This page is specifically for those who want clarification on the use of terms I use throughout this blog. If you don’t feel the desire for this clarification please move on to the next thing that you find calls to you on this blog.

Overview for this Page:

You will find throughout this blog words or phrases that actually come from the tradition of Tantric Yoga. I choose to use these terms from time to time to illustrate or highlight a similar concept in Traditional Chinese Medicine.

More than a decade of research as well as additional formal education and clinical practice allows me to feel qualified to share with you concepts of health from the perspective of Traditional Chinese Medicine and when appropriate (as I will hopefully demonstrate below) I use terms from Tantric Yoga to simplify difficult to describe concepts in TCM.

While I am currently undertaking an education in Tantric Yoga that will (if finished) lead to a teaching certificate from the Tantrika Institute, I claim no deep level of understanding of this tradition and refer you others such as Christopher “Hareesh” Wallis (who’s blog can be found here) who are qualified to educate you in this amazing tradition.

Why/When I Use Terms From Tantric Yoga (or Other Fields):
  1. The organization of the psyche in TCM is complex and uses terms most people will be unfamiliar with. Terms from Tantric Yoga and other fields simplify these terms. For example:
    1. There is a well documented understanding of the “psyche” in Traditional Chinese Medicine that breaks down as such…
      1. The “Shen” (which can be translated as Spirit) refers to the complex of all 5 of the mental and emotional aspects of being a conscious being, these are the Hun, Po, Yi, Zhi, and Shen (same word different meaning.)
      2. Now these are difficult to grasp for the average western reader as we have many unfamiliar terms. I instead use terms either from Tantric Yoga or another related field because of the ease of which they can be understood. For example:
        1. The “Hun” in TCM refers to the subconscious, uncontrolled movement of thoughts and feelings. This is much easier to understand if I use the term Thinking/Emotional Brain instead of “Hun”
        2. The “Hun” is unregulated and incapable of monitoring or healing itself. Instead it relies on the power of the “Shen” or “Mind” of the heart which is defined as “the place where consciousness resides and insight and wisdom are found.” This is much easier to understand when I say “Awareness of an emotion has the potential to bring the emotion into harmony with the rest of the body.”
  1. There are some functions of the mind/body in Traditional Chinese Medicine that to my knowledge do not have a word that describes the function itself. For example:
    1. The Shen (translated here as Mind) is in charge of coordinating and integrating the various parts of our mental and emotional life. It is through this ability that the Shen is able to regulate and integrate the thoughts and emotions of the Hun as it is what recognizes, feels, and assesses them. When the Mind integrates with the emotions of the Hun it brings about balance in the energetic body.
    2. Instead of using this complex and overwhelming paragraph I instead use the term “Digesting” your emotions from the Tantric philosophy. Digesting your emotions requires conscious awareness of them which holds space for the story and emotion to be heard and felt. (Integration of the Shen and Hun).
A Few of the Terms I Use and the Rationale for Those Choices:
  1. Shen of the Heart – Consciousness or Awareness
    1. The Shen of the heart is responsible for consciousness, insight, wisdom, and the integration of the other “shens” including thoughts, emotions, and perceptions of our external world from our 5 senses.
  1. Hun of the Liver – Thinking/Emotional Brain or Heart-Mind
    1. The Hun of the liver is often referred to as “seperate” from the Shen of the Mind. Thoughts and emotions come from the Hun and are thought to “rise up” out of an ocean of infinite possibility. It must be regulated by the Shen of the heart so that thoughts do not “flood” the individual.
  1. Digesting an emotion
    1. The process by which the Shen of the Heart integrates and coordinates the “coming and going” of the Hun as well as the “expansion and contraction” of the Po into a cohesive whole which allows energy to flow properly throughout the energetic body.
Final Notes:

If you have any question about the rationale behind the choice of words used or would like a deeper understanding of the concepts I discuss throughout this blog from a purely TCM perspective please feel free to email me.

Once again please let me reiterate that I am not a specialist in Tantric Yoga, Neurophysiology, or brain development. My clinical experience, research, and education are in Traditional Chinese Medicine, corrective exercises for movement impairments, brain integration, and bodywork.

Also please note that Traditional Chinese Medicine is looking primarily at dis-ease of the physical or mental/emotional body from a clinical perspective. The goals of TCM and that of Tantric Yoga are very different and while they do overlap in areas please realize that they are distinct and seperate paths that lead to very different destinations.

You could say (in oversimplified terms) that the goal of TCM is a thriving mental and physical body that allows you to navigate through life with greater ease while the goal of Tantric Yoga (to my limited knowledge) is awakening to your true nature and liberation from all mind created suffering. This difference can be highlighted by remembering that TCM is a clinical health discipline that fits into the realm of healthcare while Tantric Yoga is a spiritual path or life philosophy that fits into the realm of spirituality.

Please note that while I use various terms such as those discussed on this page to illustrate a common theme, I am not saying that the words are synonyms. For example in TCM the “hun” is said to live on after death and the “shen” dies with the body which (to my limited knowledge) is actually reversed in the philosophy of Tantric Yoga. Similarly the “shen” of the heart where consciousness resides is located either in the heart or in the brain (depending on the perspective of the ancient practicioner) whereas (to my limited knowledge) it is Consciousness that creates the thing we call “brain” and therefore exists without the need of it from the philosophy of Tantric Yoga.

Finally, please note that while the tradition of chinese medicine is very clear about the affect of the psyche on the physical body and treatment of it from various perspectives much of the information on this blog related to “emotional digestion” and “de-storying” is not explicitly taught in TCM to the best of my current knowledge. The process I call “digestion” is specifically described as a function of a healthy psyche (as noted above) but the specific techniques of doing so come mostly from the Tantric Yoga tradition or in some cases my training in Brain Integration Therapy.

In most of the textbooks of TCM (that I have read) the psyche is typically treated by the provider through the use of specific herbs and acupuncture. There are many references to the use of Tuina, Qigong, and meditation as beneficial additions to the treatment of the psyche and we do know that historically Traditional Chinese Medicine developed within a culture which taught many of these “spiritual” techniques. For example there are references for “treatment of fire of the heart” which would cause insomnia, anxiety, racing heart, and potentially arrythmias by “letting go of craving”.

In clinical practice I utilize these herbs as well as bodywork and meditation as “prescribed” by Traditional Chinese Medicine but have found the most consistently effective and most easily understood techniques to come out of the Tantric Yoga tradition. We do know that the yogic traditions of India were in dialog with the Daoist and Buddhist traditions that are referenced in TCM textbooks. It is also my understanding that the tradition of Tantric Yoga has a system of describing the “energy body” which consists of Nadis and Chakras (as well as other aspects) which has many correlations with the energy body drawings used in acupuncture. (Note that I am NOT saying they are the same thing but simply that there is evidence that there is a potential relationship there).

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