If there is free flow, there is no pain; if there is no free flow, there is pain. ( enter the garlic)

Qi Stagnates when the flow of the creative being is stopped. When the Qi is Stagnant, any aspect of harmonious flow can be affected. We may feel frustrated, indecisive or depressed in response to the constraint of our freedom to be ourselves. Physically we may experience uncomfortable digestion, irregular or painful menstruation, headaches, tenderness beneath the ribs, or all kinds of pain.

…It is helpful to consider Stagnation as having two levels of manifestation. The first is Constraint. This is the realm of the psyche, the subtle and shifting ways in which we stifle the more raw expression of who we are. Sorting out these patterns of Constraint means exploring the “shoulds” and “dont’s” which regulate our lives and deciding which of them provide useful and necessary containers and which of them we wish to reject because they stifle our true expression of vibrant aliveness.

Constraint arises from the relationship we have with the growing edges of our being as we shape ourselves against the rules imposed by family, authority, and culture. Wherever healthy assertion of aliveness is chronically suppressed and then internalized, patterns of constraint will develop as we struggle to assert who we are against the ‘controller’ we have taken on inside.

Foods That Move Qi Stagnation

Symptoms: tendency to depression, frequent sighing, flares of temper, sensation of something being stuck in the throat, pain in the ribs or abdomen, uterine cramping, tension in the body that seems stuck, IBS

One easy approach to mitigating a tendency to stagnation, especially if it’s coming from eating too fast, or eating while stressed, is to take a dropperful of bitters before or after you eat (I use bitters before and after meals, especially at a food-centric event, like Thanksgiving). I prefer to mix bitters with a small glass of seltzer water. Some find that eating a segment of section of grapefruit before a meal serves the same purpose.

Use the onion family more! Includes onion, garlic, leeks, and chives.

Embrace the Brassica! Cabbage, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, mustard greens, turnip, kale – all can help move qi!

Pungent/aromatic foods are your friends. Use radish, basil, cilantro, arugula, coriander seed, fennel, turmeric, cayenne, cardamom, and mint.

Incorporate sour flavored foods, in moderate to small amounts, like lemon, grapefruit, vinegar, plums, and green apples.

Try adding a little citrus peel to grain dishes or teas. Use organic citrus fruit for this. I especially love to add lemon rind to basmati rice before cooking. It’s wicked good.

Chen pi (citrus peel) does not directly go to the liver, but it can help move qi, especially when your digestion is feeling ‘stuck.’

Try starting your morning with a small glass of warm water mixed with organic, raw, apple cider vinegar and local honey.

Here’s simple tea for any time you’re feeling stagnant, especially digestively: Take equal parts cinnamon, ginger, and tangerine peel; simmer until a 1/3 of the water has evaporated. Add a small amount of honey. Drink up.

Limit: refined grains, sugar, fried foods, food additives, low fiber diets

Foods That Clear Liver Heat

If qi stays stagnant for long enough it will give off heat. An example of this? A traffic jam when tempers flare, or a compost pile in late spring – put your hand over the compost and feel how it gives off heat. Symptoms of liver heat, or the more extreme version of this, liver fire, include severe irritability and rage, pain and distension in the head (including migraines and headaches), insomnia, constipation, tight neck and shoulders, anxiety, ringing in the ears.

Use bitter foods to your benefit, since they are cooling. Celery, romaine lettuce, dandelion greens, asparagus, and rye are all good choices.

Other cooling foods include cucumber, summer squash, tomatoes, carrot, spinach, artichoke, burdock root (gobo), lemon, lime, grapefruit, green tea, mint, and chrysanthemum.

Limit spicy foods, alcohol, coffee, lamb, beef, and trout.

Foods That Treat Blood Stasis

Eggplant is specific to moving blood stasis that affects the uterus. Cramping, colicky pain in that area? Try eggplant. (To be used with moderation during pregnancy, but a great addition when trying to induce labor!)

Like stated above, since qi and blood are so closely interdependent, know that qi-moving foods are, to some extent, blood-moving.

If blood stasis is an issue for you, focus on incorporating onion, garlic, scallion, ginger, vinegar, turmeric, saffron,eggplant, shiitake, hawthorn berry (Shan Zha), cayenne pepper, and chili pepper.

Limit cold foods (like iced water and riding the ice cream train too often), as well as refined foods.