Weird to say this but this is my absolute favourite organ…. Its definitely one of the most important organs as its the ‘Big Detoxor’ of the body….. And its a tough tough organ…..
I describe to my patients a lot that the Liver is very much like the Refuse Truck that comes around to your house every week to collect the rubbish.
Magically you put your bins outside your house once a week and a few hours latter they are empty…. And once everything is functioning correctly in the body…. That’s the way the magic happens in the body also…… now imagine if the Rubbish Truck only came around once a month instead of once a week. Can you just imagine the mess….. and the liver when out of balance does that….. its there, its doing its job but its not functioning 100%….
In Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine, the Liver is the Big Detoxor – hormones, emotions, blood, medication from your IVF…..
Whats interesting we all have Liver Imbalance some more than others and no the imbalance is not related to alcohol…. You can have a lot of liver imbalance and not drink alcohol… but the functioning of this organ is really important for your fertility.
When in balance, everything flows….. I think flow would be a good way to describe how well your liver is doing…… doing well, we got flow…. Not doing so well its stagnation and stickiness in life……
One of the most common imbalances with the Liver is ‘Liver Qi Stagnation’…. Or as one of my patients in clinic once called it Liver Cheese….. 🙂 and the best way to describe this is ‘Unfulfilled desires in your life’ for some its the dream job, the dream partner, the dream house, the dream pregnancy…….. its where there is something in your life that’s not happening….. so to be fair we all have a little of it…… the more and more of these unfulfilled desire we hold onto…. The more the Liver Qi builds……
With Liver Qi imbalance, the one emotion that starts to rise…. Is frustration…… then a few more unfulfilled desires…. To anger…. And the piece de resistance – RAGE !!!!!!!!!!!!
Liver Qi loves to be in control… to control…. To have a plan…. Its structured and detailed in its flow…. So when everything is to plan and working the way you want it…. You don’t notice it….
When Liver Qi Energy in the body is out of balance….. when you feel out of control…. When life is not going to plan they way you wanted it to….. thats when the elegy goes crazy…..
Within the reproductive system, it can sometimes be seen as PMS symptoms…. Breast tenderness, bloatedness…. Frustration… a day or two before your period arrives…. The more out of balance…. The more the Liver Qi Stagnation….. the increase in length and intensity of the hormones….. you don’t feel you… you know how you feel is not you…. But you just want to well put it lightly…. Punch them in the nose…. (Sometimes)
So as you can see from here…. We have a couple of things that link together….. the reproductive system…. The hormones…. The emotions……. The lack of a pregnancy and the arrival of your period…. More Liver Qi….. why am I not pregnant… what did I do wrong….. I shouldn’t have had that glass of wine or gone spinning…. All liver qi energy imbalance… building each and ever month…….
And this is where acupuncture comes in…. Its amazing at dealing with this imbalance in the hormone and emotional systems….. of the mind and body.
And don’t worry we all have this imbalance its just part of life as we mature and blossom….. so does our liver qi. However its when it goes from frustration of a situation in life, to anger to rage, where you feel like you are not in control of your life…. that’s where is just too out of balance.
There are also personality types with the liver, but this is for another discussion. I will tell you though Liver orientated people most of the time just get things done….. they are doers and movers…. unfortunately….. to get things moving they can shake the coconut tree a little too much…..
I really do like the Liver, but hey Im Irish…. Gx