The Heart and Heart Protecter in Chinese Medicine:
As an acupuncturist who practices vibrational medicine, the individual and collective stress we are under at times draws me to the vitality of the Ventral Vagus nerve, or what is mirrored as the Heart and Heart Protector (or Pericardium) in Chinese Medicine.
A healthy and vital Heart or Ventral Vagus nerve provides us with the capacity for empathy, connection, and intimacy. It also provides us with the potential to repair ruptures with each other while staying in healthy connection. A vital energetic Heart inhibits the anti-social impulses that too often and too quickly can turn into violent words or actions. As well, the Heart and Heart Protector supports our ability to distinguish between being uncomfortable vs. being unsafe in the face of difference and our overall tolerance for discomfort and stress. As some of us may witness in the news and perhaps our neighbourhoods the rise in relational disrepair, we can see for so many how the energetic system of the Heart and Heart Protector is in need of our support, nourishment, and balancing.
It is essential for us to be able to discern when we are unsafe, however it is also important for our systems to know that while something can be uncomfortable, it may not necessarily merit triggering a response to protect our survival. Experiencing adversity within your own lived experience, or embedded trauma from your ancestors, or the social challenges from the pandemic, all can place strain on the system of the Heart or Ventral Vagus nerve. In turn, this can muddle our capacity to discern between "I am safe", "I am uncomfortable", or "my survival is in danger”. Unfortunately we may become more likely to mitigate this sense of threat by harmful or violent behaviour, by relationally shutting down, or by making choices that could invite further discomfort or harm.
Fostering the vitality of the energetic system of the Heart can provide essential healing for our responses and experiences of difference, of our capacities to resolve conflict while staying in healthy relationship, as well as our capacities for regular and frequent connection with the outer world.
We can all consider the function of our energetic Heart and the ways in which we can support its vitality. Receiving acupuncture, seeking council, being in nature, receiving consensual touch, dancing or playing music with others, including movement within your social interactions, or connecting with your community are all examples of how to bring vitality back to this system and regulate your social muscle. If you work with plant allies -rose, lemon balm, hawthorn, and oat straw all have an affinity with restoring the functions of the Herat and Heart Protector.
If you have any thoughts, please don't hesitate to reach out.
Jenica