How Sowa Rigpa Treats བཅོས་
The four treatments form a ladder climbed gentlest-first — food, then conduct, then medicine, then external therapy. Below: the ladder itself, the same ladder applied to each nyépa, the real substances medicines are built from, and how to live with the seasons.
⚠ Pending menpa verification
The four treatments — gentlest first
A menpa climbs to the next rung only when the one below has not been enough.
1Diet ཟས་ zasThe first medicine is food — most early imbalances are corrected here alone.
Every food and drink carries tastes and qualities that calm or provoke each humor, so the first prescription is almost always a change of diet: warming, oily, nourishing food for Loong; cool, light food and no alcohol for Tripa; warm, light, dry food for Baekan. Digestion is guarded above all — however good a food, it only helps if the digestive fire can transform it.
2Behavior & lifestyle སྤྱོད་ལམ་ spyod lamIf diet is not enough, the way of living is adjusted — still no medicine.
Conduct (spyod lam) covers daily routine, sleep, activity, environment and the mind: regularity, warmth, rest and calm company for Loong; coolness, moderation and stepping back from anger and midday intensity for Tripa; movement, stimulation and rising early for Baekan. Seasonal conduct (see below) belongs to this rung — living against the season is itself a cause of disease.
3Medicine སྨན་ smanOnly when food and conduct fail does medicine proper begin.
Medicines are compounded — rarely single herbs — and chosen by taste and potency to oppose the disturbed humor's qualities. Preparations escalate in strength through a classical sequence: decoctions and powders first, then pills, pastes, medicinal butters and stronger forms. The materia medica below shows the real substances these formulas are built from.
4External therapy དཔྱད་ dpyadThe last resort — applied to the body from outside when inner means are insufficient.
External therapies (dpyad) act directly on the body's points and channels: gentle ones like compresses, massage with warm oil and mild baths first, then moxibustion (burning artemisia cones over specific points, favored for cold Loong and Baekan disorders), venesection (letting a small amount of blood from specific vessels, for hot Tripa and blood disorders), and the golden needle. The Atlas marks the classical points for each.
The ladder, applied to one nyépa
Warm & ground
1 · Eat
- Warm, cooked, nourishing, oily and moist food
- Sweet, sour and salty tastes — bone broth, warm milk, ghee, cooked grains, root vegetables, nuts, honey
Ease off
- Cold, raw, dry, light and ‘rough’ food; iced or frozen food
- Caffeine and stimulants; skipping meals and fasting
2 · Live
- A regular daily routine, warmth, and full rest and sleep
- Warm sesame-oil massage (kunye); gentle grounding exercise
- Avoid cold wind, overwork, overstimulation and excess travel
3 · Medicine — example formulas
Drebu Sum Thang Three-fruit decoction
The lightest of the pacifying medicines — the three myrobalan fruits boiled together, each leaning toward a different humor, so that together they touch all three at once. Classically the first formula reached for.
Arura
Barura
Kyurura- Mild, general fevers
- Sluggish digestion
- A gentle first remedy, before stronger medicine is needed
Agar Gyépa Agar Eight
Built around agarwood, the classic powder for disorders of Loong centred on the heart and mind. Named for its eight ingredients; the version shown here names six, with the remaining minor ingredients omitted.
Agaru
Dzati
Gurgum
Tsendan Karpo
Tsendan Marpo
Lishi- Wind disorders of the heart and mind — anxiety, insomnia, palpitations
- 'Heart-wind' presentations
Gokkya Menmar Garlic medicated butter
Garlic cooked slowly into butter — a classic strengthening preparation for Wind, taken in small amounts. The same garlic named as a Wind-pacifying food in the Diet trunk, here compounded into a stronger medicinal form.
Gokkya- Wind disorders — joint stiffness, nerve pain
- General strengthening in old age
4 · External therapy
The Atlas marks the classical points used when Loong needs external treatment.
Materia medica — the real substances
Photographs of the actual plants and minerals the formulas are compounded from. Tap one to read it.
Living with the seasons
Each humor gathers in the season that shares its qualities and breaks out when conditions change — seasonal conduct is treatment before disease.
Cold closes the body's pores and strengthens digestion — eat more nourishing, warm, oily food, keep warm, and use oil massage. Baekan quietly accumulates under the cold and heaviness.
The returning warmth melts winter's accumulated Baekan, which breaks out as spring colds, congestion and heaviness. Favor light, rough, warm food (old grain, honey, ginger), exercise, and rise early.
Heat weakens digestion; rain, wind and cold showers stir Loong, which gathers through the monsoon. Take warm, light food and shelter from wind and damp. Tripa builds under the heat, ready to erupt.
Summer's accumulated heat breaks out as autumn fevers and bile disorders — favor sweet, bitter and astringent tastes, cool and calm conduct. Loong disturbed in the monsoon is also settled now with warmth and routine.