Class #: / 2
Main trunk is our focus for the class: the 12, the 8 extra, miscellaneous (divergent, muscle, cutaneous)
Anything beginning or ending at a finger = hand channel
Anything beginning or ending at a toe = foot channel.
As a rule:
Cnx to yin organ, located in more yin area (median/anterior) = yin channel
Cnx to yang organ, located in more yang area (lateral/posterior) = yang channel
Shen says that Yin should be on the right…left is more Yang. Why? Most rivers in China flow from west to east (Tibetan area to sea)—huge rivers with huge banks/slopes. Sun shines more heavily on the south facing slopes of the rivers (aka, the north bank). If you’re facing downstream, left is yang because more sun.
ß Three Gorges, Yangtze River
Yin tends to be more bottom oriented, so the heavy portion of the yin is on the bottom of the Taichi diagram above. Yin and Yang are mutually dependent upon each other. They can transform into each other as well. They contain the seeds of each other—the dots.
Opposite energy grows out of the higest portion of the opposing force. Yang grows out of the heaviest portion of the yin. As all things are circular, heaviest energy will give way to the lightest energy.
When something is very strong, something else will show up. Example: high fever will often bring chills and cold. When yang is extremely strong, yin comes in. There is never absolute yin, no absolute yang. In Chinese culture, there are no absolutes! No extremes. Always strive for balance.
Times of day reflect this too: Yin within yin is midnight. As the wee hours progress toward daylight, it becomes yang within yin. Noon is full yang or yang within yang for just a moment, then progresses to yin within yang as darkness gets closer and closer.
In people: women have some male hormones and characteristics and vice versa.
Even in food: Shen thinks if you eat all good food and no bad ever your SI will never get a chance to separate turbid from pure. This = sickness prone!
Moral: give the opposite element a chance to work! Vary your food, vary your activities. Even bad food, bad activities. Nothing is absolutely bad or good anyway. Even true of emotions.
Different degrees of Yin and Yang. Always have yin within yang and yang within yin.
Yin and yang are infinitely divisible—you can demarcate yin and yang within one thing forever.
Tai yin = greater yin (lung/spleen)
Jue yin = absolute yin (pericardium/liver)
Shao yin = lesser yin (heart/kidney)
Yangming/min = yang brightness (LI/St)
Shaoyang = lesser yang (SJ/GB)
Tai yang = greater yang (SI/Bl)
Channel = trans (hand/foot)
There is debate about how they pair up, but per Shen, it’s:
Tai yin with yang ming
Jue yin with shao yang
Shao yin with tai yang
There is little debate about where the channels run, but there is debate within this diagram because it’s in constant flux! The important thing is it reflects a dynamic balance.
Naming also has to do with functions and organs.
Energy flows all the time, if not = stagnation, stasis, disorder.
Main circulation paths:
Lung à Large Intestine à Stomach à Spleen à Heart. à SI à Bladder à Kidney àPericardium à SJ à GB à Liver à Lung again…
Are also other circulation paths in the body—Ren, Conception vessels, Du channel, Dai channel, etc.
Why Lung first? Because interior/exterior energy/air exchange happens here. This is your interface with the world. There are 12 main channels in 6 pairs…or 3 hand yin, 3 hand yang, 3 foot yin, 3 foot yang.
Note: Nei-Wai (=interiorly/exteriorly) often used in place of Yin-Yang.
Organs can have a variety of pairing relationships. Similar to ppl relationships: you can be paired romantically, with friendship, with work, etc. The fundamental relationship with organs however is Yin-Yang.
Know for exam:
The 3 hand yin channels run from chest to hands
The 3 hand yang channels run from hands to head
The 3 foot yang channels run from head to feet
The 3 foot yin channels run from feet to abdomen/chest
The yin and yang channels meet at the 4 extremeties.
The yang channels meet the yang channels (bearing the same name) on the head/face.
The yin channels meet the yin channels at the chest.
The channels are symmetrical—run on both left and right.
Extraordinary Channels
(aka, Meridians or Vessels)
Introduction:
Ren = Conception
Du = Governing
Chong = Penetrating
Dai = Girdling (or Belt)
Yin Qiao = Yin Motility
Yang Qiao = Yang Motility
Yin Wei = Yin Linking
Yang Wei = Yang Linking
Why are they Extra?
Sometimes called Extra, sometimes Extraordinary. No differing terms in Chinese, but has to do with the translation. Basically, they are different from the 12 regular channels.
Reasons they are called “extra.”
¨ The Extraordinaries are not directly connected to the internal organs.
The 12 regulars do direct cnx to interior organs. I.e., Lung channel connects directly to Lung (even SJ—there is a San Jiao organ in TCM).
¨ Do not have yin/yang pairing relationships like the 12 primaries. Some don’t even have yin/yang natures—Chong and Ren for example.
¨ Most do not have their own points, but share points with other channels.
Ren and Du have their own points, not the rest.
(Kind of reminds me of stars and constellation groupings.)
¨ Do not directly participate in the energy circ of the 12 regular channels and the organs. They play a support role, enhancing circulation. Also form small circulations. Connects the dots from the other channels to make bridges so to speak between different areas.
¨ Functions are different from 12 regular channels.
o Extraordinary channels serve as reservoirs, storing and redistributing the energy flow among the 12 reg’s. They therefore regulate the energy among the 12 regular channels.
o 12 reg’s, by contrast, reflect/transport energy from the organs—lung channel transports the energy of the lung everywhere in the body for example. If you have lung qi stagnation, you use lung points.
Du and Ren, Chong and Dai Channels
Yang Qiao and Yin Qiao, Yang Wei and Yin Wei Channels
The main functions of the extra channels
Twelve Divergent Channels
Have many similarities to Collaterals. Are officially “channels,” however, not collaterals.
The 12 divergent channels. Not as important as the 12 primaries. Are deeper theory than many people get to, even licensed acupuncturists.
Each of the 12 primaries has one divergent.
You need to know:
Location of these channels:
Most of the 12 divergent derive (branch out) from the primary channels at the 4 limbs, then enter thoracic and abdominal cavities (and into the organs).
Yang divergents exit at the neck and go to their home Zang or Fu as well as their internal/external related Zang or fu. The yin divergents sometimes enter their pertaining Zang, not always.
Then Yin and Yang divergents run parallely inside the body and emerge from the neck, going up to head/face. In the head region, the Yang divergents join (“home to”) their primary channels. The Yin divergents join their related (paired) Yang primaries.
Why is this important? Because Yin energy doesn’t flow to the head/face otherwise! The divergent channels carry the energy.
Point Locations 1 – Fall 2007
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