Lung Energy and Your Child

I want to be very clear from the start, that when I use phrase lung energy and your child, I am referring to your child's energy devoted to the functions of the organs and channels, not just the physical organ itself. This is a very important distinction because I don't want you to be confused by the words I am using. The lung energy circuit or reservoir of energy in charge of the whole lung system is what I am talking about.

As you will see, the various functions and categories that the lung energy circuit is in charge of within your child's energy system brings to light the fact that what we are talking about is a more all-encompassing range of activities and jobs, rather than just the function of breathing and respiration which is the obvious physical function of the lung energy and your child.

Remember that from an energy perspective, everything is interchangeable and dynamic, meaning the underlying system will seek to balance (or juggle as the case may be) all of the energy components in real time. For this section, we will focus in on the lung energy and your child specifically, but keep in mind there is not a distinct boundary between the lungs, spleen, stomach and large intestine meridians. They are all part of one continuous flow within your child's system.

According to the Chinese medicine system, the following functions are mostly the responsibility of your child's lung energy circuit:

So when a child presents with any or a combination of the above symptoms, how do we go about evaluating and making sense of their situation?

What I have learned is that this method of framing the set of symptoms in the context of the lung energy and your child is a key differentiating factor. The first step is to explore whether or not there are other historical inputs that may have an influence on the above jobs that the lung energy circuit is in charge of providing for your child's daily functions.

Let's look at the common example of a child with a history of asthma, allergies and eczema (a dry skin condition). This triad of symptoms is common in the pediatric age group and I have certainly seen my share of kids with this set of conditions. My approach would seek to find out what some of the historical precedents might be.

If a child had a history of bronchiolitis (an infection of the lungs) and wheezing (reactive airways disease) as a baby but eventually "grew out of it", we still must account for the energy consequence of that event. In other words, it is very likely that the child is expending energy from a preventive standpoint now, even though the episode and the physical involvement is no longer taking place.

From the child's energy system's perspective, which do you think is more important? The health and wellbeing of the lungs themselves which need to provide continuous and ongoing breathing? Or keeping up with the hydration or moisture level of the skin to prevent eczema? Of course, the answer is that the lungs are more important than the skin in this situation.

Do you see how the body's energy system is called upon to make distribution decisions based on priority, and in all likelihood will choose to cover vital functions first like breathing? This is why it is important to investigate the factors that may affect the lung energy and your child.

The usefulness of this method of evaluating the whole picture of what's going on with your child is the reason I am so adamant about getting this information to you. It is imperative that you understand this, so that you can in turn pass along this understanding to your child and take the steps necessary to find balance and resolution for your child's energy system. In this way, not only are you able to treat the symptoms, but you can gain the information you need to alleviate what caused the problem in the first place.

Now if we take this example one step further, this child may be prone to developing allergies in the future. Not because he or she is unlucky, but because the same energy reservoir in charge of maintaining the lungs and the skin is also responsible for what is called "defensive energy" or "wei chi" in the Chinese medicine system. This is closely associated with the surface of the body and includes the mucous membranes of the respiratory and digestive systems. These must be included as part of the discussion pertaining to the lung energy and your child.

So the explanation would be, if energy has been devoted to early lung problems, coupled with skin issues like eczema, this can lead to a predisposition to develop allergies, especially airborne or food related reactions. Any treatment modalities that seek to strengthen and rebalance the lung energy system will help with the historical energy expenditures that may be ongoing, with the current symptoms if they are present, and to decrease the chances of future related problems like allergies.

To recap this discussion, the energy medicine way of looking at lung energy and your child is to evaluate the historical experiences that may be related to current symptoms, recognizing that the body as a system is called upon to make energy distribution decisions based on priority and the need to maintain vital functions. In addition, the potential to prevent or anticipate the possibility of new symptoms cropping up in the future is something I want all parents to know is possible using the energy medicine approach.