When Emotions Cause Illness & How TaiChi and Qigong Can Resolve It

William J. Kaplanidis L.Ac., MS, MA

“Your emotions — sadness, anger, fear, anxiety, worry and joy — are all intimately involved in your early process of learning how to survive and be in this world.” — William Kaplanidis

In Chinese medicine, emotions are one of the three major causes of disease when they are in excess or unresolved over time. Each emotion affects the heart but also has an affinity with a specific organ system. For example, sadness and unresolved grief tends to affect the lungs. Fear and anxiety can cause an ongoing loop of adrenal exhaustion and insomnia. Overthinking and worry are linked to different digestion disorders. Migraines, digestive issues, menstrual problems vision issues, and substance abuse are just a few that can often be traced back to unexpressed anger and resentment that was never released or healed.

This phenomena is can be seen in one of by William Kaplanidis’ patients who had had back pain for 20 years. The patient had no history of physical trauma or any abnormal tests. After many inquiries, the person was found to be holding anger towards a teacher who put him down when he was 11 years old. In Chinese medicine, anger often connects with the liver. Various pain symptoms are caused by the liver energy getting stuck. Another example was a patient with chronic asthma which had started when he was a child around 8 years old.  Six months prior,  he had lost his parents to a car accident. Now in his late 30s, he continues to carry the grief through the asthma located in the lung area. 

Both of these two patients had their conditions resolved.

Other issues and cases that have been addressed through treatment with the methods of Chinese medicine include:

• 20 years of migraines and sciatic pain, triggered from resentment.
• a 68-year old with fluid in their lungs from emotions that got triggered from a fight between her husband and son and which was rooted in an insult from a doctor when she was 11. 
• women who were not getting their period, which was rooted in past sexual abuse and/or eating disorders.
• bloating connected to fear of public speaking.  
• constipation due to the fear of letting go. 
• getting pregnant after resolving guilt of an abortion from over a decade earlier. 
• ending chemotherapy after a second bout of breast cancer,
• resolving a brain tumor by a regular Qigong practice on the beach. 

In this workshop we will explore an East-West perspective on how the emotions relate to the body, mind, spirit and the environment. You will become more aware of how emotions affect you and begin to recognize the patterns. 

You will learn practical ways to release, channel and transform your emotions to better serve you and help you move toward better overall health and well-being. These techniques will include acupressure, healing sounds, Qigong, T’ai Chi, meditation, changing the story, the empty chair and tapping into your inner power. 

Come and start to release unknown patterns that have affected your health and stopped you from living a more fulfilled life.

William J. Kaplanidis, L.Ac, MS, MA, a licensed acupuncturist with 35 years of experience in several healing and martial arts, developed the Acudragon® Wellness System to rapidly and safely assist people on their path to healing and transformation. He has also had extensive training in hypnotherapy, meditation, Qigong, t’ai chi, aromatherapy and the Sandlin technique.  William J. Kaplanidis.