Five Element Acupressure | Energy work that heals body mind and spirit

Strong, gusty winds are a hallmark of spring in many places. Last weekend, blustery winds toppled trees all over the Adelaide Hills and I lost my broad bean crop when the slender canes snapped in the gale.

Wind can have a detrimental effect on humans as well as vegetation. In Chinese medicine there are conditions known as wind invasion and wind stroke where wind penetrates the body. All of us are familiar with heat and cold invading the body, producing heatstroke and chills, but it is less well known that wind, the climate of the Wood Element, can also enter the body and produce symptoms of imbalance.

Some people love the wind and are impervious to its influence while others are sensitive and dislike going out in windy weather. Some are so sensitive that even looking out of the window at the wild, windy weather can bring up feelings of unease.

One of the classic places for wind to invade the body is through the neck, particularly in the upper part where the skull joins the cervical spine. There is an acupoint at the base of the skull in the large depression known as the occipital hollow. Fengfu or Wind Palace, is a point on the Governing Vessel (Du Mai) and is particularly susceptible to wind invasion.

Symptoms of pathogenic wind invasion include pain and stiffness in the neck, headaches, mental disturbance or fogginess, dizziness, blurred vision, shivering, sweating, aversion to cold and a general feeling of heaviness in the body. This condition can arise from prolonged exposure to blustery winds. It can also be caused by sitting or lying in a draft or in air conditioning.

Fortunately, the wind can be encouraged to exit at the same place it entered. Sustained pressure at Wind Palace allows the wind to clear from the body. You can use finger pressure, but another useful technique is to lie on your back with a tennis ball pressing into the occipital hollow. The weight of your head creates the pressure and you can relax without having to do anything.

If you are prone to neck problems I recommend wearing a scarf when going out into the wind. Make sure it covers the very top of your neck where the wind likes to sneak in. If you have a very strong dislike of the wind, it may be that there is some internal wind that needs to be cleared. Work on Wind Palace for a few minutes each day over the next week and see if you become less disturbed by the wind.

Location of Governing Vessel 16

The point is located on the midline at the nape of the neck in the large hollow immediately below the external occipital protuberance. Use your middle finger to trace up the middle of the back of your neck until you encounter the large bump at the back of the head. The point is in the depression immediately below. You can hold it with finger pressure, lie on a tennis ball, or ask someone to hold the point for you while you lie back and relax. You can hold the point for 3 minutes or longer if you wish. If you are using the tennis ball, don’t fall asleep on it as you may get too much treatment.

Depression is an all too common condition these days. Feelings of flatness, hopelessness, pointlessness or simply a feeling of being down and blue are some of the characteristics of depression. From the perspective of Chinese medicine, one of the causes of depression is an imbalance in the Wood Element arising from stagnation in the Liver Qi which can in turn be a result of suppressed anger. Since anger is the emotion that corresponds to the Wood Element, constricted anger can affect its yin organ, the Liver, resulting in a suppression not only of anger, but of vibrancy, aliveness, motivation and the willingness to move boldly through life.

When healthy, Liver Qi rises up from the feet and legs, through the groin and abdomen to the chest, empowering action and engagement with life. It is akin to the sap rising up a tree to nourish its branches and leaves. A common place for this uprising Qi to become stuck is in the chest at the last point (14) of the Liver meridian, Qimen, Gate of Hope.*

When Liver 14 becomes blocked, there can be constriction in the diaphragm leading to frequent sighing. There may be pain, distension and fullness in the chest as well as epigastric pain, nausea, reflux and vomiting.

At the psycho-emotional level blocked Qi at Qimen may result in an inability to see the way forward in life, feelings of gloominess, hopelessness and resignation. Opening the Gate of Hope can expand the horizons, allowing the person to see the limitless possibility that life has to offer. It provides support to meet the challenges of the world with zest and vigour, direction and purpose.

When Qi moves freely from here to the next point in the cycle, Lung 1, there is inspiration to aspire to greater things, support for the planning and creativity to express these aspirations in the world, and the strength and flexibility to carry them forward. All of these qualities are the gifts that are available to us when our Wood Element is in balance.

At the level of spirit, the spiritual issue of the Wood Element is finding one’s true path in life. What is the essential orientation and direction of your particular existence? What is the path through life that best expresses and unfolds your individual soul? Gate of Hope can support you as you ponder these existential questions.

* Gate of Hope is JR Worsley’s name for Liver 14; its traditional name is Cycle Gate since it marks the completion of the whole cycle of the meridian points which begins with Lung 1.

Location of Liver 14

The point is located in the sixth intercostal space, on the nipple line, i.e. 4 cun lateral to the midline. First locate the tip of the xiphoid process which is the knob of cartilage that attaches below the breast bone. Move your finger across the ribcage until you are in line with the nipple. Then come up until you land in a rib space. On a woman, this is the rib space below the breast. The point will probably be sensitive. Hold the point with steady pressure for 2 to 3 minutes or until you feel the Qi moving freely. If the point is really stuck, try holding it in combination with Lung 1 which we learned in an earlier post. (See The Breath of Heaven, April 14, 2014.)