Fingers, Emotions, and Organs
A human being starts as one cell and as those cells divide and multiply, they maintain resonances due to their common beginnings. Taoists teach that the fingers, organs, emotions, and elemental qualities of the body have common themes. For instance, sometimes people wring their hands when they’re stressed, they twiddle their thumbs when they are bored, and even bite their nails for the same reasons.
Below is a list, modified from Chi Self Massage, by Mantak Chia:
- The thumb corresponds to the earth element, the stomach, and trust and worry.
- The index finger corresponds to the metal element, the lungs and large intestine, and the emotions of sadness, grief and depression and courage, honesty, and self-love.
- The middle finger corresponds with the fire element, the heart, small intestine, circulatory system, and the emotions of impatience and hastiness and love, joy, and patience.
- The ring finger corresponds to the wood element, the liver, gall bladder and the nervous system, and the emotions of anger and kindness.
- The pinky finger corresponds to the water element, the kidneys and bladder, and the emotion of fear and stillness
To put this into practice, massage the lines of the palms, squeeze each finger three to five times (each day), massage the back of the hands, massage the middle of the palm (the heart-eight point) and do the same to the feet! This will increase circulation to the extremities, calm the organs associated with each finger, and even make you feel invigorated. “You do it, you get it!”
More self massage techniques are available in The Alchemist’s Tao Te Ching: Transforming Your Lead Into Gold