On Wednesday, our blog post, How Much Qi Do I Have? discussed the difference between the Qi you are born with—inborn, or inherited, Qi—and that which you acquire and withdraw from daily. Everything we do, including respiration, intuition, healing, sleeping, eating, digesting, eliminating, thinking, feeling, intuitive thinking, and more, requires Qi. And many of these things are not done in isolation. This is particularly true for modern women who are constantly on the go and take on many responsibilities in different roles.

So what happens if your bank of acquired Qi runs dry? Where do you get the Qi needed to complete your to-do list? Most people don’t build up enough acquired Qi to complete their daily tasks. When this happens, they must pull from their storage bank of inborn Qi—the irreplaceable Qi inherited at birth and stored in the Kidney throughout your life. We are born with a finite amount of inborn Qi. Is it wise to waste it running from one errand to the next?

When many Western women reach menopausal age, their inborn Qi is often depleted. They may not know this, but they can feel it and experience it through various symptoms. This is compounded by the fact that stressful lifestyles also take a major toll on Liver function. As a result, women are experiencing menopause earlier, have greater and more frequent symptoms, and are being diagnosed with breast cancer and osteoporosis in greater numbers than ever before.

You can see why it is important to replenish your acquired Qi and be cautious about wasting your inborn Qi. One ancient Chinese doctor described it this way, “Your life is like a candle—you can be born with a small one or a tall one. You have no choice in this. How to protect its flame is now up to you. If you’ve been given a long candle and you burn it carelessly, you will not last as long as a shorter candle that protects its flame. The better you protect your light, the longer it remains lit.”