The tide of energy that swells through the year has moved on from winter to spring, from the Water Element to the Wood Element. In fact, since we have passed the spring equinox here in the southern hemisphere, we are now more than halfway through the season. It is high time to continue our series on the foods of the Elements by exploring those foods that can support our Wood and its yin organ, the Liver.
The taste of the Wood Element is sour. It is a taste that puckers the mouth and is called astringent. It shrinks and contracts. This is remeniscent of the tendons, the tissues of Wood, which contract in order to lever the muscles and thereby propel movement.
This astringent taste generates and preserves fluids, nourishes yin, helps to hydrate, and cools any heat in the liver. Lemon water, quenching and refreshing, is a great way to support the liver. Grapefruit acts similarly.
The Neijing chapter 10 teaches: “the liver is benefited by the sour taste. However, this never implies that one may overindulge. Excessive consumption of sour foods can make the skin rough, thick, and wrinkled, and cause the lips to become shrivelled.” Too much sour impacts upon the grandson Element of Earth and its organ of Spleen. It injures the Stomach and creates acid reflux, and damages the teeth and the tendons.
Lemons, grapefruit, kiwifruit and apple cider vinegar are obvious examples of the sour taste, but there are other less obvious sour foods which belong to more than one flavour group. These include tomato, cheese, plums, grapes and strawberries; the aromatics of chive, leek, onion and shallot; cinnamon, turmeric, mint, kombu (seaweed) and honey; and goji berry, hemp seed, black sesame and olive oil.
The colour of the Wood Element is green. Therefore, green foods support the Element and the liver. Green, leafy vegetables are best, the darker the better. My favourites are kale and collards; others include rocket (arugula), spinach, cabbage, beet greens, cos (romaine) lettuce, endive, bok choy and microgreens. Other green foods include peas, broccoli, green beans and avocado. Fortunately, all of these are in abundant supply in the springtime as nature puts on its skates and rockets into action. Farmers markets are brimming with these vegetables at this time of year. Make a salad with a mix of these greens and dress with olive oil and cider vinegar. Your liver will light up.
The organ of the liver has hundreds of functions; one of its most important is to detoxify the blood. Besides the foods listed above, here are some important herbs that help with detoxification: coriander (cilantro), dandelion leaves or its roasted roots, milk thistle, nettle, liquorice and peppermint.
Green tea, besides having the appropriate colour, is known for its positive effect on liver markers, as well as its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. At my place we have a daily ritual of Japanese green tea with two pourings from the kyusu.
Springtime tends to reveal imbalances in the Wood Element, in the organs of liver and gall bladder, the eyes, and in the emotion of anger and frustration. This is because the tide of the year is rising in the Wood Element, putting pressure on the Wood resonances that are not flowing freely. On the other hand, it is a great time to detoxify as the same energies are supportive of positive change. So bulk up on sour, green and cleansing foods while you have the tide in your flavour.
Next week I will share a recipe that incorporates many of these foods.
In 1988 I travelled to southern California to study Jin Shin Do® Bodymind Acupressure™ with Iona Teeguarden. While there I helped to type the JSD Foundation newsletter and was invited to reply to a letter from a reader enquiring about Iona’s non-standard location of Liver 14. In those early days of my studies and with internet research a thing of the future, I was unable to respond. Here then, 35 years late, is my reply.
Qimen ~ Cycle Gate/Gate of Hope ~ Liver 14
The last point of the Liver meridian is a significant one. Here the Qi completes the cycle of the 12 meridians before flowing through to Lung 1 whence it started. It is a place where Qi can become blocked, causing congestion in the chest, and reflecting stagnation in the Liver organ, or pent-up feelings of frustration and anger. Its location, however, is not straightforward, and I have encountered three different locations that derive from different traditions. What follows is something of a detective story as I try to unravel the historical origins of each location. Please forgive me, reader, for my attention to such arcane detail. It seems my Metal Element is showing through.
Standard Qimen
The standard location in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) of Qimen – Cycle Gate – Liver 14 is in the chest, in the 6th intercostal space and 4 cun lateral to the midline, on what is known as the mammillary line (in line with the nipple). This is the location that is most widely used and became the standard with the codification of acupuncture in China in the 1950s. Here is the location from Peter Deadman’s A Manual of Acupuncture.
Lower Qimen
A minority of practitioners locate Liver 14 much lower, on the border of the ribcage, also on the mammillary line. This location became standard for students of JR Worsley’s Five Element Acupuncture method which became especially widespread in England and the USA. Here is the location from Worsley’s Traditional Chinese Acupuncture Vol 1 which is known affectionately in his community as “the big red book”.
This alternative location has become widely enough known that it is acknowledged by Deadman, and by Jarmey in his Practical Guide to Acupoints, as “Lower Qimen”:
As a keen student of history and of lineage, I had always wondered about the origin of Worsley’s deviation. I found a possible answer earlier this year when I obtained a copy of the book Chinese Acupuncture by the Taiwanese acupuncturist Dr Wu Wei-Ping. Published in 1962, his work was translated into French by Jacques Lavier which was in turn translated into English by Philip Chancellor. It is known that Worsley studied with Wu Wei-Ping in Taiwan. Peter Eckman in his book, In the Footsteps of the Yellow Emperor, shows photos of Worsley with Wu in 1966. Wu’s location is clearly at “Lower Qimen”:
Where did Wu get his alternative location? One possible source is Japan which ruled Taiwan from 1895-1945 and had strong cultural influences over the island. In my searches I discovered at least one Japanese luminary who made use of the lower location. That is Dr Yoshio Manaka (1911-89).
Eckman describes Manaka as having good relationships with many of the Japanese schools of acupuncture but never became identified with any one. He also had numerous contacts among the French and German schools which were being established and he made several teaching trips to Europe. It’s possible that Worsley had direct contact with Manaka. Here is the location from Manaka’s book, Chasing the Dragon’s Tail. (Mislabelled as LV 4)
Acupuncturists of the Worsley lineage consider Lower Qimen to have greater psycho-emotional and spirit associations that are not ascribed to the standard location by TCM practitioners. Indeed, Worsley gave the name Gate of Hope to this lower point rather than the usual translation Cycle Gate. This suggests its power to support a person to face the future with clarity and enthusiasm, alleviating depression caused by stagnation of Liver Qi.
Several years ago, I received an email from Peter Borten, an acupuncturist in Portland, Oregon, in response to my original blog on this point. His comments made an impact on my view of of the two different locations. Peter said,
“As I went first to a TCM school and then a Five Element school under J.R. Worsley, I see the TCM and Five Element locations of this point as having distinctly different energetics. When I’m needling this point for its Five Element “spirit of the point” properties, or to clear an entry-exit block, I always go with the Five Element location at the bottom of the ribcage.”
I now follow this advice in clinic, using Lower Qimen as a “spirit” point and when I detect an entry-exit block between Liver 14 and Lung 1.
One other thing to note before we leave Gate of Hope, is that Worsley-trained acupuncturists often needle Liver 13 (Chapter Gate) and Liver 14 (Gate of Hope) together: a new chapter of life heralds the hope of moving forward.
Inner Qimen
Now we come to the third and most obscure of the three locations, the one that was subject of the letter to the Jin Shin Do Foundation. We might call this “Inner Qimen”. Iona Teeguarden located Liver 14 at the bottom of the ribcage but more medially to the Worsley location. (Number 5 in the JSD system.) In her 1978 book Acupressure Way of Health, she located it on the ribcage at the junction of the ninth rib cartilage to the eighth rib, in a little indentation inside the nipple line. This places it about 1 cun medial and superior to the Lower Qimen. In her later book Joy of Feeling, Teeguarden calls this point Gate of Hope, so clearly there was a Worsley connection.
I used this location for many years until I moved to the standard location in the 6th intercostal space. However, I do return to it from time to time. I find it very helpful in releasing points in the neck. When Small Intestine 16 is not releasing, I will hold it in combination with the opposite “Inner Qimen” and find that usually opens the neck wonderfully.
According to a biography on the Jin Shin Do Foundation website, Iona learned Jin Shin Jytsu with Mary Burmeister who was a student of the founder of that method, Jiro Murai. Iona travelled to Japan in 1976 and studied with Dr Haruki Kato, also a student of Jiro Murai. She states that “some of the JSJ points were in different locations than I had learned from Mary.” One of Burmeister’s “safety energy locks” (SEL 14) was in the location of Lower Qimen; I infer that this was one of those points which varied and that Inner Qimen is from Kato. The following illustration is from Alice Burmeister’s book The Touch of Healing.
While researching for this blog. I stumbled upon a graphic produced by Shohaku Honma (1904-1962) which shows Liver 14 on the ribcage but clearly more medial to Lower Qimen. I have not seen this location anywhere else, but here it is being used by a famous Japanese acupuncturist with whom Worsley studied. What could be the connection between Teeguarden and Honma? Could it be Kato? As part of his studies, Kato became a licensed acupuncturist so he could have professional and legal standing. Perhaps here is a connection to Honma.
Clinical Implications
Well, dear reader, if you are still with me after this deep dive into history, congratulations! I salute your perseverance.
Let me finish by summarising the clinical implications of these three different locations of Qimen Liver 14, for it is the clinical outcomes that are of greatest importance.
Standard Qimen is the mu point of Liver and so treats acute conditions that relate to the Liver organ. It also treats local congestion in the chest and ribcage. It can have an effect on the emotion of anger which, when out of balance, is stored in the Liver.
Lower Qimen is the Worsley location. It is also a mu point and treats at the physical level. But more significantly it treats psycho-emotional disharmony in the Wood Element and at the level of spirit. It helps lift depression, enabling a person to see clearly the way forward and make plans with hope for the future. It also is useful when there is an entry-exit block between Liver and Lung.
Inner Qimen is a useful alternative for both physical and psycho-emotional issues, for suppressed anger and frustration, for releasing the diaphragm and the associated neck segment.
As in all cases, the point is not on the chart, it is where you feel the Qi.
