Mu Xiang was added to move Qi which helps to clear knotted Heat. Mu
Xiang also has a powerful effect on the Mind in releasing emotional
tension.This prescription produced a dramatic improvement and was repeated
several times with minor variations.Lesser Yang Pattern
Clinical Manifestations
There are two types of patterns pertaining to the Lesser Yang channels: one from the 6 Stages
(from the "Discussion of Cold-induced Diseases" by Zhang Zhong Jing, c. AD 200), and the
other from the 4 Levels (from the "Discussion on Warm Diseases" by Ye Tian Shi, 1742). They
essentially describe the same pattern, the only difference being that the pattern from the 4 Levels
involves more Heat.
6 Stages
Alternation of chills and fever (or feeling of heat), fullness of the costal and hypochondrial
regions, poor appetite, irritability, dry throat, nausea, bitter taste, blurred vision, white-slippery
tongue coating on one side only and a Wiry pulse.
4 Levels
Alternation of chills and fever (or feeling of heat), the latter being more marked, bitter taste,
thirst, dry throat, fullness and pain of the costal and hypochondrial regions, nausea, Red tongue
with yellow coating on one side, Wiry and Rapid pulse.
Both these patterns describe a condition where the pathogenic factor occupies an energetic niche
said to be in between the exterior and Interior. Since the Greater-Yang channels open on the
Exterior, the Bright-Yang channels open on the Interior, and the Lesser-Yang channels are the
hinge between the two, this pattern is called Lesser-Yang pattern. The Yang channels, being
Yang and therefore more superficial, represent the boundary between the human body and its
environment. Within the Yang, however, there is a difference in energetic depth, the Greater
Yang being the most superficial, the Bright Yang the deepest and the Lesser Yang the hinge
between the two. These could be graphically represented as a door, its outer surface being the
Greater Yang, its inner one the Bright Yang, and the hinges the Lesser Yang (Figure 25.2(510)).
When the pathogenic factor is in the Lesser Yang (whether within the 6 Stages or 4 Levels) it
can somehow "hide" there for a long time and become chronic. This cannot happen when it is in
the Greater Yang or Bright Yang, where it is bound either to be expelled or to evolve into a
different condition.