How patterns relate, layer, and develop

Use this page to compare neighboring patterns and possible progressions. The pattern library defines each pattern individually; this map shows relationships between them.

Pattern library

Defines one pattern at a time: mechanism, signs, nuance, and sources.

Pattern map

Shows how patterns may sit underneath, develop into, or complicate one another.

Clinical context

These are teaching relationships; practitioners weigh the full presentation.

Pattern adjacencies and progressions

Patterns can evolve: Qi deficiency may progress to Blood deficiency, Qi stagnation to Blood stasis, Dampness to Phlegm. These are tendencies described in traditional sources, not deterministic sequences.

Qi Deficiency
  • toBlood Deficiency — Chronic Qi deficiency can progress into Blood deficiency, since Qi supports Blood production.
  • toYang Deficiency — Longstanding Qi deficiency can deepen into Yang deficiency, where warmth itself becomes insufficient.
  • toDampness — When the Spleen's Qi weakens, fluids fail to transform, and Dampness accumulates.
Blood Deficiency
  • toQi Deficiency — Qi produces Blood; the two deficiencies frequently coexist.
  • toYin Deficiency — Blood is considered part of the Yin aspect; prolonged Blood deficiency can progress toward Yin deficiency.
  • toBlood Stasis — When Blood is deficient it can also move poorly, so stasis may layer on top.
Yin Deficiency
  • toBlood Deficiency — Blood deficiency and Yin deficiency share a nourishing, substantive nature and often progress into one another.
  • toDeficient Heat — Yin deficiency is the usual root of 'deficient heat' — heat that arises because cooling is absent rather than because fire is excessive.
Yang Deficiency
  • toQi Deficiency — Yang deficiency is frequently a deeper continuation of long-standing Qi deficiency.
  • toDampness — Without enough Yang, fluids fail to transform and Dampness commonly accumulates.
  • toCold (Excess) — Yang deficiency is internal cold; excess cold from outside can resemble it but is usually acute.
Dampness
  • toPhlegm — Dampness that condenses and thickens becomes Phlegm — a progression noted across sources.
  • toQi Deficiency — Spleen Qi deficiency is the most common root of Dampness accumulation.
  • toDamp-Heat — When Dampness stagnates and combines with Heat, the picture shifts to Damp-Heat.
Phlegm
  • toDampness — Phlegm is typically the thickened form of pre-existing Dampness.
  • toQi Stagnation — Qi stagnation and Phlegm often appear together, especially in chest and throat presentations.
  • toHeat (Excess) — Phlegm combined with Heat (Phlegm-Heat) is a common layered pattern.
Heat (Excess)
  • toDamp-Heat — When Heat combines with Dampness, the picture becomes heavier and stickier.
  • toBlood Stasis — Prolonged Heat can injure vessels and contribute to Blood stasis.
  • toYin Deficiency — Heat that consumes fluids can eventually transition into Yin deficiency.
Deficient Heat
  • toYin Deficiency — Deficient heat is essentially a presentation of Yin deficiency.
  • toHeat (Excess) — Both involve heat, but the mechanism and tongue signs are distinct — excess heat is vigorous, deficient heat is the absence of cooling.
Cold (Excess)
  • toYang Deficiency — Chronic cold presentations usually involve an underlying Yang deficiency.
  • toBlood Stasis — Cold can contract vessels and contribute to Blood stasis, especially with fixed cold pain.
Qi Stagnation
  • toBlood Stasis — Persistent Qi stagnation is a common cause of Blood stasis — Me and Qi explicitly names Qi stagnation as a root mechanism behind stasis.
  • toPhlegm — Qi stagnation can contribute to Phlegm obstruction, especially in chest and throat patterns.
Blood Stasis
  • toQi Stagnation — Persistent Qi stagnation is a common precursor to Blood stasis.
  • toHeat (Excess) — Heat in the Blood, or prolonged excess heat, can contribute to stasis with a reddish-purple tongue.
  • toCold (Excess) — Cold contracts the vessels and can produce stasis with a bluish-purple tongue.
Damp-Heat
  • toDampness — Damp-heat is essentially Dampness that has transformed under heat, or encountered it.
  • toHeat (Excess) — Damp-heat shares the heat dimension with excess heat but is heavier and stickier.
Relationship data from Me and Qi pattern pages and Yin Yang House pattern relationship graphs.