February 13, 2025 • 14 mins
Qi, or chee, is one of the most complex concepts in Chinese medicine. Yet, it is crucial that you have a basic understanding of it. While you don't need to be a Chinese medicine doctor, knowing how Qi affects the body will help you identify possible imbalances that are preventing you from getting pregnant.
In this episode, we will explore what Qi is and the possible imbalances that can cause fertility challenges.
Follow me on instagram @dradriennewei
Website: www.adriennewei.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to the Practically Fertile Podcast.
I'm Adrienne Wee, doctor ofAcupuncture and Chinese Medicine
, functional MedicinePractitioner and Functional
Nutritionist.
I specialize in using anevidence-based method, blending
principles of East Asianmedicine and modern functional
medicine to help women optimizefertility and get pregnant.
(00:22):
I believe in a world whereevery woman who wants to be a
mother becomes one.
If you're tired of being toldthat you're infertile and you
want to take the right steps toget pregnant naturally and
quickly, this podcast is for you.
Hey, fertile friend, in thelast episode I gave you a crash
(00:42):
course on TCM or traditionalChinese medicine, and I
originally had planned to talkabout the concept of qi, but it
was way too much to cram intoone episode.
So today, this episode is allabout qi.
You might have never heard ofqi and if you have, maybe you
struggle to understand it.
Maybe you're questioningwhether it's real.
(01:03):
I will tell you that it's veryreal.
Qi, spelled Q-I or pronouncedQi C-H-E-E, is important in
Chinese medicine because itsupplies the vital energy for
the body.
The disruption of this energycauses many imbalances, from
back pain to PMS to constipation, and this vital energy is like
(01:28):
the electricity that's runningthrough your house.
You can't see it, but you knowthat it's there because the
lights turn on and theappliances work.
This vital energy in the bodytravels along meridians that are
like highway systems to deliverthis energy to where it needs
to go.
It's very hard to measure qibecause, unlike electricity, you
(01:51):
can measure that in watts.
You can't do that with qi.
However, researchers have beenable to prove that it exists by
mapping brain activity usingfunctional MRI while an
acupuncture point is beingstimulated.
For example, a functional MRIstudy on an acupuncture point
(02:13):
called liver 3, or it's Taichungin Chinese.
It's basically the third pointon the liver meridian or the
liver channel.
The third point on the livermeridian or the liver channel.
If you want to compare this toa highway system, this is the
exit number three.
The fMRI showed that liverthree activated the visual
(02:36):
cortex in the brain.
How cool is that?
According to Chinese medicine,eye problems are often caused by
an imbalance of the energy inthe liver organ system.
The functional MRI also showedthat liver 3 activated the
medial frontal gyrus, whichcontrols memory and attention.
Also the superior parietal lobe, which is responsible for
(03:00):
hand-eye coordination andbalance.
The thalamus and limbic system,which controls the emotional
response.
What do you know?
Liver is also an organ systemthat controls emotions in
Chinese medicine.
Again, I just love how theChinese people already knew
about all this thousands ofyears ago, without these fancy
(03:20):
equipment and without a modernunderstanding of the human body
fancy equipment and without amodern understanding of the
human body.
Here's another interestingfinding from the same study.
The researchers tested anotheracupuncture point that's right
next to Lyrithrae and it's onthe stomach meridian, called
stomach 44.
So exit 44 on the stomachmeridian or stomach channel.
(03:44):
Yes, stomach is super long,it's a really long meridian that
runs from your head to yourtoes.
Anyway, you would think that ifit's all random, you would get
the same response by stimulatingstomach 44, since it's so close
to liver 3.
It's literally right next toeach other.
But that's not what the MRIshowed.
(04:07):
The MRI showed some overlapbetween the two points, but
stomach 44 also showedactivation in the superior
frontal gyrus, inferior frontalgyrus, which is the area that
relates to pain, which is thearea that relates to pain,
(04:28):
visceral pain to be exact andalso activation in the secondary
somatosensory area of the brainthat's responsible for pain
perception.
Here is the interestingcorrelation.
Stomach 44 is often used totreat pain such as toothache,
headaches, sore throat andulcers.
The functional MRI proved thatit can do that.
There are many, many other fMRIstudies out there on
(04:52):
acupuncture points like this one.
I don't specialize inneuroscience so I think some of
these are hard to read through,but I love how they were able to
define something that's notexactly tangible.
How they were able to definesomething that's not exactly
tangible.
If you remember from episode two, qi is one of the four
(05:14):
substances that power the body.
If it's off balance, there willbe many health problems.
So let's talk about how does qispecifically affect fertility.
There are two ways that it cancause imbalances and affect
fertility.
We call it stagnation ordeficiency.
So the flow of this energy canbecome stuck or the amount can
be deficient.
(05:34):
Even though qi flows throughevery single organ system in the
body and affects every singlecell, there are two organs that
control whether it flowssmoothly or whether your body
can make enough of it.
These two organs are liver andspleen.
Three other organs we'lldiscuss that's crucial for
(05:55):
fertility later on will be heart, kidneys and lung.
But this episode we're going tofocus on the two organs that
control the vital energy flow inyour body.
Let's talk about the liver first, the liver organ in Chinese
medicine directs the flow of qiand keeps it flowing smoothly.
You'll often hear liver qistagnation as one of the
(06:17):
patterns of imbalance.
That means if there are factorsthat are affecting the liver,
chi stagnation will often be theresult.
So when this flow of energygets stuck somewhere, you can
have issues like pain anywherein the body in the joints, in
the head, in the back.
An acupuncture can resolve painvery quickly because the
(06:40):
needles can easily move theblockage and get the qi flowing
again.
Another way to look at this isthe needles help blood flow that
carry oxygen to get to thetissues so that it can heal.
Cupping is a procedure thataccomplishes exactly this
without using needles.
(07:00):
It creates space between thefascia and the muscle and it
helps to get oxygen to where itneeds to go to the tissues to
heal.
And qi stagnation or blockageeither way you look at it can
have a tremendous impact onfertility.
Because of your energy flowit's stuck, then the nourishment
(07:21):
to the important reproductiveorgans will also decrease.
The nutrients aren't getting towhere they need to go.
You'll get less blood flow tothe ovaries and uterus, causing
late ovulation.
Pms cysts can form on theovaries.
You'll get less blood flow tothe head, affecting your mental
health, causing depression.
Qi stagnation can also causeconstipation, cold hands and
(07:45):
feet.
Because poor circulation, theenergy flow isn't there.
If the energy flow isn't there,the blood flow to the
extremities won't be there.
What are some of the thingsthat affect the liver won't be
there.
What are some of the thingsthat affect the liver, you might
wonder, and you mightautomatically think medicine or
alcohol, but actually, accordingto TCM, these do not affect the
(08:06):
liver as much as stress,especially emotional stress.
Medicine, diet, alcohol usewill all contribute to the
stagnation, but emotions havethe most impact on the liver.
Ever experienced road rage?
That affects the liver.
How about realizing that youmissed a deadline at work and
(08:27):
your job depends on it Affectsthe liver.
Getting a big fat negative atthe end of the month Affects the
liver.
Every type of emotional stress,big or small, will affect the
liver and for some peoplethey'll shake it off and get
over it, but for others theywill have a hard time,
especially if they are the woodfertility archetype, which
(08:49):
corresponds to the liver.
The wood archetypes most likelywill have cheese stagnation.
Okay, what about the spleen?
Isn't that an organ that youdon't need?
Spleen is absolutely importantfor TCM because it is the
digestive system.
Even in cases if your spleenhas been removed, we still
(09:11):
consider the fact that you havea spleen.
It's just not physicallypresent in your body.
In both Western and Chinesemedicine, the stomach helps to
mash up the food and make theminto a slush.
However, in Chinese medicine,it's the spleen that provides
the energy to extract what isuseful from the food and then
(09:34):
distributes it to the rest ofthe body yes, with help from the
liver.
So think of spleen like afactory.
If it's not functioning properly, the production of useful
energy and food for the bodywill also slow down, and this is
how you end up with qideficiency.
When the production of qi slowsdown, it's easy to see how your
(09:59):
organs will become malnourished.
There just simply isn't enoughfood.
When this happens, you couldalways be tired like dragging
your feet kind of tired.
You could have slow metabolism.
You could have trouble losingweight.
You could have many digestiveproblems like bloating, chronic
loose stools.
(10:19):
Mid-cycle spotting is a symptomof Qi deficiency.
It's one of the 10 parametersof a fertile cycle.
During phase 3 of the menstrualcycle we rely on a strong
spleen Qi or energy to providenourishment to the lining.
If that's deficient, you canhave mid-cycle spotting.
(10:40):
Qi deficiency can also causecysts to form on the ovaries and
sometimes in the uterus, asfibroids or polyps.
Remember how I said cysts canform if you have qi stagnation?
Well, this is an example of howTCM would treat everyone very
differently, depending on thepatterns of imbalance, because
(11:01):
two people can both have cystson the ovaries, but in one
person it could be caused by Qistagnation and in another person
it could be caused by Qideficiency.
And, as you guessed it, thetreatments will be very
different.
As you guessed it, thetreatments will be very
(11:21):
different.
And just to be clear, justbecause you have spleen qi
deficiency, that does not meanyou will always have all of
these symptoms.
And just because you have qistagnation, it doesn't mean you
will always have PMS or you willalways have constipation.
These patterns of disharmonystill affects everybody very
(11:41):
differently.
Now, what is the spleen mostaffected by?
It's most affected by diet andanything cold and raw.
Okay, does that make more sensenow why we don't want to eat
raw foods and drink cold water?
You might be able to recoverfrom it once in a while, but
(12:02):
over time the spleen organ willbecome more and more sluggish
and the energy production willslow down.
Especially if you're an earthfertility archetype, you'll be
most affected by this and youmight have a harder time
recovering from the impact ofthe cold and raw drinks and food
.
So these two patterns ofimbalance doesn't just identify
(12:25):
one symptom.
Instead, it describes a groupof symptoms.
That's another major differencebetween TCM and modern
biomedicine.
Once you start treatment withTCM, the entire group of
symptoms will improve, alongwith others that are impacted by
this group of root issues.
It would never be one treatmentfor one symptom, like one type
(12:48):
of medication to resolve oneparticular symptom and then
another medication to resolveanother.
Now you might be thinking whatif I have symptoms of both qi
stagnation and qi deficiency?
That's actually very normal.
When the qi flow is stuck, itcould be caused by qi deficiency
, because if you don't haveenough energy to begin with, you
(13:09):
won't have a lot available toflow.
If the river is dry, you're notwon't have a lot available to
flow.
If the river is dry, you're notgoing to have a lot of water
flow.
On the other hand, qideficiency could be caused by qi
stagnation.
There might be enough energy,but it can't get to where it
needs to go because something isblocking it.
So, yes, you can have bothstagnation and deficiency, but
(13:31):
you will most likely have onepredominant pattern.
If you're working with a TCMpractitioner, you'll be
prescribed a treatment planaimed at resolving this
predominant pattern.
All right, fertile friend, we'rewrapping up here.
I really hope today's episodewas helpful in explaining what
qi is and how it impacts ourbody, especially fertility, I
(13:55):
think.
Even if you don't fullyunderstand the concept, just
remember this one of my favoriteTCM proverbs where there is
free flow, there's no pain ordisease.
Where there's obstruction,there is pain and disease.
All right, friend, thank you somuch for spending some time
with me today.
(14:15):
If you have any questions, feelfree to reach out to me.
You know where to find me.
Until next time, take care ofyourself and your amazing body.
You are one fertile cycle awayfrom getting pregnant.
Thank you.
Welcome to the Practically Fertile Podcast.
I'm Adrienne Wee, doctor ofAcupuncture and Chinese Medicine
, functional MedicinePractitioner and Functional
Nutritionist.
I specialize in using anevidence-based method, blending
principles of East Asianmedicine and modern functional
medicine to help women optimizefertility and get pregnant.
(00:22):
I believe in a world whereevery woman who wants to be a
mother becomes one.
If you're tired of being toldthat you're infertile and you
want to take the right steps toget pregnant naturally and
quickly, this podcast is for you.
Hey, fertile friend, in thelast episode I gave you a crash
(00:42):
course on TCM or traditionalChinese medicine, and I
originally had planned to talkabout the concept of qi, but it
was way too much to cram intoone episode.
So today, this episode is allabout qi.
You might have never heard ofqi and if you have, maybe you
struggle to understand it.
Maybe you're questioningwhether it's real.
(01:03):
I will tell you that it's veryreal.
Qi, spelled Q-I or pronouncedQi C-H-E-E, is important in
Chinese medicine because itsupplies the vital energy for
the body.
The disruption of this energycauses many imbalances, from
back pain to PMS to constipation, and this vital energy is like
(01:28):
the electricity that's runningthrough your house.
You can't see it, but you knowthat it's there because the
lights turn on and theappliances work.
This vital energy in the bodytravels along meridians that are
like highway systems to deliverthis energy to where it needs
to go.
It's very hard to measure qibecause, unlike electricity, you
(01:51):
can measure that in watts.
You can't do that with qi.
However, researchers have beenable to prove that it exists by
mapping brain activity usingfunctional MRI while an
acupuncture point is beingstimulated.
For example, a functional MRIstudy on an acupuncture point
(02:13):
called liver 3, or it's Taichungin Chinese.
It's basically the third pointon the liver meridian or the
liver channel.
The third point on the livermeridian or the liver channel.
If you want to compare this toa highway system, this is the
exit number three.
The fMRI showed that liverthree activated the visual
(02:36):
cortex in the brain.
How cool is that?
According to Chinese medicine,eye problems are often caused by
an imbalance of the energy inthe liver organ system.
The functional MRI also showedthat liver 3 activated the
medial frontal gyrus, whichcontrols memory and attention.
Also the superior parietal lobe, which is responsible for
(03:00):
hand-eye coordination andbalance.
The thalamus and limbic system,which controls the emotional
response.
What do you know?
Liver is also an organ systemthat controls emotions in
Chinese medicine.
Again, I just love how theChinese people already knew
about all this thousands ofyears ago, without these fancy
(03:20):
equipment and without a modernunderstanding of the human body
fancy equipment and without amodern understanding of the
human body.
Here's another interestingfinding from the same study.
The researchers tested anotheracupuncture point that's right
next to Lyrithrae and it's onthe stomach meridian, called
stomach 44.
So exit 44 on the stomachmeridian or stomach channel.
(03:44):
Yes, stomach is super long,it's a really long meridian that
runs from your head to yourtoes.
Anyway, you would think that ifit's all random, you would get
the same response by stimulatingstomach 44, since it's so close
to liver 3.
It's literally right next toeach other.
But that's not what the MRIshowed.
(04:07):
The MRI showed some overlapbetween the two points, but
stomach 44 also showedactivation in the superior
frontal gyrus, inferior frontalgyrus, which is the area that
relates to pain, which is thearea that relates to pain,
(04:28):
visceral pain to be exact andalso activation in the secondary
somatosensory area of the brainthat's responsible for pain
perception.
Here is the interestingcorrelation.
Stomach 44 is often used totreat pain such as toothache,
headaches, sore throat andulcers.
The functional MRI proved thatit can do that.
There are many, many other fMRIstudies out there on
(04:52):
acupuncture points like this one.
I don't specialize inneuroscience so I think some of
these are hard to read through,but I love how they were able to
define something that's notexactly tangible.
How they were able to definesomething that's not exactly
tangible.
If you remember from episode two, qi is one of the four
(05:14):
substances that power the body.
If it's off balance, there willbe many health problems.
So let's talk about how does qispecifically affect fertility.
There are two ways that it cancause imbalances and affect
fertility.
We call it stagnation ordeficiency.
So the flow of this energy canbecome stuck or the amount can
be deficient.
(05:34):
Even though qi flows throughevery single organ system in the
body and affects every singlecell, there are two organs that
control whether it flowssmoothly or whether your body
can make enough of it.
These two organs are liver andspleen.
Three other organs we'lldiscuss that's crucial for
(05:55):
fertility later on will be heart, kidneys and lung.
But this episode we're going tofocus on the two organs that
control the vital energy flow inyour body.
Let's talk about the liver first, the liver organ in Chinese
medicine directs the flow of qiand keeps it flowing smoothly.
You'll often hear liver qistagnation as one of the
(06:17):
patterns of imbalance.
That means if there are factorsthat are affecting the liver,
chi stagnation will often be theresult.
So when this flow of energygets stuck somewhere, you can
have issues like pain anywherein the body in the joints, in
the head, in the back.
An acupuncture can resolve painvery quickly because the
(06:40):
needles can easily move theblockage and get the qi flowing
again.
Another way to look at this isthe needles help blood flow that
carry oxygen to get to thetissues so that it can heal.
Cupping is a procedure thataccomplishes exactly this
without using needles.
(07:00):
It creates space between thefascia and the muscle and it
helps to get oxygen to where itneeds to go to the tissues to
heal.
And qi stagnation or blockageeither way you look at it can
have a tremendous impact onfertility.
Because of your energy flowit's stuck, then the nourishment
(07:21):
to the important reproductiveorgans will also decrease.
The nutrients aren't getting towhere they need to go.
You'll get less blood flow tothe ovaries and uterus, causing
late ovulation.
Pms cysts can form on theovaries.
You'll get less blood flow tothe head, affecting your mental
health, causing depression.
Qi stagnation can also causeconstipation, cold hands and
(07:45):
feet.
Because poor circulation, theenergy flow isn't there.
If the energy flow isn't there,the blood flow to the
extremities won't be there.
What are some of the thingsthat affect the liver won't be
there.
What are some of the thingsthat affect the liver, you might
wonder, and you mightautomatically think medicine or
alcohol, but actually, accordingto TCM, these do not affect the
(08:06):
liver as much as stress,especially emotional stress.
Medicine, diet, alcohol usewill all contribute to the
stagnation, but emotions havethe most impact on the liver.
Ever experienced road rage?
That affects the liver.
How about realizing that youmissed a deadline at work and
(08:27):
your job depends on it Affectsthe liver.
Getting a big fat negative atthe end of the month Affects the
liver.
Every type of emotional stress,big or small, will affect the
liver and for some peoplethey'll shake it off and get
over it, but for others theywill have a hard time,
especially if they are the woodfertility archetype, which
(08:49):
corresponds to the liver.
The wood archetypes most likelywill have cheese stagnation.
Okay, what about the spleen?
Isn't that an organ that youdon't need?
Spleen is absolutely importantfor TCM because it is the
digestive system.
Even in cases if your spleenhas been removed, we still
(09:11):
consider the fact that you havea spleen.
It's just not physicallypresent in your body.
In both Western and Chinesemedicine, the stomach helps to
mash up the food and make theminto a slush.
However, in Chinese medicine,it's the spleen that provides
the energy to extract what isuseful from the food and then
(09:34):
distributes it to the rest ofthe body yes, with help from the
liver.
So think of spleen like afactory.
If it's not functioning properly, the production of useful
energy and food for the bodywill also slow down, and this is
how you end up with qideficiency.
When the production of qi slowsdown, it's easy to see how your
(09:59):
organs will become malnourished.
There just simply isn't enoughfood.
When this happens, you couldalways be tired like dragging
your feet kind of tired.
You could have slow metabolism.
You could have trouble losingweight.
You could have many digestiveproblems like bloating, chronic
loose stools.
(10:19):
Mid-cycle spotting is a symptomof Qi deficiency.
It's one of the 10 parametersof a fertile cycle.
During phase 3 of the menstrualcycle we rely on a strong
spleen Qi or energy to providenourishment to the lining.
If that's deficient, you canhave mid-cycle spotting.
(10:40):
Qi deficiency can also causecysts to form on the ovaries and
sometimes in the uterus, asfibroids or polyps.
Remember how I said cysts canform if you have qi stagnation?
Well, this is an example of howTCM would treat everyone very
differently, depending on thepatterns of imbalance, because
(11:01):
two people can both have cystson the ovaries, but in one
person it could be caused by Qistagnation and in another person
it could be caused by Qideficiency.
And, as you guessed it, thetreatments will be very
different.
As you guessed it, thetreatments will be very
(11:21):
different.
And just to be clear, justbecause you have spleen qi
deficiency, that does not meanyou will always have all of
these symptoms.
And just because you have qistagnation, it doesn't mean you
will always have PMS or you willalways have constipation.
These patterns of disharmonystill affects everybody very
(11:41):
differently.
Now, what is the spleen mostaffected by?
It's most affected by diet andanything cold and raw.
Okay, does that make more sensenow why we don't want to eat
raw foods and drink cold water?
You might be able to recoverfrom it once in a while, but
(12:02):
over time the spleen organ willbecome more and more sluggish
and the energy production willslow down.
Especially if you're an earthfertility archetype, you'll be
most affected by this and youmight have a harder time
recovering from the impact ofthe cold and raw drinks and food
.
So these two patterns ofimbalance doesn't just identify
(12:25):
one symptom.
Instead, it describes a groupof symptoms.
That's another major differencebetween TCM and modern
biomedicine.
Once you start treatment withTCM, the entire group of
symptoms will improve, alongwith others that are impacted by
this group of root issues.
It would never be one treatmentfor one symptom, like one type
(12:48):
of medication to resolve oneparticular symptom and then
another medication to resolveanother.
Now you might be thinking whatif I have symptoms of both qi
stagnation and qi deficiency?
That's actually very normal.
When the qi flow is stuck, itcould be caused by qi deficiency
, because if you don't haveenough energy to begin with, you
(13:09):
won't have a lot available toflow.
If the river is dry, you're notwon't have a lot available to
flow.
If the river is dry, you're notgoing to have a lot of water
flow.
On the other hand, qideficiency could be caused by qi
stagnation.
There might be enough energy,but it can't get to where it
needs to go because something isblocking it.
So, yes, you can have bothstagnation and deficiency, but
(13:31):
you will most likely have onepredominant pattern.
If you're working with a TCMpractitioner, you'll be
prescribed a treatment planaimed at resolving this
predominant pattern.
All right, fertile friend, we'rewrapping up here.
I really hope today's episodewas helpful in explaining what
qi is and how it impacts ourbody, especially fertility, I
(13:55):
think.
Even if you don't fullyunderstand the concept, just
remember this one of my favoriteTCM proverbs where there is
free flow, there's no pain ordisease.
Where there's obstruction,there is pain and disease.
All right, friend, thank you somuch for spending some time
with me today.
(14:15):
If you have any questions, feelfree to reach out to me.
You know where to find me.
Until next time, take care ofyourself and your amazing body.
You are one fertile cycle awayfrom getting pregnant.
Thank you.
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