Steady Centeredness

The Liver and Kidney create and maintain a tension between expansive dynamics and nourishing stabilizing forces. When the Liver-Kidney axis loses its balance movements, then bodily processes, thoughts, emotions and behaviors can become painful, uncomfortable, inappropriate, disruptive or unstable. Excessive patterns develop on the top, surface or exterior of a person’s being that can be accompanied by deficient signs on the bottom, inside, or interior. Steady Centeredness is a version of a long tradition of herbal formulas that seek to harmonize this type of Liver and Kidney disharmony.

On the physical level, Steady Centeredness is especially suitable for Wind in the Liver with accompanying occasional headaches. The formula is helpful for occasional dizziness, numbness  in the extremities, occasional heat flushes and blurred vision. On the emotional level, Steady Centeredness is for a person who is caught between the Liver’s anger and the Kidney’s fear. While it is suitable for “Hot expressive” anger, it is a strategic formula for “Cold unexpressed” anger.

PHYSICAL INDICATIONS

Steady Centeredness is used for Liver excessive patterns (Wind and/or Yang) and at the same time strengthens the tempering power of the Liver and the Kidney’s Essence (Jing). The formula is especially helpful in the situation where a person has both Hot and Cold signs or there is an absence of any salient or predominant Hot-Cold signs. It is also compatible for patterns that are clearly Hot or Cold.

PSYCHOLOGICAL AND TRANSFORMATIONAL INDICATIONS

While Steady Centeredness can address “hot” anger, aggressiveness or impatience that is volatile and easily expressed, it is also for someone who easily gets angry, impatient or restless, but finds it difficult to express these feelings. This formula is critical for “cold anger,” a situation where a person is not overtly expressing anger but seems to be rigid and tight and even on the verge of trembling or being explosive. Uniquely, the formula allows for the healthy transformation (or expression) of both pent-up and impatient expressive ”hot anger.” The formula can also be valuable for Liver Wind producing inflexible and rigid attitudes or behaviors and feeling constrained by restrictive social roles that do not allow self-expression.

Tang Dynasty versions of this formula considered it to be critical for addressing Wind causing distortions in personal boundaries. The formula was used for the instability generated from jealousy, envy and hatred in oneself or the consequences of being the object of jealousy, envy and hatred from others. It was a pivotal formula for astringing the Liver and Kidney and keeping a person centered and unmoved by threats, real or imagined.

ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT

Historically there have been many formulas that build around Gastrodia or Ledebouriella in order to astringe the Liver and extinguish internal Wind. Steady Centeredness (Tian Ma Gou Teng Yin and Fang Feng Tang) is inspired by Sun Si-Miao’s “Ledebouriella Soup” (Fang Feng Tang) which was first described in his Supplementary Wings to the Thousand Ducat Formulas (Qian Jin Yi Fang, 682 A.D.). The formula has several different versions within the text itself. In formulating our version of a Gastrodia-Ledebouriella formula, we have benefited from many other versions, including the recent formula written by Hu Guang-ci. This recent version, “Gastrodia Uncaria Drink” (Tian Ma Gou Teng Yin), was first published in January 1956, in the New Significance in Patterns for Miscellaneous Disharmonies (Za Bing Zheng Zhi xin yi). Taking this ancient and this modern version together as bookends we have created our own Steady Centeredness approach.

ABOUT THE HERBS

Gastrodia rhizome is the central herb for this formula and traditionally astringes turbulence in the Liver meridian. It is a critical herb for all types of stagnation, and especially for disturbances that are focused in the head. Since at least the Materia Medica of Ri Hua-zi (Ri Hua Zi Ben Cao, 713 A.D.), Gastrodia rhizome has been considered both a calming herb and a mild tonic, and therefore is considered suitable in both excess and deficient patterns. Because Gastrodia rhizome’s Hot- Cold valence may be neutral to warm, it is also suitable for both Hot and Cold patterns of the Liver. Classical texts, including the Divine Husbandman’s Materia Medica, state that Gastrodia is a warm herb. Because more modern texts cannot understand how a warm-astringing herb is so effective for Liver meridian disharmonies, there is a drifting editorial tendency to say that Gastrodia is neutral or cool. Despite these modern distortions, Gastrodia has generally been considered a warm and astringent herb. All texts, both classical and modern, describe it as entering the Liver meridian.

Eucommia bark is the second critical herb in the formula. While Gastrodia rhizome astringes the upward and expansive aspect of the Liver, Eucommia bark astringes the root of the Kidney and guides the Liver excess back to its original root. While often described as a tonifying Yang herb, Eucommia bark is actually a non-moving and stabilizing herb that astringes, holds and anchors a person into the Kidney’s stillness. It strengthens the Kidney not so much by nourishing the Yin or Yang, but by providing a container or “pillar” (as its name means in English) to increase steadiness, patience and natural flexibility. The Divine Husbandman’s Materia Medica speaks of Eucommia as “strengthening the Will.” Eucommia bark is also an important herb for the Liver meridian, and Li Shi-zhen’s Great Pharmacopoeia (Ben Cao Gang Mu, 1578 A.D.) says that Eucommia moistens the Liver’s Dryness and restlessness. It is warm, and enters the Kidney and Liver meridians.

Abalone shell is a versatile Liver meridian herb that astringes the Liver Yang, cools Liver Fire and nourishes Liver Yin. It reinforces the Gastrodia-Eucommia axis of astringing the Liver and Kidney. It is cold, and enters the Liver and Kidney meridians.

Siler root is the general herb for Wind. A moistening herb, it has versatility that many drying and expelling Wind herbs lack and is useful for Hot and Cold patterns and dispels internal Wind. Some modern texts indicate that Siler root is contraindicated in deficient Yin or Blood. Historically, this contraindication does not apply to the type of formulation we are using here. It is slightly warm, and enters the Liver and Gallbladder meridians.

Chinese skullcap root clears Heat and quells Fire in the Upper Burner and gives Steady Centeredness the flexibility to address both warm patterns and patterns that clearly have both Hot and Cold aspects. In combination with Gardenia fruit, Chinese skullcap root addresses the explosive, unrestrained, agitated and pressured aspects of Liver Yang and Wind that are likely to exist in either underlying Hot or Cold patterns. It is cold, and enters the Liver meridian.

Gardenia fruit is a downward directing herb that clears Heat from the Three Burners and it is a critical herb to calm the Liver and Heart. In combination with Chinese skullcap root, Gardenia fruit balances the more warm tendencies of Gastrodia rhizome and Gambir stem branch and twig, and helps create a uniquely versatile formula.

Gambir stem branch and twig supports Gastrodia rhizome and Siler root in extinguishing Wind and creating steadiness. It is slightly cold, and enters the Liver and Pericardium meridians.

Tribulus fruit is an important herb for calming the Liver and astringing the Yang. Tribulus fruit is slightly warm to neutral, and enters the Liver meridian.

Simple-leaf chaste tree fruit, in combination with Tribulus fruit, is an important Liver Wind herb commonly used to address head and eye disharmonies related to either Hot or Cold patterns. It is slightly cool, and enters the Liver meridian.

Lycium fruit is a meditative herb that reinforces Eucommia bark by strengthening the Kidney Yin and Liver Blood without producing any movement. Its tonic effect is produced by supporting stillness, patience and reflectivity. It is neutral, and enters the Liver and Kidney.

Chinese dodder seed is a stillness-producing herb that relieves pressure and instability. It is neutral, and enters the Liver and Kidney meridians.