TCM: Your boss is your body, not your brain. 中医的身体观: 你的身体是比头脑段位高很多的东西

This is a post I saw from a sexual health specialist on Chinese Twitter. She shows confusion of the efficacy of Acupuncture on treating clinical depression. She is criticizing the acupuncturist who is trying to do clinical test on depression patients is money-stealing.

For us with modern science education background, the exact treatment of clinical depression is psychotherapy.
Patients may expect cure of depression by talking to a psychology, or chemical medication.
Whatever, acupuncture seems to have no relation with depression treatment.

I used to think human's all activity is controlled by our brain.
Now I start to realize the brain is only the CEO of our body. Though it manages everything in our body, it has to take orders from the boss.
The reason is, although the modern physiologic research could interpret the complex reactions happened in human body cells, no one can explain why the cells know what to do. In other words, what's the ultimate driven force of these live activities?

Who is the real boss of human body? In the world of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), the heart is your body's ultimate boss. 《Huangdi Neijing》(one of the most well-known ancient book in China, has been treated as the fundamental doctrinal source for Chinese medicine for more than two millennia. ) says:

"The heart is the emperor of body, with spirit and divinity inside."

As a concept in TCM, the "heart" is not anatomically heart, but something invisible in our body.
The common-known substantial heart is called "heart bag", which connects the body and the invisible heart.
It is the divinity in the heart telling the brain what to do, what is our destiny.
The power of the true heart is not related with intelligence, but is only related to wisdom.
The true heart decides those cannot be obtained by brain-thinking, such as inherent personality, love, and inner desire.

How TCM deal with clinical depression? Believing in "One body and mind".
《Huangdi Neijing》:

"The five essential organs in human body are in charge of five different emotions.
Liver - anger; heart - excitement; spleen - desire; lung - sadness; kidney - fear. "

A healthy guy is also a happy guy. Those who suffer from chronic disease tend to be depressed.
Another prove is, there has been clinical research showing that Acupunture could help the secretion of essential hormones and neurotransmitters. There is no point to divide human's body and mind into two different things.

As I become a TCM practitioner, I realized that we really underestimated the power of our body. It it not a bunch of meat and blood. The body is the medium of the communication between our superficial awareness and inner deity.
Illness is a kindly reminder message sent from your true heart, through your body, to tell you the real problem you have. For example, stress from your work, unhealthy lifestyle, and all your ignorance and delusion. These make your true heart sick.

One thing I always notice myself: Do not try to control my body by my brain. Instead, control the brain by the body, and control the body by the true heart.

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前一阵在微博上看到一个两性健康的大v发了这么一条(上图)。
受着现代教育长大的人们，概念里觉得，抑郁症这种东西，是要去做心理疏导的。
当然也可以直接吃药来补充缺失的多巴胺。或者出去玩和运动也许可以有一点辅助作用。
但无论如何，在身体上扎针，好像和抑郁症的治疗没有半毛钱关系。

我也曾经以为人的一切活动是由大脑控制的。
现在慢慢认识到，解剖层面的脑不过是人体的CEO，权力再大也不过是奉老板的命行事。
因为，尽管现代生理学研究已经阐述了许许多多复杂非常的细胞活动和化学反应，但对于其真正的作用机理尚不明确。换句话说，我们只是知道了这些细胞在做什么，但他们为什么能够这样做，却没人能说的明白。

人体真正的老板是谁？《黄帝内经》：“心为君主之官，神明出焉”。这个“神明”便是你的最终boss。

中医的“心”并不是解剖意义上的心脏，而是一个看不见的器官。
那个实体的心唤作“心包”，是身体和那个隐形的心连接的地方。
那个看不见的“心”，其中住着“神明”，是它在告诉大脑应该做什么。上天带我们来这世上，给了我们怎样的任务线，只有我们的神明知道。一个人心力如何，与大脑智商无关，而与智慧相关。
真正的“心”决定着那些不能思考得来的东西，比如天生的性格，比如爱，比如内心的渴望。

中医怎么治抑郁症？奉行“身心合一”。心藏神，肝藏魂，脾藏意，肺藏魄，肾藏志。
《黄帝内经》：“人有五脏化五气，以生喜怒悲忧恐。肝在志为怒，心在志为喜，脾在志为思，肺在志为忧，肾在志为恐。” 身心本为一体，何必分开？五脏六腑养得好，心这个“君主之官”自然高兴。
从西医角度理解：心理问题会反映在身体上，比如长期压力大会内分泌失调。身体得病心理也会受影响，比如长期卧床的患者容易得抑郁症。
所以，人常说，心情好了自然没病；那么心理疾病当然也可以从身体解决。心理医生不是也开药给病人吃的吗。现代研究也证明，针灸可以促进释放神经递质和激素呀。

自从做了中医，越来越觉得，我们太小瞧自己的身体了。身体是和我们的表面意识和内心神明沟通的媒介。
因为身体是永远站在“心”的那边，同时是一个有形的具象可以让你的表面意识感觉到。
而生病这件事，则是身体对你善意的提醒。 提醒你压抑的情绪，提醒你不良的生活习惯，提醒你的无知和妄念。
是这些东西，让“心”受伤了。
所以生病的时候，不要忙着责怪什么病原体，先想想自己什么地方做错了。

我常提醒自己的一句话就是：不要想着用头脑控制你的身体。要让身体控制你，去做符合自己“心意”的事情呀。