When frustration rises to the head
A heavy head, a feeling of obstruction around the face, eyes that feel hot, sensitivity to wind and cold, a mood that tenses up easily, sighing, an irregular appetite… In TCM, these signs may be associated with a twofold situation: stagnating Liver Qi, which weighs on the Spleen and on mood, and Wind that lingers in the upper body and hinders the Orifices, the openings of the face through which, according to tradition, the organs communicate with the outside.
Tong Qiao Xiao Yao San is a formula from the Chinese pharmacopoeia built on Xiao Yao San, the ‘Free and Easy Wanderer Powder’, recorded under the Song in the Tai Ping Hui Min He Ji Ju Fang (《太平惠民和剂局方》), whose name, borrowed from the Zhuangzi, evokes free, unhindered movement. It takes up all eight of its herbs and adds five companions directed towards the upper body. Tong qiao (通窍) refers in TCM to the gesture of ‘opening the Orifices’: this is the direction these five herbs give the formula.
Free the Liver, clear the upper body
The Xiao Yao San base pursues three aims at once: bupleurum moves Liver Qi, Chinese angelica and white peony nourish the Blood that keeps it supple, and atractylodes, poria and licorice support the Spleen. The five additions share the upper body between them: magnolia buds and vitex disperse Wind, tribulus and gentian calm the rising Liver, and schisandra holds back what the others disperse.
Harmonises the Liver and Spleen: Bupleurum frees Liver Qi, while atractylodes and poria support the Spleen. According to tradition, a frustrated Liver gets the upper hand over the Spleen: supporting one helps the other to flow.
Dispels Wind and Cold: Magnolia buds, pungent and warm, disperse Wind-Cold and clear the Orifices of the face; ginger assists them.
Relaxes the head and mind: Vitex disperses the Wind that lingers in the head, tribulus calms the Liver, and gentian, very bitter, clears the Heat that stagnation sends upwards. Peppermint, in a small amount, helps release what remains blocked.
