The idea of a holiday dedicated to romantic love and heart-shaped cards used to make me cringe. A day meant for intimacy and closeness being carried out in crowded dining rooms with preset menus. But time has a way of softening us, and I no longer see Valentine’s Day as a feast for lovers only but as a day that honors the heart itself.
In Chinese Medicine, the heart is considered the Emperor of the body. Every organ exists to serve it, and every disease eventually disturbs it. We treat the heart with such reverence that as acupuncturists, we do not approach it directly. If the heart is out of balance, we begin by treating its guardian, the pericardium. The stellar point in this meridian, PC-6 (Neiguan), is one of the few acupuncture points adopted into conventional medicine protocols for postoperative and chemotherapy-induced nausea.
Ancient cultures viewed the heart as the seat of both feeling and consciousness. The Greeks described a vital inner force in the chest as thymos (the same root that gave the thymus gland behind the sternum its name) . In TCM, the heart houses the Shen (spirit), even Jung recognized this heart described by the Chinese was more than metaphorical. He observed how psychological emotions are felt in the chest first, not the head: a sensation at the center of the body. They understood the heart holds not only our capacity to feel love and joy, but is where our consciousness reside.
In Chinese medicine all emotions, when out of balance (anger, fear, sadness, worry) eventually settle in the heart. When they do, we see insomnia, confusion, palpitations, anxiety. What is less clear is how we heal a heart that’s broken and how we learn to listen to it.
Modern life doesn’t exhaust us because we do too little, but because we will not settle. Sleep is the return of the Shen to its palace inside the heart. If the heart is unsettled, sleep becomes shallow and dream-disturbed.
The heart also governs speech: not just articulation, but truthfulness and authentic connection. When the heart is scattered, we overshare, ramble, or say nothing real. But when the heart is settled, speech becomes precise. There’s clarity in the voice and the message.
Visualize the heart as a lake. When the water is disturbed you only see distorted shapes without form. When the surface becomes still, it turns into a mirror and reality appears. The heart works the same way. Stillness does not create truth; it reveals it.
So yes: this Valentine’s Day will have the flowers that wither in a week, the cards and the candies. But the real invitation is to notice the image when the lake settles and to let speech come from the heart, so true words can bridge us to others: a partner, a friend, a stranger.
In a culture obsessed with optimization and longevity, we keep tuning the ministers while the emperor waits. Let’s bring the sovereign back to the throne. After all, you can’t follow your heart if you’ve never learned to listen to it.
Warmly,
Soledad
Heart Health Beyond the Weight Room
In Chinese medicine the Heart “ opens into the tongue” so it is no surprise the practices that nourish it involve words and sounds.
Singing your heart away can improve you heart health
Use that time alone in the car, pick your favorite song and sing it over and over until you learned the lyrics “by heart”. You might even discover you’re not terrible at singing ( I still am terrible at singing). Also, remember your vocal cords are a muscle and they need training too. My song these past days? I dreamed a dream, Susan Boyle version. Questionable choice for joy stimulation.
Humming can activate your vagus nerve and reset parasympathetic activity
The “om” at the end of yoga class isn’t random. Humming vibrates the chest and throat, waking up the vagus nerve and boosting nitric oxide, which in turn helps with vasodilation. When you get home, feel free to hum that same car song again, I promise you your afternoon mood will be better.
Smiling is ok, but spontaneous laughter will take you further
You know that relaxed feeling after a really good belly laugh. The sound you make will actually settle your nervous system. Do it more often, curate your Instagram wisely and take yourself a little less seriously
Yep…Acupuncture can improve your HVR too. Better sleep. Better system. Come feel the difference
The Heart as Emperor in Chinese Medicine
The idea of a holiday dedicated to romantic love and heart-shaped cards used to make me cringe. A day meant for intimacy and closeness being carried out in crowded dining rooms with preset menus. But time has a way of softening us, and I no longer see Valentine’s Day as a feast for lovers only…
