The Nourishing Spleen
Updated: Aug 4
How is your spleen energy?
One of the most important relationships within the meridian and organ system is between spleen and heart. Spleen nourishes the heart; in fact when we think of spleen energy we should always think of nourishment.
The Bai Hu Dong tells us "the spleen is the essence of the element earth. The highest function of earth is to nourish all creatures so as to give them form."
Powerful, gentle and nurturing, spleen is the yin aspect of the earth element.
When our spleen energy is balanced then we are in a place of natural abundance, we are able to receive the abundance of the Earth, knowing we are nourished and provided for.
Spleen needs to be in balance to integrate or metabolise the activities, experiences and thoughts of our daily life, to be able to meet challenges with flexibility, strength and groundedness, and its relationship with heart is central to such integration.
Because spleen is also responsible for giving form, it works in keeping the physicality of our body juicy, elastic and ‘bouncy’… if you have bits of your body that are getting dried up and saggy then you know that you need to give spleen energy some help!
When we look at the picture to the left, we can see how spleen energy (9am–11am) flows into heart energy (11am–1pm).
This is because of the vital role that spleen plays in feeding its nourishing energy into Heart. If spleen isn’t vibrant and balanced then there is very little juice to pass onto the heart system and depletion of the heartfield occurs.
So, how do we keep Spleen vital and balanced?
Spleen energy, more than any other energy in the whole-body system, is impacted greatly by stress. If we look at the image above again, we can see that spleen sits across the wheel from triple warmer, and triple warmer governs our fight, flight, freeze response system. Because of the relationship between spleen and triple warmer, they are hardwired to draw energy from each other. In traditional Chinese medicine understandings, relationships such as this are called the wife/husband partnerships because each needs to be in continual balance with the other.
When our triple warmer energy is triggered into high alert due to stress, then the very first place that it draws energy from is spleen. And spleen gives its energy willingly and in abundance. This generous giving reassures triple warmer, marshalling it in its defence of the whole-body system, thus bringing the system from alert to harmony. Spleen and triple warmer also are the energetic components of the immune system, with spleen providing nourishment, and triple warmer the defense. So, hopefully, you are getting a good picture of how vital it is to keep your spleen energy balanced.
In the videos below I take you through a few simple practices you can do regularly to keep your spleen energy balanced and support your immune system and your ability to thrive.
With love, Prune
