Sadness and grief are the emotions related to our lungs. According to Traditional Chinese medicine, that is why we sigh when we are sad or depressed, and especially when we are grieving. A sigh is a forceful exhale; from the energetic perspective, it is a natural practice to reduce the heavy weight of the emotional burden residing within our chest cavity. What I encourage many of my patients to do when they feel sad or depressed is to practice active breathing with concentration on their exhalation. The following exercise is designed to address the lung organ and its corresponding emotion.

From the Chinese medical perspective, the emotions which are related to this organ are excess joy, or excitement. However, the imbalance of the HT's energy will lead to what I believe is known in our culture as anxiety. We are having more and more people diagnosed with anxiety disorders and/or panic attack disorders in the United States. According to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), approximately 40 million American adults ages 18 and older have issues with anxiety disorder in every given year. This is a staggering and, unfortunately, increasing number, and it is a major cause of many social issues and anti-social behavior in this country. Many teenagers and young adults are just simply less comfortable with communicating face to face, and prefer to rely heavily on texting, chat, or tweeting. Social anxiety is one of the major causes for the rise of Internet-based social networks.

In most cases, anxiety is caused by an over-exited sympathetic nervous system. There are major connections to sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems in our chest cavity and around the heart. By connecting to your middle DT and chest area consciously, and by visualizing your heart slowing its rhythm in your chest to beat calmly, you can stop an anxiety episode from ever turning into a full blown panic attack. This very simple exercise can dramatically reduce the severity of, or in many cases eliminate, anxiety.

Liver is a major organ in charge of emotional stability in Chinese Medicine. The main emotion related to the imbalance of this organ is anger. However, all other emotions related to aggressive behavior can also be linked to liver imbalance. Mood swings and roller-coaster movements of energy from calmness to an explosive state, and feeling emotionally unstable, are mostly related to this organ. It's also in charge of keeping what's referred to as "sinews" nourished and soft. Sinews can be translated to tendons and connective tissues. From that perspective, the liver plays a major role in relaxing the muscle and skeletal aspect of our bodies, as well as soothing the Yin element of the blood and calming the nerves. Thus, its imbalance will result in the opposite and can leave our bodies stiff and tight, and our minds uneasy. Cirrhosis of the liver is a common condition in people who abuse alcohol and drugs. It will cause internal dehydration by depleting the Yin element, and it also makes individuals more edgy and irritable.

The Liver Exercise is designed to soothe your liver and calm your mind. This exercise, and all others discussed in my book, will also help to promote healthy organ (in this case liver) functions, and help to prevent any negative diagnosis in the future. As I say to many of my patients, the "Best Medicine is Preventive Medicine!" You don't need to wait until you can actually notice these imbalances in order to do any of these exercises on a regular basis. Doing so will cause an ongoing internal healing response that will allow your body to react better to any possible distress.

According to both Western and Chinese medicine, kidneys are the main filters for all of our bodily fluids, which make them very important in regards to our daily functions. However, their role goes far beyond that in TCM, where they are also viewed as major organs for growth and development in the embryonic phase, and for aging in the adult life. For instance, early graying of the hair and hearing loss are conditions related to deficiency of kidney energy.

Kidneys are known to store a substance called Jing. This very important substance is the main source of genetic makeup in an individual. Kidneys are also viewed as very important organs when it comes to sexual health and function (especially in males). It is known that sexual promiscuity and overindulgence will deplete kidneys of their essence (the Jing substance) in both genders, and will cause early aging and chronic sickness. In Chinese medical text, this phenomenon however is mostly discussed when referring to multiple sexual partners and/or excessive masturbation. Kidneys are also known to be the gatekeeper of what's referred to as "male vital energy." A very famous acupuncture point, "Ming Man = the gate of vitality", is located roughly in between the right and the left kidney, and it is regularly used to treat male impotency due to kidney Qi deficiency. According to TCM, the energetic imbalance of the kidney organ is closely related to the emotion of fear and the sensation of shock from being frightened. The fear that is discussed here is not anxiety or worry; rather the primal and physical sensation of fear, when one is deeply frightened and shocked. Strong kidney energy (along with gallbladder energy) in an individual is also closely related to the sense of bravery displayed by that person.

This exercise helps when you are dealing with an emergency or a crisis situation. It will help you relax and calm down and make a decision which is not just a knee jerk reaction at the time of crisis. It also works well to build the kidney energy and creates a sense of vitality and promotes personal courage.

Although the spleen doesn't have many known physiological functions associated with it in Western medicine, it is an important organ in Traditional Chinese Medicine. It has a distinct energetic role in regard to digestion and metabolism (transformation) of nutrients to energy. It also plays a major role in managing stress, and its imbalance causes what's referred to in Chinese texts as worry, or a low grade, ongoing anxiety disorder. Other references have been made about the emotional association between spleen and pensiveness, or sadness. However, from my research and the cases I have seen in my practice, constant worry and mild underlined anxiety are better descriptions. Imagine someone who is constantly worried about his or her siblings, parents, children, the economy, politics, the planet, etc. This person may not appear to be overly anxious, and many of his or her worries may seem to merit logical concerns. But it's the imbalance of constantly having something to worry about (being a worrier), which is mainly of concern here. This generally means that from the imbalance of spleen, we are more likely to produce and manifest these sensations of pensiveness and worry. The opposite can also be true, not just for spleen, but also for all the other organs discussed earlier. Keep in mind that the emotional manifestations which were discussed in this book (e.g. anger = imbalanced liver), are manifested when there is an energetic imbalance of that organ. Thus, the opposite can also be true when the related organ is healthy and in perfect balance (e.g. peaceful = healthy liver). When the spleen is balanced and functioning properly, the individual feels calm and collected, instead of nervous and anxious. The following exercise is designed to tonify the spleen and enhance its energetic function. That means we can expect to feel calm and worry-free after it's done. This exercise will also result in better transformation of our nutrients and help the spleen with producing plenty of energy. As discussed earlier, all of these exercises can be done preventatively. One should not wait for the imbalance to start working on the exercise. However, this exercise is specially recommended, for instance, when we feel overly tired and energetically drained, or when we are dealing with a constant, low grade anxiety and nervousness. This exercise allows you to collect your energy and center your mind.