What does your tongue tell you?
Hello, my name is Troy. I’m the acupuncturist here at human integrated performance. And today I wanted to ask you a question. How much do you think you can tell about somebody by looking at their tongue? You know, and by that I don’t just mean, you know, what their last meal was. one of the things. As an acupuncturist, we practice, you know, a mix of traditional or, or classical, Chinese medicine integrated with modern science and, you know, a modern perspective on things, but looking at the tongue and diagnosing people through their tongue is a big part of most traditional Chinese or true most traditional medicine systems.
And I don’t think any system uses it more extensively. In classic Chinese medicine, you can find a lot of information online about it. Of course you have to be careful what you’re reading, but I do have a lot of fun with my clients with this. I say, you know, starting to look at the tongue and finding some information about a, about it.
It’s something anybody can do. And the tongue is relatively easy because you know, it’s the same color and shape, you know, generally from day to day. But those are the three things we look at. I look at, you know, the overall shape of the tongue. I look at the color, how full or, or thin it is. what kind of a tongue coding or a lingo coding that you find on it?
These are all things that you, you practice in Chinese medicine. So an example, and you can, if it doesn’t apply to you yet, you can ask a few people, you know, if you find that, for example, there’s a ruffling on the side of your tongue, you know, kind of looks like teeth marks. A lot of people will just assume, or that’s just the way my tongue is.
It sits against my teeth all the time, so it must have the shape of my teeth and. No, you’re tongue, actually, isn’t supposed to have that. I kind of say it’s not, it’s nothing serious, you know, even on its own, but if your tongue has kind of that ruffled side to it, it’s because your tongue basically doesn’t have enough energy to hold its own shape.
It’s kind of getting lazy. And so it’s kind of resting against the teeth and kind of takes that shape to it. So a lot of times, if people have that, they will maybe be complaining about their energy or not eating as well, a little bit, run down, maybe not sleeping, and if you can help them bring their energy up.
What’s interesting is those, those teeth marks in the tongue often go away. So that’s one example of, you know, the many different things that your tongue can teach you, if you take the time to look at it. So next time you’re brushing your teeth or just standing in front of the mirror, take a little glance at your tongue and see what it can tell you.
And if you’d like to get more information on this, we’re always happy to answer questions here at Human Integrated Performance. My name is Troy, and I’m your friendly acupuncturist on the team.