Xiao Yao San is a traditional Chinese herbal prescription. The name of this prescription originates from the first chapter of the book Zhuangzi, which is filled with beautiful Taoist poetries. The original title is "Xiao Yao You." In "Xiao Yao You," 'Xiao Yao' means "wandering without any purpose," and 'You' means to play joyfully. In this chapter, Zhuangzi sings about a giant bird and whale that are detached from the world and freely roam the skies and oceans.
My house was located on a hill in Korea, and it was quite a struggle to walk up with my 8-year-old son. As we were climbing up the hill, I noticed my son was walking backward. I told him, "That's dangerous, you should look forward and walk." Then my son replied, "When I look forward, I only see the house (our goal), and it's tiring. When I walk backward, I can see the mountains, flowers, and many interesting things that I couldn't see before, so it's not tiring." So I tried walking backward as well. Indeed, when I took my eyes off the goal, I saw things I hadn't seen before. Thanks to that, my son and I happily arrived home.
The essence of the term "Xiao Yao" lies in taking our eyes off the goal, just like my son did. It is about letting go of everything we have to do, and walking in the present moment without any worries or regrets. Playing around without purpose, that is Xiao Yao You.
Xiao Yao San is composed of herbs such as Chai Hu and Bai Zhu, which relieve liver stagnation, and herbs like Ginseng and White Peony root, which strengthen the spleen (in traditional medicine, the Spleen refers to the digestive system). When we get exhausted and stressed by only focusing on our goals, the energy of the liver becomes stagnant. Prolonged liver stagnation will gradually harm the energy of the spleen. In acupuncture and herbal medicine, this is called "wood damaging the spleen," which is a unique pathological theory. Ancient Chinese people discovered this principle in nature and applied it to the human body. They believed that a tree consumes all the energy of the soil, the soil can no longer grow crops. Similarly, in the human body, if the energy of the tree (liver) becomes excessive, it can harm the energy of the soil (spleen)(Fig). The tree energy in humans corresponds to planning and driving things forward, and when this energy is excessive, it leads to anger and severe stress. Failure to control anger and stress can cause digestive disorders. Excessive stress and anger activate the sympathetic nervous system, which can halt bowel movements and cause an overproduction of stomach acid, resulting in conditions like heartburn or GERD.
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| Fig. Wood(Liver) damages Earth(Spleen) |
Xiao Yao San is a prescription that both sedates the liver energy (our "tree" energy) and tonifies the spleen energy (our "soil" energy). Therefore, when prescribing Xiao Yao San, it is essential to instruct the patient to practice "Xiao Yao" as well. Don't forget that this "Xiao Yao" is the final ingredient of this wonderful prescription. This last component completes Xiao Yao San.
