Category: KTM Theory & Basics

After Qi, Blood, and Body Fluids come the organs. Korean medicine sorts the internal organs into three classes by function — the storing Zang, the passing-through Fu, and a third, unusual group called the extraordinary organs (brain, marrow, bone, vessels, gallbladder, and uterus). This guide lays out the classification and what makes the extraordinary organs distinct.

Body Fluids are the third of Korean medicine’s three substances — all the normal fluids of the body. This foundational guide explains what Body Fluids are (and what they become when they turn abnormal), how they are made and moved by the spleen, lung, and kidney, what they do, and how they relate to Blood and Qi.

Blood is the second of Korean medicine’s three substances. This foundational guide explains how Blood is made (food essence, with the spleen, kidney, heart, and lung each playing a part), what Blood does (nourishing and moistening body and mind), how it moves, and why Blood and Qi are an inseparable pair.

Qi is the first of the three basic substances of Korean medicine. This foundational guide explains what Qi is (its formless and formed states), where it comes from (clear air and food essence), the main kinds of Qi, and the functions it performs — propulsion, warming, transformation, nourishment, containment, and defense.