According to Chinese Medical theory, there are five layers from the surface to the deep inside. The skin covers the entire body and the vellus hair grows on most of the it. The second layer is vessels where the blood stays and circulates. The third one is the muscles which the movements depend on. The fourth one is the tendons connecting with the bones and muscles. The last and deepest one is the bones making up the body’s skeleton. Each layer is controlled by one internal organ and they are the Lungs, Heart, Spleen, Liver and Kidneys respectively.
The Heart and Lungs are located in the chest, and the Liver, Gallbladder, Spleen, and Stomach in the upper abdomen, and the Kidneys, Bladder, Small Intestine and Large Intestine are in the lower abdomen.
Each internal organ has its main roles. The Heart is for circulating the blood and dominates the vessels where the blood is contained. The Lungs are for breathing the air in and out and responsible for Qi distribution in the body.
The Spleen and Stomach are for digesting and absorbing the foods and water, and turning into Qi, Blood, Body Fluid and Essence. Besides, the Spleen controls the blood to make sure it remains in the vessels. The wastes after the digestion and absorption leave the body in the forms of urine and feces. It is the organ Small Intestine that separates the nutrient from the wastes and sends the wastes into the Bladder and Large Intestine where the urine and feces are stored respectively.
The Liver stores the blood and release it during exertion, help the digestion along with the Gallbladder, and maintains the free flow of Qi.
The Kidneys are responsible for the reproduction, growth and development. Adding to this, they help breathing deeply enough. The function of urination is performed with its assistance too.
There is an organ, located in the trunk, called the Triple Energizer which is covering the other organs. Its functions are to govern Qi and serve as the pathway for the circulation of the body fluid.
The nose and mouth are the passages for the air and foods & water take-in respectively. More than that, the nose helps us to smell and the mouth & tongue help to taste. We also need the eyes to see and the ears to hear. Those five sense organs: nose, tongue, mouth, eyes and ears are associated with the Lungs, Heart, Spleen, Liver and Kidneys respectively.
How are those five layers, sense organs and internal organs integrated into a holistic system? It is through the twelve meridians, eight extra meridians, twelve divergent meridians and fifteen collaterals.
Is that enough for a human being to be alive? Not really. We cannot imagine a car can move without an engine even though it has all other necessary parts. Similarly, a human being needs an “engine”. What is it? It is the essence inherited from parents and stored in the Kidney. This “engine” is on once the conception is successful.
Enough yet? Can a car move without a gas or electricity? No. A car needs energy. A human being needs that too. But what is that “energy”? it is Qi and Blood, transported from a mom before a baby is born and transformed from what we eat and drink after we can, circulating constantly in the meridians and blood vessels, going to each part of the human body, nourishing and invigorating it.
Now, we can breathe, have heart beats, digest, urinate, have bowel movements etc. Now, we can see, hear, smell and taste. Now, we can walk, grasp, lie down and get up.
As a human being, we have consciousness such as thinking and spirit. Which organ(s) is in charge of it? It is the brain as it is the residence of intelligence. All above it, the Heart is the main organ performing this function as it houses the mind.
When getting external stimuli, we have feelings and emotions as the response to them. Joy, anger, melancholy, grief, worry, fear and fright are the basic ones and the internal organs are responsible for them. Joy is from Heart, grief and melancholy from Lungs, worry from Spleen, fear and fright from Kidneys and anger from Liver.
This is our complicated and holistic body and we are physical, physiological, psychological, emotional and spiritual beings.