Po is translated as the sensitive soul or Corporeal Soul, instinct, vital fluid, state of mind or impulse. This psychic aspect is housed by the Lung. The Lung is the master of energy, it is the place where Qi and Shen are generated. Many disciplines around the world use breathing to heal or to elevate the spirit.
Po has a Yin–Yang relationship with Hun, the vegetative or Ethereal Soul. Po is the part of the soul inseparable from the physical body. At death, Po descends to the earth with the body (Yin) while Hun (Yang) disperses to heaven.
Functions of Po
- It enhances the rest of the psycho-emotional activities.
- It activates Jing in physiological and psychological processes. It is related to the autonomous functions of the body.
- It provides us with the ability to perceive through the senses.
- It materializes the body's response to sensations and feelings.
- It comes from the mother after conception and gives rise to the human form during gestation.
- It has a strong relationship with breathing, sobbing and crying.
Pathological function
Po is personal, intimate, linked to the individuality of the body we inhabit. Emotions and feelings of which we are not conscious (that have not been processed by the Heart Shen or Hun) or that are not expressed, affect Po.
- Sadness
- Pessimism
- Worry, anxiety
- Being self-absorbed
- Emotional containment
- Lack of vitality
- Loss of sensory acuity (sight, touch, hearing...)
- Emotions that somatize in the skin: itching, eczema, acne
Points related to Po
- BL-42: on the second Bladder line, next to the Back-Shu points, are the points that treat the psychic aspect of the corresponding organ.
- BL-13, Back-Shu point of the Lung.
- LU-7 helps to unblock contained emotions.
- GV-12 at the same level as the Back-Shu point of the Lung and its soul point, calms the Shen
See: Shen