Yinlingquan – Yin Mound Spring – Spleen 9
I’ve just spent a week in Brisbane where the late summer has flowed deep into the autumn, producing 30 degree temperatures and 80% humidity. These conditions create a hot, damp, sticky climate that can be overwhelming for visitors used to drier places. As with any climatic condition, dampness that arises from high humidity can penetrate the bodymind. When it does, it affects the balance of the Earth Element and injures the Spleen.
When damp enters the body it produces symptoms such as heaviness, particularly in the limbs and lower body; lethargy and fatigue; fluid retention; and sluggishness of body and mind. Thinking can become slow and the mind foggy. There may be loss of appetite and distension of the abdomen. Overall, you feel like a wet noodle. Movement is like walking through mud.
You don’t just have to go to the tropics to experience damp. Cold, wet climates such as those found in northern Europe can cause damp to penetrate, as can being in wet clothes for too long, sitting on damp ground, working in damp conditions or living close to water in a damp house. Moreover, a diet that is injurious to the Spleen can create internal damp. This includes consuming too much sugar, cold foods and drink.
If any of this describes your current condition, then help is at hand. Yinlingquan – Yin Mound Spring is one of the best points for clearing damp from the body. As the Water point on an Earth meridian, it helps to rebalance conditions where the Earth has become waterlogged and soggy. These include oedema, bloating, urinary dysfunction, sticky vaginal discharge, diarrhoea and loss of appetite. Locally it is a great point for treating swelling of the knee. In all cases this Spleen point dries the dampness by draining the Water from the Earth.
You may have noticed that this blog is a week overdue. I was fully intending to write it while I was in Queensland but the humidity sapped my energy both mentally and physically. Even though in South Australia we are well into the autumnal season of Metal, I thought I would extend the run of Earth articles by writing about what was in front of me. Now please excuse me while I go and press Spleen 9.
Location of Spleen 9
The point is located in a depression below the inside of the knee in the angle formed by the medial condyle of the tibia and the posterior border of the tibia. Run your finger up the inside of the lower leg, following the groove at the back of the tibia, until it falls into a depression below the prominence of the medial condyle.
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