This week we meditated on the fruit Longans or Lóng Yǎn Ròu, 龙眼肉. We took this fruit as a tea, which is how it has been traditionally used in Chinese medicine. Translated literally as "Dragon Eye Flesh" or Dragon's Eye. Botanical name: Dimocarpus longan, Euphoria longan, or Nepheliam longana.
Taste and Smell
This tea seemed to ask for a longer steep, so we did that, steeping for 8-10 minutes. Notwithstanding this was a mild tea with a slightly sweet, neutral flavor. We experienced its smell as a smell of Asian cooking during the first drinking, and later it had a more easily identifiable miso smell and a sweeter, nourishing flavor.
Meditation 1
• I felt this focused on my upper body. It was really relaxing. Tension drained from my neck and shoulders. It felt like a sedative.
• Earth was in space. Two giants from Hilda were on it, playing frisbee with a giant moon pie. The giants looked big compared to earth. I had a hard time breathing, but I am also sick.
• The energy from the plant's intelligence when directly to my heart, then shifted to my stomach. It points out, 'When you have a problem with your stomach bleeding, it creates a cascading effect in the rest of the digestive tract. The spleen isn't happy with things because it is a mix of food and the body. The small intestines encounters a mix of bile and blood."
The energy moves down just lateral to my midline on the right (stomach vs kidney channel) side of my abdomen, then down the interior of my left leg (kidney channel), then back and forth between the soles of my feet, until I ask it to settle down (although I guess it is a similar energy to walking, which I like), and it did in both.
• The plant spirit explains that eventually I will see that as I do hard things (like difficult conversations with community leaders) that makes it easier for others to eek their way along. In that knowledge, I will be able to I sleep at night.
I see myself taking up a lot of space in a dark, broad, floor-length, cloak, like you would see in historical clothing. I feel a sense of justice.
Meditation 2
• One participant slept deeply through the second meditation.
• This felt like a tranquilizer. Whereas before it relaxed my upper body, this time it spread through the rest of my body, relaxing me, with some pulsation in my legs. I experienced some yawning. I had a really deep meditation.
• I felt a sense of relaxation, like I had no idea how much tension I had been holding. I had some great insights but they left my mind as quickly as they came in.
• A delightful drink recipe involving this and other herbs came to me. It suggested tincturing it, so more people could have it.
Summary and Traditional Use
Traditionally this herb was used for nourishing the blood and tonifying the heart (the heart is the seat of the mind; an agitated mind can cause insomnia) and spleen (an imbalanced spleen is associated with worried thinking), not surprisingly it is in remedies for insomnia. It is also used for heart palpitations, forgetfulness (associated with age), and dizziness--this symptoms are related to deficient heart and spleen. (Bensky's Materia Medica, vol. , pp 480-481)
We all experienced deep relaxation and release of tension. I felt like there was a connection between forgetfulness and the type of mind needed for sleep (a mind that doesn't grasp). It is worth experimenting with this being a modulator of thought--kind of a tuning of thought. We all felt this herb was warming--not hot, but gently warming.
I found it interesting that it traveled the what may have been the kidney channel for one meditator. This herb is primarily associated with the heart and spleen channels (Bensky). In Chinese medicine anemia is thought of as blood deficiency. When it impacts the heart it can cause restlessness and poor sleep. This herb is also known to treat "evil qi" in the five zàng organs (the solid organs: heart, liver, lung, spleen, and kidney). This may suggest that the stomach bleed is related to an underlying issue involving evil qi in the kidneys (associated with reasonable goals and fears). Or, part of this herb's treatment strategy for heart deficiency may involve supporting the kidneys which are involved in blood production. According to Chinese medicine the production of blood involves two pathways, one involves proper nutrition coming through the stomach. The other involves the kidney's jing (inherited essence) traveling to the bone, becoming marrow, which in turn produces blood. Without adequate blood the heart experiences deficiency symptoms. Literature suggests this herb supports the blood through the stomach (or primarily so), however, this experience suggests that it also works through the kidneys. It may be its directives are not primarily associated with channels but functions, which as this condensed description of blood production indicates, may involve many pathways...this may be an herb that just gets the job done, rather than supporting certain channels. I have yet to meet an herb that just works with an organ or meridian, rather they have unique personalities and offer their own kind of support. We may fit that into our systems of knowledge, for ease of comprehension, but that may restrict our understanding.
This herb has strong antioxidant properties and some anticancer properties that are being researched.
Invitation
I am fascinated to begin this journey with Longan, an herb I was previously unfamiliar with. Have you worked with Dimocarpus longan as a food or herb? Please share your experiences in the comments, we would love to hear. Please contact us for herbs of past plant meditations, or join the Plant Meditation Club if you would like to join future experiments.