[Herb-students] thick and thin regarding herbs

[Al Stone]

Food energetics and herbal energetics are really identical. I've heard
of food described as the herbs you take three times daily. : )

What Bob is talking about is correct and does apply to herbs. The only
difference between what you've just described and how I understand it is this:

The Qi of the herb is expressed as its temperature or thermal energy.
Hot, cold, warm, cool, neutral.  I believe that traditionally they
described four Qi or temperatures. This is the Yang nature of the herb.

The Wei of the herb is its taste.  Traditionally, they talk about five
tastes which are pungent, salty, sour, bitter and sweet.  In more recent
times, we've added bland, aromatic and astringent to the five.  This is
the Yin nature of the herb.

Do herbs that target the Yin have a more potent taste and do herbs that
target the Yang have a more potent temperature? I'm not sure, good
question though.  I think that we can take taste or temperature and
again describe them in terms of Yin and Yang. So, there is thin and
thick Qi as was addressed in the original post talking about thick warm
and thin warm, etc... Is there also thin and thick Wei?  Perhaps, not
sure.  I can say that there are Yin tonics that address the thin Yin and
Yin tonics that target the thick Yin. Thin Yin would be only body fluids
where thick Yin would be Jing, Blood, and Body Fluids.

What I can say is that the reason we cook herbs twice is that during the
first cooking, the Yang/Qi/temperature energetics tend to come out of
the herbs. During the second cooking, the Yin/Wei/taste energetics come
out of the herb.

-al.

Malino Khun wrote:
> 
> Al,
> 
> I have read Bob Flaws explaining an idea similar to what you have
> stated.  Bob was explaining this in the context of food, but I'm
> confident that it can be equally applied to herbs.  He refer to the
> amounts of Qi and Wei in a given food, also referred to as flavors in
> the foods.
> 
> Qi in foods are those properties that are more dynamic in its ability
> to change qi, are less dense in nutrient & qi, quick acting, less
> tonifying, not as likely to caused stagnation, easier to digest, not
> like to engender Yin Evils(ie. dampness, phlegm, and turbidity),
> and are used in case of stagnation and Yin Evils.
> 
> Wei are those properties that are slower acting, less rapid effects,
> more tonifying, more dense with nutrients & qi, more like to cause or
> aggravate stagnation, harder to digest, act on a deep level of the
> body, more likely to cause Yin Evils, and supplement deficiencies.
> 
> Thus the properties are Thin is like Qi and Thick is like Wei, if my
> line of thinking is on the right track.
> 
> As a side note, I believe that ayurveda, unani (Greek-Persian
> Medicine), and Tibetan Medicine more explicitly used their own
> versions of Thin/Qi Flavors and Thick/Wei Flavors.
> 
> I believe that a given food or herb can be higher in Qi than Wei, high
> in Wei than Qi, high in both Qi and Wei, or low in both Qi and Wei.
> But Bob didn't explicitly state these four basic Qi to Wei ratio in
> his book, that I have used in understanding herbs and foods.  MSU(ie.
> make stuff up)?  Maybe, but it has been a very handy way for me to
> select herbs and foods for health and healing.
> 
> Malino
> 
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-- 
Al Stone L.Ac.
<AlStone at BeyondWellBeing.com>
http://www.BeyondWellBeing.com

Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional.