Dampness 濕

Have you ever felt this way? Every morning when you wake up, even though you've slept for seven or eight hours, you just feel unwell all over. Your head is dizzy, like you're wrapped in a damp towel, and your legs feel heavy and leaden.

When you brush your teeth, you see your tongue is swollen, covered in teeth marks and a thick, white coating. You always feel like you haven't completely emptied your bladder, and there's even residue on the toilet that you can't flush away.

You go to the hospital for a checkup, have blood tests, X-rays, and urine tests. The doctor shows you the report and says, "Congratulations, you're very healthy; all your indicators are normal."

You feel like crying. You say, "Doctor, what's normal about me? I feel so awful!" The doctor might prescribe some vitamins or suggest you see a psychiatrist, saying you're in a sub-healthy state.

Friends, let me tell you, this is not psychological, nor is it you being dramatic. This is an illness. It's just that before it develops into a tumor, cancer, or a serious organic disease, Western medicine's instruments cannot detect it. But in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), this is a very serious problem. This is what we're talking about today: dampness, especially stubborn dampness lingering in your lower abdomen.

If this isn't treated, taking any amount of supplements is like feeding yourself poison, and doing any amount of exercise is just a waste of time.

I'm putting it this way today: many people develop a host of illnesses in old age—high blood pressure, diabetes, prostate problems, gynecological fibroids, and even the most terrifying cancer—the root cause lies here.

Don't think I'm exaggerating, thinking it's just a little dampness, a little overweight, a little lazy—what's the big deal?

This kind of thinking is the most dangerous. Do you know why there are so many cancers now? Why are the so-called "three highs" (high blood pressure, high blood sugar, and high cholesterol) so prevalent? I'll tell you, the root of all this, or rather, the breeding ground for it all, is that pool of dampness that can't be expelled from your lower abdomen, that clump of cold and dampness that can't be dissolved.

We need to explain this from the perspective of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) physiology, simplifying complex matters—that's the true path. Western medicine dissects the human body into sections like the heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and kidneys, and then further into cells, molecules, and genes. The more detailed the breakdown, the further it gets from the truth.

We see a crucial cycle in the human body as a whole, called the balance of water and fire. The human body's structure is actually exactly the same as nature's. TCM speaks of the unity of man and nature; this isn't superstition, it's the highest science. Look at nature: there's the sun in the sky, and water on the ground, when exposed to the sun, vaporizes into steam, rises as clouds, and then falls back to the ground as rain—it's a perfect cycle.

The human body works similarly. Our heart is like the sun within our body, belonging to the fire element in the Five Elements theory. Its constant beating generates a large amount of heat. For this heat to function properly, it must descend. The heart transfers heat to the small intestine, which is why you can feel your abdomen; a healthy person's small intestine should be warm.

With this "fire" from the heart, the small intestine can digest food. More importantly, the small intestine is located next to the bladder and kidneys. Imagine boiling water: the small intestine is the "fire" below, and the fluids in the bladder and kidneys are the "water" above. When the "fire" in the small intestine is strong enough, the water in the bladder and kidneys will vaporize. This vapor travels along the Du meridian(督脈), through the spine, up to the top of the head, nourishing the brain, thus maintaining energy and preventing dementia. The remaining turbid fluids are then excreted as urine.

So where does dampness( 濕) come from? It's simple: insufficient "fire" in your body, or excessive coldness in the lower body.

Nowadays, people sit in air-conditioned offices year-round, creating artificial, harmful drafts. Winter is for hiding, summer is for sweating. But in summer, you close your pores, trapping cold inside. Add to that your love of cold drinks and cold fruits.

I often say that fruit should be eaten locally and in season—this is called eating what's in season(不時不食). Eating watermelon in winter is suicidal. These cold things extinguish the fire in your small intestine. When the fire in the small intestine weakens, the water in the bladder and kidneys can't be properly vaporized. What is this unvaporized water? It's cold water, it's dampness.

This cold water accumulates in your lower abdomen, below the navel, in the thighs, knees, and ankles. Because water sinks downward, it's a basic principle of physics. This unexpelled dampness stays in the body, eventually becoming excessive dampness. Combined with metabolic waste from cells, it becomes phlegm. Over time, it congeals into lumps, becoming tumors, fibroids.

So I'm telling you all, go to the hospital and see women with uterine fibroids or men with enlarged prostates. Touch their bellies; they'll be cold. This is due to cold and dampness in the lower abdomen.

Western medicine, when they see fibroids, only says to cut them off. Okay, you cut them off, but your environment hasn't changed. Your lower abdomen is still cold and damp. In a couple of years, they'll grow back, even more. It's like your house is dark and damp, and mushrooms grow. You pick the mushrooms, but unless you dry the walls, they'll grow back tomorrow. Traditional Chinese medicine treats the environment. We need to transform your lower abdomen into a sunny place, and the dampness will naturally dissipate.

Here, I want to teach you a standard I often use for judging health. Don't look at those cold, hard medical reports; those data are for the dead. We are living people. True health has six standards, the most important of which is: the head and face should be cool, and the hands and feet should be warm.

Touch your forehead; it should be cool, and your hands and feet should be warm. This is normal. Because the heart's fire should normally descend, the feet should be warm, while the head and face, exposed to the cold air from above, should be cool. If, conversely, your hands and feet are cold, your head and face are hot, and you have acne, it means your body is acting in the opposite way; the yang energy is blocked upwards, unable to descend, leaving the lower body filled with dampness and cold.

If someone with perpetually cold hands and feet tells me they are healthy and their health indicators are excellent, I'm telling you, that's a lie. Their internal body is already a giant icebox, where cancer cells are happily taking root.

We need to delve deeper into this topic. Why do I keep emphasizing that dampness in the lower abdomen is the root of all diseases?

Let's talk about a word that strikes fear into everyone's heart: cancer. Western medicine portrays cancer like an alien invasion, requiring surgery today and chemotherapy tomorrow. I tell you, in Traditional Chinese Medicine, cancer is not a terminal illness at all; it's simply dampness that you've cultivated yourself.

What is dampness? That's because yang(陽) transforms into qi 氣(vital energy), and yin(陰) sinks & forms shape. If you have dampness in your body, and dampness is water, then if this water cannot be vaporized, it becomes cold water. Cold water stagnating in the body blocks and obstructs your yang qi.

Let's take breast cancer as an example for our female friends.
This is a classic theory, so listen carefully.

A woman's breast milk and menstruation actually share the same origin; both are transformed from blood. The heart is red and governs blood. When your heart's fire is strong enough, with each heartbeat, it transports red blood to the breasts, into the mammary glands.

If you are breastfeeding, it becomes white breast milk. If you are not breastfeeding, this nutrition flows down the meridians to the uterus, where it encounters the heat of the uterus and transforms into red menstrual blood, which is then discharged. This is a perfect physical transformation.

But if you have excessive dampness in your body, especially around your heart, this dampness traps the heart's heat, preventing it from circulating properly. As a result, the nutrients in your breasts can't be released; they accumulate and eventually become necrotic and spoiled, like milk left at room temperature for three days – it will definitely smell bad. This necrotic substance initially forms a hard lump, which slowly turns into cancer.

Western medicine sees it and says, "Oh! Cancer cells! Remove the breast!" But has the heart problem been solved? Has the dampness in your body been resolved? No! The excess nutrients from the breast milk still have nowhere to go. Unable to stay in the breast, they go to the lungs – this is called breast cancer. It metastasizes to lung cancer. It metastasizes to the liver – this is called liver cancer. This isn't actually cancer cells metastasizing; it's the cold water and waste in your body finding a place to accumulate.

Now let's talk about prostate cancer in men;
the principle is exactly the same.

Sperm is like a man's breast milk. How is it produced? It's the fire of the small intestine that vaporizes the water in the bladder, producing subtle substances during this vaporization process. If your lower abdomen is full of cold and dampness, and the fire of your small intestine isn't strong enough, your semen will be filled with cold water and impurities. These things can't be expelled and accumulate in the seminal vesicle, leading to prostate enlargement, which can eventually become cancer.

Traditional Chinese medicine says that yang transforms into qi, and yin forms shape. Any visible and palpable lump or tumor belongs to yin excess, and cancer is the most severe form of yin excess.

All cancer cells thrive in cold and damp environments. If you make your lower abdomen like a dark, damp basement, you're essentially building a villa for cancer cells. Therefore, expelling dampness and cold not only makes you feel comfortable but also helps you stay away from cancer; it's saving your life.

At this point, some people will argue with me, saying they saw on TV that they need to supplement with vitamins and calcium for better health. My friends, you've been thoroughly brainwashed by pharmaceutical companies. Even if it offends someone today, I'm going to state the facts.

So-called vitamins and various nutritional supplements are all artificially synthesized chemicals. Your body is a natural product of millions of years of evolution. It can distinguish between apples and beef, but it cannot distinguish between ascorbic acid or calcium carbonate. When you ingest these chemical "stones," your body treats them as foreign objects, as enemies. Your spleen and stomach have to expend enormous energy to process this waste. What happens when they can't process it all? It just accumulates in your body.

You say you're supplementing with calcium, but look at those elderly women who take calcium supplements every day—how many of them don't have kidney stones? Those calcium supplements never penetrate the bones; they all accumulate on the blood vessel walls, causing arteriosclerosis. They accumulate in the kidneys, turning into stones. This is called inviting trouble.

And those vitamins, you think you're nourishing your body, but you're actually feeding the bacteria and cancer cells in your body. Bacteria and cancer cells love these high-concentration nutrients. You're taking vitamins, while the cancer cells are having a party, saying, "Thank you for providing me with these supplies."

Milk and Sugar - White Poison

There's something else I must severely criticize: milk and sugar, which I call white poison.
Look at nature, what animal, even as an adult, still drinks milk? Only humans, those brainless creatures. Milk is for calves, to help them grow bones and muscles quickly. Besides, they are completely different species. Milk contains a lot of dampness; drinking it is like filling your belly with phlegm. Many children drink milk like water from a young age, and the result? Tonsillitis, rhinitis, otitis media, asthma—all caused by the dampness in milk.

And then there's white sugar, refined white sugar. It's highly acidic. When you eat it, your body has to draw calcium from your bones to neutralize it in order to maintain acid-base balance. So the more sweets you eat, the more calcium deficient you become, and the more brittle your bones become.

If you want to eliminate dampness, the first thing to do is throw away the milk and white sugar in your house and drink soy milk and sugarcane water instead. Those are the things truly suitable for the Chinese physique. Therefore, true nourishment comes from food, from whole grains, from what nature provides.

Real Case (1)
About two years ago, an elderly gentleman in his sixties, a retired senior executive from a large company, was helped in. When I examined him, I noticed his legs were swollen like elephant legs; pressing on them left a deep indentation, and he couldn't get up for a long time. He had been treated at a large hospital for six months, taking urinary tract medication like food. It helped at first, but the swelling worsened, and his kidney function indicators were deteriorating. The doctor recommended dialysis. He was desperate, feeling his life was over.

I felt his pulse (把脈); it was deep, slow, and weak, especially weak. His tongue was slippery and watery. When I asked about urination, he said he could only dribble and couldn't urinate. This was a typical case of Zhenwu Decoction syndrome, a sudden deficiency of kidney yang and excessive water retention. Western medicine only knows about draining water, but doesn't understand that without qi (vital energy), water cannot be expelled.

I prescribed him Jin Fang, using a high dose of aconite. Aconite is extremely warming, capable of igniting extinguished kidney fire. Combined with Atractylodes macrocephala to dispel dampness, Poria cocos to promote urination, and ginger to dispel cold, the old gentleman's hands trembled as he held the prescription, exclaiming, "There's poison in this !" I told him, "Don't worry, it's a life-saving elixir in my hands, but you see it as poison. If you don't trust me, don't drink it!"

He was desperate and went home to drink it. Guess what happened the first night? He urinated about two liters, a dark yellow and foul-smelling urine. The next morning, he said he felt lighter than ever before, and his legs had shrunk considerably. After drinking it for two weeks, the swelling completely disappeared. A subsequent hospital checkup showed his kidney function had returned to normal. The Western doctor's eyes nearly popped out when he saw the report, asking what miraculous medicine he had taken!

This is the power of Traditional Chinese Medicine. We treat the person, not just the indicators. So friends, if you have excessive dampness in your lower abdomen, don't delay. Today I'll teach you these three methods—listen carefully, they can be life-saving.

The first method is called "Rebuilding the Sun," which means replenishing your Yang(陽) energy through your diet and expelling cold and dampness.

Your current eating habits are terrible. Milk and bread in the morning are cold(寒) and damp(濕). Milk is for cows, are you a cow? We should drink soy milk and hot porridge, and especially use ginger properly. Confucius(孔夫子) said, "Do not dining without ginger !" Ginger is spiritually potent and can invigorate your stomach.

For those with heavy dampness in the lower abdomen, I recommend a very simple dietary therapy called "Warm Yang and Dispel Dampness Soup." You don't need to buy those ridiculously expensive cordyceps and bird's nest; that's just a waste of money. Just go to the market and buy dried ginger, poria cocos, and atractylodes macrocephala—these three are the three driving forces for removing dampness. Atractylodes macrocephala specifically strengthens the spleen and stomach; the spleen governs transformation and transportation, and when the spleen and stomach are strong, dampness can be transported away. Poria cocos guides the water in the middle and lower abdomen to the bladder for excretion. Dried ginger warms your internal organs. If you feel cold pain in your abdomen and get diarrhea after eating even a little cold food, you can add a tiny bit of cinnamon. Cinnamon can guide the heat back to its source, directing the heat to the lower abdomen.

At this point, some people might ask, "Teacher, I understand everything, but when I try to do it, I feel like I'm getting too hot."

Good question. Many people's bodies are already too weak to tolerate tonics (虛不受補). Your middle abdomen, that is, the spleen and stomach area, is blocked by too much dampness, like a thick layer of sludge sealing it in. If you directly use very hot herbs like aconite and dried ginger, sometimes the heat won't go down; instead, it will burn your mouth, cause blisters, and a sore throat. What should you do then?

We need to clear the way. Before using heavy doses of warming yang herbs, you must first open up your spleen and stomach's digestive function. I suggest that before drinking that soup, you adjust your staple food. Don't eat refined rice and white flour.

To reduce dampness, eat more soil-based foods. What does eating soil mean? It means things that grow in the soil. Sweet potatoes, yams, potatoes. Especially yams, a treasure bestowed upon us by God. They are mildly nourishing, tonifying both the spleen and kidneys. Steaming or cooking yams into porridge helps to break down the stagnant energy in the spleen and stomach.

Another misconception is that many people think excessive dampness means drinking less water. That's incorrect. It means drinking less cold water and more hot water. However, there's a technique to drinking water: don't gulp it down; but sip slowly. Drink only when you feel thirsty. If you force yourself to drink water when you're not thirsty, the water becomes a burden, adding to the dampness.

And there's something else I must single out and criticize: misconceptions about salt. Western medicine treats salt like a ghost, telling you to eat less because salt causes high blood pressure and damages the kidneys.

Let me tell you, your kidneys will fail if you totally don't eat salt. But what kind of salt should we eat? Natural sea salt. Those refined chemical salts with added iodine and anti-caking agents are definitely not to be eaten; they're poison. But natural salt, with its salty taste, enters the kidneys, and the kidneys need the energy of salt to maintain their ability to retain fluids. If you don't eat any salt at all, you'll find yourself feeling weak all over, your muscles lacking strength, and you'll experience frequent urination or even incontinence. This is because the kidneys govern the bones, and bones produce marrow. Without salt, the bones become soft. People with heavy dampness in the lower abdomen often also have weak kidney qi. Eating a little good sea salt can help your kidneys expel excess water; this is called "true water generating true fire."

The second method is called "Golden Rooster Stands on One Leg.(獨立金雞)" This is a kinetic method for expelling dampness. Many people say, "I want to exercise to expel dampness," so they go to the gym and run until they're drenched in sweat. Ladies and gentlemen, for people with weak qi and blood and heavy dampness, sweating profusely is a leakage of qi and damages yang. Sweat and blood share the same origin; what you're losing isn't just sweat, it's your heart's blood. The exercise we need is one that makes you sweat slightly, an exercise for your internal organs. I'll teach you the Golden Rooster Stands on One Leg exercise, it's very simple. Find a flat place, close your eyes slightly—make sure they're slightly closed. Why? Because when your eyes are open, you rely on vision for balance; when your eyes are closed, you rely on your mind and your meridians for regulation. With your eyes closed, lift one leg, let your arms hang naturally. Even if you can only stand for two seconds, that's okay, practice slowly.

I'll teach you an advanced version. Many people can't stand it, they're restless and agitated. When you stand, visualize (not superstition, this is guiding your intention) that the Yongquan acupoint on the sole of your foot is growing roots, reaching three thousand feet into the ground. What's underground? Geothermal heat, magma. Imagine that heat rising from the Yongquan acupoint, along the inside of your leg, all the way up to your lower abdomen, to your Dantian. When you can feel the heat in your soles, your kidney yang is activated. The Kidney Meridian is called the Foot Shaoyin Kidney Meridian, and its starting point is the Yongquan acupoint.

Modern Western medicine doesn't understand meridians; they only know how to test blood. Meridians are the channels for the flow of Qi and blood. Excessive dampness in the lower abdomen is like a short circuit in this meridian system. The Golden Rooster Stands on One Leg exercise combined with focused intention is like rewiring the wires. Do this for 5 minutes every day, and you'll find your soles starting to feel warm, a warmth emanating from the bones. This is correct; it's called Qi and blood returning to their root. It's a thousand times more effective than mindlessly running on a treadmill for half an hour.

The third and most important method is called "following the natural rhythms," which involves changing your sleep and environment. Many of our current illnesses are caused by our own actions.

We're still scrolling on our phones at midnight and eating late-night snacks at 1 AM.

You need to know that
from 9 PM to 11 PM, the Sanjiao Meridian(三焦經) is dominant. What is the Sanjiao? It's the main switch for the body's water channels. If you don't rest during this time, the water channels become blocked.

From 11 PM to 1 AM, it's the Zi hour(子時), when the Gallbladder Meridian(胆經) is dominant, and Yang(陽) energy begins to emerge. If you fall asleep at this time, your body's Yang energy can rise, and with sufficient Yang energy, dampness will naturally dissipate. If you don't sleep at this time, Yang energy cannot rise, and the next day will definitely be gloomy and dampness will worsen.

Here I want to emphasize the issue of waking up in the middle of the night; it's actually a life-saving signal from your body.

If you wake up precisely between 1 AM and 3 AM every night, it's your liver meridian warning you, indicating that there is dampness and toxins in your liver, or even a tumor. This is because at this time, Qi and blood flow to the liver, and something is blocking the flow, causing you to wake up!

If you wake up between 3 AM and 5 AM, it's a problem with the lung meridian. If you have this symptom, do not take sleeping pills; that's just burying your head in the sand. You need to quickly eliminate dampness and soothe the liver.

Besides sleep, there's another thing to pay attention to: air conditioning. I almost want to smash the invention of air conditioning! Of course, it's fine to use it occasionally in the summer when it's too hot, but modern offices are like ice caves. If you're wearing a short skirt or shorts and sitting there, the cold air goes straight to your knees and uterus, how can your lower body not feel damp?

If you're in an air-conditioned room and have no choice but to cover yourself with a blanket, you must soak your feet(泡腳) when you get home at night. A foot soak isn't just washing your feet; the water should be above your ankles, even up to your calves. The water should be warm, soaking until your back sweats slightly.

Add a handful of mugwort or Sichuan peppercorns to the water; Sichuan peppercorns are excellent for dispelling dampness and expelling cold. Soaking your feet will expel the cold that has invaded your body during the day.

There's another thing: antibiotics. These days, when children catch a cold or fever, parents panic and rush to the hospital for IV drips, giving them antibiotics again and again. You're harming your children!

What is a cold? A cold is caused by cold pathogens binding the exterior, the enemy is on the border. At this time, the enemy is still on the outermost layer of the Taiyang meridian. At this point, we need to use methods to induce sweating to expel the pathogen, like using Ma Huang Tang and Gui Zhi Tang. One bowl of these will induce sweating and the illness will be cured.

However, if you use antibiotics, which are extremely bitter and cold, injecting them is like opening a back door for the pathogen, directly drawing the cold from the skin's surface into the body's interior, into the internal organs, into the lower abdomen, and even directly into the Shaoyin and Jueyin meridians—that's a fatal condition.

Therefore, you'll find that many children, after receiving IV drips, have their fever subside, but they lose their appetite, become pale, sweat easily, and grind their teeth in their sleep—all signs of cold and dampness penetrating deeper. This cold and dampness accumulates in the lower abdomen, and later in life, it can cause prostate problems in men and dysmenorrhea in women; the root cause lies in those improper treatments in childhood.

So, if you have heavy dampness in your lower abdomen, reflect on whether you've previously misused these cold and cooling medications. If so, your process of eliminating dampness will be quite lengthy because you need to expel the cold deeply hidden in your bone marrow. During this process, you may experience what's known as a healing crisis.

For example, if you drink a warming and dampness-removing soup or soak your feet, and suddenly one day you experience itching all over your body, watery diarrhea, or a lot of red rashes on your skin, don't panic! Don't go to the hospital and get hormone injections to suppress it. This is your body working on your kidneys; it's expelling waste. The watery, foul-smelling stool you pass is the dampness and toxins that have accumulated in your body for decades. Each time you expel it, your body becomes cleaner.

Now, let's get back to the topic. Besides the three methods I taught earlier, are there any more powerful ways to help us quickly expose this "spy"?

Yes, but this method requires a bit of courage: moxibustion.

Mugwort(艾草「百草之王」) is a pure yang herb. It's the only plant in the world that can unblock all twelve meridians. Its heat isn't ordinary heat; it has a special infrared wavelength that can penetrate your skin and directly bake out the cold and dampness from your bones. For those with heavy dampness in the lower abdomen, remember this:

There are two acupoints that are your lifesavers. One is the Shenque acupoint, which is your navel. The other is the Mingmen acupoint, which is the point on the spine directly behind your navel. These two acupoints, one governs the acquired spleen and stomach, and the other governs the innate kidney qi.

How to do moxibustion? I want you to use ginger-separated moxibustion. Cut a slice of ginger, about the thickness of a coin, poke a few holes in it, and place it on your navel. Then take a handful of moxa wool, shape it into a pyramid, place it on the ginger, and light it. Ginger is radiating heat, and moxa is warming; combined, they create an explosive heat like an atomic bomb.

When you feel the heat, remove the ginger slice, blow on it, and put it back on. How far should you go with the moxibustion? Until you hear a gurgling sound inside your navel, until your lower abdomen feels warm, and you can even feel a surge of heat climbing up your lumbar spine—this is called "qi rushing to the lesion." Some people even feel a cold sensation coming from the soles of their feet while rubbing, which means cold and dampness are crawling out.

Patting the Eight Voids
The Eight Voids are the eight depressions in the human body. The left and right armpits, left and right elbows, left and right groins, and left and right popliteal fossae. These eight areas are the body's detoxification channels, and also where dampness most easily accumulates, especially the groin and popliteal fossae, which correspond to our liver, spleen, and kidney meridians. Whenever you have free time, use your palms to pat these areas, making a sound, patting until your skin turns red, and even patting out purplish-black sand—that sand is visible dampness and toxins.

Let's talk about a very practical issue: the solar terms. Traditional Chinese medicine emphasizes treating illness according to the season. Summer is approaching, or if you are in summer and hear this, pay attention: summer is the golden season for removing dampness. This is called treating winter diseases in summer. Why summer? Because the external yang energy is at its strongest. Your body's Yang energy is also on the surface, and your pores are open. If you consistently drink warming and dampness-dispelling soup and practice moxibustion during the hottest days of summer, the effect is ten times that of winter. This is because the sun helps you from the outside, and the medicine helps you from the inside; the combined effect of internal and external forces can eradicate the deep-seated cold and dampness that has been hidden for decades.

But what are you doing now? It's scorching hot outside in summer, and you're hiding in air-conditioned rooms, freezing like dogs. All the Yang energy you've painstakingly accumulated is killed by the air conditioning. Then you drink ice-cold beer and eat ice cream—you're committing suicide. In summer, you must not indulge in cold. The hotter it is, the more you should drink hot water and sweat. You need to let your body adapt to the season; it should be warm when it's warm.

Also, in winter, the body is meant to store and preserve. At this time of year, dampness tends to penetrate inwards, even into the bones. Therefore, in winter, we should conserve our energy and go to bed early at night to nourish our Yang energy.

Regarding diet, you can eat some mutton, as it's warming and nourishing. However, when eating mutton, remember to add some ginger and angelica root; this is the famous Angelica and Ginger Mutton Soup, the first prescription for dispelling cold given to us by the medical sage Zhang Zhongjing.

Finally, I want to say a few more words about this issue of mindset. Traditional Chinese medicine says that the heart houses the spirit. People with excessive dampness not only feel physically heavy, but their spirit also seems to be clouded by something.
Why are there so many cases of depression nowadays? Western medicine says it's a problem with brain hormone levels, giving you antidepressants. Those drugs make people dull and lifeless, with blank stares. Is that curing the disease? That's turning people into puppets.
In traditional Chinese medicine, depression is caused by phlegm obstructing the mind. Over time, dampness turns into phlegm, an invisible phlegm. This phlegm blocks the windows of your spirit.
You should be happy, angry, and have emotional flow, but now that flow is stagnant. Yang energy can't flow out, and you're living in a world of continuous rain. How can you not be depressed?

Real Case Study (II)
I treated a young woman with severe depression. She was only in her early twenties and had attempted suicide several times. Her family was devastated.
When I examined her, her face was deathly pale, her tongue was coated with a thick layer of paste, and her pulse was wiry and slippery—a classic case of liver stagnation and spleen dampness, with phlegm and qi stagnation.
She didn't want to die; her inner spirit was trapped by dampness, unable to escape.

I didn't prescribe any liver-soothing or qi-regulating medication. Instead, I prescribed a strong phlegm-removing and dampness-eliminating drug, using mercury-lead oxide.

After three days, she began vomiting violently, bringing up sticky, glue-like mucus, vomiting until she felt dizzy and disoriented. Her mother was terrified. I told her not to stop, to continue taking the medication.

On the fifth day, she suddenly felt hungry, craving braised pork and a real appetite, indicating her stomach qi was returning. A week later, she smiled. Her mother hugged her and cried. I told her not to cry, that she had seen the light at the end of the tunnel, vomiting out the inner gloom of her mind.

So, everyone, you see, dampness can cause tumors, gallstones, and even mental breakdowns. It's not a minor ailment; it's a lurking spy in your body.

Many people's dampness is actually caused by pent-up emotions, especially some strong women who appear very capable but are actually in poor health. Irregular menstruation, breast hyperplasia, uterine fibroids—all are the result of this series of reactions. For this situation, simply removing dampness isn't enough; you also need to soothe the liver. How to soothe the liver? Besides medication, the simplest method is to shout or sing. Go to a karaoke bar, choose a high-pitched song, and scream it out. When you release that pent-up energy in your chest, your liver qi will flow smoothly. When liver qi flows smoothly, your spleen and stomach will feel comfortable, and you'll have a better appetite. Dampness will then be easier to expel.

Real Case (III)
Let me tell you another example from a young person to give you some confidence.

The patient was a young man in his thirties, a programmer, married for five years, but childless. Tests showed low sperm motility and a high percentage of dead sperm. Western medicine recommended IVF, but both attempts failed.

When he came to see me, I noticed his dark circles under his eyes; he looked like he'd been punched. His eye bags were swollen and drooping. In Traditional Chinese Medicine, this is called kidney deficiency with water retention. His lower abdomen was like a swamp. His tongue coating was so white and greasy you could scrape off a layer. He often drank iced cola and slept at two or three in the morning.

I said, "Your body is like a moldy warehouse. Can a seed planted in it sprout?" I told him, "Don't rush into having children; clean up the warehouse first." I told him to give up all cold drinks, go to bed at 10 pm every night without fail, and prescribed a modified Zhenwu Decoction. The key ingredients were raw aconite (which is highly toxic) and sulfur. Doctors are hesitant to use sulfur nowadays because they say it's poisonous, but it's actually a very warming herb that replenishes the fire of the Mingmen (Gate of Life). I combined this with moxibustion on the Guanyuan and Qihai acupoints. Guanyuan is the point that focuses on vital energy, and Qihai is the ocean of Qi.

After three months, just three months, when he came for a follow-up visit, he was completely transformed. His dark circles were gone, his eyes were bright, and his voice was clear and resonant. Most importantly, his wife was pregnant—naturally. This is because the dampness in the lower abdomen was eliminated, and the Yang energy was replenished, naturally leading to a more vigorous life force.

At this point, I must criticize the current health checkup culture. Many people treat health checkups as a shield, getting them twice a year. Seeing normal results, they feel safe to indulge in reckless behavior. Everyone, indicators are static, but people are dynamic. You know best whether your body has dampness.

Do you have eye discharge when you wake up in the morning? Do you feel nauseous when you brush your teeth? Is your stool sticky? Are your hands and feet cold? These signals your body gives you are a million times more accurate than a cold, hard lab report.

When abnormalities appear on the lab report, it's often already an organic disease, and it's too late.

Traditional Chinese medicine should intervene when you feel unwell, but your test results are still normal. This is the essence of preventative medicine. Don't wait for a doctor to give you a diagnosis; your body is communicating with you every minute.

It says, "I'm cold," but you give it ice water; it says, "I'm tired," but you force-feed it coffee to stay awake; it says, "I'm blocked," but you force-feed it rich, fatty foods to fill it up. You're abusing your body.

Friends, your body is your own. Doctors can only save you temporarily, not forever. What can truly save you is yourself—your daily meals and your daily thoughts and intentions.

Starting today, give up cold drinks, go to bed early, practice standing on one leg (like a golden rooster), and drink "Warm Yang and Dampness-Dispelling Soup." Stick to this for a month, then tell me about the changes.

If you found this helpful, please share it with your family and friends, especially those with elderly family members or those who suffer from chronic illnesses for unknown reasons. Your simple act might save a life.

Cold hands and feet, a cold lower back, dampness clinging to the body, illnesses abound.

To ensure good health, nourishing Yang and dispelling dampness is the true way.

When righteous Qi is pure within, evil cannot invade.

Sufficient Yang Qi protects against all diseases.

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