Feeling Down, Stomach Down? Doctor Li Dongyuan’s Teaching: To Regulate the Spleen and Stomach, First Regulate the Emotions

Have you noticed a pattern? Every time your mood turns sour, your stomach goes on strike too — no appetite, bloating, loose stools. And the reverse: once the spleen and stomach weaken and the body collapses, a person wilts too — cranky, irritable, annoyed by everything they see.

This is no coincidence. Eight hundred years ago, the great Jin-dynasty physician Li Dongyuan wrote exactly this into his Pi Wei Lun (Treatise on the Spleen and Stomach). He devoted an entire chapter — An Yang Xin Shen Tiao Zhi Pi Wei Lun (On Nourishing the Heart-Spirit and Regulating the Spleen and Stomach) — to explaining the relationship between emotion and digestion: the two are tightly bound together, each causing the other.

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: Today we continue our discussion of Li Dongyuan’s theory of regulating the spleen and stomach. In the Pi Wei Lun, shortly after the chapter on Sheng Yang Yi Wei Tang (Raise Yang and Benefit the Stomach Decoction), he wrote this essay — An Yang Xin Shen Tiao Zhi Pi Wei Lun. What does the title mean? That emotion and spleen-stomach disorder are tightly linked, each causing the other. When I’ve discussed spleen-stomach formulas earlier, I kept stressing: bad emotions are a major cause of digestive disorder. So what comes first when you regulate the spleen and stomach? Regulating the emotions. Li Dongyuan felt he hadn’t said enough on this, so he wrote a whole essay on it. This idea is tremendously important — everyone should know: why our digestion goes wrong is directly related to our emotions.

I. The Heart Is the Monarch: Why Bad Emotions Hurt Yuan Qi First

Li Dongyuan opens by quoting the Huang Di Nei Jing (Yellow Emperor’s Inner Classic): “The heart is the monarch organ; shen ming (the spirit-like intelligence) issues forth from it.” The heart governs shen ming — and shen ming is directly connected to our emotions.

Then he continues: all the harmful emotions — anger, resentment, grief, overthinking, fear (what Chinese medicine calls the seven emotions) — all damage yuan qi (primal qi). Every one of them injures your primal qi. This we can all understand: bad emotions surely damage your vital qi.

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: Li Dongyuan asks a question: why is the yin fire inside you so blazing? His answer: it comes from the heart becoming stuck and stagnant (xin sheng ning zhi). The heart begins to stagnate — depression, anxiety, the mood starts to go wrong. Where does that come from? From the seven emotions being disturbed — it’s those bad emotions of yours causing the trouble. Note this: “the heart becoming stagnant” is really the same idea as what we today call gan qi bu shu (stagnant liver qi) or liver-qi constraint. Nowadays we usually speak from the liver’s angle, but since the heart governs shen ming, the heart works the same way. Li Dongyuan simply argued from the “heart” angle.

II. Every Organ Hides a “Spirit”: When Heart Fire Rises, All Seven Spirits Suffer

What is the heart channel? Li Dongyuan says: the heart channel is the dwelling of the spirit (xin mai zhe, shen zhi she) — it is where the spirit resides. If your mind is unsettled and you keep churning through your emotions, the spirit cannot rest peacefully inside, so it transforms into fire — heart fire breaks out.

Once heart fire rises, the trouble is serious. Li Dongyuan says: “Fire is the thief of the seven spirits (huo zhe, qi shen zhi zei ye).” When heart fire blazes too fiercely, it bullies and damages the functions of the five organs, and thereby harms the spirits each organ stores.

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: Here we meet a concept — the seven spirits. The ancients held that the five organs store spirit, and each organ has its own: the liver stores the hun (the ethereal soul), the lungs store the po (the corporeal soul), the heart stores the shen (the spirit), the spleen stores the yi (intent and thought), and the kidneys store the zhi (the will — the kidneys store essence, and the essence houses the will). Every organ has its own spirit. If heart fire blazes too fiercely, it damages the spirits of all five organs — those seven spirits. So when emotions go chaotic, the damage is not in one place: all the organs get swept into disorder together.

III. When the Spirit Loses Nourishment, Body Fluids Stop Flowing: How the Body Falls Apart Step by Step

Li Dongyuan continues: if yin fire is too fierce, the yang qi in the channels — those nutrient-bearing, fluid-like substances — can no longer nourish the spirit; the spirit receives no nourishment, and the channels themselves become diseased. Thus the spirit is left un-nourished and jin ye (body fluids) cease to move; when body fluids cannot circulate, blood can no longer be generated — and at that point the whole body falls into disorder.

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: Li Dongyuan traces the injury from the spirits of the five organs down into the channels — the vessels get sick, the blood vessels get sick, and blood can no longer be produced. You can see the body really does fall into chaos. He also explains an important relationship: the spirit of the heart is another name for zhen qi (true qi); it is born from blood — only with blood can the heart be nourished and the spirit come into being; when blood is generated, the channels flourish (xue sheng ze mai wang) — blood is produced, the channels open, and the vessel qi flourishes. What are the vessels? The pathways through which blood travels — and also the dwelling place of the spirit. If the heart becomes stagnant — if gloom and depression pile up inside — then the seven spirits leave their posts (qi shen li xing), the seven spirits depart from the five organs, and at that point the vessels hold nothing but fire. Fire increases in the vessels, and the body is certainly thrown into disorder.

So once emotions go wrong, the channels, the righteous qi, and the blood-making function of all the organs go wrong together — Li Dongyuan used a whole long passage to lay out the enormous impact of bad emotions.

IV. The “Medicine” Li Dongyuan Prescribes: Harmonize the Spleen and Stomach + Keep the Heart Free of Stagnation

After laying out the harm, Li Dongyuan gives the solution. He says those skilled at treating this kind of illness do two things: first, harmonize the spleen and stomach; second, keep the heart free of stagnation (xin wu ning zhi).

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: Note — he is not saying “if I fix my digestion, my heart will stop being stuck.” No. Both things must be done. On one hand, regulate the spleen and stomach; on the other, adjust the emotions and don’t let the heart stagnate. Li Dongyuan even gives concrete instructions: “Be cheerful, or meet with happy events; when the weather is warm, stay in mild, comfortable places; eat food with flavor; keep things you wish to do before your eyes — and then you will feel suddenly as if you had no illness at all.” Meaning: regularly cheer yourself up, or encounter happy occasions; on fine days, find a warm place to stay; eat something with real flavor; often keep things you enjoy in front of you — in this way the yuan qi in the stomach can stretch open and spread out. On one side, use medicine to regulate the digestion; on the other, regulate the emotions — both help the spleen-stomach qi to rise and unfold.

V. A Joy-Seeking Guide: Guo Degang’s Crosstalk, Comedy Shows — Just Don’t Meddle in Other Couples’ Fights

“Be cheerful,” Li Dongyuan says. What does that look like in practice? Doctor Luo translates it into plain-language life advice.

First, don’t go looking for worries. Especially if you’re unwell — your body is already weak, emotions will make it more disordered and your digestion more chaotic, so in that state, going out to find trouble is adding frost to snow. For example, a couple fighting — their quarrel is probably no real disaster, and they may make up in a couple of days; but you just have to step in and referee, get yourself worked up into a fury, and two days later they’re reconciled while you’re too embarrassed to even greet them.

Second, don’t read only negative news. Some people pick out every piece of bad news in the paper and read it until they’re furious with themselves — isn’t that just making trouble for yourself?

Third, make friends who make you laugh. Spend time with the friends who make you happy the moment you see them, the ones who make you laugh out loud. Don’t keep company with people who do nothing but sigh.

Fourth, watch something funny. Listen to Guo Degang’s crosstalk and have a good laugh; watch the funny videos people post on Douyin (Doctor Luo admits he watches it too — ordinary people’s homemade videos are genuinely entertaining); enjoy the skits on comedy shows. Find the cheerful things — let your qi and blood flow freely.

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: Let the qi and blood flow freely and then feel happy — that’s the important part. When your mood lifts, qi and blood run smoothly; when qi and blood run smoothly, the spleen and stomach gain strength. That’s the modern operating manual for Li Dongyuan’s “be cheerful.”

VI. Stay in Warm Places: Doctor Luo’s Mother Didn’t Lose Her Temper Once in Half a Year in Sanya

Li Dongyuan advises “when the weather is warm, stay in mild places” — and Doctor Luo has felt this truth in his own family. He stresses it especially.

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: I seem to be very sensitive to weather. I’ve noticed that in the north, when autumn arrives and the leaves start falling, everything turns bleak, the weather cools — and people’s moods easily sink into “autumn melancholy.” That’s why I always urge elderly people to consider retiring to Sanya or Hainan — coming here makes people happy: green trees, blue sky, white clouds, and it’s easy to feel cheerful. My old mother, back home, my sister and I used to wonder whether she was born with negative energy — some mornings she’d wake up unhappy, frowning constantly. But since she came to live in Sanya, she hasn’t lost her temper once in half a year. I was puzzled: it wasn’t inborn negativity after all — it may be connected to the environment. So I believe Li Dongyuan was right — staying in warm, mild places, going where it’s warm and pleasant, makes sense.

VII. Eat Food with Flavor: Li Dongyuan Surprisingly Doesn’t Demand Extreme Dietary Restrictions

Li Dongyuan advises “eating food with flavor” — enjoying tasty food. This overturns a common assumption: Li Dongyuan was not, as we might imagine, the kind of doctor who makes you follow a strict diet, forbids meat entirely, and insists everything be as bland as possible.

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: After many of his formulas, Li Dongyuan says: while taking medicine, eat something delicious, something that tastes good. He says the spleen and stomach like it — if you genuinely find something delicious and enjoy it, eat it; it’s fine, and the medicine works even better with it. Why? Because at that moment the spleen and stomach are in a good, happy state. Note — this means in moderation, not rich, greasy indulgence. It means food that is truly well made; when you cook a dish properly, you can really taste the difference. Don’t overeat. Keep the spleen and stomach cheerful, and the medicine works better.

VIII. Keep Favorite Things Before Your Eyes: Emperor Qianlong Toyed with Antiques; the Douyin Algorithm Works the Same Way

Li Dongyuan advises “keeping things you wish to do before your eyes” — regularly keep things you enjoy in front of you. There’s real subtlety here.

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: I’ve told you before how particular emperors were about meals. When Emperor Qianlong ate, he would hold something he especially loved and toy with it — a favorite antique — playing with it, delighted, and then he’d eat beautifully. What’s that about? It means feeling happy inside matters. You like something, so you feel especially joyful; but if the person in front of you irritates you at the sight, and you have to hover around them all day — that’s no good. Li Dongyuan says to see as many of the things you wish to do as possible: if you love birds, keep birds and visit the flower-and-bird market often; if you love sports, get to the court and shoot some hoops. Making your emotions better — that’s one of the reasons.

As for Douyin — Doctor Luo actually had a few kind words for it:

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: I studied Douyin for a long time, followed countless people, and looked at each one. I found the algorithm fascinating: whatever you like, it feeds you more of it; gradually, the content you end up seeing is basically all things you enjoy — that’s playing to your taste. Is playing to your taste a good thing? By Li Dongyuan’s teaching, it is. Life is short — don’t go looking for high-difficulty ways to torment yourself. Watching things you like, regularly seeing what you enjoy before your eyes, is a good thing. Of course, don’t get addicted either — it’s a thief of time, so keep your wits about you.

IX. Modern Science Confirms It: The Gut Microbiome — and the Chinese Were Its Pioneers

Li Dongyuan said emotion and digestion cause each other; modern science has really reached this very layer — through the gut microbiome.

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: Some people say, “Doctor Luo, you keep bringing up the gut microbiome — isn’t that a foreign idea?” Let me tell you: this is a Chinese idea. Everyone in the world who studies microbiome therapy acknowledges the Chinese as its originators — it’s recorded in Ge Hong’s Zhou Hou Fang (Handbook of Prescriptions for Emergencies) — “you Chinese started this therapy.” So there’s no reason to reject it. We should keep our minds open — someday Chinese medicine will inevitably study the gut microbiome, because it is intimately tied to our spleen.

Our intestines host hundreds or even thousands of species of bacteria. They are almost a part of our body, coexisting with us: they help break down food, absorb nutrients, and take part in all kinds of metabolism — kill them all and a person dies. And their connection to the spleen is especially close: many of the processes of “spleen transportation and transformation” are, in fact, the microbiome’s job. Most crucially: the gut microbiome is closely linked to mood.

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: What conditions does microbiome therapy (fecal microbiota transplantation) mainly treat today? Mood disorders — depression, autism, and the like. Our emotions and our gut bacteria influence each other. For example, I know someone who loves meat more than anything. Why? Because the meat-loving bacteria in his gut are especially flourishing; those bacteria secrete substances that stimulate his nerves, and that’s why he craves meat — otherwise it’s hard to explain why some people are fanatical about it. After I said this, my friends laughed: “So we’ve become hosts controlled by parasites?” Well — yes, that’s how it is: we’re symbiotic; over long evolution we’ve become one whole. And there are experiments to prove it: take a timid lab mouse and transplant the gut flora of a bold mouse into it, and it becomes bold — eager to explore. Another experiment: a mother and daughter had very different personalities; when the mother’s gut flora was transferred into the daughter, the daughter’s personality changed — she had been very timid, and became as bold and cheerful as her mother. So the gut microbiome influences mood, and mood in turn influences the gut microbiome.

X. The Abdominal Brain: Hundreds of Millions of Neurons That Listen Only to Emotion

Beyond the microbiome, there is an even more direct channel by which emotion affects digestion — the digestive system’s own “nervous system.”

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: Why is it that some people, the moment they’re heartbroken, immediately lose all appetite for tea and rice? Because the neurons of the digestive system feel your sadness — hundreds of millions of neurons sense your emotions. At that moment, if you order it “speed up the stomach’s peristalsis” or “slow it down,” does it listen? It doesn’t obey commands from the brain — it listens to emotion: when you grieve, it immediately suppresses, and stomach motility slows; when you’re furious, it speeds up at once — the whole intestinal tract moves that way. So emotion and digestion — whether seen through the microbiome or through neuronal sensing — are intimately connected.

XI. The Vicious Cycle: Why Every Patient You See Has a Worried Face

Now let’s look from the clinical side. Doctor Luo says:

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: If you meet a patient whose digestion is always troubled, whose righteous qi is insufficient, who is constantly ill, you’ll find such people are almost never optimists — almost none of them are cheerful, sunny types. The patients who come to see us are one after another with worried faces, sallow complexions, and spirits that cannot stretch open. People say: “Well, isn’t it because they’re sick that their mood is like this?” If you look at it that one-dimensionally, you’ll never solve it — the two are mutually linked, each causing the other.

Here’s how the vicious cycle spins: bad mood → digestion goes wrong → righteous qi becomes insufficient → all kinds of waste start piling up in the body (blood stasis appears, phlegm-dampness appears, blood vessels clog) → external pathogens seize the chance to invade (you catch cold, dampness attacks you) → more and more illness → the personality grows more depressed and constricted → frost on top of snow → and finally despair: “I’m finished. I must have a serious disease. This illness will never be cured.”

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: This state — it’s the state of the vast majority of people who come to me with all sorts of tangled illnesses intertwined. The more complex and tangled the condition, the more this is their personality, the more this is their psychological state. Never think “it’s just because he’s sick that his mood is bad.” If it were only that, then sick people with good moods would recover quickly and turn around — they would never end up in front of you. So what we see are people who have entered the vicious cycle. Among my listeners, I believe many of you are in this state too — everyone must learn to break the vicious cycle.

How to break it? Still those two things from Li Dongyuan: first, harmonize the spleen and stomach (we’ve discussed so many of Li Dongyuan’s formulas, and there are many more); second, keep the heart free of stagnation — find all kinds of happy, cheerful things to adjust your mood. Push on both fronts together.

XII. Epilogue: The Key Is in Your Hands — Don’t Seek It Outside

There are formulas for regulating the digestion, but regulating the emotions is your own business. Doctor Luo notes that his lecture series on the Dao De Jing (Tao Te Ching) has been played one hundred twenty million times on Ximalaya —

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: The greatest meaning of my Dao De Jing lectures is helping people untie the knots in their hearts. Many listeners have written to me, and I was truly moved reading them: some people’s whole state changed dramatically after listening; some listened several times; some adjusted their emotions; some said my health improved — I finished the lectures and my illness got better — that makes me happiest of all. It means they found a solution, thought it through, let it go, and found a better angle for facing the difficulties of life — and their lives grew smoother and smoother. Then, following Li Dongyuan: find cheerful things, be happy, go to warm places, and exercise regularly. Only when the emotions are adjusted can the body truly recover.

Never sink into despair — some friends don’t believe their bodies can recover and search the internet everywhere for miracle doctors: “Please, you must cure me!” Such people never get better, because they’re always seeking outside.

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: In fact, the key to regulating your own body is always inside you — it’s in your own hands. You have that right. If we can cut ourselves out of the vicious cycle and enter a virtuous one, I believe the body will improve day by day. Whatever you do, don’t fall into the trap of bad emotions.

Li Dongyuan’s essay An Yang Shen Xin Tiao Zhi Pi Wei Lun is short, but its place in the Pi Wei Lun shows what it means: he raised the problem, gave the solution, and laid out the whole theory with complete clarity. His theoretical framework keeps returning to heart fire and yin fire — where does this fire come from? To a great extent, from the emotions. And Li Dongyuan’s formulas all place great weight on emotional regulation; in many of them he points out that emotions matter enormously — so when regulating the spleen and stomach, never forget to regulate the emotions first.

What to take away

Bad mood, bad stomach — and a weak stomach makes the mood worse. The two are locked together in a two-way relationship; Li Dongyuan wrote a whole chapter of the Pi Wei Lun to say so.
The mechanism in five characters: bad emotions make the heart stagnate → yin fire blazes → the seven spirits of the five organs are robbed → body fluids stop flowing and blood can no longer be generated → the whole body falls into disorder.
The cure is two-fold: harmonize the spleen and stomach with medicine, and keep the heart free of stagnation — be cheerful, meet happy events, stay in warm places, eat food with flavor, and keep the things you love before your eyes.
Modern science agrees: the gut microbiome — a therapy the whole world credits to the Chinese physician Ge Hong — shapes mood, and the hundreds of millions of neurons of the “abdominal brain” obey emotion, not commands.
Break the vicious cycle: if you’re stuck in illness and gloom, don’t just treat the body — deliberately add joy, warmth, and things you love. The key to healing is in your own hands.

Remember: when your mood is bad, your spleen and stomach cannot be well; to regulate the digestion, first regulate the emotions. See you next time!

This article is adapted from Doctor Luo Dalun’s lecture series on Li Dongyuan, based on the essay An Yang Shen Xin Tiao Zhi Pi Wei Lun from the Pi Wei Lun (Treatise on the Spleen and Stomach).