Traditional Chinese medicine and the Spleen

Next is the spleen system, which includes the spleen and stomach and their pairs of meridians. The pancreas is part of this system and is seen as part of the spleen energetically. The spleen’s energy job is the assimilation of food and information, absorbing both and incorporating them into the body. The spleen personality is very centered and grounded. They are steady and strong and don’t get flustered easily. They are naturally nurturing and would really enjoy preparing food for themselves and others, making sure everyone had their favorite things to eat. They understand and absorb information deeply.

The spleen is very much affected by stress. I mentioned earlier that the Spleen was responsible for assimilating information. When a person is worried, they often spend a lot of time thinking about situations, trying to problem solve them and figure stuff out. This causes the spleen to energetically overload in its ability to absorb information. The more you try to problem-solve the same situation, the more the spleen gets out of balance and it becomes hard to stop thinking about a problem. Thinking can become slow, foggy, and obsessive.

Emotionally, when the spleen is out of balance, people tend to feel overwhelmed. It just feels like there is too much to process or too much to think about, too much worry. People also will feel a sense of being stuck. You might find yourself saying, I feel so stuck in this job, or this relationship, this house. You might even feel that something is physically stuck in the abdominal area. Click to learn how Chinese medicine treats Enlarged Spleen.

In relationships an out of balance spleen person will tend to be overly care-taking of their partner, doing too much for them and neglecting themselves in the process. Nurturing is not the same as care taking. The natural nurturing tendencies of a spleen person become exaggerated and you end up forcing onto others food and other misguided actions that you think are helping them. It may be difficult to stop helping others even when you know it is wearing yourself out and just annoying them.

But, when the spleen is balanced, the person brings stability to a relationship, a steadiness and groundedness. The balanced spleen personality is a blessing to have in a home environment, creating a home out of the place you live, offering nourishment and support with an awareness of the other person wanting that support, and keeping a good balance on nurturing oneself as well.