nervous energy that we are trying to make happy. Maybe it we need to drop a little into the Water element and acknowledge the feeling of fear that is present in order to help balance out that nervous energy.
Ask yourself: am I experiencing this joy in a grounding, nourishing, fully hydrated way? Or am I getting toward that nervous slap-happy heat stroke kind of a feeling?
Joy, friendship, and balance support your Heart
An important quality that both joy and fire share the quality of being very contagious. Fire catches and it can ignite and entire forest (or whatever spaces that it is contained to by a boundary) burning everything in its path. The sound of the Fire element is laugher, and laughter is like this- very contagious.
One of my teachers who has a very contagious laugh says: The way you know what your power is in life is that when you do that thing other people start to have the same experience. He would say that part of his power is the power of laughter; because when he laughs everyone starts to laugh with him.
One very important way to support the Heart and bring more joy is to seek out other people who have the power of joy (much like my teacher). Working our social connections and our interdependence with others by getting into the presence of people who are going to laugh- going to a comedy, seeing a funny movie, or a game night with fun friends. Bringing more joy into our lives is beautiful medicine and one of the easiest ways to do this is to lean on the contagious element of the Fire element. It is much harder to start the process of joy if you are all alone by yourself- Where is the spark, where is the little bit of flame to help ignite the joy in your heart if you are all by yourself?
We live in a time of tremendous social isolation. There was a report recently with a survey as to why attendance has dropped in the arts (plays, movies etc.); one of the main reasons respondents gave for not going to the arts in the past year (30-40%) was that the person didn’t have anyone to go with them.
One of the things I hope we can do is to think about how we can be the spark and be that connection to be a catalyst of joy in our community. Let’s start to be the change- it won’t take an awful lot of us doing this before the fire will start to catch and have real ripples in our lives and the lives of others.
Food to Support the Heart:
- Bitter Foods
The bitter flavor is the one that is said to relate to the Heart in TCM. The bitter flavor is one that we tend to neglect in the Western diet, but increasing bitter foods (like green vegetables) in the diet has a tremendous effect helping relax our nervous system and heart health. The bitter flavor is a sign that there is a healing property- this is true even with uncoated pharmaceutical medicines or herbs (some of the most powerful healing herbs have a bitter flavor). It is important to incorporate bitter foods into the diet- particularly green vegetables.
Chocolate:
There are also some fun bitter foods that are not green vegetables that you can use judiciously. One of these foods that has a bitter flavor and is associated with the Heart is chocolate (think how this fits in with how we view Valentine’s Day in our society). The bitter flavor of chocolate comes from many of the incredible compounds that have profound effects on the brain, nervous system and the heart. I fully recommend enjoying some dark chocolate a little every day, or a couple of times a week. This has a really beautiful effect on the Heart and the mind.
It is vital to recognize that chocolate because of the places it is grown and how desirable it is as a commodity around the world has an awful lot of suffering and exploitation happening around this beautiful plant. It is important to not support any chocolate that enslaves children, economically destroys regions, or that oppresses and enslaves animals.
If you are looking for well verified sources of chocolate to enjoy that is made without oppression or slavery I highly recommend the Food Empowerment Project. They have done comprehensive research with all the major chocolate companies and lot of small companies as well – finding out the sourcing of the chocolate, how it is made if this is something they can recommend to people who want to enjoy this sacred food in a conscious way. It is great stuff for you to enjoy and has a positive effect catching fire on the people who produce it.
Check your tongue to check on your Heart
The most common thing I see in my practice with out of balance Fire element or Heart center is the effect of chronic stress and depletion. A quick way to check for this involved tongue diagnosis. Stick out your tongue and look at the tip- if there is any amount of heat in the Heart (yin deficiency) you will see that the tip of the tongue will be bright red compared to the rest of the tongue. The tip will have no coating on it even though the rest of the tongue might have a coating.
If this sign is present it means that you’re carrying stress in your mind and Heart. It can also mean that you’ve been partying too hard- people who have a lot of Fire element tend to burn the candle at both ends. It is important for people who are Fire types to reign themselves in and make sure they are getting enough rest and do things to really support themselves.
Catnip for your Heart
Catnip is a euphoric plant for cats- but the part of the plant that cats react to does not affect humans in the same way. So it is not a psychoactive drug for humans- it’s pleasantly bitter and cooling and has a wonderful calming effect on the Heart and the spirit. It is one of the gentlest remedies for insomnia that I know of.
Make a strong tea with catnip: take about 2 heaping tablespoons to 6 ounces of water and let steep for at least 30 minutes. You can add some sweetener if you like or just drink it plain.
This is an extremely beneficial remedy for stress and insomnia that can come when the Heart is a bit agitated and the spirit is not able to settle and descend.
