During this winter solstice period, the weather is indeed very cold, making us more susceptible to the invasion of cold air.When cold air enters the body, the most direct reaction is to feel cold, shiver, curl up, sneeze, and have a runny nose, etc. For those who already have a weak spleen and stomach, after being exposed to cold, the cold may directly enter the middle jiao, leading to gastrointestinal discomfort: nausea, acid reflux, loss of appetite, stomach bloating, and stomach pain.Recently, I have a friend who developed stomach pain due to catching a chill.One friend, in a hurry to go to work, rushed downstairs wearing a thin cotton coat, and realized it was too thin. She wanted to go back to change, but time did not allow.She braved the cold wind and walked for a while, and after getting on the subway, her stomach began to ache slightly, but there was no soup, no medicine, no hot water bottle, and no moxibustion patches around. She messaged me for help, and I taught her to press and rub a certain area on her body while concentrating her thoughts on her stomach.After a few minutes, she felt her stomach lighten a bit and continued to press and rub, and before getting off, she returned to normal.
This friend is a typical case of being affected by external cold, and her stomach also got cold. When the stomach gets cold, it contracts and stagnates, causing spasms of the gastric smooth muscle, leading to local blockage, and blockage causes pain.Another friend, during dinner, drank a bowl of mushroom soup and then experienced stomach pain.The mushroom soup she drank contained several types of mushrooms, including shiitake mushrooms, straw mushrooms, enoki mushrooms, and king oyster mushrooms.While the combination of these mushrooms is particularly delicious, because mushrooms grow in places without sunlight, their nature tends to be more yin and cold. Coupled with the cold weather, and her spleen and stomach being inherently weak, the mushroom soup could not be properly transformed and transported, lingering in the stomach and weakening the yang energy of the spleen and stomach, resulting in cold pain in the stomach, which is caused by internal cold.I also taught her to press and rub the same area, and her stomach pain quickly alleviated.This effective method for stomach pain is to press and rub the elbow pit.Why can pressing the elbow pit relieve stomach pain?There are mainly two reasons.1. According to the holistic theory of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM): the stomach is located in the abdominal area, at the center of the body. If we consider the entire upper limb as a hologram of the body, when the arm is extended straight with the palm facing up, the elbow pit is also in the center, corresponding to the stomach.When pressing and rubbing the elbow pit, the corresponding stomach area will also respond, which can indirectly help to regulate the gastrointestinal qi mechanism.By making the elbow pit smooth,the qi stagnation and pain caused by cold will be alleviated, and the gastrointestinal discomfort will improve.2. According to the five-element theory of TCM:The elbow pit is where the pericardium meridian passes through.The heart belongs to fire, and fire generates earth, while the spleen and stomach belong to earth.Therefore, when the stomach’s motility is insufficient,massaging the pericardium meridian also helps the smooth flow of stomach qi.
Fire generates earthPressing the elbow pit can not only address stomach cold caused by diet and climate,but also effectively relieve stomach pain caused by emotions, such as “not being able to eat due to anger” or “feeling full of anger.”Because our stomach is not only an organ for receiving food but also an organ that carries emotions.When angry, it is easy to have qi blockage in the stomach, with the liver wood counteracting the spleen earth, leading to cold or blockage in the stomach, resulting in stomach pain.Pressing the elbow pit can release the qi blockage in the stomach, allowing the qi to flow smoothly, thus eliminating the pain.How to press and rub the elbow pit:1. When pressing and rubbing the elbow pit, focus your attention,concentrating on the painful stomach area.2. Place your fingers on the right elbow pit and rub back and forth, you may find an exceptionally sensitive point, which may feel sore, painful, or have other unusual sensations.3. After finding the sensitive point, continue to press and rub, stimulating this area while slowly feeling the changes in stomach pain.4. After a few minutes of pressing the right elbow pit, if the stomach pain alleviates, you can skip the left side.5. If convenient, you can also perform gua sha, applying a little moisturizer or body lotion on the elbow pit, scraping from top to bottom, with pressure within your tolerance, scraping 25-30 times. It is sufficient to produce a little sha (red marks) at the elbow pit; the goal is to mobilize the body’s righteous qi and awaken its natural functions to operate normally.
Pressing and rubbing the elbow pit is a convenient and effective way to manage stomach pain, but if there are substantial pathological changes, such as stomach ulcers or perforations causing stomach pain, it is still advisable to seek medical attention.As the weather gets colder, we need to utilize various conditions around us to protect ourselves.For friends with spleen and stomach deficiency and cold, warm clothing is like a “medicine,” warming foods are also “medicine,” and the acupoints we have are even more “medicine,” all of which can alleviate gastrointestinal discomfort caused by cold.While we focus on health preservation, we should also pay attention to nurturing our hearts. When a person’s inner self is sufficiently peaceful, warm, and joyful, those cold and negative things cannot “invade,” or even if they do, they will quickly melt away like snow meeting sunlight.Author: Cotton Candy, free and easy in life, with diverse expressions in writing.
Text | Cotton CandyEditor | Xiao YaProofreader | Ye Zi
