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February 2017 promises to be a Fire month! it is marked both by St Valentine, love Fire day, and by the Chinese New Year, starting January 28th, which this year is a year of the Rooster, a Fire sign according to the Chinese zodiac. The Heart, in Chinese Medicine, also belongs to Fire energy.

From an energetic point of view, we all know that Fire is a positive radiating energy that brings warmth, love and reaches out to others. No fire ever keeps its warmth for itself. It naturally spreads. Its positive heart qualities in human beings therefore are love, enthusiasm, generosity, zest for life and gentle joy and compassion. Fire is also a purifying energy as we know when we burn anything we want to get rid of. Scorching is a way for the earth to renew itself. Fire can burn obstacles, boundaries and knows no frontiers. Fire purification ceremonies or simple “cleaning up” are therefore good practices to get rid of clutter in our environments and hearts.

When Fire is out of control however, as we also well know, it brings destruction. Fire is a

• Hypertension
• Hypotension
• Arrhythmia,tachycardia or bradycardia
• Anxiety
• Lack of concentration and memory
• Stroke
• Cardio-vascular accidents

These are some of the all too common symptoms or diseases that refer to our heart and its’ physical or emotional suffering. Actually, within the Oriental model, you cannot distinguish between the two. A broken heart is a reality and hurts our heart organ. A weak heart will make it more difficult to withstand emotional challenges. In the Oriental model, our heart houses our “Shen” or spirit and is always affected by all our emotions while all of our emotions are affected by the health of our heart.

We know from all of our cardiology wards today, that meat, saturated fats, cheese, greasy foods and alcohol are common culprits damaging the delicate drum within our chest. Hearts like light vibrations. They enjoy rivers of blood that flow easily and nourish them with that nutrient rich red color that is the color of a vibrant and healthy heart.

Emotionally, our hearts resonate with warmth, gentle joy, love and zest for life. Oriental medicine associates our hearts with the Fire energy. Our hearts are literally the suns of our body’s inner planetary system. Because they are our inner

Three Treasures series

Shen, radiance of our spirit and flame of our soul

Shen is the most subtle of the three treasures. Often translated as spirit, Shen can also mean soul, mind, character, personality, emotion, charisma, talents or radiance. Shen resides in our Heart and its nature is Fire. Heart health and Shen are therefore closely connected. Interestingly enough Oriental medicine assigns to the Heart many of the functions that we assign to the brain. Concentration for example is a function of our Shen. The separation between mind and heart is of our making!

Shen expresses the refinement of a rough diamond into a precious jewel. It shines like a fire in our eyes and, like a fire, its warmth radiates way beyond its point of origin. Taking care of our Shen means an active mind and a warm loving heart.

The presentation is divided into several sections:

• Understanding the meaning of Shen and its relationship to Heart health
• Tools, such as tongue to assess the health of our Heart-Shen
• Shen as our emotional body
• Common symptoms alerting to Shen and Heart imbalance such as palpitations, chest pain, insomnia, difficulty with concentration, ADD, failing memory or emotional imbalance