When the Blood lingers in the lower body

Lower abdomen often cold, a feeling of heaviness and fullness in the lower body, dull complexion, cold hands and feet, the impression that something no longer circulates… In TCM, these signs may be associated with Blood stasis settled in the Lower Burner, often against a background of Cold: Cold contracts and slows, and the Blood ends up lingering. Tradition notes that long-standing stasis readily becomes intertwined with Dampness and may, over time, produce a little Heat.

Gui Zhi Fu Ling Wan, the “Cinnamon and Poria Pill”, is one of the oldest formulas in the Blood stasis family, and one of the gentlest. It appeared around the year 200, at the end of the Eastern Han, in the Jin Gui Yao Lue (《金匮要略》) by Zhang Zhongjing (张仲景): it is a classical formula (经方) in the strict sense. It borrows its central pair, cinnamon and peony, from Gui Zhi Tang, and redirects it towards the Blood.

Dissolving rather than breaking

The spirit of the formula lies in one word used by commentators: gradually. Cinnamon twigs warm and open the vessels; peach kernels and tree peony bark set lingering Blood moving again; white peony ensures that sound Blood is not depleted, and poria transforms the Dampness that often accompanies stasis. The honey that bound the original pills had, according to tradition, the same role: to soften the whole.

Supports Blood circulation: Pungent and warm, cinnamon twigs open the vessels and create the conditions for the Blood to start moving again.

Disperses Stasis: Peach kernels act directly on Blood that has congealed, and tree peony bark assists them by cooling the Heat that long-standing stasis can give rise to.

Warms the meridians: According to tradition, in the lower body, Cold often contributes to stasis. The gentle warmth of cinnamon twigs, tempered by the two peonies, warms without overheating.