When the wind catches you easily
Sensitivity to cold at the slightest draught, slightly clammy skin without managing to warm up, a nape and upper back that feel tight, the impression of not being “closed” against the wind… In TCM, these signs can be associated with Wind-Cold affecting a poorly closed surface. The surface Qi (Wei Qi), which circulates outside the vessels and guards the skin, stirs without holding the pores; the nourishing Qi (Ying Qi), which circulates within the vessels, is no longer well contained and escapes as a slight clamminess.
Gui Zhi Tang, the “Cinnamon Twig Decoction”, is the very first formula of the Shang Han Lun (《伤寒论》), the classic that Zhang Zhongjing (张仲景) composed around 200 AD, at the end of the Eastern Han. Twenty-nine formulas in the same book are built on it, and the commentator Ke Qin (柯琴), under the Qing, called it the first of all Zhongjing’s formulas. Today it lies at the heart of Chai Hu Gui Zhi Tang, which combines it with bupleurum.
Dispersing with one hand, holding with the other
The whole formula rests on a pair in equal parts, probably the most famous in the tradition. Cinnamon twig, pungent and warm, warms the surface and disperses Wind-Cold; white peony, sour, holds in the nourishing Qi and preserves the Fluids. One disperses, the other gathers: the surface is freed without the depths being depleted.
Dispels wind and cold: Cinnamon twig opens the muscle layer and drives out Wind-Cold, assisted by fresh ginger, which carries warmth outwards.
Harmonises the nourishing Qi and the surface Qi: White peony holds in what cinnamon twig disperses. Tradition sums up this gesture in four characters, 调和营卫: bringing back into accord the Qi that nourishes and the Qi that guards the surface.
Gently warms the body: Ginger and jujube support the Spleen and Stomach, from which these two forms of Qi arise. Licorice is the hinge: with cinnamon twig, pungent and sweet generate Yang; with peony, sour and sweet generate Yin.
