Digest Aid, 4 oz

Dispels Phlegm and eliminates Qi stagnation and food accumulation in the Stomach and Intestines.

The most primal experience of comfort and happiness begins with the act of suckling soon after birth. Eating, feeding, being fed and all of the concomitant sensations of sound, touch, smell, warmth and closeness quickly merge with the internal urges of appetite, the enjoyment of satiety and the innately pleasurable process of ingestion, digestion, assimilation and elimination. The earliest gustatory encounters are deeply imprinted not only as patterns within the neuronal networks of the central nervous system, but as rhythmic, sequential habits of the entire digestive tract. Recent research has revealed that the gut has incorporated, within itself, a distinct nervous system linked with, but also functioning independently of, the brain. “Gut feelings”, while difficult to disregard due to their intensity and intimacy, have now been authenticated by neurophysiologists: a person is endowed with multiple faculties for perceiving, interpreting and heeding the innate intelligence of the body.

Within the Chinese traditional view, the gut, under the governance of the Stomach and Spleen, is the center − the organizational nexus − of bodily life and social relations. The traditional Chinese greeting, “Ni hao ma? (pronounced nee how maah),” translates literally as “Have you eaten yet today?” The partaking of food, the rituals and procedures surrounding all aspects of its cultivation, preparation and consumption have, until the invention of “fast food”, commanded major attention and effort. The industrialization of food production, along with the mechanization and acceleration of cooking and eating, have profoundly altered our way of eating. An authentic center − the identifiable and distinct locus of orientation and poise − is embodied in the Organ Network of the Spleen, which inhabits the anatomical and functional center of the body. As is commonly assumed, but rarely acknowledged, good feeling toward oneself and others, as well as a sense of optimism, lucidity and exuberance, are largely dependent upon good digestion, with its consequent feelings of hardiness, contentment and conviviality.