Category Archives: Relationship

Openings

Agitation, Anxiety, Fire Element, Heart problems, Insomnia, Joy, Relationship, xi-cleft points, , , ,

Summer is upon us in the southern hemisphere, the season hurtling with open arms towards its rendezvous with the solstice next week.

Time then to open the box of xi-cleft points once again to discover what the Fire Element can provide us in the way of acupoints to ease our path through the summer.

(Northern Hemisphere readers can find their season-appropriate Water points here:
Kidney 5 and Bladder 63

Fire is the most yang and expansive of the Elements, so it is fitting that it has four meridians rather than the usual two. Three of these are, in a way, in service of the fourth, namely the Heart. In this blog post, we look at the meridians of the “outer” Fire, Triple Heater (Sanjiao) and Heart Protector (Pericardium), while in the later part of summer we’ll have a look at the “inner” Fire of Small Intestine and Heart.

Triple Heater 7 –Huizong – Ancestral Meeting

What a wonderful name this is, suggesting a point that connects to ancient wisdom.

The character Hui means a meeting, but also refers to the words that people say when they meet: a greeting. The meeting suggested is of a reunion.

The character Zong means an ancestral hall, from which emanates the wisdom of deceased ancestors. It was also the name given in ancient China to the meeting of government ministers that took place in the summer, season of the Fire Element.

Together these characters suggest a convergence and communication of accumulated wisdom. This is appropriate for the xi-cleft point where the Qi of the meridian accumulates before diving deeper into the energetic body. And the meaning echoes the nature of Triple Heater as a harmoniser of all the meridians, keeping peace and balance among all the other organ officials.

The point moves stagnation in the three burners, namely the lower belly, upper belly and chest which together encompass all the internal organs. It will also regulate the thermostat of the body so can be used for excesses of heat and cold.

As is the remit of these xi-cleft points, Huizong treats conditions along the channel: pain in the arms, shoulders, ears, temples and eyebrows as well as pain in the skin, epilepsy, tinnitus and deafness.

Triple Heater also governs the Wei Qi at the surface of the body and so is closely associated with defence against the external pathogens of cold, heat, damp, dry and wind. In other words, it comprises part of the immune system. Huizong is therefore ideally suited to protecting us from invasions from the outer world.

These functions also extend to the psycho-emotional level. Triple Heater is responsible for regulating and mediating our relationships in social contexts: colleagues at work, acquaintances, people we meet briefly in our day. Therefore this point can help to smooth such social interactions when we are feeling cut off from the world. In short, Ancestral Meeting harmonises the inner and outer realms.

Heart Protector 4 – Ximen – Xi-Cleft Gate

The Heart Protector official is responsible for mediating closer relationships such as those with partners, family and close friends. It protects the Heart from the shock of emotional disturbances like personal attacks, breakups, divorce, betrayal and abuse. We know that xi-cleft points treat acute conditions, so Ximen would be useful treatment in the early stages of such invasions upon the heart. But it is also known for its capacity to help resolve stagnation caused by past heartbreaks which have caused the emotional heart to close down and shut the gates against further assaults to the heart.

A healthy Heart Protector official has the emotional intelligence to know when a person is loving and supportive and to open appropriately; it also senses when someone poses a danger or means us harm, and screens the heart from hurt. When the official is out of balance, these functions can be impaired, resulting in closing to love or opening to harm, or both. In such situations Xi-cleft gate can be used in conjunction with other points such as HP 7 and CV 17.

Xi-cleft points of the yin meridians such as this are also known to treat conditions of the blood. This is particularly true of Heart Protector, one of whose functions is the smooth operation of the blood vessels of the circulatory system. Ximen is therefore known to treat bleeding, especially nosebleed. It calms the heart and mind, so treats palpitations, arrhythmia, chest pain and heart pain at the physical level, while at the emotional level it addresses agitation, panic attacks, insomnia, melancholy and fear of other people.

The point clears stagnation in the channel, in other words from the breast, along the inside of the upper arm, the middle of the anterior forearm and to the middle finger. More locally it will address pain or paralysis of the anterior forearm and fingers.

As we move into the holiday season and extended families meet to celebrate, it can be a time of joyful reunion. However, many people are faced with relationship challenges posed by the resurfacing of old issues and hurts. The dynamics of families rarely change much, and family gatherings can sometimes transform strong adults back into the small children they once were, reacting out of old patterns rather than from a place of understanding. These two points, Ancestral Meeting and Xi-cleft gate, can be utilised to strengthen the capacity to relate with open-hearted wisdom.

I wish you a truly heart-felt holiday season.

Location of Triple Heater 7
3 cun above (proximal to) the outer wrist crease, slightly toward the ulnar (little finger) side in a depression between the ulna bone and tendon.
Location of Heart Protector 4
5 cun above (proximal to) the inner wrist crease, in the middle of the forearm between two tendons.

Summer Solstice

Anxiety, Arm pain, Breathing difficulty, Depression, Entry exit points, Fire Element, Heart, Psycho-emotional, Relationship, Spirit, Summer, , , , ,

For our northern hemisphere readers, here’s a link to the previous Winter Solstice article to make you feel hemispherically synched.

Today is the summer solstice in the southern hemisphere, the middle of summer and the point at which the year expands to its limit. It’s as if the Earth has taken a long, deep breath in and can expand no more. After today, the yin half of the year begins, and the long slow exhalation propels us towards the winter solstice in 6 months time.

Correspondingly expansive movements of the body include spreading the arms wide and opening the heart centre to give of ourselves and to receive the world. The Heart is the primary organ of the Fire Element whose summer season this is. The Heart, Emperor of our personal kingdom, beats ceaselessly for our whole life, maintaining the steady drumbeat of our personal world.

Another expansive movement is to raise the arms up and out. You often see this movement at festivals and sporting events where whole stadia of people signal their excitement by raising their arms to the heavens and shouting with joy. Showing their armpits to the world with abandon.

UTMOST SOURCE

Speaking of armpits, I want to spend some time here introducing an important acupoint which lies deep in the armpit, an area rarely exposed but kept protected by our arms at the sides. In the modern world most of us don’t raise our arms up high very often unless it’s in the shower or to reach for something on a high shelf. We rarely climb trees or hang from branches as did our primate ancestors. This point is rather secret and somewhat intimate.

The point is Jiquan Heart 1, known variously as Summit Spring, Utmost Spring and Supreme Spring. But I like Worsley’s translation of Utmost Source, because it echoes the nature of the Heart and its resident spirit the shen. Shen is our connection to utmost heaven, the heavenly light that resides within the heart of each one of us.

The Heart Qi arises from the organ of the Heart, passes through the Lung, and emerges in the armpit at Jiquan like a spring bubbling out of the ground. The Qi then travels along the inside of the arm, heading for the little finger as the Heart channel is mapped out through its 9 points.

When the Heart and its channel are open and balanced, there is connection to our True Nature which doesn’t have to do anything. The Heart’s calling is not to do but to be. In the metaphor of the Emperor, his task is simply to sit on the throne and hold the space from a place of stillness. This is a great teaching for us to emulate in our often turbulent times. Holding space, holding stillness, holding presence. Just being.

Back to the armpits, Heart 1 is a common place for Qi to become blocked. In the Wei Qi cycle of the 12 meridians, the previous point is Dabao, Spleen 21 Great Enveloping. Where a channel of one Element moves into a channel of another Element, there is a greater tendency for Qi to become blocked. These are known as Entry-Exit blocks (though the pedant in me would argue for Exit-Entry blocks). Here, where the Earth energy of Spleen moves to the Fire energy of Heart, we find the most common of the Entry-Exit blocks. These blocks are usually diagnosed on the pulse. In this case an excess Spleen pulse and a deficient Heart pulse would indicate a block. But physical and psycho-emotional symptoms can also point to the possibility of a block.

At the physical level, possible indications of this block include pain or constriction in the lateral ribcage or in the armpit, difficulty raising the shoulder, palpitations and shortness of breath. Surgery or injury to the area can also be a cause. Constriction in the flow of lymph to the lymph nodes in the armpit is another. Recently I’ve had a cluster of cases of severe lymphoedema in the legs, and I’ve found that in most of these cases there was a Spleen-Heart block.

At the psycho-emotional level, this block may stem from difficulty in allowing the nourishment of the Earth Element into the Heart. There may be sadness, anxiety, mental restlessness or disconnection from the joy of life.  It may indicate challenges with intimacy or betrayal that have closed the emotional heart. Eating disorders which stem from deep dissatisfaction with one’s life might also be indicators of this block.

If you suspect there is a block in the Qi flow at Heart 1, hold the point with sustained moderate pressure for a few minutes until you feel the subtle Qi flow and that the point is open. Also hold Spleen 21 in the side of the ribcage until you feel the open flow of the subtle energy there. Treat both sides

In Qi Gong practice and in some meditation practices, practitioners are advised to stand or sit with enough space in the armpit to ‘hold an egg’. This allows free flow of Qi through the armpit and along the Heart meridian of the arm. We can take note of this and avoid long periods of holding the arms tightly to the sides.

Jiquan is a spirit point that connects our consciousness to the universal consciousness; it aligns our personal heart with the heart of the universe; and it promotes emotional warmth and connection to others through the Heart. In this season of celebration and family gatherings, it’s good to keep our hearts open.