The Psychological Aspects of Medical Acupuncture - Treating the Patient Beyond Surface Pathology

As both a medical professional - surgeon and martial artist I meditate a lot. In meditation, we often confront the impulse to judge our thoughts and feelings for example of shock, sadness, anger or guilt. That judgment hardens into rejection; rejection resists the flow; and resistance becomes stagnation. Where there is stagnation, the qi cannot move — and where qi cannot move, suffering takes root and disease sets in.

An example of moving meditation that I do is using the Siu Nim Tao 小念頭 form to guide my mind to only focus on the movements thereby achieving a one-pointed-mind instead of no-mind.https://vimeo.com/1074016019?share=copy&fl=sv&fe=ci

Yet emotions are not enemies. They are not to be feared, condemned, or exiled. Nor are they to be indulged without restraint. They are simply energy in motion — echoes of the spirit stirring within the blood. The instruction I received was simple, yet profound: do not cling to the story; feel the energy beneath. Sit with it. Let it rise, and let it fall away like a wave returning to the sea. Breath in and breath out the emotions. Be the observer of the emotions not the bearer of the emotions.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7KSMYTsZKM

In the classical view of Chinese Medicine, all emotions are natural — they become harmful only when they linger, becoming trapped in the body. The Huang Di Nei Jing  黄帝内经(Yellow Emperor Classic Cannon of Medicine) teaches us that the Shen 神 (spirit) rides the blood; and when the blood stagnates, so too does the Shen. What we call “emotion” is not merely psychological — it is movement, vibration, a rhythm of energy coursing through the meridian rivers.

There are three layers to this emotional current:

1. Moods – Wei Level

Moods are like weather passing across the surface of the body. These arise without story or known cause — a sudden melancholy, an unexplained irritation often in women but also in men. They dwell in the Wei Qi, the protective energy that circulates through the muscles, skin, and sensory gates. When Wei becomes obstructed, we may find ourselves burdened by emotion that feels foreign or rootless. Clearing the surface — through breath (meditation), movement (chi kung), or needle (medical acupuncture) — restores clarity, allowing the cloudy moods to part.

2. Repression – Ying Level

Repressed emotion sinks deeper — hiding within the blood and sinew, waiting. I once seen and treated a woman who presented with red, scaly patches at her toes, first diagnosed by various dermatologists as athlete’s foot. But the location — Gallbladder 43, "Valiant Ravine" — revealed the truth: heat rising from unresolved anger, trapped and seeking release. 

Medical Acupuncture treatment to restore flow to the Gallbladder meridian and also to treat psychosomatic Shu points on the back eliminated the skin disorder without any prolonged use of topical antifungals.

Repressed emotions is a quiet fire. It may not appear as feeling, but as symptom — pain, inflammation, rigidity in the joints such as arthritis or knee pain. 

The Gallbladder stores our unexpressed courage or anger and frustration.

The Bladder becomes the holding place of unspoken fear and unresolved will.  When these organs bear more than they can transform, the body whispers through pain and manifests as illnesses or diseases. If the person is very nervous or scared, he may urinate out of fear or have frequent urination.

3. Suppression – Shen Level

Suppressed emotions are known to us — we feel them, we know their stories — yet we do not let them go. We keep the motions however painful or uncomfortable within ourselves and not reveal them.

They will the dwell in the chest, in the palace of the Heart and the Lungs. Pain in love connections or in relationships is felt directly at the Heart. The Heart houses the Shen, the sovereign spirit. The Lungs command the Po 魄, the corporeal soul, the part of us that grieves, releases, and returns to Earth. When the chest is open, the Lungs allow us to exhale emotional tension like a bird shaking off rain. The Heart speaks through the tongue — not just in words, but in the vibrational truth of our expression.

But when the chest is closed, when the grief is not cried, when the words are not spoken, the digestive organs must step in — Earth transforming what Heaven could not. 

The Stomach and Intestines begin to digest our emotions, sorting the pure from the impure. We begin to lose appetite, lose weight and cannot digest what we consume.

And if even Earth cannot bear it, the unresolved energy descends into the depth — into the joints, the low back, the bones — hiding within the Bladder and Gallbladder meridians like seeds of latency. 

There, the fire continues to burn, low and unseen, weakening the immune gates and fraying the vitality of the blood giving rise to high blood pressure, blood cancers/dyscrasias and various circulatory disorders of the body.

This article is not intended to invoke fear, but rather a reminder to let some emotions go and walk lighter in life. Do not dwell on emotions such as greed, anger, jealousy, apathy or having a vengeful spite because ultimately this will only injure yourself. 

Focus on emotions of joy or being engrossed in the moment. Become a child again for once and everything is a wonder again. A child does not need much to be amused or to smile. Even after crying, all is forgotten as the child is now giddy with joy again.

Conclusions

Emotions are not separate from qi, nor from blood. They are the spirit’s response to life. To heal is to clear the meridians, restore the free flow, and allow the Shen to reside peacefully in the Heart. Acupuncture, like meditation, opens the gates, revives circulation, and allows the spirit to move freely again.

When the chest opens, when the breath deepens, and the blood warms with flow — we remember what it feels like to be light. To feel. And to let go. And to be a child again.

Unapologetically Yours

Dr Khoo Lee Seng