The nature(hot, warm. cool, cold) of herbs and food is derived from climate changes in the atmosphere, but taste is formed from substances absorbed from the earth. While it's easy for anyone to understand that the "nature" of natural ingredients like 'cold' or 'hot' comes from the climate, explaining that taste is formed from substances absorbed from the earth may require additional clarification.
<A: air, E: earth, Θ: temperatures below zero degrees Celsius, P: plant>
Temperature is at its lowest during the heart of winter. How, then, can plant roots survive without freezing? After all, the temperature of the soil is much lower than the living temperature of the plant, so according to the second law of thermodynamics, heat energy should flow from the plant into the ground.
According to scientific research, there are two reasons why plant roots do not freeze in winter. First, when root cells contract, moisture is expelled from the cells, creating ice crystals that act as insulation. Second, as moisture leaves the cells and the cells contract, heat energy does not escape outward, preventing the cells from freezing. In other words, plant roots absorb essential substances from the surrounding soil to build insulating barriers on their surfaces, ensuring that heat conduction doesn't occur easily.
When you taste these winter roots, they often have a bitter taste. This bitterness comes from the robust structure formed from the earth's substances to sustain the plant's life during winter. Additionally, in traditional Chinese medicine, the concept of the bitter taste aligns with this explanation. When the bitter taste enters the body, it tightens the spaces between particles, pushing moisture out and solidifying the structure, which is consistent with the principles of traditional Chinese medicine.
In modern Western medicine, when we refer to organs like the liver, we talk about anatomically observable organs. However, Eastern medicine refers to a collection of organs supporting essential functions in life’s active processes. To use an analogy, if we call the visible landmasses on Earth "the Earth," that's the anatomical concept. In contrast, if we include the invisible atmosphere and the landmasses as "the Earth," that's the Eastern medicine concept.
If we compare the earth to the anatomical liver, then the atmosphere becomes the "Liver Qi." Similarly, Eastern medicine's "heart" encompasses both the anatomical heart and "Heart Qi." Applying the same principle, "spleen" in Eastern medicine includes both the spleen organ and "Spleen Qi," "lung" includes both the lung organ and "Lung Qi," and "kidney" includes both the kidney organ and "Kidney Qi."
Dr.Ahn Cardinal Acupuncture
703-375-9057
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