The Emotional Health (Collateral) Channels
The Emotional Health (Collateral) Channels are based on the understanding that our emotions move through our blood. When we can’t fully process a powerful emotional experience — whether as a child without the tools to cope, or as an adult stretched beyond capacity — the body responds with remarkable intelligence. It creates reservoirs of blood vessels to hold those unprocessed emotions, keeping them dormant until we are ready to face them.
This act of bottling up emotions is a survival mechanism, sometimes necessary in the moment, but costly over time. Just as spending money to store unused possessions becomes an ongoing expense, our body invests energy and blood to maintain these emotional holdings — resources that could otherwise fuel vitality and presence.
When these stored emotions are gently released, the Qi and Blood once bound by suppression become available again — freeing us to live more fully in the present moment. This is the essence of Chinese Medicine and philosophy: to return to presence, to be here now.
The Emotional Health (Collateral) Channels often activate before the Chronic Disease (Divergent) Channels, as they are closely linked to the Primary Channels. If emotional or energetic stagnation persists, or if the Blood can no longer contain it, the body’s deeper resources — its essence — step in to manage that burden. At that point, the imbalance moves into the realm of The Chronic Disease (Divergent) Channels, calling for deeper healing.
These channels remind us that emotional health is not just psychological — it is physiological. Our bodies hold, protect, and ultimately guide us back toward the balance we were born to experience.