Kidney Function: marrow, brain, will and hair!

‘Kidney Function’ sounds all wrong, doesn’t it? Most English speakers would correct this to ‘Kidneys’ Function’, not least because most of us have two kidneys. But this is Chinese medicine, so bear with me.

First, get used to the idea that your (Chinese medicine) Kidney function includes but is not limited to the functions of your kidneys. It goes a very long way beyond.

 

For information, to discover the functions that your physical kidneys cover, click here.

OK – from here on we cover the Kidney function in Chinese medicine. Usually in textbooks there’s a definite order in which they are discussed but I’m starting a different way.

1. Kidney Function: Start and Finish

Have you ever noticed that some people are starters?

And whatever they do, they don’t continue it for long, before they start something else. Some of them are perpetual students, never quite liking to commit to work to put into practice what they have learned; or tending to learn one trade after another.

Or they may seem settled in their professions or work, but if they were to share their real thoughts, you might be surprised to find how uncertain, even fearful, they were about it: not at all the definite people you thought you knew, and quite possibly always looking for better ways to spend their lives.

In some ways this keeps them young. (And irresponsible you might add.) Their weakness is that they don’t have the stamina, or determination, or personality, to keep going at something until they get it right, then continue with it until it’s a success and eventually, finish it off properly. So they lack the finishing touch; more, they lack the keep-going touch.

Background problems?

If you look into their past you may find that one or more of the following applies:

• illness or exhaustion or a family history of poor health in their parents before conception occurred
• some illness or problem during the pregnancy
• birth before (possibly well before) the full term of 39 weeks
• severe illness(es) during their first few years of life
• a difficulty with nourishment very early in babyhood/childhood
• either no reaction or very strong reactions to early immunisations
• a sense of separation or grief at loss of a parent, probably the mother-figure, early on: this may occur when she has to spend more time with a sibling
• a somewhat distant father-figure
• an early expectation on themselves to succeed
• strong fears in early childhood
• a lack of order in early life, including of regular sleep and food
• a bigger strain on their lives during puberty than they could readily manage

Kidneys lacking strong integration

All the above may predispose the child towards a situation when their Kidney energy lacks cohesiveness. It can’t maintain steady progress in life. (If you have read to this point and your heart is beginning to sink and pound at the same time, don’t fret. There’s lots that can be done!)

Not being able to keep going steadily means that you never finish things or allow them to go through a satisfactory cycle. So you aren’t good at ending things, because you give up too soon. 

Of course, possibly this is because it’s fashionable to do so when you don’t enjoy the job, but more often, if it’s a Kidney Qi problem, it is because you lack persistence even in the face of just boredom or mild opposition or difficulty.

Then you have to start again, possibly doing something else or looking for a new job.

 

So this first Kidney function gives you force of personality: a form of life-force. With strong Kidney energy you don’t lose your nerve easily, and you are resourceful.

You are also confident in your self and don’t necessarily feel the need to depend on others or communicate all the time with them for reassurance.

Of course, for social reasons you may choose to be active on social networks, but you could do without them.

Eventually experience will count for you

However, being a perpetual student – ‘Jack of All Trades’ – is not all bad. Eventually, as you mature, you’ll find that the discipline you’ve acquired by always having to learn new things will make you into someone who can reassure others, who can teach others, and who can help people out in an emergency, because you have the know-how.

Then it will become your challenge to apply your skills either in business for yourself, which many consider is the best way because it makes few demands on others and brings wealth to the community, or by working in one of many jobs you have learned, possibly in some way to help others.