The Body’s Hidden Language: Organs as Energy, Emotion, and Connection

When we think about our organs in Western medicine, we tend to see them as machines. The heart pumps. The lungs exchange oxygen and carbon dioxide. The liver filters toxins. The kidneys balance water and salts. Each has a clear, measurable job.

This way of seeing has saved countless lives. But it can also feel a little fragmented. You go to one specialist for your stomach, another for your bladder, another for your heart. Rarely do they step back and ask: how does all of this connect? What about the emotions you’re carrying, or the energy behind the symptoms?

In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), the organs are part of a much bigger picture. They are more than tissue and function — they are centres of energy, emotion, and spirit. Each organ belongs to a wider family of relationships, connected through meridians and influenced by the turning seasons.

Think of it this way:

• The Heart moves blood but also houses the shén — our spirit.

• The Lungs govern breath but also help us process grief and keep healthy boundaries.

• The Liver stores blood, but also keeps energy and emotions moving.

• The Kidneys hold our essence and resilience, our deep reserves of willpower.

• Even the Pericardium and the Triple Warmer — not physical organs in the Western sense — are recognised as protectors and harmonisers.

If that sounds abstract, notice your own body: a heavy chest when sadness lingers, a tight stomach in worry, weak knees when fear takes hold. We already live this connection — TCM just gives us a language for it.

Where Qigong fits

This is where Qigong becomes so valuable. TCM gives us the map. Qigong gives us the practice.Through simple, repeated movements, breath, and awareness, Qigong restores flow through the meridians, nourishes the organs, and helps us feel that “whole picture” of health directly. It’s how the ideas of TCM move off the page and into lived experience.

The Five Elements

In TCM, the organs also link with the five elements and the cycles of nature:

• Liver – Wood, spring, growth and renewal.

• Heart – Fire, summer, joy and connection.

• Spleen – Earth, late summer, nourishment and stability.

• Lungs – Metal, autumn, clarity and letting go.

• Kidneys – Water, winter, depth and endurance.

These aren’t just poetic images. They are reminders of how to live in rhythm. Spring invites us to stretch and start again. Summer to open and connect. Autumn to release what we no longer need. Winter to rest and restore.

And again, Qigong follows these rhythms. Each season has movements that echo the qualities of the elements — reaching, opening, releasing, or sinking deep.

A shift in perspective

When we start to see the organs not only as mechanical parts but as living centres of energy, we begin to see ourselves differently too. Health isn’t a fixed state. It’s a balance that shifts with the seasons, with the climate, and with the inner weather of our lives.

The invitation is simple: to take small daily steps that keep this balance alive — eating in tune with the seasons, moving the body with awareness, resting well, and letting emotions be felt rather than pushed down.

That’s the essence of Qigong and TCM together: caring for the whole being, not just one part.

The journey ahead

This blog series — Body Wisdom: Living in Balance — explores each organ through both Western and Chinese views, with Qigong as the thread that ties it all together. My hope is that it helps you see your body not as parts to be fixed, but as a whole, living system — one you can support with simple, daily choices and practices.

You can dip into each organ’s story (below), or follow the series as a journey through the body and the seasons. However you explore, let the reflections invite you back to yourself.

And when you’re ready, step beyond the page into practice. Join me in class to experience how Qigong nourishes not just one organ, but the whole self — mind, body, feelings, and spirit.

Heart | Pericardium | Small Intestine | Lungs | Large Intestine | Liver | Gallbladder | Spleen | Stomach | Kidneys | Bladder | Triple Warmer | Qigong as Movement Medicine