According to Chinese Medicine most functional symptoms are rooted in the **Liver/Gallbladder** for **Women** and in the **Kidney/Bladder** for men.

he Kidney/Bladder is the reservoir of Life Force energy. This is the energy passed on from your parents. The quality and quantity of the Kidney/Bladder energy depend upon what was received and how you expend this energy in daily life. This energy peaks around 16 during puberty and steps down in 8-year cycles until the age of 64. This is the time when, if balance/harmony have not been maintained, you may see signs of “**manopause**."

Signs that the Kidney/Bladder energy are experiencing scarcity include fatigue, anxiety, neck, back, knee, heel, and foot pain, hearing loss or tinnitus, osteoporosis, dental problems, low testosterone, infertility, erectile dysfunction, and prostate issues.

When the body experiences a scarcity of Life Force it can also begin to become reactive to the environment resulting in allergies, including food allergies, and eventually can lead to auto-immune conditions. Kidney/Bladder energy is associated with higher level brain function, memory, and IQ. Emotionally, scarcity of Kidney/Bladder energy can lead to anxiety and panic symptoms. The Kidney/Bladder house our inherited genetic wisdom.

We often have the misconception that staying very active and busy is the best way to achieve life goals; unfortunately, this can be energetically draining over time. Reducing stress helps to improve the Liver/Gallbladder function. The Liver/Gallbladder are all about flow, flexibility, and creativity. When you can channel your energy in a focused and flexible way you have a deeper impact with less drain on precious Life Force.

The easiest way to help support the Kidney/Bladder is to seek ways to reduce stress and excess busyness. **Dragon’s Way Qigong** provides excellent tools to reduce stress and support Life Force with **Qigong** and **healing foods**.

In addition, you can now stream **Qigong for Men’s Health online**!

Explore more on Kidney/Bladder

Exercise

Many men seek exercise as an outlet for stress and a way to maintain strength and vitality. Exercise is a valuable tool that should be used with awareness. Traditional physical cardio and strength training exercises have an energetic cost in order to gain. If your Kidney/Bladder and Liver/Gallbladder are out of balance, exercising can actually create further problems such as physical injury, worsening of chronic conditions, or may even lead to energetic damage to the Heart. If you choose traditional exercise, do so when you feel well and preferably at the beginning or middle of your day, rather than late afternoon and evening when the Kidney/Bladder energy may be at its lowest.

learn more about exercise and its impact on the heart here

Heart Health

According to Chinese Medicine, the Heart is the King of all organs. All other organs will sacrifice themselves to protect the King. By the time someone has developed heart disease, there have been MANY warning signs of functional imbalance from other organs along the way.

The Heart houses our Spirit. Our Heart depends upon our Liver to allow Spirit to express itself through our work, home, and everyday living. If Liver is flexible and flowing, it follows that the Heart is also flowing. In addition, the Kidney is responsible for maintaining co-operative balance with our Heart energy. Thus, nurturing precious life force is another way to ensure true Heart Health. So as you can see from this multi-dimensional framework a healthy Heart depends upon more than diet restrictions and exercise alone!

Dragon’s Way Qigong provides excellent tools to reduce stress, support Life Force, and connect to Spirit with Qigong and healing foods. In addition, acupuncture and herbs, can help address the underlying functional imbalances that can lead to Heart disease.

Learn more about the power of the Heart through this link and here: https://www.tcmworld.org/the-heart-king-of-happiness/

Sports Injuries

Contrary to common thinking you should avoid ice to treat aches, pains, or any sports-related injuries. This is now becoming an accepted understanding from both Western and Chinese Medicine perspectives. An injury requires the flow of healing blood cells to support repair. Energetically, ALL healing requires flow. When we use ice we may temporarily create numbing at the cost of blocking the healing flow of energy and blood. In addition, repeated use of ice can drive the energy of the injury deeper setting up for repeat damage or even arthritis over time. Rather than ice, reach for heat and warming ointments such as Tiger Balm or products containing Capsaicin.

Learn more: Treat with Heat and Icing Sore Muscles?

Another, energetically conservative way to reduce stress and maintain strength and vitality is through Qigong. Qigong accesses the energetic meridian system that connects like highways above/below, deep to every organ and tissue within. Qigong utilizes stretching of the meridians to stimulate the flow of energy and standing postures to download energy into your Life Force reservoir.

In addition, you can now stream Qigong for Men’s Health online!

Acupuncture, Acupressure, and Herbs

Treatment with acupuncture, acupressure, and Chinese herbal medicine can help support healing the root cause of any underlying conditions, in addition to helping boost the Kidney/Bladder energy. Other vitamins and traditional supplements available may help control symptoms but they do not address the root cause or boost Life Force.

Click HERE to learn more about how you can benefit from acupuncture, acupressure, and herbal therapy.

Healing Foods

Integrating healing foods that resonate with Kidney/Bladder can help support Life Force. Nuts, especially walnuts and pine nuts, and seeds carry the most concentrated energy. You can also switch to cooking with nut-based oils such as walnut oil. Seafood such as saltwater fish, shellfish, lobster, oysters, and clams carry the essence of Kidney/Bladder energy. Click HERE to learn more about Eating for Healing.

Rest

As simple as it sounds, allowing yourself to rest when you are tired is one of the best ways to conserve precious Life Force. Fatigue is a sign that your energy tank is running low and pushing through that sign may literally lead to physical breakdown. At the very least you can seek ways to delegate tasks and reduce your to-do list when you are feeling low on energy. Learn more about how to achieve a peaceful night’s sleep.

This is especially crucial during Winter, the season that resonates with Kidney/Bladder. Winter should be a time for conservation and restoration. The purpose of conserving this energy is to ensure a full creative expansion come Spring! You can consider rest an investment in higher levels of future productivity!

Click HERE to experience a Chinese Medicine blog on Men’s Health