The Organs That Feel, Digest, and Dream
Understanding The Zang Fu Organs in Chinese Medicine—Where Body, Mind, And Spirit Meet
This post is Part 4 of a 6-part series: TCM Basics
Explore the foundations of Traditional Chinese Medicine—nature-based, people-rooted, and relevant for everyday life. Posts in this series:
The Organs That Feel, Digest, and Dream (you are here)
The Organ Clock: Living in Rhythm with Your Body
The 7- and 8-Year Cycles of Life: Growing, Changing, Aging Gracefully
In Chinese Medicine, organs aren’t just physical parts—they’re networks of function, emotion, and rhythm. This post introduces the Zang Fu system and how these organ networks shape not only digestion and sleep, but also moods, cycles, and the way we relate to the world.
A Different Kind of Anatomy
In Western medicine, organs are structures—things you can touch, scan, remove, or repair. In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), organs are more than structure, they are like characters in a story. They have personalities, moods, jobs, and relationships with one another. They don’t just run your physical functions—they shape your emotional patterns, how you respond to stress, how you love, think, rest, and relate.
This is the world of Zang Fu.
Zang (the Yin organs) are the solid ones. Think transformation, cultivation, deeper functions: Heart, Liver, Spleen, Lung, and Kidney.
Fu (the Yang organs) are the hollow, active ones. They move things through: Small Intestine, Gallbladder, Stomach, Large Intestine, and Urinary Bladder.
There’s also a “sixth” pair—the Pericardium and San Jiao (Triple Burner)—which we’ll touch on too.
But don’t worry—we’re not memorizing lists. We’re mapping meaning.
Heart: Where the Spirit Rests
In Chinese Medicine, the Heart is where the Shen lives—your spirit, your awareness, your sense of being present in the world. It doesn’t just pump blood. It holds your capacity for joy, connection, clarity, and calm.
The Heart is associated with joy.
When it's in harmony, you feel peaceful, steady, and clear. When it's out of sync? You might feel anxious, scattered, or disconnected.
Heart’s partner: Small Intestine – helps separate what’s useful from what’s not. That includes food, but also thoughts and emotions.
Liver: The Planner, the Mover
The Liver is your inner strategist. It helps you dream, plan, and move through life with direction. It's in charge of flow—of blood, of energy, of emotions.
The Liver is associated with anger (and the healthy boundary-setting that comes with it).
When things flow smoothly, you feel decisive and clear. When stuck, you might feel irritable, tense, or like everything’s just a little... off.
Liver’s partner: Gallbladder – supports decisiveness, courage, and digestion—both of fats and of life choices.
Lungs: Grief, Boundaries, and Breath
Your Lungs bring in more than air. They help you connect, protect, and release. They govern breath, immunity, the skin—and they hold grief, the kind that asks to be exhaled gently over time.
The Lungs are associated with grief and sadness.
When strong, you feel resilient, open, and able to engage with the world. When low, there might be sadness, low energy, skin issues, or frequent colds.
Lungs’ partner: Large Intestine – also about letting go, both physically and emotionally.
Spleen: The Ground Beneath You
The Spleen is your inner nurturer. It digests not just food, but thoughts and experiences. It turns what you take in into usable energy and insight.
The Spleen is associated with worry.
When balanced, you feel centred, clear, and capable. When depleted, you might feel foggy, heavy, or tired after eating or thinking too much.
Spleen’s partner: Stomach – starts the process of taking in and breaking down the world around you.
Kidneys: Deep Reserves, Long-Term Vision
Your Kidneys are the deep well you draw from. They store Essence—your core vitality, the stuff of growth, development, reproduction, and aging. They govern bones, hearing, and your capacity to endure.
The Kidneys are associated with fear.
When strong, you feel anchored and steady. When depleted, you might feel anxious, burnt out, or deeply tired in a way rest doesn't touch.
Kidneys’ partner: Urinary Bladder – helps with releasing waste, regulating water, and navigating stress and survival.
Pericardium & San Jiao: The Protectors
The Pericardium is like the Heart’s bodyguard. It helps you open and close emotionally, protecting your tender centre while allowing for meaningful connection.
The San Jiao (or Triple Burner) is something special. It's not a visible organ, but a functional system—a network that keeps everything in communication. It helps manage temperature, metabolism, and the movement of fluids and messages between organs.
Think of it as the connective thread that helps the whole system hum along.
These Organs Talk to Each Other
Each organ in Chinese Medicine holds more than just a job—it holds a piece of your story. Together, they create a dynamic, responsive system that reflects how you move through the world: thinking, feeling, digesting, letting go, dreaming. These aren’t just parts of your body—they’re parts of your life. And when we listen closely, they tell us what needs tending.
Listening to the Body’s Inner Conversation
You don’t need to memorize all the organs or become an expert in TCM. What matters is beginning to listen. To notice your body’s patterns. To see fatigue not just as “being tired,” but maybe your Spleen asking for rest. Or frustration not just as mood, but maybe a nudge from the Liver needing movement or expression.
Tending to Your Zang Fu
Some gentle ways to care for these inner networks:
Rest when your Heart feels scattered
Move when your Liver feels stuck
Nourish when your Spleen feels low
Breathe when your Lungs feel tight
Protect your pace when your Kidneys feel stretched thin
In Chinese Medicine, health isn’t about perfection. It’s about tending—slowly, persistently—to the relationships within.
Now that we’ve explored the organs as emotional and energetic players, the next post follows their daily performance—hour by hour. We’ll look at the TCM Body Clock and how each organ takes the spotlight throughout the 24-hour cycle, revealing how symptoms, energy dips, and even cravings might be your body’s way of keeping time.