Most women will have qi stagnation, which in a way is reflected in breast issues or womb issues.

Women tend to be more emotional and easily get stressed. This will block the normal chi flow. Liver qi, in normal conditions, is gentle and is released constantly to nourish the heart. But when you are angry, too much liver qi will shoot up to your head, and you will then get a headache. Or if you feel hatred or have suppressed negative emotions, the liver qi will be stuck near the breast area or transversely to the stomach and spleen area, or you will be suppressed with dampness to the womb area or to all these areas altogether. If it is stuck at the stomach and spleen area, you will feel uncomfortable in the stomach area or have belching. If it goes to the breast area, you will feel hypochondriac pain or breast area pain. In the long term, nodules or even tumors and cancer could develop. If suppressed to the lower part, it could cause painful or irregular periods or, later, uterine fibroids. Or in some cases, all these areas will be affected altogether.  It’s not uncommon to see a woman with breast issues as well as stomach or womb/period issues.

Breast issues are comparatively easier to treat.

We have a Chinese saying: Running water does not rot. When qi is not flowing properly, it will cause accumulation. Moxibustion is a very effective way to relieve the qi stagnation. You can just hold a moxa stick and do the moxibustion around the Danzhong area, which is the CV17 acupuncture point. After several times of moxibustion, you will feel the heat going into your breast area. You can add some more points to move the qi faster, such as doing moxibustion at Jian Jing (GB21) and Qi Men (LV14). You can also do some acupressure or massage around the shoulder blade: inner side, bottom as well as the outside. Also, don’t forget the acupressure point called Tian Zhong (SI11). This will help the breast recover faster. Clinically, I will do the acupressure and then apply a moxibustion box around this area.

In addition to liver qi stagnation, most women tend to have insufficient yang qi. So while soothing the liver qi, you have to think of boosting your positive qi. It’s better to do moxibustion around the lower belly, such as Shen Que (CV8), Qi Hai (CV6) and Guanyuan (CV4), as well as Zusanli (ST36).

Here I want to give a candid suggestion if you have suffered from breast cancer. I would advise you not to do surgery, not even a biopsy. You might argue that if there is no biopsy, how can the doctor confirm that it is cancer? I want to remind you what the good is, even if you know that you have breast cancer. If you are not happy, if you hate someone all the time, you will feel it.  Your breast will have some kind of pain. Just listen to your body signal. It is more accurate than any machine. To be honest, I don’t even recommend that women have mammograms at all, because the machine squeezing could cause even more tissue damage or blockage, which might induce breast issues. As mentioned, you can feel it if you have any issue, and you can do an examination by hand on yourself.

Another reason that I am against any such surgery, is that it’s a big mental disturbance for the patient as well as her family. On top of that, because of the meridian damage, it will cause more blockage around these areas. I find it even harder to treat later.   

I have some clinical observations. Without surgery, the recovery is much easier. With surgery, the scar area is very hard for the qi to go through. 

I feel so bad that many young women have died from that problem. In my opinion, they didn’t die from cancer but from improper treatment. Just think calmly and deeply about this. Is getting rid of the nodule more important than your life? If any patient asks me if I can guarantee that the problem will go away, I tell her I don’t know. There is no guarantee, as the most important part is you by yourself. You have to change your mentality, your way of thinking about wellness and health. If you continue to be very negative, angry or grumpy, I guess nobody can really save you. It’s you who can really save yourself.

I have a client who was diagnosed with breast cancer during a routine examination. Because of a biopsy, her breast felt so painful. The doctor also suggested that she have surgery. I explained to her the theory. Luckily, she agreed with my theory. After 2–3 times of moxibustion treatment, her pain was almost gone. And she felt good. She did a few more treatments, and she felt much better. She told me she also had a better relationship with her husband as well. She decided not to go for any surgery. She kept busy with some other things and only sent her kids for the moxibustion treatment. Only when she felt very uncomfortable, she would then come again. Well, you cannot force a client. 

My sister was diagnosed with breast cancer in early 2010. That’s the main reason I got into Chinese medicine research and study. If only I had the knowledge at that time as I have today, I would never have taken her to do that painful testing and surgery. But unfortunately, I didn’t. She ended up having surgery twice; she had a left-side breast mastectomy as well as the removal of the left armpit axillary lymph nodes. Right after the surgery, she couldn’t sleep day or night.  She tried all kinds of methods, such as listening to calm music, qi gong exercise, reading books, meditation, walking and Chinese medicine. Some would help for 1–2 days, but then it wouldn’t work anymore.  She constantly had severe belching. She told me that she had no desire for food at all and didn’t feel hungry. She ate because she felt she needed to eat at regular times to maintain health. She also took several months of the Chinese medicine, which made her feel slightly better, but it was not obvious. To make a long story short, her breast cancer came back in about the 3rd year. She felt very tired. A lot of other issues still existed, such as sleeping, belching, bowel movements, etc. She even detected hard nodules in her right breast. We all knew what it implied. She hesitated on whether she should go back to the hospital to get checked and do treatment again. I told her to do moxibustion. There was so much pressure from family members for me to advise her like that. After all, I had just randomly studied some Chinese medicine materials. My theory at that time was very simple. As long as she could sleep well, eat well and poo and pee normally, she would not die.  She needed to have her vital qi back. Luckily, she followed my advice. She is now a great believer and follower of moxibustion. She did moxibustion 3–4 times a week in summertime, and occasionally in wintertime due to inconvenience.   After 3 years of such intermittent moxibustion, her sleeping was much better. She told me she knew what hunger was. Her belching was almost gone. Her arm numbness from the surgery was gone. The nodules on her right breast were all gone. She felt more energetic. Overall, she was feeling very well. Now, her left breast still has problems. The surgery scars damaged all the meridians and caused more blockage. The hard masses are still there. I told her before not to care too much about the mass there, but rather just to continue to boost her energy and restore her vital qi first, before we tackle this area.  It has been more than 10 years now since her surgery. She generally has a good health status. She is now starting to take herbal tea as well as trying some moxibustion by herself. I have great confidence in her.  It took 10 years or more to have a cancer mass form; it would also take quite some time to dissolve it.  I undoubtedly believe the healing process will be much faster without the surgery scars or damage. That’s why I urge you not to do any such surgery. Although I try to persuade women to never do breast surgery, some people still do. I can understand their fear. But you have to think clearly about what you want to achieve. Instead of blindly listening to your doctors or specialists, why not listen to your body and give it a try? I plan to organize women’s clubs to promote such holistic health concepts. I hope one day that more women will wake up to their real health.  You can check my personal website, www.RuthLiu.com, for future updates.