Chinese Qi Energy and WTS

Traditional Chinese wellness practices revolve around Qi: A vital life force that animates us and flows through us. One of the many roles of Qi, according to Chinese practices? It promotes body heat.

Intriguingly, in Traditional Chinese wellness traditions, a deficiency or stagnancy of Qi (especially the “yang” qi energy) seems to be associated with classic WTS symptoms: Low body temperature, cold hands and feet, poor circulation, fatigue and malaise. Traditional Chinese wellness identifies “Six Stages of Cold-Induced Evils” that are linked with insufficient Qi; the last of these six stages is tied with low body temperatures and aversion to cold. Those with “Cold” body constitutions as defined by Chinese wellness traditions often lack energy and suffer from cold extremities and feeble pulse.

While Traditional Chinese wellness is far more complicated than this simplistic Qi explanation, it still is interesting to note how Qi deficiency seems to align with some WTS theories. Chinese wellness strategies to assist with low body temperature seem to share some concepts with WTS protocols, too. In Chinese wellness, the liver is the organ most commonly associated with stagnant Qi. Liver function is involved with the flow of Qi throughout the body, and also the flow of bile. The liver is responsible for spreading Qi and encouraging Qi flow, especially as it moves to the “Middle Burner” that generates heat at the body’s core. When liver Qi stagnates, circulation is impeded and whole-body Qi diminishes.