When frustrations tie themselves in knots
Frustrations swallowed back, worries going round in circles, frequent sighing, a feeling of tightness in the throat or of congestion in the upper body… In TCM, these signs may be associated with a well-described sequence: Liver Qi knots up, the Fluids it no longer moves congeal into Phlegm, and the Blood eventually stagnates too. Tradition sums up this picture in three terms: knotted Qi, congealed Phlegm, Blood stasis (气滞痰凝血瘀).
Hai Zao Yu Hu Tang, the “Sargassum Jade Flask Decoction”, is the work of Chen Shigong (陈实功), one of the great figures of Chinese external medicine, in his Wai Ke Zheng Zong (《外科正宗》), completed in 1617, at the end of the Ming. The jade flask is a poet’s image: the name does not describe a mechanism, it tells how highly the author valued his formula. Our preparation takes eight of its herbs, in an adapted version centred on sargassum. It contains no pinellia (Ban Xia).
Qi, Phlegm, Blood
The formula works on three fronts at once. Sargassum, salty in flavour, is the chief herb: in tradition, the salty flavour penetrates and breaks up what has congealed. The two tangerine peels set Qi moving again, Chinese angelica and Sichuan lovage keep Blood flowing, and forsythia tempers the heat that stagnation can generate.
Helps transform Phlegm: Sargassum dissolves Phlegm, and tangerine peel dries the Dampness from which it arises. According to tradition, when Qi flows, Phlegm can no longer accumulate.
Supports the flow of Qi: Green tangerine peel loosens stagnation in the Liver meridian, while aged tangerine peel harmonises the Spleen and Stomach.
Supports Blood circulation: Chinese angelica and Sichuan lovage, the pair from Si Wu Tang, nourish Blood and keep it moving; Sichuan lovage, with its upward movement, guides the whole formula towards the upper body, and pubescent angelica opens the meridians.
