Counterflow Pearls
A symptom complex of high blood pressure, acid reflux, and high cholesterol is what Counterflow Pearls is meant for. Conventional wisdom in Chinese medicine says that you have to treat the Liver and Kidney, and force the Internal Wind down by primarily inundating the patient with cooling herbs that are also sticky and cloying.
Most patients with this complex are middle-aged or seniors, which means that their life force is waning. When you have a weakening of the Fire in the Spleen and Kidney, it will manifest as a weakening likewise in the Stomach’s downward movement because the Stomach is tied to the Spleen and Kidney. Symptomatically, this manifests as belching, nausea, acid reflux and high blood pressure.
For treating Qi reversal there are several remedies and they all contain Banxia (Pinnelia). Banxia is a very ancient herb that’s featured in the 72 manifestations (Wuhou) on the wheel of the seasons — smack where the summer solstice is. Ban (half) Xia (summer) is harvested at the summer solstice. After things come up to the climax, they go down again.
This is why high blood pressure is a disease at the climax of life where things are supposed to move inward and down. In modern life, where we constantly push ourselves, there is a refusal to surrender; then we have energetic problems. High blood pressure and acid reflux are two major manifestations of this energetic syndrome that is prevalent in modern times.
In the Shanghan Lun, there are many remedies, based around Banxia, that bring down the Qi of the Stomach while at the same time tonifying the Spleen rather than harming it. This is usually accomplished with the combination of five herbs: Pinellia, Ginger, Jujube dates, Ginseng or Codonopsis, and Licorice. A formula that has been forgotten, even though it’s featured so prominently in the Shanghan Lun, is Xuanfu Daizhe Tang which has these five herbs plus Xuanfuhua (Inula flower).
Inula is the only flower in nature, according to the Chinese material medica, that is not making things go up and out, but in and down. It is a major herb that is associated with the Heart, and the Stomach is a type of Heart. Through the hexagrams the Stomach is tied directly to the Heart. In the Yijing (I Ching) hexagram 43 goes with the Stomach, hexagram 44 goes with the Heart. Even Western medicine knows that with heart disease you treat it through the stomach – diet and certain medication that prevents cholesterol absorption in the digestive tract. The same thing in Chinese medicine – Stomach problems you need to include the Heart and Heart problems you need to include Stomach. This is exactly what Xuanfu Daizhe Tang does.
Inula in Western Herbalism
Alexis Cunningfolk writes that the Inula (Xuanfuhua) person has an undernourished spirit in addition to an undernourished body. It may be that they are eating wonderful foods or imbibing in beautiful spiritual practices, but there is so much undigested or un-expelled physical and spiritual decay in their system that they are wallowing instead of feeling fulfilled. They are not quite here. Sometimes this manifests as dullness of the body and spirit. Other times this manifests as a low-level but constant irritation (they have a thorn in their side, so to speak, perhaps an elfshot). Very often, the condition of the Inula (Elecampane) personality seems quite permanent. But it is not. Elecampane is a heartening plant. There is no infection of the spiritual system that it fears. The herb will help one come home again after a long and arduous journey away from oneself. It restores a lightness of being and warms the cold and distant heart.
Back To The Chinese..,
This remedy tonifies the Spleen and Stomach, but primarily focuses on downward motion. Secondarily, Danshen Yin is included – a important remedy in the Sichuan region. It contains Danshen, Sharen, and Tanxiang (Sandalwood), which is excluded because Sandalwood is on the endangered species list and the herb is not the most important herb to use here. Danshen has affinity to the Heart; the real heart as well and the solar plexus region. Danshen is the best herb for the prevention of heart attacks and useful in treating the anxiety, stress, and insomnia that plagues people with this symptom complex. A blood mover, it keeps the blood vessels clean and has a holographic affinity with P6, the equivalent in the acupuncture world to Danshen. Sharen, that it’s paired with, is not just to help digest food better, but like Aconite, it is one of the main herbs to move Qi down.
The cholesterol metabolism in the body has something to do with the liver in western medicine and the formula Yiguan Jian is great for treating chronic hepatitis where you need to tonify the Yin and Essence of the Liver and at the same time move the Liver Qi with Chuanlianzi (Unripe citrus fruit). Here we’re using parts of Danshen Yin and Yiguan Jian to offset the drying effect of Xuanfu Daizhe Tang. Xuanfu Daizhe Tang brings the Stomach Qi down. You use the Yiguan Jian to have the Liver and Kidney pull from below and anchor the Stomach, providing a balancing effect to the dying herbs that were used with the Xuanfu Daizhe Tang. We also have Xiakucao (Prunella), which is used to quell Wind, which is always involved with high blood pressure and can be used long term. Other anti-wind herbs, such as Linguangjiao and Gouteng, tend to be overly cooling and thus may harm the Stomach. Whereas Xiakucao, whether it’s for cancer or heart disease, is a very useful herb for detoxifying and its anti-wind effect. So all of these remedies have an holographic effect on the Heart region, move the Qi down, and are safe in terms of their warming/ cooling and moistening/ drying effects. They also can be used long term.
