Category Archives: Eye problems

Rising Above Life’s Tears

Anger, Confusion, Decision Making, Eye problems, Flexibilty, Headache, Vision, Wind invasion, Wood Element, , , , , ,

Toulinqi – Head Above Tears – Gall Bladder 15

above-tearsSoon this long, cold, wet spring will transition to summer. Time for one last Wood point before we move on to the Fire Element.

Toulinqi is a point that is regarded quite differently in the Five Element tradition when compared to the TCM tradition. TCM practitioners regard this as a minor point and little used. When it is utilised, it is for headache, nasal congestion, eye pain, tearing or lack of tearing. It helps to dispel wind that has invaded the body.

In the Five Element tradition it is more often used to address mental and emotional conditions. Recently I used this point on a client who was feeling confused and lacked mental clarity. As I held the two points, which lie just inside the hairline above the eyes, I had the sense that the client’s eyes were rising up her forehead to meet my fingers. This strange notion was validated when I read that Toulinqi  helps a person to get a better sense of perspective, to see further and more widely in the context of her life. If your eyes were to rise up into your hairline, you’d certainly be able to see further!

Head Above Tears is one translation of Toulinqi. Others include Head Overlooking Tears, Head Governor of Tears, Head Before Crying, and Treating Tears. While eyes watering from the wind is certainly one use of the point, it can also be used where a person has difficulty crying, or where frustration has become so extreme as to burst into tears. Readers may remember that last spring we looked at a point in the foot named Foot Above Tears. This can be used to drain excess Qi from the Gall Bladder meridian and to relieve frustration and headache. Head Above Tears is its natural partner and the two can be treated at the same time.

The Gall Bladder Official’s job is to make decisions and to take action in the world. Where there is strong moving back and forth between highs and lows, action and inaction, elation and despair, this point is called for. It helps a person who is tense and uptight, inflexible and only able to see a single course of action.

Dizziness and visual disturbance can sometimes be the result of a difference between our inner and outer reality. When there is a disconnect between inner vision and outer vision. Toulinqi helps to reconcile these differences.

Gall Bladder 15 can give us a wider perspective on life, allowing us to make better sense of its patterns, to rise above the tangled thickets of our inner confusion and to see the bigger picture of our place in the cosmos.

Location of Gall Bladder 15

gb-15

 

Directly above the pupil when the eye is looking forward, and 0.5 cun inside the hairline.

Healthy Bones

Eye problems, Headache, Low back pain, Neck pain, Planning, Transitions, Vision, , , , ,

Shugu – Bone Binder – Bladder 65

10 Bones copyThough we are still in winter, spring is just around the corner. So I decided to choose an acupoint that will help us to make the transition between these seasons. Shugu is the Wood point on a Water meridian and so serves this purpose nicely.

In Five Element Acupuncture and Acupressure, we pay a lot of attention to the different Element points on the meridians. Every meridian has the five Element points on its pathway. These points are found between the fingers and elbows, and between the toes and knees. These points, sometimes called command points, are tools for moving Qi from one Element to another. Shugu is one such point. As the Wood point on a Water meridian, it moves Qi from Water to Wood. Specifically it moves Qi from Bladder to Gall Bladder, thereby sedating Bladder and tonifying Gall Bladder.

In doing so, this point harmonises the relationship between Water and Wood. We might use the metaphor of a tree whose deep roots are able to access the water and nutrients in the soil in order to grow and stay healthy. Shugu likewise enables us as humans to make wise use of our inner resources for optimum growth. It allows us to utilise these resources in service of our vision for the future. It is like hooking up the driveshaft (Water) to the wheels (Wood) so we can go somewhere. When there is drive without vision, will without plans, seed without growth, this point will serve.

As a distal point on the Bladder meridian, Shugu can treat problems of the urinary bladder such as difficult urination and cystitis. Jarrett points to its use in helping kidney stones to smoothly exit the body. The point also treats conditions along the pathway of Bladder, including lumbar pain, neck pain, headache and sore, painful eyes. Furthermore, it helps clear heat from the body, including fever and the heat-related condition of haemorrhoids.

But what of the reference to bones? The bones are governed by the Water Element because they are the tissues that are deepest in the body. As the Wood point of Bladder, Shugu encourages the healthy growth of bones and supports the healing of fractures, hence the name Bone Binder.

In the Chinese Tongshu calendar, spring begins at the point midway between the winter solstice and the vernal equinox. For us here in the southern hemisphere, that means August 7th. You might try holding this bony point to smooth your passage into springtime.

Location of Bladder 65

BL65

 

On the outside of the foot in a depression posterior and inferior to the head of the 5th metatarsal. Run your finger up the side of your foot from the little toe until you find the large bony prominence half way along. Now go back towards the toe until your finger falls into a depression.