This morning as I backed the car out of the garage, I noticed that a spider had built a web over the reversing camera. It made for a beautiful start to the journey. Truth is, spiders have built webs all over my car, and my shed, and my house. Spiders are more active in autumn. Their compound eyes detect the changing light as the angle of the sun drops lower. This is a signal to them to begin preparing for winter, eating more and mating. I too respond to this low-slanting autumnal light which I call “cathedral light”. The light, beaming in long shafts and highlighting dust and pollens in the air, is reminiscent of light descending from high windows in churches and cathedrals. It turns my thoughts to things of spirit.
Going back to spiders, the amazing fineness and delicacy of their webs reflect the refinement and precision that are qualities of Metal, the Element of the season of autumn. When I think of the tissue of Lung, the yin organ of Metal, the image of a web comes to mind. The lung tissues are so fine and finely layered, that there are about 2,400 kilometres of airways in our two lungs and up to 500 million alveoli or air sacs. Fine webs indeed!
The lungs are the only yin organs that are open to the exterior, via the nose and mouth. Their delicate tissues are susceptible to invasion from the outside, whether it be from dust, pollen and pollutive particulates, or bacteria and viruses which enter the body via the lungs.
This brings me to an acupoint that is useful for protecting the lungs, and which is especially powerful in this Metal season of Autumn.
Lung 6 – Kongzui – Maximum Opening is another of the xi-cleft points that we’ve been studying over the past year. These points are known for treating acute conditions and pain along the channel, relieving stagnation in the organ, and treating conditions of the Blood.
Stagnation of the Lung can include phlegm, so this point is very useful for treating coughs and colds where phlegm accumulates in the lungs. It also addresses asthma, wheezing, chest pain, swelling or pain in the throat, and loss of voice.
The pathway of the Lung channel begins on the outside of the upper chest, rises to the clavicle, makes its way down the arm lateral to the biceps muscle, across the elbow, along the radial side of the inner forearm, through the pad of the thumb and ends at the radial side of the thumbnail. Pain in any of these areas, especially if it is of recent onset, can be treated with Lung 6. This includes things like pain the upper arm and difficulty raising the arm above the head, pain in the elbow, difficulty flexing and extending the fingers, and pain the thumb.
If we consider the psycho-emotional aspects of Lung, stagnation in the emotion of grief can be addressed by this point. This might arise from an inability to move on in one’s life after the loss of a significant person. Or it might be from a holding on to possessions by hoarding; holding on to grudges or resentments; or holding on to ideas and structures that are no longer working. In fact, when we are holding on to anything that is not in our best interests, Kongzui can serve us in letting go.
Breathing is an automatic function that draws air into the body and lets it out again. Oxygen in, carbon dioxide out. A smooth allowing. Letting come and letting go. If we can align our mind with this simple regularity; if we can be right there in the moment of each breath, nothing more than letting in and letting out, then we can live fully in the present which is the true reality of the web of Being.
Location of Lung 6
On the inner arm towards the thumb (radial) side, 7 cun above the wrist and 5 cun below the elbow. Find a point half-way between Lung 9 on the wrist and Lung 5 on the elbow. Go 1 cun above (proximal) from here to find Lung 6 in a noticeable depression.
Readers may have noticed that I’ve gone from Fire to Metal and skipped the Earth. Well spotted! I will address the Earth xi-cleft points later, in the transition between autumn and winter. ~ John
