TCM Campus

All lessons   Module 2: Organs   Lesson 1

Module 2   Lesson 1   Xin

The Heart

Why does an acupuncturist look at your face, your tongue and your sweat when they want to know something about your Heart?

After this lesson you can name the six functions of the Heart, say for each function what you see when it fails and which pattern from module 1 belongs to it, and you know the correspondences, dreams and sayings. Module 1, lesson 5 gave the overview; this is the deeper layer.

Heart 心 six functions, ch. 6 p. 107 1 governs Blood 2 controls the blood vessels 3 manifests in the complexion 4 houses the Mind (Shen) 5 opens into the tongue 6 controls sweat pumps, blushes, thinks, speaks, sweats element, season Fire, summer climate Heat colour, taste red, bitter emotion joy spirit Shen 神 fluid sweat tissue blood vessels orifice tongue Fu partner Small Intestine sound laughing odour scorched substance Blood
Functions after Maciocia ch. 6 (from p. 107). The ring from ch. 5 pp. 98 to 103; odour and sound are textbook knowledge, check them on pp. 102 and 103. Schematic.

Know by heart

  • Six functions. Governs Blood; controls the blood vessels; manifests in the complexion; houses the Mind (Shen); opens into the tongue; controls sweat. mnemonic: the Heart pumps (Blood and vessels), blushes (complexion), thinks (Shen), speaks (tongue) and sweats.
  • Blood, two sides. The Heart makes Blood (the Gu Qi from the Spleen turns red in the chest) and pumps it around with the Zong Qi; pulse and complexion show how well.
  • Reading the complexion. Dull pale: Blood deficiency; bright white: Yang deficiency; red: Heat; bluish-purple: Blood stasis.
  • Sweat and Blood. One source (Ling Shu 18): do not make someone who has lost a lot of Blood sweat, and vice versa. Spontaneous sweating by day is Qi deficiency, at night Yin deficiency.
  • Correspondences. Fire, summer, Heat, red, bitter, laughing, scorched odour; emotion joy; Fu Small Intestine. The Heart dislikes Heat (Su Wen 23).
  • The emperor. Su Wen 8: from the Heart comes the clarity of the Mind. The Shen itself is in module 1, lesson 9; the patterns in module 1, lesson 7: 13 falling asleep, 14 staying asleep, 15 Fire. mnemonic: Fall, Stay, None (13 cannot fall asleep, 14 cannot stay asleep, 15 barely sleeps at all).
  • Red flag. Chest pain, or palpitations with fainting, breathlessness or during exertion: see a doctor first, before any Heart pattern.

The rest of this lesson is reference.

Heart: Why does an acupuncturist look at your face, your tongue and your sweat when they want to know something about your Heart?
The chart as an image, to save or share

Three practice questions from this lesson

Which one is not a function of the Heart?
  1. Manifests in the complexion
  2. Stores Blood
  3. Opens into the tongue

Answer: Stores Blood. Storing Blood is the Liver (lesson 2 of this module). The Heart governs Blood: it makes it and pumps it around.

In which two ways does the Heart govern Blood?
  1. It stores it and keeps it in the vessels
  2. It makes it and holds it
  3. It makes it and pumps it around

Answer: It makes it and pumps it around. The Gu Qi turns red in the Heart, and the Heart pumps the Blood around with the Zong Qi. Keeping it in the vessels is the Spleen, storing it the Liver.

According to ch. 6, where do you see how well the Heart pumps the Blood around?
  1. In the skin and body hair
  2. In the complexion and the pulse
  3. In the nails and the eyes

Answer: In the complexion and the pulse. The Heart manifests in the complexion and controls the blood vessels; the pulse is its signature. Nails and eyes are the Liver, skin and hair the Lungs.

The rest of this lesson

In the course you get the step-by-step explanation, 15 case-based practice questions, 14 spaced-repetition flashcards, the pitfalls and the bridge to physiology with evidence grades. This lesson belongs to module 2: Organs.

Try three lessons freeSee the course