Scattered Flock Intensive

SHEN DISTURBANCE 心神不宁

Every possibility gets a hearing — usually all at once.

An eight-day decoction course for a Scattered Flock season — when the mind won’t settle, sleep runs light and dream-heavy, and the heart races or startles at small things. Built on Suan Zao Ren Tang, the “Sour Jujube Decoction” — the tradition’s classical formula for a spirit that needs somewhere steady to land.

Raw herbs, seeds, and roots in daily bundles, steeped at home for eight days — a nightly ritual of settling. Repeatable up to three courses for a season long in place.

Inside the formula — 12 herbs

Sovereign

• Suan zao ren (sour jujube seed) — the classical lead for a mind that won’t settle at night; traditionally used to nourish the heart and quiet the spirit

Ministers

• Fu shen (poria spirit) — poria grown around a pine root, the calming cousin of fu ling; traditionally used to steady the spirit and support digestion
• Bai zi ren (arborvitae seed) — an oily, nourishing seed traditionally used to calm the heart and ease a light, restless sleep
• He huan pi (mimosa bark) — the “collective happiness” bark, traditionally used to lift a low mood and settle an unquiet mind

Assistants

• Mai men dong (ophiopogon) — moistens and cools; the classical lead for a system running dry
• Dang gui (angelica) — nourishes and moves the blood the heart rests in
• Sheng di huang (raw rehmannia) — cooling and nourishing; traditionally used where restlessness comes with warmth and dryness
• Yuan zhi (polygala) — traditionally used to clear the fog between heart and mind and steady a scattered, easily startled spirit
• Wu wei zi (schisandra) — the five-flavor herb, traditionally used to gather and conserve fluids and energy
• Zhi mu (anemarrhena) — cools and moistens; traditionally paired with the calming seeds to take the heat out of a busy night
• Chuan xiong (ligusticum) — keeps the blood moving so nourishment reaches where it is needed

Envoy

• Zhi gan cao (honey-fried licorice) — harmonizes the formula and rounds its taste

Not sure which formula is for you?

Take the Intake — nine short sections, about five minutes, free.

Your reading names your climate (your body’s lasting tendency) and, if one is passing through, your season (the pattern active right now). It gives you lifestyle practices to keep your climate steady and, when a season is present, an eight-day Intensive course to bring you back to balance.

Take the Intake →