{ "slug": "liver-qi-stagnation", "name": "Liver Qi Stagnation", "pinyin": "Gan Qi Yu Jie", "chinese": "肝气郁结", "organ": "Liver", "nature": "excess", "family": "qi-stagnation", "summary": "The Liver's job is to keep everything flowing, and stress has jammed it. You feel tense and moody, your ribs and chest feel tight, you sigh a lot, you bloat, your digestion swings, and in women the cycle is irregular and the breasts hurt before it. It is the most common pattern in a stressed modern life.", "picture": "The Liver is a river that keeps the body's traffic moving. Stress builds a dam. Everything behind the dam backs up: mood, digestion, the cycle, the breath. The formulas do not add anything. They open the dam.", "signs": { "key": [ "Tense, irritable, moody, quick to snap or to cry", "Tightness or fullness under the ribs or in the chest", "Frequent sighing", "Bloating and digestion that changes with mood", "In women, breast tenderness, an irregular or painful cycle, premenstrual moods" ], "common": [ "A lump-in-the-throat feeling", "Alternating constipation and loose stools", "Headache at the temples", "Cold hands with a warm body", "Poor sleep from a mind that will not switch off", "Symptoms that come and go with stress" ], "tongue": "Normal or slightly dusky, perhaps with red sides.", "pulse": "Wiry, like a guitar string." }, "causes": [ "Emotional strain, especially frustration and anger that have nowhere to go", "A job or home where you cannot say what you mean", "Sitting still all day", "Irregular meals and eating under stress", "Suppressed grief or resentment held for years" ], "tell_apart": [ { "slug": "liver-qi-stagnation-with-heat", "how": "When the jam has sat long enough to heat up: a red face, a bitter taste, real anger rather than moodiness, heavier periods, acne, a red tongue with a yellow coat. The formula adds two cooling herbs and becomes Jia Wei Xiao Yao San." }, { "slug": "liver-overacting-on-spleen", "how": "When the jammed Liver bullies the digestion: bloating, pain, and loose stools that follow stress, worse after arguments or deadlines. Xiao Yao San covers both." }, { "slug": "liver-fire", "how": "Liver fire is stagnation that has turned to open flame: splitting headache, red eyes, rage, a bitter mouth, a thick yellow coat. It needs draining, not gentle smoothing." }, { "slug": "blood-stasis", "how": "Long stagnation of qi turns into stagnation of blood: fixed stabbing pain, dark clotted periods, a purple tongue. The formulas shift toward moving blood." } ], "formulas": [ { "slug": "xiao-yao-san", "role": "primary", "when": "Stagnation with tiredness and weak digestion. The most used formula in the world for stress, mood, and the cycle.", "pinyin": "Xiao Yao San", "_links": { "self": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/formula/xiao-yao-san", "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/formula/xiao-yao-san" } }, { "slug": "jia-wei-xiao-yao-san", "role": "with heat", "when": "The same picture plus heat: irritability tipping into anger, a red face, hot flashes, heavy or early periods.", "pinyin": "Jia Wei Xiao Yao San", "_links": { "self": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/formula/jia-wei-xiao-yao-san", "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/formula/jia-wei-xiao-yao-san" } }, { "slug": "chai-hu-shu-gan-san", "role": "with pain", "when": "Rib and chest tightness and pain are the main complaint, with belching and sighing.", "pinyin": "Chai Hu Shu Gan San", "_links": { "self": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/formula/chai-hu-shu-gan-san", "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/formula/chai-hu-shu-gan-san" } }, { "slug": "si-ni-san", "role": "with cold hands", "when": "Cold fingers and toes on a warm body, tight ribs, a wiry pulse. Stagnation blocking warmth from reaching the limbs.", "pinyin": "Si Ni San", "_links": { "self": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/formula/si-ni-san", "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/formula/si-ni-san" } }, { "slug": "ban-xia-hou-po-tang", "role": "with throat lump", "when": "A lump in the throat that cannot be swallowed or coughed up, with chest tightness.", "pinyin": "Ban Xia Hou Po Tang", "_links": { "self": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/formula/ban-xia-hou-po-tang", "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/formula/ban-xia-hou-po-tang" } } ], "herbs": [ { "pinyin": "Chai Hu", "role": "Bupleurum opens the Liver and lifts the mood. The chief herb of the family.", "herb_slug": "root-of-chinese-thorowax", "_links": { "herb": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/herb/root-of-chinese-thorowax", "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/herb/root-of-chinese-thorowax" } }, { "pinyin": "Bai Shao", "role": "White peony softens the Liver and relaxes tension and cramps.", "herb_slug": "white-peony-root", "_links": { "herb": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/herb/white-peony-root", "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/herb/white-peony-root" } }, { "pinyin": "Xiang Fu", "role": "Cyperus moves Liver qi and regulates the cycle.", "herb_slug": "rhizome-of-nutgrass-galingale", "_links": { "herb": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/herb/rhizome-of-nutgrass-galingale", "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/herb/rhizome-of-nutgrass-galingale" } }, { "pinyin": "Bo He", "role": "Mint, a small dose, lifts and spreads.", "herb_slug": "mentha-peppermint", "_links": { "herb": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/herb/mentha-peppermint", "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/herb/mentha-peppermint" } }, { "pinyin": "Chen Pi", "role": "Tangerine peel moves qi in the digestion.", "herb_slug": "dried-tangerine-peel", "_links": { "herb": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/herb/dried-tangerine-peel", "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/herb/dried-tangerine-peel" } }, { "pinyin": "Mei Gui Hua", "role": "Rose buds move Liver qi gently; a good daily tea.", "herb_slug": "rose-flower", "_links": { "herb": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/herb/rose-flower", "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/herb/rose-flower" } }, { "pinyin": "Yu Jin", "role": "Curcuma tuber moves qi and blood and cools the Liver.", "herb_slug": "tuber-root-of-common-turmeric", "_links": { "herb": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/herb/tuber-root-of-common-turmeric", "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/herb/tuber-root-of-common-turmeric" } }, { "pinyin": "He Huan Pi", "role": "Albizia bark lifts the mood and helps sleep.", "herb_slug": "bark-of-silktree-albizzia", "_links": { "herb": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/herb/bark-of-silktree-albizzia", "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/herb/bark-of-silktree-albizzia" } } ], "conditions": [ "liver-qi-stagnation", "stress", "depression", "anxiety", "hypochondriac-pain", "dysmenorrhea", "breast-pain", "menstrual-irregularities", "abdominal-distension", "insomnia" ], "habits": [ "Move every day. Walking, stretching, qigong, dancing. Stuck qi needs a body that moves.", "Say the thing. Stagnation is unspoken frustration with a pulse.", "Sour and aromatic foods help: lemon, vinegar, mint, rose tea, citrus peel, fennel.", "Eat at regular times and not under stress.", "Breathe out longer than you breathe in, ten times, when the ribs feel tight.", "Cut back on coffee if you are wired and tense; it tightens the string." ], "watch": [ "Sighing, chest tightness, and moodiness ease within one to two weeks.", "Bloating and bowel swings settle as digestion stops reacting to stress.", "Premenstrual symptoms soften over two to three cycles.", "If irritability tips into real anger with heat signs, step up to Jia Wei Xiao Yao San.", "Formulas open the dam. The habits keep it open." ], "sources": [ { "title": "Maciocia, The Foundations of Chinese Medicine, 3rd edition", "note": "Liver qi stagnation." }, { "title": "Bensky, Scheid, Ellis and Barolet, Chinese Herbal Medicine: Formulas and Strategies, 2nd edition", "note": "Xiao Yao San, Chai Hu Shu Gan San, Si Ni San." } ], "meta": { "status": "published", "last_updated": "2026-10-12", "reviewed_by": null }, "_links": { "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/pattern/liver-qi-stagnation", "self": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/pattern/liver-qi-stagnation", "index": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/patterns" } }