Warm Interior Expel Cold: Rou Gui

rou gui

肉桂 cortex cinnamoni cassiae

rou = meat/flesh, gui = cinnamon

Rou gui is the bark of the cinnamon tree. It wears a lot of hats in its mission to warm the body back up. It does so directly, by warming the lower gate; it takes initiative and acts like a real leader as it pushes the warmth through the blood breaking up cold stagnation; and like a wilderness guide, Rou Gui leads the warmth back to where it belongs; and finally it gets girly and acts like a cheerleader encouraging blood tonics to make qi and blood!

HOT (or "very" warm - strongly unblocks cold obstructions), acrid (disperses), and sweet (tonfies)

Heart, Kidney, Liver, Spleen (all the yin organs except the lungs)

on the CITES list

small dose: just 1.5 to 4.5 grams, added at the end
in powders or pills, just 1-2 grams

CAUTION: PREGNANCY, fire blazing from yin deficiency, excessive heat in the interior

Rou Gui VS Fu Zi: Has many similarities to Fu Zi, but "whereas Fu Zi enters all 12 channels, and particularly assists the governing vessel," Rou Gui sticks to the four yin channels (HT, LV, SP, KD). Because Rou Gui is dispersing, it is not good to use it with the collapse of yang. Fu Zi is the herb for collapse of yang - it is primarily warming, and only mildly acrid. "Rou Gui is slower acting than Fu Zi, but more tonifying."

Rou Gui VS Gui Zhi: Rou Gui, being a root, is good for the lower burner and interior warming / stopping pain. Gui Zhi, being the cinnamon twig, is good for the upper body, and dispersing cold from the exterior.

Functions:

1. Fortifies Kidney and Spleen Yang / Warms Heart Yang / Fortifies Yang

* for the many problems associated with the dimming of the flame in the gate of vitality / waning of Kidney yang:

* coldness: aversion to, cold limbs, weak back, impotence, frequent urination
* SP / KD yang weakness: abdominal pain/cold, lack of appetite, diarrhea
* wheezing (KD not grasping qi)
* deficient Heart Yang causing painful obstruction in the chest (oh, cold, cold heart!)

2. Disperses Deep Cold / Warms and Unblocks Channels and Vessels / Alleviates Pain

* when deep cold causes qi stagnation or blood stasis:
period troubles: amenorrhea, dysmenorrhea;
cold-damp bi
yin-type boils, and yucky sores that don't heal

* it enters the blood & might be used in very small doses to encourage the blood-moving action of other herbs.

3. Rou Gui takes the fire by the hand and leads it back to its source, the lower jiao:

* deficient yang rising up (flushed face, wheezing, severe sweating), weak/cold lower limbs, deficient/rootless pulse. THIS IS TRUE COLD / FALSE HEAT! Ohhh! Or called heat above, cold below.


4. Encourages the creation of qi and blood

* used in conjunction with blood tonics, like a cheerleader.