The following information is from something called “Meridian Science” and is part of the training of a Neuro-Trainer Kinesiologist that many of you may not have realised.

Traditional Chinese medicine is based, first and foremost, on a classic published in the third century B.C., entitled “Neijing”, or “The Yellow Emperor’s Classics of Internal Medicine”.

 

There is a lot of information in Meridian Science and I am going to discuss just one small section – and only selected parts of that section – called “The Six External Pathogens”.

 

The six external energies are wind, cold, summer heat, dampness, dryness and fire – which stand for the changes in the climate during the four seasons.

When these six external energies attack the human body through the mouth, nose or skin to cause superficial disease, they are called the six external pathogens.

 

With Winter coming I thought it was a good time to look at these energies – especially the ones related to Winter.

 

Wind

 

Wind is known as a yang (male) pathogenic energy and will give rise to wandering symptoms and symptoms that change a great deal.

Wind can refer to external wind and internal wind.

External wind attacks the human body from the outside – which is an important point to note when thinking about the Winter weather.

 

The “nagging” from our mothers about keeping out of the wind and wearing something to “keep the wind out” held a much more important meaning to it than they perhaps even realised.

 

Cold

Cold is one of the yin (female) external pathogenic energies that can easily cause harm to yang energy.

When a person’s yang energy is in deficiency, defense energy will fail to guard the body against foreign invasions and so cold energy will attack – giving rise to such symptoms as dislike of cold, fever, headache, pain in the body, pain in bones and joints and abdominal pain with diarrhoea.

 

Cold can also be divided into external and internal types.

External cold refers to the cold that attacks the body from the outside and can refer to a weakening of yang energy with such symptoms as being very susceptible to an attack of the common cold.

 

Once again, further evidence for keeping our bodies warm during the Winter months by wearing cold resistant clothing especially close to the skin in the form of warm under garments.

It is also important to keeping us warm internally by eating and drinking hot foods and fluids.

 

Summer Heat

Not applicable for now, however for your interest.

Summer Heat is one of the yang external pathogenic energies.

When summer heat attacks the body, it will give rise to such symptoms as headache, fever, thirst, mental depression, excessive perspiration, and forceful and rapid pulse.

Summer Heat can also cause great harm to body fluids, which in turn leads to such symptoms as fatigue, weak limbs and dry mouth.

 

Dampness

Dampness is one of the yin external pathogenic energies.

It has a turbid, heavy and sticky nature and it can obstruct the activities of energy transformation performed by the spleen.

 

There are internal dampness and external dampness and they cause different symptoms.

 

External dampness refers to the dampness outside the human body such as on the ground, in the air, or of rain and dew.

It may give rise to such symptoms as heavy sensations in the head as if being wrapped up by a wet towel, soreness in the back of the neck, congested chest, sore loins, tired limbs and sore joints.

 

So once again what we thought was “mum just being mum” when we were told to get out of our damp clothes after coming inside has a very important message.

 

Dryness

Dryness can be divided into internal dryness and external dryness.

Both internal dryness and external dryness can cause exhaustion to yin fluids.

With internal dryness, the exhaustion of internal yin fluids is mostly due to a later stage of hot diseases or the result of vomiting and diarrhoea, excessive perspiration, excessive bleeding or improper use of drugs.

 

The symptoms of internal dryness consist of hot sensations as if heat were coming from the bones, mental depression, dry lips, dry tongue, dry skin, and dry and withered nails which are symptoms of yin being harmed by heat.

 

It is important to remember that we can easily dehydrate in Winter because it is easier to forget to drink water during the cold months.

 

Fire

Fire is the sixth external pathogen and causes the diseases called warm head and summer heat.

 

Fire can be differentiated into excess fire and deficiency fire.

Excess fire is due to an excess of external pathogenic energies, which are mostly seen in acute hot diseases with such symptoms as high fever, excessive perspiration, and thirst.

 

Deficiency fire is due to an exhaustion of yin fluids which is mostly seen in chronic wasting diseases.

 

This may have given you another insight into some of the training that goes into becoming a Neuro-Trainer Kinesiologist.

 

If you are interested in studying with the College of Neuro-Training Adelaide Campus – which can be just for personal interest and not necessarily with the intention of becoming a practitioner – contact me.