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		Longfei Newsletter Volume 9 Issue 1

Reading the Complexion: Part II

Various Qigong exercises, such as Professor Zhang's 5 Minute Meditation or Shuxin Pingxue Gong (Exercise for the Cardiovascular System) involve massaging the face. Following is a brief introduction as to why we pay attention to the face and massage.

The complexion is the outer reflection of Qi and blood (vital energy) of the internal organs. The vital essence and energy of the body is transmitted by the Qi and blood in the meridian system and flourishes outside the body. Just as "The blood has its manifestation in the complexion. The Qi has its manifestation in the lustre". It is thus clear that the Qi and the blood inside and outside the human body are linked and through the observation of the complexion we can infer the condition of the vital essence and energy of the internal organs. As stated in the Wang Zhen Zun Jing, "The five colours of the complexion correspond to the five Zang organs, like roots and branches and leaves."

The face is the centre of the channels and collaterals, "the 12 channels and 365 collaterals of the human body, of which the blood and Qi converge in the face and empty into various orifices, body fluids fumes and steams in the face". Therefore, the face can reflect the condition of the vital essence and energy of the human body.

A doctor of TCM, when practicing physiognomy, will emphasise great importance on the character, appearance and quality of the complexion. This is the reflection of the life activities of the organism as well as the external symbol representing the condition of the Qi and blood in the internal organs.

The complexion can promptly reflect coldness and heat, deficiency and excessiveness of disease as well as the rise and fall, life and death of the vital essence and energy. In clinical practice, a gloomy complexion suggests that the vital essence and energy of the internal organs cannot flourish outside. The deficiency of the internal organs is reflected externally in the complexion, so from the changes of the complexion we can observe the changes in the body. For instance, it states in the Plain Questions: Ci Re, "For a patient with heat in the liver, the left bucca turns red first; a patient with heat in the kidneys, will see their lower cheeks turn red first".

While reading the complexion, a doctor of TCM pays great importance to observing the vitality and radiance of the facial complexion. Complexion with vitality exudes both brightly and smooth, containing the vitality without revealing it, as it says in the Plain Questions: Five Zang (The colour of the complexion), "bluish like the feathers of a kingfisher, red like the colour of the cockerels comb, yellow like the colour of the abdomen of a crab, white like the colour of the fat of a pig and dark like the feather of a crow symbolise vitality".

A complexion without vitality, looking gloomy, thin and pallid and thoroughly revealed, symbolises early death and bad luck, as it says in Plain Questions: Mai Yao Jing Wei Lun: "As for colour of the complexion red should look like cinnabar covered with white silk, but not an ochre; white should look like the feathers of a goose, not salt." The gloomy colour thoroughly revealed is called visceral exhaustion complexion. According to the Emperor's Canon of Medicine, the visceral exhaustion complexion of the liver is "bluish like the colour of withered grass", that of the spleen is "yellow like the colour of a bitter orange not yet ripe", that of the heart is red like the colour of congealed blood", that of the kidneys is "dark like the colour of coal". Visceral exhaustion complexion suggests the exhaustion of the vital essence and energy of the internal organs.

Besides the colour, various areas of the face indicate the state of certain organs. It is also true that the colour not only reflects the state of Qi and blood, but is closely related to the condition of the Mind:

A deep colour indicates an interior condition, while a floating colour indicates an exterior one.

A clear colour indicates a Yang condition, while a dull one indicates a Yin condition.

A thin colour indicates Qi deficiency and a thick one a full condition.

A scattered colour indicates a new disease, while a concentrated one indicates an old disease.

A moist colour is a sign of good prognosis, while a dry colour is a sign of poor prognosis.

The face generally is the only part of the human body exposed (we wear hats, scarves, ear muffs etc) to heat, sunlight, cold wind, rain, damp etc. So by massaging the face we are massaging the internal organs.

Yang Li

Longfei Newsletter Volume 9 Issue 1 Table of Contents