There is a specific correlation between the stomach and the conscious mind , ever heard the saying “let me chew on that” or “food for thought” or fat the feeling of not being able to “stomach” an idea? All these figures of speech are a reflection of the fact that the stomach is responsible for what thoughts, food and experiences we “swallow’ and has the job of initially breaking them down. The stomach also is related in Classical Chinese medicine to the act of thinking, you can see this as a metaphor, when something crosses our minds we mill over it, churn it around and think about it, this all creates a ripple in our consciousness that brings our attention to the mater at hand or matter of thought. Over thinking and worry disrupt this natural process of thinking getting out of hand which can take a lot of energy to keep churning on and cycling though our thoughts. There is a connection between the quality of our thinking and the stomachs function of churning and processing. This mind body connection is at the root of upper GI problems and can show up as intolerance ( the inability to process more) rejection (vomiting) and lack of appetite. Lets look at some the rhythm of eating as it related to the build up go gu qi for the day, Earth element time is 7-11 am this is when the energy is concentrated in the stomach and spleen channels. Possibly this is why you have heard the old adage that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, makes sense that the organs that do the work to process food are highlighted during this morning time. It is this time of day typically after a morning bowel movement our bodies are ready for re-feuling for the day. The morning ritual of breakfast is a valuable asset to mental, physical, emotional grounding and balance though the day. I can’t tell you how many times I have heard in the clinic,”I don’t have time to eat” “I don’t eat breakfast” “ I eat a smoothie while in traffic” or “I am rushing the kids out the door eating while standing up, watching the morning news, shoveling snow and getting in a quick yoga stretch” breakfast has become a hustle to get in or an absent link in the daily routine for most people. Rushed morning activities, the absence of breakfast and all of the wild substitutes for sitting down and making space for this daily nourishment set up the conditions for shaky ground.
Think of it like this. If you have a whole day or doing ahead of you that you rush into without proper fueling your body, you don’t have the nourishment you need to run the active processes of the body. Breakdowns are ultimately going to happen, as you body will start to pull energy from your reserves to sustain itself. If you are running around in circles doing a million things while you are eating your first meal of the day you are putting undue stress on the digestion process giving it extra work overloading it with too much to process so it will shut down and reject the nourishment your trying to give it. The anxiety sets in as there is just simply too much for the conscious mind to process and digest! The worry sets in as their in not enough fuel for the day and your body mind begins the process of feeling the lack of nourishment and worries if it will have enough to get by. Some simple rules of thumb to build good gu qi for the day is to eat a warm morning meal between 7-9 am in a still and receptive space. No TV, no scrolling Facebook, no running around. Sitting still is important for digestion and taking the time to allow the food to settle. Chewing your food throughly before swallowing so the stomach doesn’t have to work extra hard!! Bonus on chewing your food, the saliva sends a signal to the pancreas to produce the proper enzymes to help break the food down and convert it to energy. Eating a simple meal that consists of 1-3 ingredients so your body doesn’t have to create a million enzymes to break down all the different things you took in. So now that we are getting into the transformation role of building the gu qi lets look at the spleens role in the yin aspect of digestion. We learned earlier that the stomach energy goes downward to process and can be disrupted in its flow by too much doing or thinking while eating. Spleen energy lifts upward and does the job of extracting nourishment and relies on the deep reserve energies of the body to have enough vitality to make use of the food we bring in.
