TCM Perspective on Traveling As Medicine For The Spirit
Traveling can be the best medicine, Not only because it teaches valuable lessons of independence, resourcefulness, and minimalism. It can be medicine for the spirit that is needed in difficult times.
Chinese Medicine supports this claim. In that, the part of our psyche that thrives from feeling free, creative, spontaneous, action-oriented, and experiential is the spirit of the Liver organ called the Hun. The ancient practitioners of Chinese Medicine understood that medicine was to be applied holistically on a mind, body, and spirit level, not excluding any part of ourselves. It is stated that when there are emotional challenges that present themselves, it can affect other levels of the body such as the physical, mental, or spirit body. If you reflect on a time when you felt sad or anxious, then you felt a visceral change in your body, such as an upset stomach, loss of appetite, headache, chest tightening, or shortness of breath — this is an example of the emotional level affecting the physical body. This dynamic works in the opposite perspective as well — if we are experiencing happiness or excitement, this may cause a visceral change in the physical body showing up as a rapid heartbeat, or in the spirit body showing up as feeling content and connected to yourself and others. This system works because Chinese Medicine recognizes that all things are connected, in nature and in the body. So, it is possible that the physical body can affect the spirit, and the spirit can affect the physical body.
How does this relate to traveling?
Because traveling can be medicine for the spirit, that is unfulfilled, discontent, shut down, or lost. I know this because I have personally experienced this and have experienced how healing it is to immerse yourself into newness and exploration that fills your cup, rather than depletes it. This is how the physical experience and life experience itself can heal the spirit. This happens through the spirit function of the Liver. In Chinese Medicine, the Hun is the spirit of the Liver that is responsible for planning, exploration, movement, freedom, benevolence, and creativity. The spirit body of the Hun, along with the spirit of other organs exists in each human being because the body has a natural and high intelligence that is interconnected.
When we decide to go and experience life through traveling, we may experience major life changes — because we have allowed ourselves to go out of our comfort zone and into the unknown. This is the power of exploration — in that it builds our character and shows us how we can adapt to new situations and challenges. It also sparks and heals the spirit of the Liver, which not only supports the health of our spirit body but can benefit our mental health, our emotional health, and our physical bodies.
If you resonated with Chinese Medicine, or this topic of the spirit of the organs, let me know in the comments below. If you haven’t already, sign up for my email list and receive FREE access to my E-Book on Personalized Self-Care Rituals and Chinese Medicine Fundamentals through this link here.
I hope you enjoy! Many blessings.
