The Lung and Large Intestine Acupuncture Meridians are responsible for the regulation of the spirit of the Metal Element in our lives. The Metal Element will initiate you into some great spiritual lessons on letting go indeed.
Spiritually the consciousness and energy of the Metal Element is about “letting go” of whatever is no longer needed. It is no longer appropriate for you to carry the weight of lies and pain. You must find what the self finds valuable and “let go” of the rest. People keep things too long, stay in bad relationships or jobs, and stay in situations that are just not nourishing for them. They have serious trouble learning how to let go of what is rubbish and no longer useful to their growth.
So what are some of the properties of the spirit of Metal that we will observe at play in our life or the lives of others?
When we look at the lung meridian and the metal phase we see many spiritual phenomena at play. Metal is associated with the purifying frosts of fall, dew on a piece of metal is another image, and Metal is associated with dryness and death. Metal reflects the materialization of immaterial energies. What comes in and what goes out. We can witness the concepts of strength and vulnerability at play in Metal, examples like being hard to bend, but staying bent like metal. Metal is the down-bearing force of Qi inside our body. Metal governs the openings and the closings of life through our body/vessel.
Functions
The main function of the lung meridian is respiration, the circulation of breath down and out. Down to the kidney and then out with our exhalation of what is turbid to our life force. This can be bacteria or toxic emotions and lies and shame we hold on to. In the large Intestine it is the defecation of waste in our lives. It draws influence from Heaven to examine what is useful and what is not. The openings and closings of life force yet again, like the pores of your skin, which are governed by Metal.
The lung nourishes the surface of the body (skin and hair). It receives the fluid from the Spleen meridian, spreads the fluid throughout the body surface. If the lung is deficient then the skin is dry, normal skin has luster. If a person’s Metal element is balanced the hair is glossy, if deficient the hair is dry and withered.
The lung and immune system work together to fight off colds, flu, and infections, so the Lungs are what influence Wei Qi or immune function. This type of qi flows directly under the skin and controls our pores, also known as “the doors of qi”. If Wei Qi is strong then you have good immunity and can work around sick people. If weak, you have poor resistance to illness.
The lung is associated with the formation of Qi in the chest through breathing and receiving the fluids of digestion from the Spleen. The lungs direct turbid fluids down to the KD and UB with the help of the qi from breathing. The kidneys receive this Qi and vaporize the fluids, the clean vapors are sent back up to moisten the lungs. These turbid fluids go to the bladder to be excreted as urine, which also stops too much fluid from hanging around in the lungs. The descending Qi of the lungs also sends qi to the L. Intestine to help eliminate waste. So the lung sends qi to the bladder and large intestine to help us let go of what is no longer needed physically and emotionally.
Lung Associations
In perfect balance, Metal governs the virtue of righteousness and the disposition of empathy and compassion towards all life. A virtue like righteousness is an ideal or a yardstick for how far or close people are to a completely balanced Metal Element. Righteousness sees everything in its appropriate place, and when we are in balance with this virtue, people are content with how you are and where you are. When we are content with right now, and accept that we are where we should be, then Metal resonates inside of us directly from Heaven above.
A disharmony of Metal has its roots in a fundamental disconnection from Heaven, a feeling of being cut off from Heaven’s inspiration, therefore people begin to feel separate and cut off from themselves and others. In Metal, our sense of self-worth comes from knowing that we have a special talent to share with the world.
If the Metal Element is weak inside a person, they will behave with an insensitive attitude towards others, and lose their reverence for life. These people can become jaded by the cold hard Metallic facts of life, with statistics and data to issue in a cold and dead panned manner. These people are often logical beyond the need for logic, and sadly are lacking in the gift of inspiration. Inspiration from being connected to Heaven is governed by our Metal Element.
In an excess condition, the Metal Element has so much grief accumulated inside a human being that they cannot function. While grieving is a normal process, as a little bit of grief helps people to understand each other, this type of Metal imbalance is unable to accept that grief is about letting go. In a pathological form, people hold on to their grief and have an unrooted-resistance to letting go of something. Life is not about winning or being right. We all have something we need to let go of. Sadly, suicides occur most in Metal archetypal people.
Each year, nature lets go of the life that was created this year. We have to let go of the beautiful energy that created this year’s life and the harvest. We withdraw deeper inside and watch as the world is transformed into a quieter more meditative time where our vision grows as the trees clear their view of the heavens with each new fall of beautifully colored leaves.
Characteristics of Metal
Methodical
Disciplined
Exact
Somewhat reserved
Contracting by nature
Metal Disharmonies
Problems with authority and control
Problems with spontaneity
Problems with emotional expression
Problems with genuine intimacy
People with a Metal imbalance are often cold and distant, they have emotional walls built into their relationships; yet they have no sadness or emotional concern for this imbalance. They seek out and need the following from loved ones:
Recognition and respect
Need for approval
Need to feel complete
Need to feel adequate in the world
Need for acknowledgment
The Nature of Metal, which is always being challenged by this life, is unending inspiration. Metal keeps us connected to Heaven, and nourishes us in a very BIG way; it allows for a natural transition from one part of life to another.
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Characters of Wisdom, Deborah Katz, p. 385
Key Questions to ask for Metal Imbalances
What will give your life meaning? (Everything is a quest for meaning)
Are you really ok? Do you really feel ok in your life?
What do you need to be complete?
How do you connect with the world?
How do you find meaning and inspiration in your daily life?
How are you doing emotionally?
Do you let go of things that are no longer of use?
How do you feel when you are alone?
When was the last time you grieved deeply?
Is your behavior cold, distant, or reserved in relationships?
The Spirit of Metal is known as the Po
The Po is translated as the corporeal soul, like Metal it is the hardest spirit realm to understand. The corporeal soul is thought of as the material part of a human’s soul. It is associated with “Gui” or “spirits”. The Po is often depicted as an animal spirit reflecting a deeper teaching on instincts and the comings and goings of our life. Native Americans had a great relationship to this spirit known as the Po. They followed nature and accorded with it as a spiritual teacher, and the Taoists knew of this realm of harmony in nature. The Ancients believed that man had this essential purity within all of us, and by following the Tao it would naturally develop. In this way, whether you are a diamond or a stone, you can shine with your own unique beauty and find inner meaning along our way. It was never taught as some dogma outside of yourself. The purity of this internal connection to Heaven was an unending inspiration that was available to you at all times. Let go and let God is often the phrase being quoted by religious people who are trying to address a Metal imbalance.
This Po mixed with the “Shen” of the Heart meridian, effects our disposition in life, known as our “Shen Zhi”. Will it be empathy or compassion, or will we turn cold to all others and be self-centered. We have a choice, and through the Po, we will experience this choice of disposition. The lung meridian holds The Office of the Architect – our fundamental patters of thought and all of our unspoken assumptions. Here we are the creator of our mental order.
Only the Po is responsible for the beginnings and endings, and governs everything that we eat and breathe, as well as the emotions we allow or choose to release. These things are mastered by the Po. The Po is present from the first day of life to your last, and governs all things instinctual. The Po is solely responsible for everything entering and exiting the body, anything for the permanent sustainment of life.
Lung Associations
Metal
Direction is down-bearing and diffusing fluids outward.
Tissue: surface of the skin and body hair.
Position is the most superficial of all Zang Fu organs of Oriental Medicine.
Substance is Qi, especially Wei Qi and immunity.
Fluid Jin and thinner fluids to moisten the skin surface, can be associated with sweating.
Sense of smell.
Porthole is the nostrils and pores of the skin.
Dryness is the environmental pathogen of the lung.
Storage property is phlegm.
Season is dry autumn.
Odor of fresh meat.
Manifestation in the body hair.
Color is white or grey.
Tone is weeping and sorrow, deep grief.
Office of the Architect and creator of mental order.
Lung Patterns
Master of Qi The lungs extract what is clean, pure, and needed. They govern and regulate all the channels in the entire body. “All kinds of Qi are related to the Lung.”
When the Lungs function well (master qi), this gives rise to a strong ancestral qi, which accumulates in the chest with the qi of our breath (Gu Qi).
Coordinate and consolidation of the Mai The Mai are a network of animation that life is lived through. All blood goes to the Lungs for redistribution. The Heart helps promote blood movement. The regular, rhythmic inspiration of the lungs helps for the proper movement of blood.
Descends and disperses Qi The Lungs disperse defensive qi to the exterior. They disseminate Heavenly blood, qi, and all fluids to all parts of the body. The Lungs rid the body of turbid, perverse qi that is created in the body.
Regulates water metabolism The Lungs are in charge of dredging and regulating the water passages. Through the lungs function of descending and dispersing, they circulate food and drink. They control the correct amount of sweat, and control the lymph system that is mostly focused in the upper body.
Large Intestine
The Yang meridian of the Metal Element is the Large Intestine Meridian. In the Nei Jing, it is the Large Intestine that is given the duty of being the last officer in charge of transportation and transforming of the residues of the body and psyche. It is the collector of what is our useless rubbish, because without letting go of our waste or the toxic memories of the past, we become unable to take any more new inspiration in. There is a rhythm to life and the psychic body. This rhythm is found through storing and releasing, gathering and letting go of our energies. Just like breathing in and out, everything in nature can be observed to be abiding this law of letting go through defecation. Our Large Intestine is vital to the cycle of cleaning out our old sorrows and old beliefs, for without this cycle we cannot take in the fresh air of inspiration that is all around us.
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P. 407 Characters of Wisdom, Taoist tales of Acupuncture Points by Deborah Katz
Though the Large Intestine meridian is associated with bowel movements, we see it reflected in the porthole of the nose in acupuncture. Runny nose, stuffy nose, sinus infection, headaches, and all kinds of beginnings of respiratory disorders begin here in our nose and the Large Intestine Meridian. Following the path of the meridian, we can see throat disorders, shoulder pain, elbow pain, releasing the temperature of a fever, and spiritual disorders with people who just can’t let anything go. They have to win, because life kicked them around and victimized them so bad they couldn’t let go anymore. They needed to control the stress and painful emotions they were feeling, so they buried the pain and forgot about dealing with life. People will flat out refuse to look at their life and block the emotional pain at this stage in life, but this pain will always come back to the surface of our psyche wanting the natural order of transformation and release to bring about completion.
There are many types of herbal purgatives and medicines which induce the purging of the bowel and its constipated memories buried deep within the shadow of a person. To actually bring our shadow aspect of the psyche into the light is no easy task. Again, we are dealing with transformation our deepest wound, and with the intention to heal our powerless part of the psyche that was terrorized. That wound often wraps itself up to wall itself off from the outside world. Like a polyp or a tumor, the wound becomes something that interrupts the natural flow of the rhythm of life. We eventually need medical attention or a surgical intervention to address our symptoms, but these procedures will not address the needs of our soul.
Soul Retrieval can help us to come to that place, where we can finally give our wounded psyche the love it needs and the strength to finally let go. What is soul retrieval? That is when you go within, and finally bring spirit back to the wound that has built up such terrible walls of protection around it. Soul retrieval is about calling your spirit back to itself, because the shadow psyche has been so reluctant or unable to process the pain and then let it go. We all have a dark side that has been wounded, the psyche developed to protect us from further pain and feelings of powerlessness. Yet, this darkness needs transformation to restore our natural order and healing. We eventually come to the root of any spiritual and psychic healing of the human being when we properly use the energies of the Large Intestine. At the core of our deepest wound, we are all being taught to simply, “Love it and let it go.”
That’s when the Large Intestine is able to fully do its job to perfect completion.