We have long known that your heart is associated with all kinds of feelings. You can have a broken heart, feel something with all your heart, or thank someone from the bottom of your heart. You can be heartsick, have someone tug on your heartstrings, and send valentines to your sweetheart. Interestingly in Chinese medicine, your heart is home to your Shen, which encompasses your mind, memory, consciousness, and spirit. And while these are all activities that are attributed to your brain in Western medicine, we tend to intuitively know that your heart is an organ of feeling and spirituality.
In Chinese medicine each of your organs are associated with an emotion, and not surprisingly joy is the emotion of your heart. However that joy can be a double-edged sword, in that too much joy can become mania. In addition, because your heart is the home of consciousness, it has some relationship to most emotional disturbances, such as anxiety and insomnia. When you become out of touch with reality to the point of mental illness, your heart is always involved. Physical pathology associated with your heart includes palpitations (the sensation of skipped heartbeats), insomnia, vivid dreams, chest pain, gum problems, and in some instances the sensation of feeling hot.
