Stress through the lens of Chinese medicine
Stress can arrive as a sudden shock or build quietly over time. Chinese medicine offers a traditional framework for reflecting on how patterns of activity, rest and recovery may be experienced. The concepts in this article describe that tradition; they are not biomedical diagnoses.
In Chinese medicine, health is sometimes described through the movement of Qi—a term often translated as vital energy—and the body’s capacity to rest and replenish. This is traditional language, rather than a biomedical measurement, and may offer one way to notice how stress shows up in daily life.
When stress hits suddenly
Acute stress is sudden and intense: a frightening event, unexpected crisis or period of immediate pressure. Chinese medicine describes strong emotional shocks in relation to the Heart, Kidney and Liver systems. These names refer to broader functional networks in the traditional framework, not simply to organs as understood in modern medicine.
People may notice a racing heart, shallow breathing, tense muscles, a restless mind or difficulty settling afterward. Experiences vary, and these signs can have many causes. If symptoms are severe, new or worrying, seek advice from an appropriate health professional.
When stress becomes a pattern
Ongoing stress may arise alongside emotional strain, physical or mental overwork, persistent pain or too little time to rest. Chinese medicine may describe prolonged pressure through patterns such as constraint in the Liver system, while sustained demands may be discussed in relation to the Kidney system and foundational reserves. These are traditional interpretations, not biomedical explanations.
People describe stress differently. Some feel wired and irritable; others feel depleted or shut down. Sleep, digestion, energy, mood and muscle tension are among the areas people may want to discuss with a health professional.
Considering support
Acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine are practices within Chinese medicine. A registered practitioner can explain what an appointment involves, discuss possible risks and help you consider whether an approach is suitable for your circumstances. Individual responses vary, and no outcome can be guaranteed.
Regular meals, gentle movement, time outdoors and routines that support sleep and recovery may also be part of caring for yourself. These steps can sit alongside appropriate professional care. If stress is affecting daily life, speak with your GP or another qualified health professional about support options.
In brief
- Chinese medicine offers a traditional framework for discussing stress and recovery.
- Sudden and ongoing stress can feel different for each person.
- Heart, Liver and Kidney are traditional functional systems, not direct equivalents of biomedical organ diagnoses.
- Discuss acupuncture or Chinese herbal medicine with a registered practitioner, and seek appropriate health care when symptoms persist or concern you.
This article is general information only. It does not provide a diagnosis or personalised medical advice and is not a substitute for care from your GP or another qualified health professional.
Published writing · July 2024
Mindfulness and Resilience
By Dr Maaz Ali Tariq
Archive note: This essay reflects the author’s writing in 2024. References to Qi, Shen and organ systems describe traditional Chinese medicine concepts, not biomedical organ diagnoses or established physiological mechanisms. The essay is shared for general education and personal reflection, rather than as treatment advice.
Early Exposure to Mindfulness
As a young student at university, I stumbled across Thich Nhat Hanh’s book “The Miracle of Mindfulness” at a holistic health library, and it felt like one of those synchronistic moments in life when you find exactly what you need at the right time. The late Thich Nhat Hanh was a renowned teacher in the field of mindfulness and left a profound legacy of teachings on mindfulness among other achievements. He taught the practice of mindful walking contemplation as a way to sink deeper into the here and now and become present with life as it happens. By being mindful of letting your steps follow your breath, allowing your breathing to be natural and not forced, and focusing on each step as it occurs, you can experience a deep sense of presence. Notice the subtle movements of slowly raising the ball of the foot, moving the knees forward, landing gently with the heel, and giving complete attention to each movement required in walking.
Practicing mindful walking contemplation in the early morning is a wonderfully simple method of mindfulness. I would switch my attention to the breath after some time, noticing the warm air leaving my nostrils and the cool morning air entering in. Finally, I would allow my eyelids to remain heavy, getting enough light and visual perception to not fall over, and feel conscious awareness expand to include the bird calls and sounds of the city waking up.
Mindfulness is the practice of being fully present and engaged in the current moment, with an open and non-judgmental attitude. It involves paying attention to our thoughts, feelings, and sensations as they arise. By giving this attention to the present moment, we expand our capacity to sustain conscious awareness of the here and now. This simple method of shifting focus and attention returns awareness to the present moment and increases the feeling of being embodied. Practicing this each morning sets a wonderful tone for the day. In moments when the mind begins to overthink or get anxious, we can train ourselves to return to those moments of mindfulness practiced early in the day.
Mindfulness and Tea
There is a long recorded history of ancient Chinese culture using sophisticated ceremonial ways of drinking tea as a mindfulness activity. While traveling through Yunnan, China, I came across an intriguing tea monk, who would drink pu-erh tea every morning in a beautiful, aesthetically pleasing, ceremonial mindfulness activity in a beautiful old wooden house overlooking a lake. I recall those moments with vivid clarity, as I remember how much presence and grounding that experience had left in my mind. Not only the tea itself, but the entire journey of boiling the water over charcoal, the sound of the kettle gurgling, the steam rising and the movements of this serene tea monk prepare each delightful bowl of the here and now. I was immediately transported into a timeless space of deep presence and simply observed life happening.
A decade later, when studying Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) in Los Angeles, California, I began attending tea ceremonies regularly as it provided a much-needed space of quiet reflection amidst the intense study and pressure of attending a Chinese medicine university. The practice and art of ceremonial tea became a wonderful way to connect to a quiet state of presence, allowing for a complete reset and grounding into beingness, into that space of “I am”.
Presence is the awareness of being attentive to the sensations that arise in each moment. The opposite of this would be going into imagination. Imagination is the antithesis of presence. When the mind gets carried away into thoughts of what has been or could be, we begin using the imaginative faculties to explore these thoughts. This process is only helpful if we are directing our thoughts towards a conclusion or to perform an activity. If we trigger thoughts and imagination to run on autopilot throughout the day, as it’s so easy and common to do, we actually move further away from being present.
TCM and Mindfulness
In TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine), we label this habit of going into thoughts and imagination as “overthinking,” and it weakens the energy of your digestion and muscles. So much of your daily use of glucose, sugars that feed the muscles of the body to keep them functioning well and with good tone, gets diverted to your brain, and you essentially use up your metabolic energy on your thoughts rather than powering up your muscles and digestive processes. We can literally use up our energy overthinking in an imaginary world, rather than applying that energy to cultivate being present in the here and now.
This is why we say, in TCM, overthinking weakens your spleen qi – that is, it weakens the digestive and metabolic energy of the body. As such, it drains physical vitality and leads to fatigue and lethargy. The spleen qi is essentially the metabolic, digestive energy that is required to digest food and to send nutrients to body tissues such as your muscles. When you become disembodied in your imaginative wanderings, you weaken this system, and over time, if it becomes a habit of the mind, it will weaken your body.
To redirect your awareness back towards presence, through mindful attention to what is happening at present, is actually a remedy to the depletion of your spleen energy and, therefore, a health-giving activity. Mindfulness is good for your health and keeps your digestion and muscle tone healthy and strong.
The nuances of TCM are quite profound when you understand how they relate to everyday activities. Just as your spleen governs the digestion and tone of the muscles of the body, another organ that is benefited greatly by mindfulness is the heart. An important concept from TCM is that the heart houses the “shen,” which is a classic Chinese character that is also translated as “spirit brightness.”
This brightness of spirit is what mystics and sages refer to as the illumination of our consciousness. When we put our attention on anything, we light up that aspect of reality into conscious awareness. Mindfulness is essentially this process of being aware and attentive to what is present. So, bringing into conscious awareness any aspect of reality requires the “shen” to be attentive to it.
When you practice mindfulness, you allow your attention to focus on thoughts, feelings, and sensations. Through mindfulness, you nourish the heart shen and that keeps you feeling calm and happy. As you allow the breathing to become regular, the body becomes more relaxed, and consciousness flows smoothly throughout your body. In this way, we become more aware, connected, and present.
It is only when thought and imagination start to get out of hand that the heart gets agitated. The negative emotion for the heart is joy, which may sound strange at first glance, but is better understood as “overexcitement,” the kind of feeling when joyfulness becomes too excessive, causing you to stay up at night, become consumed by fantasy or imaginative hopefulness. The excitement is said to weaken the heart as it takes one out of the present moment, causing a person to become consumed by thoughts and heightened emotions. We often see insomnia as rooted in this problem. Mindfulness, again, is a perfect remedy to restore the connection with shen and return us to a state of calm resilience.
Resilience through Mindfulness
Resilience is best defined as our capacity to recover from setbacks and adapt to challenging circumstances. It is our ability to bounce back from adversity, maintaining mental and emotional strength when faced with everyday stressors, unfavorable situations, and preventing ourselves from spiraling out of control with worry, fear, or anger. When these emotions take hold of us, we lose that grounded connection to the present moment and our energy knots, sinks, or rises. TCM refers to this as the pathophysiology of emotions that sends our energy into chaos. Returning back to our senses by noticing what is happening in the present moment, restores our natural flow of energy throughout the body, settling the emotions and calming the shen. Through mindful resilience, we find the equilibrium required to return to balance.
Having a mindfulness practice is a way to help train ourselves to return to the present moment with greater ease and grace. The tea ceremony serves as my daily practice of being attentive to what is, noticing the sensations that arise in the moment. For example, during the ceremony, I focus on the sound of the kettle boiling and the birds in the distance, the sight of the beautiful ceramics and flowers, the touch and texture of the teapot and teaware, the smell of the aloeswood incense and the aroma of tea, and the taste of the thick liquor of pu-erh tea. These sensory experiences bring me back to a state of being embodied.
As I deepen my practice by noticing the weight of my hands and elbows, handling the movements of the ceremony, and awareness of the breath entering in and out, I find that these subtle moments of attentiveness to what is happening in the here and now provide me with the cues I can draw upon later in the day when things start to get hectic or stressful. Using one or a combination of these cues, such as noticing the weight of my hands and elbows, or the awareness of the breath, immediately reinforces that state of mindful attention even when I am experiencing something stressful later in the day. By reinforcing these habits of attention, it becomes easier and more efficient to restore a state of mindfulness. This cultivation of mindfulness helps cultivate inner peace and stability, which supports us in times of crisis, and thus increases resilience.
Conclusion
Resilience is not about avoiding difficulties but about building the capacity to face them with a calm and centered mind. We can’t control life or the circumstances that come our way each day; we are constantly facing unexpected interruptions or things that we don’t particularly want to deal with. But as life continues to happen, and we remain rooted in our mindful practices, we can have the resilience needed to face these challenges and adversities. By training yourself to use simple cues during the quiet hours of mindful activity, you can return to that state of calmness when in the heat of the moment of life’s challenges. The practice of mindful walking was my introduction to mindfulness and can be recapped as follows:
- Feeling the sensation at the bottom of the feet, raising the heel, moving the knees forward, rolling off the ball of the foot, stepping forward, and landing gently with the heel while giving complete attention to each of the movements.
- Attentiveness to the breath, letting the breath lead the movements, observing the temperature of the air coming in and out of the nostrils.
- Allowing the eyelids to get heavy, keeping just enough visual stimulation to not fall over or bump into anything, and spreading your attention outwards to hear all the sounds near and far.
This can be a wonderful stand-alone practice that provides the opportunity to train yourself to find numerous cues that you can retrigger in moments of stress. Whether it is simply feeling the step forward, noticing the air in the nostrils, or letting your eyelids become heavy, these cues can help bring you back to a state of mindfulness.
If those quiet morning hours sound like too much of a luxury, especially if you are busy raising children or have family obligations, there are still many practical ways to stay present and engaged with life. During daily tasks, whether it’s washing dishes or some other activity, focusing on the task at hand without rushing, finding the breath, or simply noticing your thoughts and feelings can help you return to presence. This approach transforms mundane activities into opportunities for mindfulness. The insights from the organ systems in Traditional Chinese Medicine can help guide you in restoring emotional balance, revitalizing your energy, and returning to a state of balanced health. In this way, you can always return to wholeness. Mindfulness is thereby an essential aspect of living a healthy, resilient, and balanced life as a whole.
Allergic rhinitis · Research
Hay fever and acupuncture: understanding the evidence
By Dr Maaz Ali Tariq · Chinese medicine practitioner
A change in season can bring a familiar pattern: sneezing, a blocked nose and eyes that will not stop itching. When these symptoms interrupt sleep or concentration, even ordinary tasks can feel more demanding. Understanding your triggers and the evidence behind treatment options is a useful place to begin.
Understanding hay fever
Allergic rhinitis, often called hay fever, occurs in response to environmental allergens such as pollen, dust mites, mould or animal dander. Symptoms may be seasonal or present throughout the year. Persistent symptoms deserve assessment, particularly when they affect sleep or occur alongside asthma. [1]
What does the acupuncture research tell us?
Acupuncture has been studied as a complementary approach to allergic rhinitis. A randomised trial involving 422 people with seasonal hay fever compared acupuncture plus rescue antihistamine medication with sham acupuncture plus medication and medication alone. After eight weeks, the acupuncture group had better scores for hay-fever-related quality of life and antihistamine use. However, the researchers cautioned that the differences might not be clinically meaningful, and there were no differences between groups at 16 weeks in the first year. [2]
These findings suggest possible short-term benefit for some people, while leaving uncertainty about how noticeable or lasting that benefit may be. They do not establish acupuncture as a cure for hay fever, or justify extending the findings to food allergies or other allergic conditions.
Possible mechanisms, with perspective
The two reviews highlighted in our original post—McDonald and colleagues (2013 and 2015)—explore possible anti-inflammatory mechanisms, including inflammatory mediators, receptors and signalling pathways. These are reviews of proposed biological explanations, rather than clinical trials demonstrating reliable symptom relief. A plausible mechanism is one part of the research picture; it does not, by itself, show how much a treatment will help a person. [3] [4]
A thoughtful approach to care
Start with a clear diagnosis and a plan with your GP or pharmacist. Reducing exposure to confirmed triggers, saline nasal treatments, antihistamines and corticosteroid nasal sprays are established options. Selected people with persistent or severe symptoms may be considered for allergen immunotherapy through an allergy specialist. [1]
If you are considering acupuncture, discuss its potential benefits, limitations, risks and costs with a registered practitioner. It can be considered alongside appropriate medical care, with realistic goals and a review of whether symptoms actually improve. Continue prescribed treatment unless your treating clinician advises otherwise.
In brief
- Hay fever is a response to environmental allergens, and identifying your triggers can guide care.
- Acupuncture research suggests possible short-term benefit, with uncertainty about its clinical importance and durability.
- Mechanistic research is different from evidence of meaningful symptom relief.
- A coordinated care plan should keep established treatments and your individual needs at its centre.
This article provides general information, not a diagnosis or personalised medical advice. Seek medical assessment for persistent or concerning symptoms. Severe breathing difficulty requires urgent medical help.