4 Key Signs Your Liver is Struggling: How Bai Yin Qigong Can Help Combat Fatty Liver
Your liver might be silently signalling you. Feeling tired often, loss of appetite, dark urine, and itchy skin are signs that your liver could be having problems. The liver is one of the most important organs in the body, responsible for detoxification, blood production, metabolism, and more. Poor liver function can affect your overall health. Fatty liver is a common liver disease that can affect anyone, regardless of weight. If not treated promptly, fatty liver can worsen and even lead to liver cancer.
Qigong expert Master Bai Yin suggests improving liver health through learning Bai Yin Qigong. Bai Yin Qigong uses breathing, movements, and sounds to regulate the body's qi and meridians, promote liver drainage and metabolism, eliminate stagnation and toxins, improve emotions and temperament, and enhance physical fitness and immunity.
Silent alarms from the liver: Fatigue and loss of appetite.
Have you ever experienced this? Despite not doing anything out of the ordinary, with work and life proceeding as usual, you always feel like you can't sleep well or get enough rest. When you wake up in the morning, you feel groggy and lack energy throughout the day. You find it hard to muster enthusiasm for anything, and your physical strength noticeably declines. Even simple tasks feel exhausting. This kind of fatigue isn't just from lack of sleep; it could be a sign that something is wrong with your body and needs your attention.
Loss of appetite is another important warning sign. Besides its roles in detoxification and blood production, our liver plays a crucial role in recycling blood for all our organs, ensuring circulation. When our liver develops fatty liver disease, it affects the smooth flow of blood circulation, especially impacting our digestive system, including the stomach, small intestine, duodenum, and large intestine, all hindered by the liver.
Fatty liver is essentially liver inflammation, which causes swelling and can eventually lead to scarring, resulting in loss of liver function over time. This can lead to loss of appetite, reluctance to eat, or feeling full quickly after eating, followed by bloating and indigestion. You may notice a reduced appetite or occasional hunger followed by quickly losing interest in food after a few bites. These are signs of fatty liver that need early detection and treatment.
Searching for hidden signals: Urine colour and itchy skin.
In addition to fatigue and loss of appetite, there are other signals that can help you assess the health of your liver, such as changes in urine colour and abnormal itching of the skin. The colour of urine can reflect the body's metabolic status; normally, urine should be light yellow. If urine appears dark amber or brown, it may indicate an excess of bilirubin in the body. Bilirubin is a substance produced by the liver when breaking down haemoglobin from red blood cells. Normally, it is excreted with bile. However, liver or bile duct issues such as fatty liver, gallstones, or cholangitis can lead to bilirubin buildup in the blood and urine, causing urine discoloration.
Furthermore, abnormal itching of the skin can also be a warning sign of liver disease, especially when accompanied by other symptoms of liver problems. There are many reasons for itchy skin, and one possible cause is liver dysfunction, where toxins accumulate in the body due to ineffective excretion, irritating nerve endings and causing itching. If you experience persistent itching despite using moisturizers or anti-allergy medications, it could indicate liver issues.
Fatty liver isn't exclusive to obesity; even thin individuals need to be cautious.
"Fatty liver" is a common liver disease characterized by the accumulation of fat within liver cells beyond normal levels, affecting liver function and structure. Many people mistakenly believe that fatty liver only occurs in obese individuals, but in reality, even thin people can develop fatty liver. The causes of fatty liver are not solely related to body weight; they also involve factors such as diet, exercise, metabolism, and genetics.
According to traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), the occurrence of fatty liver is related to dysfunction of organs such as the spleen, liver, and kidneys, and can be classified into two types: spleen deficiency type and liver stagnation type. Spleen deficiency type fatty liver is caused by spleen deficiency leading to water retention and dampness accumulation in the liver. Patients of this type typically have a tendency towards obesity or enema, fatigue, slow digestion, bloating, and loose stools. Treatment focuses on tonifying the spleen to promote the metabolism and elimination of dampness, reducing the burden on the liver.
Liver stagnation type fatty liver is due to emotional disturbances causing liver qi stagnation and blood stasis, hindering the liver's ability to metabolize fat properly, leading to its accumulation in the liver. Patients of this type are usually lean, prone to chest and rib pain, depression, bitter taste in the mouth, and dry throat. Treatment involves soothing the liver, regulating qi circulation, promoting blood circulation, and resolving blood stasis to restore the liver's function of metabolizing and eliminating fats.
If left untreated, fatty liver can progress to fatty hepatitis, liver fibrosis, cirrhosis, and even liver cancer, posing serious health risks. Therefore, fatty liver is not exclusive to obesity; thin individuals should also be cautious. Fatty liver is a reversible condition, and timely improvements in lifestyle habits, weight control, regular exercise, and balanced diet can effectively prevent and treat fatty liver, reducing its threat to your health.
The liver is most afraid of poor qi circulation: Master Bai Yin teaches you to improve mood and temperament through yawning and vocalizing.
Master Bai Yin believes that the liver is closely related to a person's emotions and temperament. He has observed that some students, after practicing qigong, undergo significant emotional changes. For example, they might have previously kept their feelings bottled up inside, but after practicing qigong, they become more proactive in expressing themselves. While this may not always be entirely positive, at least they are able to release their anger in a timely manner rather than suppressing it until it reaches a breaking point. Such emotional outbursts can often cause significant harm to the body.
After practicing qigong, the students also found themselves more courageous to say no and more capable of authentically expressing their emotions. Does this mean their emotions are flowing smoothly? Actually, after practicing qigong, our bodies naturally digest or eliminate various gases that accumulate due to emotions, temperament, or digestive discomfort. Our bodies contain various gases, such as those in the intestines and stomach, which accumulate due to factors like diet, fatigue, or other reasons.
An important benefit of practicing qigong, especially Bai Yin Qigong, is that we encourage students to yawn and produce "ha" sounds in many techniques. These sounds provide an outlet for harmful gases. For instance, in practices like EnerQi, YoungQi’s QI Amplification or HarmonyQi’s Internal Sound Vibration, our mouths emit "ha" sounds during the internal vibration technique. We also make sounds while practicing breathing. All of these techniques help provide an outlet for harmful gases.
If you don't practice qigong, where do these gases go? You might become irritable or try to numb yourself with alcohol. Some people turn to binge eating or drinking during times of anger, which only exacerbates the situation. Therefore, eating when in a bad mood is not wise and is detrimental to your health.
The greatest benefit of practicing qigong is that while we enhance the circulation of meridians, we also facilitate the digestion or elimination of various gases produced in the body. It's common knowledge that everyone burps and passes gas. When people feel discomfort, they sigh or breathe heavily. This is a natural instinct of the body that requires an outlet, a release point.
If you have fatty liver issues, it's crucial to distinguish whether you have liver stagnation type or spleen deficiency type. If you have liver stagnation type, you should definitely yawn during qigong practice. If you have spleen deficiency type, you should focus on sweating. Additionally, there are many methods during qigong practice that can help us regulate breathing and clear meridians. However, it's important to follow Master's guidance in class and not make "ha" sounds randomly. You should vocalize at specific points along the meridians for the practices to be effective.
For example, when practicing EnerQi Dayan, during the Shake Wings movement, if you don't incorporate the vibration effects of the liver-gallbladder meridians and the heel vibration, the sounds you make won't be effective. Therefore, before making the "ha" sound, we need to first perform the spreading wings and folding wings movements to stimulate these meridians. Only then will the practice be effective. If we skip these steps, the effectiveness will be diminished. So, practicing qigong is about providing the best outlet for releasing those undesirable gases. Daily practice helps to clear today's Qi and dispel today's tensions.
Small technique, significant effects: Earth Circulation Technique
Master Bai Yin suggests that students interested in learning qigong should approach it like actors, experiencing techniques step by step. Before delving into practices like EnerQi Dayan and YoungQi Rejuvenation, it's crucial to establish a foundation. This includes relaxation and realignment of muscles and bones, allowing for a sense of Qi during practice. Master Bai Yin recommends starting with the "HarmonyQi Stress Relief Technique" to lay a solid groundwork before progressing to more advanced systematic techniques, which can yield better results with more noticeable Qi sensations.
The technique to experience this time is a small part of the "Earth Circulation Technique," suitable for office workers or those who sit for extended periods. Even when sitting, one can practice this exercise. Earth Circulation Technique is a component of the HarmonyQi Stress Relief Technique and is beneficial for issues like fatty liver and metabolism. It is also known as "Waist Slimming Technique," providing significant benefits for the waistline and the belt meridians.
Movement Technique:
- 1Starting Position: Lift both hands up.
- 2Move both hands forward and draw a circle to the left, placing them on the left waist.
- 3Along the belt meridian, slide both hands from the left side to the right side.
Key Points of the Technique
Starting Position:
Begin by raising the wrist first, then lift the hand. Use the strength of the arm to guide the hand, with the hand being the least forceful part.
Importance of the Starting Position: The starting position for each exercise is crucial as it determines whether you can carry the Qi (energy) throughout the practice. Therefore, when lifting the hand, it should not be straight or rigid.
Performing with Qi Sensation: Every movement should extend as far as the tips of the fingers. Any movement that reaches the fingertip indicates that it can help with circulation. If you feel a slight numbness in your hand, it means the Qi is flowing.
Relaxation:
When performing the movements, the hand must be extremely relaxed; the more relaxed, the better.
Not a Massage:
When placing the hand on the waist, it is not a massage. You don’t need to pinch or vigorously rub the belly; just gently slide the hand across the front of the waist.
Not Relying on Hand Strength:
It’s not about using the strength of the hand to eliminate fat, but rather about using Qi during the practice.
Reverse Direction:
After completing a certain number of repetitions, you can perform the movements in the opposite direction to enhance the Qi sensation.
Earth Circulation Technique involves many details that need to be taught thoroughly and carefully in class because it's not just about the movements of the hands; crucially, it also involves movements of the feet. Complete mastery of Earth Circulation Technique allows practitioners to develop profound skills rather than just scratching the surface.
During Earth Circulation Technique practice, many people experience purging reactions such as burping and passing gas. Additionally, after practicing, they may notice that their legs feel warmer, indicating significant benefits for lower body circulation.
