Hey this is Nicholas, let's talk about the properties of herbs, like temperature taste, entering channel, and direction. So first we should ask why do we even need to know this? Is it just because Chinese medicine teachers are mean and like to torture you by making you memorize a bunch of useless information? Well, maybe... But really, understanding these basic properties is our first step towards understanding how these herbs work, what they can do for us, and how we can use them to treat our patients. Because Chinese herbology isn't like Western herbology. With Western herbs, we tend to take an herb and match it to a symptom. So ginger is good for upset stomach, chamomile is good for insomnia, ginkgo is good for memory, and St. John's Wort is good for depression. But that's not how Chinese medicine works. In Chinese medicine, we're not treating symptoms we're treating patterns of disharmony. So what do we mean by that, "patterns of disharmony"? Well, these are things like Liver Qi stagnation, Kidney Yin deficiency, damp heat in the lower-jiao. So these patterns describe an imbalance or a disharmony in the normal functioning of the body systems. So by understanding the nature of these herbs in terms of taste, temperature, entering channel, and direction, that can give us some insight into how these herbs can work to restore balance and ultimately heal our patients. So maybe the simplest to understand is temperature. Each herb is assigned a temperature, also called the Qi of an herb. So an herb can be hot, warm, cool, or cold. And then, as a fifth one, we can also say an herb is neutral and temperature or that it's Chi is balanced. So even though we say the four Qi there are actually like five temperatures. So this gives us a very basic treatment principle to follow when using herbs. Chapter 74 of the Ling Shu states, "hot diseases must be cooled; cold diseases must be warmed." So basically, if a person is hot, give them cold herbs. If a person is cool, give them hot herbs. Now admittedly sometimes it gets more complicated than this. People aren't always just hot or just cold. We might see more complicated patterns where there's a mix, like heat above and cold below, cold on the exterior with interior heat, or false cold was true heat. So in situations like this where we have a combination of both heat and cold in the body, we might end up combining both hot and cold herbs together in a formula. And then we'll just direct those herbs to different parts of the body. And that's something we'll talk more about later. But for now, hopefully this idea of herbs having a temperature makes sense or is already familiar to you. For example, we have common spices like cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and clove, and these are all warm in temperature. That's why we eat them during the winter in things like apple pie or pumpkin spice lattes. Things like watermelon and mint, on the other hand, are very cooling in temperature. And that's why we eat them during the summer. Watermelon is very cooling and refreshing, so if you eat it during the winter when it's cold outside, people are going to look at you funny. So that's the idea of temperature, and it's one of the basic things we want to keep in mind when we're prescribing herbs to our patients. The next thing we want to talk about is the five tastes or the five flavors, which are sour, bitter, sweet, acrid, and salty. So each herb will have one or more of these flavors, and the flavor of an herb will determine what action or effect it has on the body. So let's go through them one by one. So with sour, we say that the sour flavor induces astringency. But what does that even mean, "induce astringency"? No, not that. When we say "induce astringency" we mean that these herbs prevent or stop the abnormal leakage of qi and fluids. Or, more simply stated, sour herbs stop leakage. Remember in fundamentals class we learn the five functions of qi. Well one of those functions was containment. Qi is supposed to contain and hold things in place. When qi is deficient and fails in its function of containment then things leak out. What does this leakage look like? Well, we could have leakage of fluids, like spontaneous sweating, night sweats, incontinence, bedwetting, or frequent urination. We could have leakage of qi like with chronic cough. Here we would say this is the Lung qi leaking out. We could have leakage of essence, like seminal emission or vaginal discharge. Or we could even have large intestine leakage such as chronic diarrhea. So herbs with a sour flavor can be used to prevent or stop these types of leakage. Another phrase we use here is "stabilize and bind" and that's just another way of saying "stop leakage". I just want to bring this up here because this is the name of the category in Bensky, "Herbs that Stabilize and Bind." And this is just a category of herbs that stop leakage. The thing we want to be careful of though is that these herbs are for chronic, long-standing cases due to deficiency where qi is failing in its function of containment. So if we have chronic, long-standing diarrhea due to spleen Qi deficiency then we can use sour herbs to stop the diarrhea. However if we have an acute case of diarrhea due to an excess damp-heat pathogen, then we would not use sour herbs. In that case using sour herbs would just trap the pathogen inside the body, and that's not what we want. So next is bitter. Bitter herbs have two functions: they clear heat and drain fire, and they dry dampness. Now here, some people like to ask, "What's the difference between clearing heat and draining fire?" Well the answer is, not much. If you want to be a real nit picky you can look at Nigel Weissman's Practical Dictionary of Chinese Medicine where he says, "fire denotes a form of repletion heat arising from the transformation of other evils and from the transformation of yang qi." But on the other hand I've had Chinese teachers telling me that the only reason we say it this way is because in Chinese things sound more poetic when you use four characters. So when you say it this way, "Qing Re, Xie Huo" it just sounds more beautiful. But then we can maybe also say that the word "draining" implies that bitter herbs have a downward direction. For example, Da Huang drains heat and fire downwards to relieve constipation. But however you want to say it I think the important thing to remember is that bitter herbs are good for getting rid of heat in the body. Besides that, the bitter flavor also dries dampness. So we can combine this function with the first one and say that bitter herbs are good for damp heat. But we also have bitter herbs that treat cold-damp as well. So don't get confused, just because we say that one function of bitter herbs is that they clear heat and drain fire, that doesn't mean that all bitter herbs are cold and temperature. We do have herbs that are bitter in flavor and warm in temperature. And that just means they're using the second function of the bitter flavor which is drying dampness. Next we have sweet herbs. Sweet herbs tonify and moisten. So anytime we're dealing with deficiency, whether it's Qi deficiency, blood deficiency, yin deficiency, or yang deficiency, we tend to use herbs that are sweet in flavor. One thing we might want to worry about, though, is that sweet herbs tend to be rich and cloying and difficult to digest. So taking a lot of sweet herbs can very easily cause stagnation. So when we take sweet herbs, it's very common to combine them with herbs that have a moving property as well. And that brings us to the next flavor which is acrid. The acrid flavor moves and disperses so anytime we're dealing with stagnation whether it's qi stagnation, blood stagnation, or stagnation due to cold, we'll likely use acrid herbs to move and disperse. And then, when we say that acrid herbs disperse, that also means that they disperse outward to expel pathogenic influences from the exterior levels of the body. So we can also say that acrid herbs promote sweating to release the exterior. So the actual taste of acrid can be kind of difficult to explain. Some other translations we use are pungent or even spicy. But we don't necessarily mean spicy in the way that cayenne peppers or jalapeno peppers are spicy. Some other examples are things like ginger, garlic, onions, and even cinnamon are considered acrid in flavor. So it's that kind of spiciness. And then, since acrid herbs are dispersing and drying, we'll use caution in cases of deficiency. Basically, if a person is already low on qi, we don't want to disperse what little qi they have left. And finally, we have salty. The salty flavor softens hardness and purges excess so salty herbs can be used to treat hard nodules like goiter and scrofula. And salty herbs can purge accumulations or induce moist precipitation. These are just fancy ways of saying that they have a strong laxative effect. Think of like Epsom salt which is commonly used as a laxative. And as a side note, we're going to see that most of our medicinal substances that come from animal parts are going to be marked salty and flavor as well. So things like cicada skins, gecko tails, or deer antler are going to be marked salty in flavor. So those are the five tastes or the five flavors. And again, understanding these flavors allows us to make some connection between the taste of an herb and its therapeutic action. And then, something that happens pretty often in Chinese medicine, whenever we have five of something we tend to match it up with the five elements or the five phases. So each one of the five flavors corresponds to one of the five phases, and that's why we call it a "five phase correspondence". So the sour flavor corresponds to wood. The bitter flavor corresponds to fire. The sweet flavor corresponds to earth. The acrid flavor corresponds to the metal. And the salty flavor corresponds to water. But what's maybe more interesting here is through these five phase correspondences we can say that each taste is associated with an organ or channel. So the sour flavor enters the liver. The bitter flavor enters the heart. The sweet flavor enters a spleen. The acrid flavor enters the lung. And the salty flavor enters the kidney. So, for example, herbs that are salty in flavor or have been prepared with salt tend to enter the kidney and treat kidney- related disorders. Now I'm not sure that there's actually a good way to explain or remember these correspondences, but maybe we can try to make something up. So the sour flavor stops leakage and holds things in, and that's similar to the liver's function of storage. The bitter flavor clears heat and drains fire, and so it corresponds to fire. Or you can think about fire drying things out, and that's related to the bitter flavor's function of drying dampness. The sweet flavor tonifies, just like the spleen is our source of postnatal Qi and it tonifies the entire body through nutrition and proper digestion. The acrid flavor moves and disperses, just like when you do rhythmic breathing during Qi Gong, you're using your lungs to move and circulate Qi. Or you can think that the acrid flavor releases the exterior and the lung governs the exterior and the opening and closing of the pores. And the salty flavor is associated with water because salt attracts water. If you eat a lot of salt you'll get bloated because you're retaining water. Also, if you eat kidneys like pork kidneys, you might know that they're salty in flavor. Because that's how the kidneys regulate water in the body is through sodium gradients. So kidneys are literally salty. So maybe that's helpful, or maybe it isn't. Some of them are kind of a stretch. But the other thing we should look at is, besides the five flavors, we also have additional properties that help determine the actions of an herb. So besides sour, bitter, sweet, acrid, and salty, we can also say that herbs can be bland, aromatic, or astringent. So even though we call it the five flavors, there are really like seven or eight five flavors. So bland is more like a lack of flavor. But the bland flavor has the action of promoting urination and draining dampness. We usually use bland herbs for edema and water retention, or for urination problems like UTI. So we need to keep this straight: bitter herbs DRY dampness, meaning the dampness dries up and just disappears, but bland herbs DRAIN dampness meaning we're promoting urination to drain dampness out of the body. So don't get these two confused. And aromatic isn't really a taste it's more like a property. Aromatic herbs have a strong smell they have a fragrance or aroma and this aromatic property has the action of opening and awakening aromatic herbs can open the sensory orifices like the eyes nose and ears think about like vicks vapor rub the strong smell opens up your face aromatic herbs also open the harp orifices to revive the Shen or awaken the spirit and aromatic herbs also awaken the spleen so think about like smelling salts if a person passes out you can use the strong fragrance of smelling salts to wake them up similarly aromatic herbs wake up the spleen so that can perform its function of transforming dampness that's why we might also say that aromatic herbs transform dampness astringent is another one that's not really a taste it's more like a property it's pretty much the same thing as sour we just use it for herbs that have the ability to stop leakage but aren't necessarily sour and flavor when you put them in your mouth so there we have the seven or eight five flavors next we can talk about entering channels or the idea that herbs enter specific channels in order to have a therapeutic effect so this is maybe a little bit weird because the idea of entering channels kind of evolved over time in order to bridge the gap between acupuncture and herbs so entering channels weren't really mentioned in the original Shen Nong benzo Jing they were first alluded to in a Song Dynasty but it wasn't until the Jin yuan dynasty that they got explicitly mentioned so part of what this means is there isn't always complete agreement between sources about which herbs enter which channels so if you're looking at two different books and you have two different entering channels for the same herb that's kind of normal or if you're looking at an herb and you don't understand why this herb enters these channels or why this herb doesn't enter these channels that's also kind of normal but for us I would say that entering channels are just another way of characterizing and understanding the functions of an herb so if an herb stops coughs it probably enters a lung channel if an herb calms the shen we enters the heart channel if an herb brightens the eyes probably enters the liver channel because the liver governs the eyes if an herb strengthens the tendons and bones it probably enters the liver and kidney channels because the liver governs attendance and the kidneys govern the bones things like that sooner going through the individual herbs we want to try to make these connections when we can but really if you come across an herb and you don't understand why it enters a certain channel let's say don't worry about it too much there may be a reason but it might be really weird and convoluted one so for now I would say just don't think too hard if that all sounded really weird and confusing let's look at an example this is bull hook which is mint leaf so here we see that bull hook is the Chinese name and mint I have local Kasturba is the Latin pharmaceutical name in terms of Chi or temperature waha is cool and temperature so we know that it's used to treat warm conditions waha is acrid in flavor remember the acrid flavor moves and disperses so boja disperses wind heat from the superficial levels of the body and it also moves liver Chi bull hood is also aromatic this refers to its ability to open orifices opening up the eyes head and throat if you're making mint tea you can stick your face over it and the fragrance of the steam will open up your eyes and nose as far as entering channels go bull hook enters the lung and liver channels and enters the lung channel because it releases the exterior and benefits the skin and those are governed by the lung it enters a liver channel because it moves liver Chi and brightens the eyes and the eyes are governed by the liver so when we're going through the individual herbs don't think of these properties as extra pieces of information that you have to memorize instead try to understand in herbs functions in terms of its temperature taste and entering channels then the last thing we can talk about is direction herbs can have a direction of action they can move upward downward inward outward or go to a specific area of the body for example flowers tend to have a light ascending nature so this upward direction makes them good for treating symptoms in the head and face roots and heavy minerals tend to have a downward direction so they can move downward and anchor ascendant young some of the diseases we treat have a direction associated with them so for example with coffee nausea and vomiting we might say that the Chi is rebelling upward so we treat these conditions using herbs with a downward Direction diarrhea or rectal prolapse could be cheese sinking so we counter that by using lifting herbs if a pathogen is on the exterior trying to invade and work its way in word we can use herbs with an outward direction to push the pathogen out if fluids are leaking out like in the case of spontaneous wedding we can use herbs with an inward direction to hold things in then we have certain herbs that can guide the therapeutic effect of a formula to a specific part of the body for example chong who guides herbs the upper body well do all guides herbs to the lower body Jia gum can guide herbs to the chest so this idea of an herbs direction can be kind of weird because it's not always explicitly stated so if you open your textbook you'll probably see sections for taste temperature and entering channel but you won't necessarily see a section for the direction of an herb for that you might have to go looking through the commentary so the directional property of an herb is more pronounced in some herbs than in other herbs but it's still something we can keep in mind during a treatment so those are the basic properties of herbs and again the reason we need to know this is because this is how we use Chinese herbs to treat patients one of the mistakes I see beginning students make is they ask questions like what's a good herb for insomnia what's a good herb for diabetes what's a good herb for when I get sick and those are just the wrong questions to ask because remember in Chinese medicine we're not treating symptoms we're treating patterns of disharmony so the way it works is a patient comes in with a chief complaint we ask them a bunch of questions about that chief complaint in order to come up with a diagnosis that diagnosis informs our treatment principle and then we prescribe herbs that line up with treatment principle for example let's say you have a patient with a chief complaint of insomnia after looking at the other signs and symptoms you might come up with a pattern diagnosis of liver Chi stagnation transforming into fire so your treatment principle would be drain fire and move liver Chi since this is the warm condition we'll probably want to use herbs that are cool and temperature will probably use bitter herbs since the bitter taste drains fire and we'll probably combine that with acrid herbs since the acrid flavor moves and disperses and now take care of the underlying Chi stagnation and we'll use herbs that enter the liver channel so that's how we would treat insomnia in this particular patient but say we have another patient coming in with insomnia but this time the other signs and symptoms are different here based on these symptoms we might diagnose spleen Qi deficiency with heart blood deficiency so our treatment principle would be tonify spleen Chi and Tana fie heart blood so here we'll probably use herbs that are warm and temperature and sweet and flavor because the sweet flavor Tana Faiz and this time we'll use herbs that enter the spleen and heart channels instead so even though both of these people have insomnia the way we treat them and the herbs we use are going to be very different depending on the pattern diagnosis so that's it for today I hope this was helpful if we haven't met my name is Nicholas I make videos about acupuncture and Chinese herbs so if you're a student and you'd like to see more videos like this consider subscribing below and checking out some of the other videos on this channel but I hope you enjoyed this cuz that's all for today thanks and see you next time