8 Extras by JYuen001

L-hannel Systems
Chinese Medicine
The Eight
Extraordinary Vessels
including
Selected Characters
Charts of Channels as Described
Sequences and Protocols
Jeffrey C. Yuen
New England School of Acupuncture
Continuing Education Department
@ 2005
Channel Systems
of Chinese Medicine
The Eight
Extraordinary
Vessels
Jeffrey C. Yuen
12 - 13 April 2003
New England School of Acupuncture
Continuing Education Department
@ 2005
Edited by Stephen Howard, Lie. Ac

MAC.DipIAc & CH, (NCCAOM)
Transcribing
Many thanks to Adele Straw, Uc. Ac.
for her diligent work
helping to preserve the tradition

Eight Extraordinary Vessels
JeffreyC.Yuen I,'.
.!
-,
Table of Contents
I. Theoretical Aspects of the Eight Extraordinary Vessels
A. Its Role Within the Meridian System ......dÃˆ.Ãˆ.. ...................................... 1

1. 8 Extra Vessels as Constitutional Vessels ........................................... 3
2 ..........-"...-................ 10
RelationshiptoJingEssence.....................Ã£..Ãˆ.
3. The Relationship to the Other Channels ............................................ 11
II. Some Clinical Considerationsfor the Eight Extraordinary Vessels
A. Question of Accessibility
1. Commentary Presented by the Nan Jing .............................................
23
2. Ming Dynasty Emphasis on the Kidneys. .....-..................
28
3. Clues from the Qi Curious Bowels, i.e., GB .......................................
31
B. Some Basic Theoretical Applications
1. Separation of Yin Yang - through Blockage or Loss ..........................
33
2. Issues Relating to Kidneys & Sun Jiao................................................ 34
3. Congenital Defects & Releases .................................. .........................
35 .
C. Clinical Skills
1. Needling Techniques. ..................................... ...........................
ÃˆnBwt 36
2. PointSelection ..................................................................................
"...40
3. Some Clinical Suggestions ..................................................................
44
I. ItsRole
A. Beginning of Constitutional Therapy ........................................................... 45
B. Link Between /in^ Essence, X w Blood, Jin-Ye Body Fluids ".*........ ... .....-.52
C. Support of Post-Natal Qi (Sea of 5 Zanf, 6 Fu, & 12 Meridians) ...............62
At SymbioticUnionofMother-Child .....-........-................... ....................-.66
B. ProcessofBondingt.....Ã§Ãˆ..Ãˆ.Ã
. ".-
ˆÃˆ....ÃˆÃ‘..............~Ãˆ.....r......Ã‘ 70
wÃ Ãˆ
C. InitialLearningofControl .......Ã£..................................."...*.......-......... ... 76

D. BirthofForm.Substance. Matter -"...Ãˆ.Ãˆw.-.Ãˆ...ÃˆÃˆ...Ãˆ "...........".. .... 78
E. ClassicalSymptoms .................... ...................................*................................ 79
I1 . Sea of Yin
A. FunctionsofYin ..............................................................................................
81
B. Yin Humors ...................................,................................... .............. ..-...-"...... 82
C. Yin Pathology ...................................................................................................83
DM Mai
Vessel of Individuality
T a i Yi .
Dong Qi Moving (Motivating) Qi of the Kidneys"
I. Its Role
A. Separation from the Maternal Matrix ..............Ã£.... ...................................... 86
.
B Mediationofthesensory-MotorTract(JiaSpine) .......... .......................... 92
.
C OrganizationofAllActivity {NaoBrain) ................................................... 95
.....
D. Sea of Yang .......................... ................... .-..............................................-. 96
Wei Mai Vessels of Aging
"Cydes of Seven and Eight"
I . ItsRole
A .
Linking (Holding) Together Yt'n and Ymg............................... ...... .............. 99
B. TrajectoryofYin WeiMai ...............................................................................
207
.
1 Nourishment of Yin with Yin WCT Mnf .......................................... ......108
C. Trajectoryof YangWCTMai ..........................................................................110
.
opposite state ot each other Chapter 29. Nan fmv
I . ItsRole
.
.
A Polanzatmn of Yin Yaag ...............................................................................117
.
B HarmonizeYinYang ......................................................................................
119
.
C Vessel of Reactivity Yang QiÃ§Mai ............................................................'122
.
D Self.Reflection. Meditation YinQimMai .......................................... "-134
Dai"Mai Vessel of Latency
I . Its Role
.
A AbsorptionofExcessfromthePost-NatalEnvironmen~ 138 ...........................
.
B IntimateRelationshipwiththeZongJinAncestralSinew ...m........ 142 ..... ........
-
C. Bao Mai Link Between Da Bao & Dai Mtti ..... 143
em..-......... ...........................
Cases ................................................................................... a ......... ...............".145
....+.... t.
Charts............................................................................................................................. 153
Eight Extraordinary Vessels
12 April 2003
I. Theoretical Aspects of the Eight Extraordinary Vessels
A. Its Role Within the Meridian Systems
I would like to begin by welcoming all of you for coming to today's

discussion on Eight Extraordinary Vessels, and especially for those of you who
have been following the discussion on the Meridian Systems we began, probably
a year or so ago. By the end of today's discussion, we will have covered all of the
so-called Secondary Meridians of Acupuncture. We've gone through the Sinew
Meridians. We've gone through the Luo Vessels. We've gone through the
Divergent Channels, and now we're going to be covering the Eight Extraordinary
Vessels.
Exterior Meridians Interior
Skin ^L Pi Cutaneous I I
I Wei I
Sinews Jin Sinew I I
I
Vessels 1^. Mai Luo I Ying
I
Flesh Xi Ji Primary Zany Fu I
Bone 9 Gu Divergent Zang Fu I

I Yuan
Marrow M Sui 8 X Vessels Curious Organs I
What I would really like to do, is to give you an overview, especially those
of you who are new to the discussion of the Eight Extraordinary Vessels. If you
consider the anatomy of the body in terms of the Exterior, and how that Exterior
is going to be bridged through these Meridian Systems, that then connect them to
some Internal aspect of the body, you can say that Chinese Medicine basically
looks at the anatomical layers, from the level of the Skin, to the level of the
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0 New England School of Acupuncture &JeffreyC. Yuen, 2005
make radical changes to the level of the Constitution, to theDNA, to the level of
Jing/which is what the Eight Extraordinary Meridians are essentially involved
with.
I f s ~ ~ ~ d A ~ ~ t l h w m t ~ ~ y ~
There is that conceptof Wei Qt, the Exterior Qthe i, Defensive Qi,and the level of
Ying Qi,which deals more with theInternal/and there is an interdependency
between thesetwo QAnd i. consequently thereis the last component, Yuan Qi.
Because our discussionis primariiy on the Eight Extraordinary Vessels, we're
going to be really looking at Yuan Qf, in particular, at least in our discussion this
weekend.
The format that I'm going to be usingis first I'm going to give you an
overview of the Eight Extraordinary Meridians. Then we're going to look at each
one of the Eight Extraordinary Vessels, and then talk about the treatment
strategies that we can integrate with Eight Extraordinary Channels. And lastly,
what I'm going to do, as in all our other discussions, is try to show you that you
can apply Eight Extra Channels to the treatment of all kinds of conditions. And
doing that is just a way that is going to allow you to clinically make use of the
Eight Extra Channels. And at the end of that, we'll try to fine- tune that, and try
ko get the M a a m to really l x ~UEEf k d h r wikh what kind of conditions work
best with Eight Extraordinary Meridians.
So the contention here is that you can use Eight Extra Channels to treat
thing and anything, but should I use them to treat everything and
w%%
an ? As I've done in the previous
. . classes, 111just randomly pick cases
f m n l ~ a c t koef chae MedlQne, Giovanni's book, and you'll see, we're
just going to look at each case and say, Well, which of the Eight Extra Channels
will be more useful in treating this particular condition?" But I will disagree
with some of the more modern contentions that have been proposed about the
Eight Extra Channels, for example, in the treatment of an acute common cold, or
Wind Heat or Wind Cold conditions. Why would you tap into the Yuan level in
treating an acute condition, when you have other Meridians that are perhaps
more suited for that, unless this person has a long history of having some type of
Exogenous vulnerability, where we know it has already been quite taxing on
his/ her Constitutional level. At that point we might think of using Eight Extra
Channels. But you're not going to think of tapping into the Constitutional level
for those conditions. Their use, in terms of the Yuan (X tends to exhaust the Yuan
QI, in dealing with tilingsfeat perhaps might be more suited, since if s on the
External level, with Meridians that deal pnmanly with Wei Qt. So this is the
context that we're going to be looking at. So with that said, what I would like to
do is move into this overview of the Eight Extraordinary Vessels.
1. 8 Extra Vessels as ConstitutionalVessels
Let's begin with some ofthetheoretical aspects of the Eight Extraordinary

Vessels. First I mentioned its particular role within the Meridian System, that the
Extra Channels represent the domain of Yuan Qi.Yuan Qi represents that which
reflects our Constitution. So,its dynamics, and this is often important, that when
3
Because it's Constitutional, it also represents issues pertaining to gender,
in other words, the pregiven conditions of our lives, things that we're born into,
our gender. It deals with how one reckons with one's ethnic associations. It also,
to some degree, represents, as you'll see when we describe some of these Eight
Extra Channels, how the Self begins to find acceptance within society, what
defines humanity to some degree.
And, we all know, you cannot separate Chinese medicine from Chinese
philosophy. So the philosophers are going to have some ideas as to what the role
of these Eight Extra Channels is going to be. To a Confucianist, let's say, we are
going to find that the role of the Eight Extra Channels is to develop Principle, is
to develop the intrinsic Virtues of what is rooted in human existence, and in
particular, their key word is Humility, Ren. So we'll see that this is going to be
one of the ideas thafs going to be postulated about the Eight Extraordinary
Meridians.
In general, we can say that the Eight Extra Channels, as roadmaps,

represent the physiology of Yuan Qi,the natural physiology of Yuan Qi, which is
to constantly unfold, to allow for human development. Yuan Qi is about growth.
It is about the maturity, and subsequently, the decline of Yuan Qi is about our
own decline, coming to terms with mortality.
It also deals with pathology, and in particular, they're looking at

pathologies that are challenging to the Yuan level. In other words, pathologies
that are challenging directly to one's Self. These pathological components are
components that are in some ways causing the Yuan Qi to decline very rapidly,
that are causing the Yuan Qi to change very rapidly. In some ways, what you're
seeing is the mutation of the DNA. And we can see the parallels between that
kind of language and how Eight Extra Channels would be useful for conditions
like cancer, HlV,where there is some type of mutation of the RNA or the DNA,
of the cell.
And again, if s role in terms of evolution. How is it getting us to

adequately adapt, so that we can survive. The key word here is Survival. If s not
about Interaction. That comes after we are able to survive. The terrain is the
Constitutional Energetics, so Yuan Qi as reflected by morphology, and astrology.
In other words, the idea of the Constitutional components is based on what you
inherited from your parents, thafs the Jing. If s your parents that make up your
morphology. In other words, you look like your parents. You inherit physical
form. That is based heavily on what your parents have given you. But if s also,
according to the Chinese, based on the Cosmic Qi that occurred during the time
of conception. And that Cosmic Qi is referred to as the astrological influences,
that one gets affectedby, during the time of conception. And if s interesting to
note, that one of the common areas where you see the use of the Eight
Extraordinary Vessels, is in astrological Acupuncture, as in the case of the Ling
Gui Ba Fa, the Eight Method of the Mystical Tortoise, which uses the Eight Extra
Channel Opening Points.
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0 New England School of Acupuncture & Jeffrey C. Yuen, 2005
Those of you who are familiar with the morphology of Acupuncture,
which is somewhat popular among Koreans, though I don't mean Constitutional
therapy where they are using the fingers, but where the Koreans do the
evaluation of an individual based on, ark they a S h o Yin type, or a Shao Yang
type' are they a Tar"Yon8 type or a Shao Y a q type. That's also very often treated
by using Eight Extra Channels: the idea that you can treat the way our bodies
look, our height, our weight, our size, our form, and at the same time, treat the
kind of astrological lessons that we might have inherited from the Cosmos. The
idea that the Soul, as it enters the Jing, and gets embodied in the Jing, that Soul is
intended to fulfill a lesson in this particular lifetime- Contrary to what some of us
might think, to the Chinese, we're not born with a blank slate. You're born with
some type of experience that's going to be intended in this lifetime. Those
experiences are intended to help us to further adapt, to further grow, to further
transcend from the bondage, from the stagnation, that keep us in a process of
constant incarnation. So the Chinese do believe that there is such a thing as the
Spirit, that's in us, and that Spirit is in us because it has a particular curriculum
that it needs to fulfill. That is part of the idea of understanding astrological
Acupuncture. What exactly is that curriculum? Then it gives us further
understanding of why then we are attracting the experiences that seem to try and
bring out that particular curriculum.
That's the idea of Constitutional Energetics. In some ways, you can say
that by tapping into the Eight Extraordinary Meridians, you are potentially
working directly on altering one's Constitution, which, of course, has some
moral implications to it, as well. It's interesting that Eight Extraordinary
Meridians were not really used until the Miq Dynasty. The M i q Dynasty is
when the popular understanding of the time, was the Kidneys. Kidneys became
in vogue during the MI^ Dynasty. Everything related back to the Kidneys,
especially due to the teachings of 2 h a q f i n s Yue, the prominent practitioner of
that time. This was also when the School of Warming the Yang began to develop,
and manifest, emphasizing Minx Men Fire. This is also the period of time that the
Opening 130ints, for Eight Extra Channels developed, at least where they are
standardized, that "Oh yeah, SP-4 goes and taps into Chon^ Mai." Previous to
that, it would be ludicrous to think that you could tap into the Constitutional
level. How can you tap into Yin and Yatq if you're not going to be tapping into
where i t unfolds into, namely, Qi and Blood? Tin and Yang is the basis of Prc-
Natal Energetics. Qt and Blood is the basis of Post-Natal Energetics. You can onJy
tap into the Pre-Natal level, by first having access to the Post-Natal level. So the
general belief among clinicians of the past, prior to the M i q Dynasty, according
to the M T n Jitl,y, was that the Eight Extraordinary Vessels were beyond the reach
of the clinicians, of the Primary Meridians. You can tap into it. They serve as
ditches. They serve as reservoirs that hold onto physiology, if the physiology
was in a state of surplus, but it also holds onto pathology, if the pathology was in
a state o f surplus. Kind of like the idea of the lms, serving as a reservoir, to
allow Pathological Factors to be kept in a state of Fullness, until those Pathogenic
Iiictors no longer can be held by the Yiuin level, and subsequently, those
pathologies begin to manifest. Interesting enough, most of the Points that we
have, that we define as the Opening Points for Eight Extra Channels, are Luo
b i n ts.
Again, if s important to understand that perhaps there is this moral
obligation among the Chinese, that you should not be tapping into the level of
the genetic code. You know that in modem days, there is the debate about
cloning. There is the debate about should we be doing genetic engineering. Is it
morally right? And perhaps that was the drawback among the Chinese, all the
way up to the Ming Dynasty, that we shouldn't be tapping into the
Constitutional level. At best, if we do tap into it, it should be for the sake of
preserving the species, not for just any general idea, some very serious disease,
or a person is having difficulty with mortality. And if we are playing the role
that we should be able to fight off death, then, yes, maybe the Eight Extra
Channels should be used, but of course, everyone eventually dies, so there are
some of us who believe, why not let nature take if s course. In any case, I leave
that debate up to you. While there is substantial amount of information that
occurs after the Ming Dynasty, during the Ming and after the Ming Dynasty, we
don't really have much information about Eight Extra Channels prior to that era
of time.
So the challenge and concern about altering one's genetics, one's Fate,
should we be playing the role of the Creator? And if we are playing the role of
the Creator, what exactly is it that we're trying to do to the individual? Are we
trying to create him into your particular archetype, or are you trying to really
allow him to better have access into himself, so that he becomes more aware of
what his own unfolding in life is all about.
The clinical efficacy that you'll find in dealing with Eight Extra Channels,
and using Eight Extra Channels is that it will deal with conditions that involve
mutation of the DNA and the RNA. Some of the clinical applications would be
effectiveness in dealing with cancer, with AIDS, with tropical diseases, even
today with biological warfare, because those are the things that are going to
tackle the DNA directly.
We know that the role of Jing Essence is intended to deal with the
unfolding of life, and that, according to the Su Wen, was the Cycles of Seven and
Eight. That means during these particular junctions of our lives, we have major
responsibilities, major changes in our lives, that in some ways shape future
development: Cycles of Seven and Eight. That's just based on the Su Wen. The
Ling Shu actually has it in cycles of ten years. So not all books will agree that
that's seven and eight. But it' s a term I'm sure most of us have become familiar
with, in terms of this idea of seven and eight. So, again, think of seven and eight
as all of those major periods of your life, that in some ways defined your life. One
easy way of thinking about that is, if you were to write your autobiography,
obviously you're not going to write what you did on a day to day basis. You will
find that most people, including yourself, will find that tedious and boring. Most
likely, if you're going to write your autobiography, you're going to write about
the major periods of your life, where you felt you made major achievements,
periods of your life when you were traumatized, the bad and the good parts of
your life. And those are usually the disjunctive periods of your life, that, in some
ways, help to define who you are.
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0 New England School of Acupuncture &Jeffrey C. Yuen, 2005
So the Cycles of Seven and Eight very often reflected that, and this was
common to the Chinese, in an agrarian society. By the time someone was seven
and eight, they were already working with their parents in the fields.' Remember,
the importance of an agrarian society is to be able to work together as a unit, as a
group, the whole idea of Confucianism putting great emphasis on the family
unit And then, as you became fourteen to sixteen, most likely you were already
going to be married off. As you reached puberty, you were now going to take on
the ritual of what it means to be a man and a woman, at that very young age.
And then, by the time you reached twenty-one to twenty-four, most likely you
already would have had a family. So you can see that all of these represent major
periods in a persons life. Likewise in contemporary times, you can still find this
type of thinking. By the time most of us were seven and eight, we would have
gone to public schools, in this country. In a technological society, education is a
lot more important. In an agrarian society they like to have a lot more children,
because that increases the family unit, that increases cooperation in the family
unit, that increases output. In an agrarian society, the bigger the family is, the
more of an economic asset that person really represents. In a technological
society we often measure, not so much by the size of the family, but rather by our
own financial liability. What can we do? If I have a good education, I have a
good job. I probably have a good career. That's more of the kind of measurement
that we often see. So you can see that these are going to be somewhat different
from society to society, but, nevertheless, they represent cruaal changes in our
lives, during these disjunctive periods. By the time someone reaches seven and
eight, and one is placed in public school, that means one is now listening to the
opinion and viewpoints of others. School children are now hearing other school
children's opinion, that they normally don't get when they're at home. Your
viewpoint, most likely, is the viewpoint of your parents, and you basically buy
into that viewpoint, and now your viewpoint starts to get challenged when you
get put in a public setting, where you have to see other people with their other
views. So that's a very disjunctive period in one's life.
You can see that, when they talk about the Cycles of Seven and Eight,
they're not just talking about physical changes in the Qi and Blood, as we like to
describe it, because we can easily relate to the physical changes in the textbook.
But bear in mind, that referring to changes in one's life physically, mentally,
psychologically, neurologically, socially, all of those changes are taken into
consideration when you're looking at the Cycles of Seven and Eight.
Lastly, one can cultivate the Eight Extra Channels, as we very often will
see in systems that involve Eight Extra Channels. Some of you are familiar with
those systems. When you study the Microcosmic Orbit, you're cultivating the
Ren and the DM.You're trying to come back to the Sea of Yin and the Sea of
Yang. And then subsequently, if you graduate from that development, or from
that cultivation, then the teacher, or if you're reading from a book, you graduate
into the Macrocosmic Orbit, where you try to integrate the other, remaining
Extraordinary Meridians into your meditative practices. But, in truth, Eight Extra
Channels, in terms of their Cultivation, is anyone who's willing to increase self-
examination, self-inquiry, looking at their self and seeing, "What is my purpose,
8
ir will?"to use the Kidney's term. What is m v Zhi? W h
ee,the fundamen
Question: With regard to the question about self-acceptance, in this perspective,
what are the implications with regard to homosexuality, sexual orientation, and
that kind of thing?
JCY. Even that, because remember that if s also part of gender. We'll be looking
at sexual identity later on, when we look at one of the Eight Extra Channels, and
you're going to see the Qiao Vessels as accepting oneself, and included in that self
is one's gender. Included in oneself is one's ethnic association. So definitely,
we're going to look at some of these issues as part of the Eight Extra Channels.
2. Relationship to}ing Essence

Because if s Constitution, the key word, of course, is Jing Essence. The
Eight Extraordinary Vessels derive their Qi from the Kidney and its Jing, to
support Post-Natal Qi. The general belief here is that, if we can tap into Post-
Natal Qi, over time, we can then tap into that which Post-Natal Qz is getting its
resources from, namely, the Kidneys. Again, that which represents both Qi and
Blood, that which represents both External and Internal, are the Luo Points, from
an Acupuncture perspective. We already know the theory of Source - Lw.It is
said, according to the Primary Meridians, that the Luo Point of one Meridian
connects to its Yin Yang pair at the Source Point: the idea of Source and Luo.
What I am experiencing from the Exterior and the Interior, eventually will have
an impact on the Constitution. This is the link between Preheaven and
Postheaven Qi. This is just the language we often use in textbooks to establish the
relationship of Eight Extra Channels to other Meridians, most commonly, to the
Primary Channels.
Jing is responsible for the Cycles of Seven and Eight. Jing is responsible
for the process of growth, maturity, development, conception, and pregnancy.
Keep in mind, that we're not just talking about physical growth. We're also
referring to cognitive, emotional, neurological, and social development as well.
So there are other factors that they're definitely involved with. If s just that the
easiest description of anything is always to describe it within tangible, physical
terms, and this was sometimes mistaken, when people read Chinese Medicine,
thinking, "Oh, if s only about physical symptoms." If s not. If s just that if s
easier to describe it in those particular terminologies.
We know that the Jing is supported by the Blood, because Jing is seen as a
Yin humor, as a Yin Fluid, and it is going to be supported by the Post-Natal
humor, namely the Blood, and bodily Fluids, the Jin Ye. We also know that Jing
generates the Bone via the Marrow, and that, from there, it Nourishes the Sea of
Marrow, namely, the Brain. So the relationship between Jing Essence and the
Curious Organs, in terms of the Blood, in terms of the Marrow, in terms of the
Brain, obviously mediated by the Spine. And we already know that part of the
body Fluids, the thick Fluids, the Ye, are the Fluids that also go to become the
Marrow, that go into the Spine, into the Brain.
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0 New England School of Acupuncture &JeffreyC . Yuen, 2005
It is also said that the Essence of the Kidneys are conveyed through the
eyes: the relationship between the Kidneys, the Essential Qi, and the relationship
to the eyes, in terms of the Spirit. They say that this is conveyed through the
Ancestral Qi. In other words, the Ancestral Qi, which is the Qi of the chest. . .
again if s going to be a term that we will tackle, because not everyone agrees
with that. Ancestral Qi is definitely said to be the Qi that is produced at the chest,
because if s your breath that is the direct connection to your Ancestors. The
breath that you breathe, is the breath that was breathed by others of the past,
and others of the future. So that is really the direct connection we have to our
lineage. We also know that Ancestral Qi links up to the Heart. But, in any case,
the idea here is that Essential Qi has an effect on Ancestral Qz; the Kidneys Grasp
the Qz of the Lungs. The Kidneys then express that Qi through the Liver, through
Blood. In terms of the idea of the Five Element Theory, that Water Grasps the Qi
from Metal, then it extends that Qi through Wood, through the Liver, in the form
of Blood, and that is conveyed through the eyes. The idea that Essential Qi is
represented through the eyes.
In Chapter 71 of the Ling Shu, it says, lfZong % ,Ancestral Qi,

accumulates in the center of the chest." Ren 17 JQ. +
Dan Zhong, would be the
Point representation of that statement, "and expresses through the throat, the
larynx, and links to the Heart into the eyes." And again, the relationship between
Ancestral Qi, and Kidneys, and the relationship between the Lungs and the
Kidneys. The idea that Ming Men Fire only begins to bum, the pilot light only
begins to bum, when if s fanned by the Descension of Lung Qi into the Kidneys.
Here, I am trying to begin establishing the importance of BL-1 Jing Ming

'mil ,since BL-1 is the Yang of Water, Kidney's Essence. If s conveyance,
Yang,would be reflected by the Bladder, and we already know the importance of
Bladder Shu Points, for the dissemination of Essence. Those of you who have
been to the class on the Nan Jing School, we definitely talked about that. But the
idea here is of BL-1, because of if s connection, locally over the area of the eyes.
And the idea of the eyes being reflective of one's Spirit, which is being conveyed
through one's Self, as reflective of one's Jing. So, this is the relationship that we
have, of Eight Extra Channels, through Zong Qi, as well as the relationship of
Eight Extra Channels into the Shen.
3. The Relationship to the Other Channels

Already I've made the connection that we have with the Luo Passage
Meridians. We've done that by Points, that Luo Points connect to Source Points,
which represent Yuan Qi. We also know that if s the Luo Meridians that end after
reaching the Great Luo of the Spleen. They terminate into the Constitutional
Level. So not only by Points, but also by sequence, by the Meridians themselves,
as a continuum, the Luo Meridians end, if you're following the model from the
Ling Shu, they end at the Ren and DM'SLuo. If you're following the model of the
Nan Jing, they end at the Luo of Yin and Yang, according to the Nan Jing
practitioners, it is the Qiao Vessels. But in both traditions, they agree that the Luo
Meridians eventually, when you can no longer maintain Latency in the level of
11
Blood, they bring it to the level of the Constitution, and lets the Constitution
mutate, to further accommodate the onslaught of Pathological Factors. They end
at the level of the Constitution, at the Ren or the Du's Luo, or be it the Qiao
Vessels.
In previous discussions, we already made the connection between the

Eight Extra Channels and the Divergent Channels. We know that, for example,
the Kidney Divergent Meridian which is part of the First Confluence of the
Divergents, goes into Dai Mai, the Belt Channel. So already, the relationship
between the Eight Extra Channels and the Divergents is established by the
trajectory that begins the Divergent Channels, namely the Belt Channel's
relationship here. But also the idea that the Divergent Channels deal with the
level of the Bone, that they begin at the major articulations.The Primary
Channels go into these areas, but the Divergent Channels really are seen as
originating, unlike the Primary Channels, at the major articulations themselves:
beginning at the knees, beginning at the hip, beginning at the shoulders. The Luo
Channels generally begin at the lesser articulations, the wrists and the ankles.
But, according to Luo Meridian discussions, they do not penetrate the Joints
themselves. So they have no influence over the Joints. They eventually will enter
the Joints when they enter the Ren and the Du, or when they enter into the
Primary Channels, affecting the Source Points, which begin very close to the
minor articulations of the body.
Now, if you notice, the Eight Extra Channels arc really beginning at the
bony areas that one would say would be considered the major bony cavities of
the body. Unlike the Divergents which begin at the major distal articulations, the
shoulders, the legs, and the arms, the Eight Extra Channels affect the pelvic
cavity, the thoracic cavity, and the cranial cavity, the skull. These are the big
bony areas of the body, the ribcage, the pelvis, and the skull. These are where the
Eight Extra Channels are going to have their important dynamics dealt with, and
included in that is the spine. We looked at these previous Meridians as beginning
at the extremeties of the body, and now the Eight Extra Channels begin at the
major axis, namely, the torso of the body. The major one that we're looking at
initially is going to be the pelvis, because the pelvis is where Jing Essence is
located. Jing is this heavy material, which should be located at the heaviest
Burner, the heaviest region among the central regions of the body, namely the
pelvic cavity, or the lower abdoomen. The Ren, the Du and the Chong, the First
Ancestry, begins there.
Once you have the Du allowing us to have this connection between the
lower pelvis, the ribcage, and the head, then, we can have, with the upright
posture, with the spine, we can now have, first and foremost, the ability toward
movement, which is what the Sea of Yang represents: movement. And those
movements are going to be articulated through the legs. So subsequently you'll
see that the Wei Channels and the Qiao Vessels will have to begin, because
they're not First Ancestries, at the legs. They'll begin away from this lower
abdomen. They'll begin at the legs. And of course the role of Dai Mai is to
integrate that which begins at the legs, back to that which begins at the lower
12
abdomen. So you'll see that again, as part of the sequencing of the Eight
Extraordinary Meridians.
And lastly, we can say that Eight Extra Channels' connection to the
Primary Channels occurs primarily through the Yuan Source Points. But the
question here is, do the Yuan Source Points of the Primary Channels tap directly
into Yuan Qi? Eight Extra Channel practitioners will say, " NO," and of course, if
we don't do Eight Extra Channels, we just do Primary Channels, and we want to
get around that, we would say, "Yes." So it depends what Meridians you're
going to be practicing.
Now the argument is very easy. Where does the Yuan Qi at the Yuan
Source Point come from? According to the Nan Jing School, at the lower region,
the Lower Burner, you have the Left and the Right Kidneys. The Left Kidney is
often referred to as Kidney Yin. This is where the Jiw Essence is said to be
located. The Right Kidney is said to be where Kidney Yang, the Ming Men Fire is
located. And according to the theory earlier, Ancestral Qi,the Lung Qi, which
links us to our Ancestries, comes to the Kidneys, because that's the material link
to our Ancestry. So the etheric link comes down, and the Lungs Descend their Qi
into the Kidneys; the beginning of Post-Natal life begins with the breath. That
breath goes into Ming Men Fire and it excites the pilot light. So the Ming Men Fire
now gets turned on. It goes and it travels across into the Left Kidney, and it
begins the process of combustion, burning up Kidney Essence. And, as the
Kidney Yin, this heavy substance, begins to get combusted, Fire and Water
mixing together, what you have is the Essence becomes more etheric. It becomes
lighter. It floats. It rises. It becomes Kidney Qi. If s no longer Kidney Yin. It
becomes Kidney Qi. It begins to rise, and as it rises up along the spine, it begins
to irrigate this Yuan Qi into the Zang Fu. As it irrigates into the Zang Fu, it
connects with the Meridians that are coming into the Zang Fu, and, we pointed
out what those Meridians were. They were the Divergent Channels, as well as
the Primary Channels. But the Nan ling, which is what this model is based on, the
Nan Jing does not have Divergent Channels. There is no mention of Distinct,
Separate, or Divergent Channels in the Nan Jiw.And of course, in lacking, they
invented things that will have similar functions to the Divergent Channels. We
know that the Nan Jing is what created the Eight Influential Points. The Points
that will allow you to tap into the Bones. The Points that will allow you to tap
into the Marrow, like BL-11; the idea of using GB-39 for the Marrow, because
that's the only way that you can access something that your particular discussion
is not dealing with, namely, the Distinct Meridians, which tap into the Bone and
the Marrow.
What we have, according to the Nan Jing, is that this dissemination, this
irrigation of Kidney's Essence becoming Kidney Qi, which means it can now go
into a Meridian that conducts Qi and Blood, namely the Primary Meridians, and
it goes from the Primary Meridians into the Yuan Source Points, the "Original"
Points. This is described as the San Jiao mechanism, because this is the
relationship between Fire and Water; as I bring Lung Qi into the Kidneys, I
excite the Ming Men Fire. That Fire begins to bum the Yin, to make it become
light. It becomes Qi. It rises, and goes to the Zang Fu, entering into the Primary
13
Meridian, which conducts Qi and Blood, finding if s way into the Yuan Source
Points. That means if I Needle the Yuan Source Point, and I'm trying to tap into
Yuan Source Qi, intrinsic in that theory is that I have to also Needle the Shu
Points that this Yuan Qi is being transported into, according to the theory of the
San Jiao mechanism, and the Bladder Shu Points, which enter the Zang Fu. But
furthermore, I still have to Needle where it is coming from, from Du Mai, from
the Governor Vessel itself. So this is why Eight Extra Channel practitioners
believe that if there is a Blockage in your Shu Points, if there is a Blockage in Du
Mai, by tapping into the Yuan Source Points, you're not going to get any
energetic connection to the Yuan Source Qi. Thafs why they believe that, when
people Needle the Source Point, they won't necessarily get the same kind of
effect that they might get if they Needled the Eight Extraordinary Meridians
themselves, directly.
This is where we can make the connection to the Primary Channels, but,
again, we could dispute that connection, in terms of, can it really happen to the
level of Yuan Qi?
I mentioned already that there are Luo Meridians, and, depending on

which edition of the Ling Sku you read, there are either going to be 15 or 16 Luo
Meridians. There is also the Great Luo of the Stomach, that has pretty much been
omitted in most later editions. In the Ling Shu, the Luo Meridians end with the
Ren and the DM,going into Eight Extra Channels, or the Yin Qzao, or Yang Qiao, in
Nan Jing tradition. And the correlation, nevertheless, with the Luo Points,
eventually as the Opening Points, for these Meridians. Remember, when you
study the Eight Extra Channels, basically the Opening Points are Luo Points. The
exceptions, we know, are going to be two that are Shu Stream Points, and we'll
see why they are Shu Stream Points, or why they should be Shu Stream Points.
And the other one is much easier, because, when you look at KI-6 and BL-62,
those are the actual Points where the Meridians begin, so they obviously should
be their Opening Points. One might even argue, then why shouldn't just Points
on the lower abdomen be the Opening Points for the Ren, the Ckong, and the DM?
Indeed, before they developed Opening Points, earlier clinicians would say that
those are the Points where the Meridians begin their trajectory, and should be the
Points that we should be Needling. The only problem is, where exactly does the
Meridian begin? Not everyone agrees where all these Eight Extra Channels, at
least the First Ancestry, begin, and that's why, as many of you know, books tend
to not get caught up in the controversy. They at least will say, it begins "in the
lower abdomen." That's just so that we don't have to get into the controversy of
where exactly does it begin?
There is also the relationship of the Yin of Yaw, and what I'm referring to,
relative to the anatomical discussion, is that the Yang of Yang are the Sinews; the
Yin of Yung are the Bones and the Joints. Just as the Yang of Yin would be the Fu
Organs; the Yin of Yin would be the Zang Organs. So we know that already, the
relationship of the Yin of the Yang, the Bone and the Joints, of the Divergent
Channels, to the Eight Extra Meridians. And the Yuan Source Points as the
dissemination of Jing Essence from the Left Kidney via Ming Men Fire, along Du
Mai, into the Zang Fu, into the Primary Channels to the Yuan Source Points, just
14
0 New England School of Acupuncture &Jeffrey C . Yuen, 2005
to describe that mechanism. So all of these will give us dues about Point
combinations. In other words, if someone has, let's say, an Eight Extra Channel
problem, and I suspect that it relates to Joints, I'm treating arthritis,
osteoarthritis, say, or I'm treating osteoporosis, then I might want to combine it
with other Meridians, that have an effect directly on the Joints, like Divergent
Meridians, might be combined with Eight Extra Channels in my treatment.
I might want to look at Eight Extra Channels in helping to bring out the
Yuan Qi to the Post-Natal level, and I might be more interested in the Luo Points,
and Luo Vessels, not just as Opening Points of Eight Extras, but as part of a
Meridian System to further help the Eight Extra Channels. I might be interested
in using Points along the Primary Channels, and how they might have an effect
on Eight Extra Channels as well.
B. The Unfolding of Life (Ming Fate & Yun Destiny)
1. Pre-natal to Neo-natal in Post-natal Energetics
The next discussion I want to go into, is this idea of the unfolding of life.
We are just providing the foundations that will allow you to understand the
descriptions more easily later on.
Question: Could you repeat the principle of when we would think about adding
in the Luo Vessels into the Eight Extraordinary Meridians?
JY: Well remember, LMOSdeal with Blood. So if you have conditions that involve
Blood, let's say, the easiest one would be Chmg Mai, the Sea of Blood. So one
might then add Luo treatments, in addition to the Chong treatment, if you're
dealing with issues relating to Blood. Or issues relating to Shen disturbances,
such as Qiao Vessels, might deal with that, or Wei Mai Vessels might also deal
with that as well.
So, we have this idea of the unfolding of life, Cycles of Seven and Eight.
What we're looking at, in terms of Eight Extra Channels, is that we have Pre-
Heaven moving into Post-Heaven. You have this idea where heaven and earth, if
you're using the Ba Gua, lies in the top and the bottom of the Ba Gua formation.
The three solid lines and the three broken lines. What they call Qzan Kun, the idea
of Heaven and Earth. That would be Pre-Natal. And then as that begins to shift,
and it moves into Post-Natal, we're interested in the relationship between Fire
and Water. That's where you have the solid with the broken line in the middle,
and another solid line, and then on the bottom the broken line, followed by a
solid line, and then, again, two broken lines: the relationship between Fire and
Water. It's the Post-Natal, head and tail, so to speak, of the Ba Gua.
This is the kind of language you encounter when you read the Eight Extra
Channel literature. If s used in a philosophical context, where they might use the
Ba Gua, because the Ba Gua represents eight trigrams, and we have eight
Extraordinary Vessels, even though there are clinicians who have added to the
eight, to make it twelve, to be in line with the twelve Primary Channels. But this
15
0 New England School of Acupuncture & JeffreyC. Yuen, 2005
is not Post-Natal energetics. We're looking at Pre-Natal, and the eight represents
the dissemination of Yin and Yang. That means the beginning of Yang, Shao Yang,
moving into if s growth and maturity, Tai Yang, and then from Tai Yang, moving
into if s decline, Shao Yin, and then subsequently where Yin, dormancy,
mortality, becomes the principal focus. So this idea of Heaven, time with no
Earth, is reflective of the Pre-Natal concept, that, prior to us being born into the
world and being subjected to the forces of gravity, we are in essence, existing in a
timeless, and in some degree also in a world that is not shaped by earth yet.
In other words, what I'm suggesting to you here is, we all know that the
idea of life is a continuum, if s a circle. Time, in Chinese symbolism, is
represented by a circle, that everything really is continuous, and in truth, that is
the case. Even though we have developed a calendar, and we actually welcome
the beginning of a new year, that's more of a ritual that we have developed
socially. But if you think of it, time really is a continuum that is taking place. But
what we've done is, we've taken this idea of time, and we've developed this
concept as cyclical, that you have the idea of Slwo Yang, Tai Yang, Shao Yin and
Tai Yin. (Circle divided into quarters: Shao Yang - bottom left, Tai Yang - top left,
Sho Yin - top right, Tai Yin - bottom right) This is the kind of concept that we
see. Remember, those of you familiar with the Yin Yang symbol, that was
developed during the Song Dynasty, that whole symbolism that you're familiar
with, when you study Tai Ji. In fact, it was developed by a Confuaanist, and then
the Daoists adapted to that: the idea of Tai ]i, this whole concept of the Great
Ultimate, or the Supreme Ultimate. That was a Song Dynasty invention, as a
diagram, and later on we integrated it. So their early depiction is really just,
here's a circle, and the circle follows four basic phases, Preheaven. So you have
Shao Yang at the beginning, Tai Yam, Shoo Yin and Tai Yin. So already we know
Shao Yang/GaSi Bladder, Triple Heater; Tai Yang/Bladder, Small Intestine. Shao
Yin, we know is reflected by Kidney and Heart, and Tai Yin is reflected by Spleen
and Lungs. We know that. And we know that the Heart is also the Sovereign
Ruler; you don't tap directly into the Heart. You get into the Heart via if s
Protector, the Pericardium.
So already we know where the Opening Points are going to be located.

They're going to be in this particular sequence. We know GB-41, TH-5, BL-62, SI-
3, KI-6, PC-6, SP-4, LU-7. Those are the Opening Points. They come from this
model. Now this model, which some of you might start to be uncomfortable
with, is also in line with the Five Element model, because what you have is,
Wood becomes Fire. Fire had to go into Water, because remember, when we start
to develop the Yin Yang symbol, the idea is that when anything reaches if s
extreme, it needs its opposite to allow it to move into the continuum. So
whenever you get something reaching if s extreme, it has to now come back, and
so what happens when you reach Fire? Fire goes to Water (depicted as
descending along the curve which divides the Yin Yang symbol). As it goes to
Water, Triple Heater goes, remember Triple Heater is what connects Fire to
Water, so now it goes to the Bladder, and from there it comes back out of Fire,
Small Intestine (ascending along the same curve), to allow us to have, again, the
Yin aspect. So what is the Yin aspect of Fire and Water? Kidney. And
Pericardium, which then allows us to move from Fire into Earth, into Metal- If s
16
principles, what we would caU the Li E& ,of Five Elements, already being
constructed, in utero. In the Song Dynasty there is a famous saying, that Qi
cannot be without Li,principle; Li cannot be without Qi.So the idea is that there
is already something intrinsic in all of us, that allows us to be virtuous, that
allows us to be principled, thaf s already built in, in the creation itself. This is
part of the philosophical thinking. Now, when I say that if s "virtuousw# Virtuous
is when you follow in accordance with your nature. I f s no longer Virtuous when
you're not following in accordance with your nature. Your nature, by the
judgement by others, could be bad" but as long as you're following in accordance
with that, you are cultivating principle. And once we are born/ Fkfh, we're
subjected now to form.
D-- ---
Post-Heaven
*- w-
if s effect over these four cycles,
and what you have now are the twelve Primary Channels. So that's just a
philosophical evolution from Preheaven, where I said that you have the idea of
the three solid lines with the three broken lines, and then you go to Post-Heaven,
or Post-Natal, Pre-Natal to Post-Natal, and you have now this particular
relationship between Fire and Water, so what they call Qk K u n , and Kan and
Li,would be the other trigrams, descriptions, if one was using the Yi Jing to
describe the understanding of Eight Extra Channels, which is used in
Astrological Acupuncture
The first thought here is that Pre-NatalIy, what you also have is the
reversal ofthe Five Element Theory. So what you're looking at Pre-Natally, is
that, from the cycle Water > Metal creates conception, and from conception, what
you have is the trimesters of Earth, which is the embodiment of the Corporeal
Soul, the fetus, which we will call the Tai ^s . And then the second trimester is
represented by the Fire, the sovereign purpose of our existence, and then, what
you have after that, into the third trimester is Wood, which is the organization of
events, and the time for the experience ofone's purpose-OK? Let me try and
explain this to you.
Here is the male, and here is the female principle, as they engage in the
intimate act of creation,sexual reproduction or sexual intercourse. As they're
engaging in this sacred ritual, and they're exchanging their sexual fluids, what
you have now, potentially, is conception.But the conception is not just based on
the morphology, the Jing that is being exchanged between male and female.
During this period of time, there is also a Cosmic Qi, what they call Y m Qi
Â¥i $5 ,that is occuring at this time. That means the cosmos has a certain
ft
17
0 flew England School of Acupuncture &JeffreyC.Yuen, 2006
This is the nolion that lhe Chinese have about what happens in-uko. As
youmay how, b ~ e ~ w h a aareoneyearold.
~ i s ~ ~
They give age to that &u&m life. And then subsequmtly, e v q l h i n g k g h s to
unfold. So this is the idea of what 1mean that Five Element T h q is not just one
way. It is m e way Poet-Nataily but ReNatally, or in d c h d d
language, it gaes in the opposite way. So if you ever want to see referne to Five
Element Theory going bd~~amh, aU you have to do is pick up m alchemical
text, they'lI talk about h e -d m
What .
is the role ofalchemy?They say it is
the reversal of the aging process. So you return back to where you stem &om.
OK? And that is where you have the idea of longevity-
1 hope you all can follow the statement that Pre-NaMy you have the
reversal of Wu Xingr Five Elementrwith Wates-Metalrepresenting conceptiont
and the trimesters of Earth> Fire> Wood/ representing the three trimeste~of
fetal life. And the statement that everything occurs in the presence of it's
oppositef and regardless of good or bad/ in t e r n of those experiences that have
been programmedr these experiences are needed so one can transcendt so that we
do not have to relive those experiences again and again and again, the idea of
Harmonization. So it's not thatJ "Ohr I have a second chance around." The idea is
thatr if I can't get over it this lifetime! well*I'm going to have to go through the
same thing all over again. So you're better off if you try to get rid of it right now.
Try to transcend it right nowf in this lifer rather than wait for another life. One
might say! philmophically~it's s e ~ n agreally powerful motivation for us to try
to really transcend our issues, our problemsr so that we can willfully diel with no
regrets left.
The blending of the male and female Essence/ and the Cosmic QrJ or in
Chinese mediciner we don't talk about Cosmic Qi that oftenrwe talk about Da Qi,
the Great Qi/ and that is Metal. And the Kidneys grasping the Lung Qi is the
embodiment of the Pol the earthbound Spirit/ into the Essence/ and that Heaven
with no Earth is the movement of Yin and Yang/ as rqresented by Shao Yang to
Tai Yangf to Shao Yin to Tai Yin. And that's where we start getting this idea of
where the Opening Points may be located.
2. Eight Extra Channels as a Continuum
This is the First Ancestry/ and the Cycles of Seven and Eight/ the major
transitional periods. The continuum basicallyr is from Pre-Heaven Chong to Post-
Heaven Chong. The Chong /the Rent and the Du into Yin Wei and Yang Wei, and
then into Yin Qrao and Ymg Qiaor and then into Dai Mai. What I'm saying here is
that, when you study the Meridians of Acupuncture, one of the things we have
to understand is that the Meridians all have a sequence. They follow a particular
order. You already studied the order of the Primary ChannelsJbeginning with
the Lungs, ending with the Liver. That's a sequencing. Those of you who have
been to the other classesJhave studied the Divergents. They begin with Bladder-
Kidney, and end with Large Intestine-Lung. That's the sequence of the
Confluences. The Luo Meridians, like the Primary Meridiansrbeginr at least in
some traditions, with the Lungs/ and like the Primary Meridians! end with the
Liver/ before they go to the Great Luo of the Spleenfand then into the Ren and
Du's Luo.
The Sinew Meridians also have a sequence, beginning with Leg Tar Yang!
and then, basically! following all of the Yang Leg Channels, before going into the
Arm Yang Channelsrand then into the Leg and Arm Yin Channels.
The sequence of the Eight Extra Channels is saying that you have this First
Ancestry/ and the First Ancestry is represented by the Chong) the Ren! and the
19
fi. So,one, two, three, it's going to move into the Wei Channelsf and then from
the sequence, it's going to move into the Qrao and then into the Dai. That would
be kind of like the context of looking at the order of the Eight Extraordinary
Vessels. In other words, life begit-ts, with the Sea of Yin mdbYang,m d then it
moves into that which represents Qi and Blood, Post-Natally. So this is Pre-Natal
component, moving into the Post-Natal component, the component that is
measured by time, measured by growth, in terms of physicality, as well as in
terms of mental, and emotional and social development.
There is also what they refer to as a PR-Heaven Chmg and a Post-Heaven

Chong. The one that we'll be studying is the Post-Heaven because that's the one
that you can tap into. If it's Pre-Heaven, it means before form. So how can you
really tap into it? Pre-Heaven Chong, by the way, is depicted in text books of
Tibetan medicine, and the Pre-Heaven C h g is usually depicted where you have
a Meridian that goes right through the center of the body, and we still call the
Chong the Thrusting Vessel, right through the center of the body. It divides the
body in half. That would be Yin and Yang. So that would be the Pre-Heaven
Chong. The Chong Vessel that we study today is not that trajectory.
So in brief, if one were to look at the sequence in a way that makes it

easier to understand, just think, Chong is that Eight Extra Channel which
represents creation. So Chong is the architect of creation, since ling is what
creates, reproduces. Chong represents the architect of creation. It is the
blueprint. So, with any blueprint? you have to say?what do I want this individual
space for? What is the purpose that I'm trying to construct something for? And,
remember, we talked about the Heart as creating a sense of purpose. That's the
second trimester. Since we need structure, we need a Yin, a shape, a form, that
will allow this purpose to be fulfilled, and we need to move about in a certain
fashion, that will allow us to encounter those experiences that will allow us to
graduate from this creation. So the purpose is represented by the Chong. The Yin
is represented by Ren, and the Yang is represented by Du-
To use a very simple analogy, imagine constructing a room. What do I

want this room to be? It could be a room in a house. Is it the bedroom? Is it the
living room? It could be a room in the facilities here. Is it going to be a
classroom? 1s it going to be a treatment room? Is it going to be an administrative
office? So that's the purpose, that's the b l u e p ~ tYou
. want to construct it in a
way that serves the blueprint: the purpose. So you would say, OK I have this
room drawn out. It's going to be this shape. It's going to be this body. It's going
to be t h s size, this height. It's going to have this ethnic quality to it. It's going to
be male or female. That's the purpose. That's the blueprint.
After you draw out the diagram, the schemata, you're going to say, what
I'm going to need to make this room a reality? I need the resources to make it a
classroom. Even before that, because that's going to be more Post-Natal, we still
have to get the Pre-Natal stuff, to make a sense that we have a confined space.
Space really is infinite. We're confining the space. That's what we're saying;
that's cofined space, that's confined time. So what we're doing is, we're going to
get sheet rock. We're going to get electricity. We're going to have the wiring.
20
And then, like anythingf we have to construct it, we have to put it
together. So we're going to put all the sheet rock up. We're going to have the
floor done, the lumberr the w ~ done.
i dl that ~ ThaVs what Du Ahi is. Du
is the construc!ion, putting it tq@hm, assembling khe m u r c e s that w e have-
F W y , we now have a brad new morn, a brand new -0% born into
the world- h d now this p m is subjected to the element of h e . That means
that over h e , we see this mom, we see this indiv-idualgrow. We see the use
that this mom is being made with and for. So thafs going to be subjected to the
&mmt of time. T h e is how we change because of the activity. How we look
during those different h e s is the space. That means, once you are hm,you go
through the Cycles of Seven and Eight. You start to Imk different. Whm you
lmk at a photo a1bum of y m e 1f, when you were a toddler, then look at yourself
when you went to nursery school. Look at yourself when you went to public
school, or elementay school, and then wentudy, look at y m w l f when you
reach addescence. You see the shape, the space#of how you've changd over
t h e . And if you ask yourself, even though you're stiU the m e person, Imking
k m g h a photo album md you say, "Oh, that was me," what is v q different
about you, not d y in terms of shape, but what y m were doing at thwe
different times? ThaVs mpmmted by Wei MX h other words, WA$ r~rnmk~
means Link- What l i d s me together h m the time 1 was wry young to the time
T'm going to be very old? What k e p s d of that tqether? What integrate dl of
that together? Justlike this mom, over b e as we've probably already SXQ
.
might have gone through. they may have qmintecl the mom, because it was
starting to age. So some of us go m d get cosmetic surgeryr because we need to
look different. So we're doing something because we're mcomfortable with
what time has cime to our bodie. Tht"sa Wei Mar issue
Then, irrespective of this mom, this pemmpshistmy, we still have to look
at who she or he is, right nowfat this time. And that's the @ao. So while the
L,inking V e s d deals with comeding the cloth, the thread, of keeping werythhg
together, the Qim ody r&tm to the m m t moment. It's how 1l w k at this h e ,
at myself, Yin,and at the world (Ymg]. That's why it's heady m1ated to one's
perception, me's insightpfarsight, hindsighk its relationship to BL-I, to the e y s .
'me Essential Qk how animatd do 1feel about my life right now?That's the
Qzao,
And anything that 1donptwant to look at, or something that I'm

constantly looking at, perhaps, m h ~ n t a lis, going to be the Wni- The Wai Mai is
kind of like a closet, where you put the things that you don't need in your life,
but you can't get rid of,and you don't know what to do with it. You put it away"
maybe thinkingrwell, one day I might need it. So you are anticipating, out of the
moment. The Dai Moi is for all the displaced emotions, displaced traumas,
displaced aspirations of one's Me. It'sthe '%PI t". You're trying to say' "It's still
me, though." The Dai Mai is still trying to come back to where it began, the lower
abdomen.
This is, in brief, the sequence of the Eight Extraordinary Meridians. Some
-
of us, including myself, who practice Eght Extra Channels, believe that one of
the best ways of working with the Eight Extra Channels is to start by doing
spring cleaning. Get rid of that extra sentiment. Clem out that closet in y o u
mind as well as the closet in your physical life: Dai Mui. And we know that, Dai
mi will tell you, when it reaches the point when you can't close that door any
longer, it's telling you, wait a minute, things are leaking out. You have these
discharges that are coming out. And it's not about trying to Astringe the
Leakage, to plug up the holes where it's leaking out. It's about cleansing.
&cause we all h o w , if you just try to block the Damp Heat in the Lower Burner,
or the Damp Cold in the b w e r Burner, or Heat in the Blood in the Lower
Burner, whatever it is in terms of pattern differentiation, all you're really doing is
trying to buy time. And time may not be on your side. That's the problem.
So,we're going to take a b r e d at this junction, and when we come back

we'll finish up on the o v e ~ e w
of the Eight Extra Channels, before we go into
each one of them.
{Break)
Question: Would you explain the Cycles of Seven and Eight to us again?
JY:The concept of the Cycles of Seven and Eight is a term that's found in the Su
Wen. So in the Su Wen, they are basically describing that a person, between every
seven or eight years, undergoes changes in terms of their Qi and Blood. What
you see is that the person, propessively, is getting stronger and stronger, and
after the fifth cycle, that means, after they reach thirty five, and forty, at that
point, literally, things start to fall apart- They're using five because, as all of you
are familiar with the Five Elements, unfortunately, or, depending on how you
want to look at it, the idea here, according to the Cycles of Seven and Eight, that
is being projected by the Su Wen, and the Ling Shu gives us ten year cycles, and
some of us who practice Astrological Acupuncture might even use twelve years
as a cycle, but regardless of how they're describing the cycle, basically what you
have is a bell curve.
That is to say, that when we reach a certain point in our lives, and if we
follow the Cycles of Seven and Eight, and some of you might choose not to
follow it because it gives you a relatively younger age when you faI1 apart, you
may want to say Cycles of Ten, but it's going to be after the fifth cycle, between
the age of t w five to forty, things start to decline. So it's almost like, at that
point, one reaches one's midlife cycle, and can have their midlife crisis. And
everything begins to break apart, and of course, followed by seven times seven,
and eight times eight, from forty nine to sixtyfour, that's where we might have a
situation, where one thinks of menopause beginning to settle in. So the ideas of
the Cycle of Seven and Eight are unfortunate, because then the assumption here
is, as we get older, that because the ling is declining and no longer supporting Qi
22
0 New England School of Acupuncture &JeffreyC. Yuen, 200.5
m m ~ l e , ~ ~ - * * t h - & & i ~ t ~ * e
that I believe that, as you get older and.older, all you're accumulating is
experiences, and those experiences- a measure of how you see fee worfd.
Unfortunately, the reasonwhy w e tend to age, is because we surround ourselves
with the same kinds of experiences,as we get older and older, which means, due
to habituation, we get older. Habituationmeans that we be& to see the world
in a very fixated way, and that fixationbegins to dimiiush possibilitiesin cmr
lives. So,in truth, then,what we- to suffer from, is this idea of
psychosderosis, hardening of one's attitude, that keeps your life in a state that
you're just not going to see an improvementbecause you're not willing to
change.
Any other questions? Yes?

Question: Continuing on that Dm Mai issue, you said dean out the closet first, are
you talking about that in terms of emotional doset? Mainly emotional, or also
physiological?
JY:Both. Remember, Chinese medicine does not separate mind and body. We
don't really see any differences between the two. hi the literature, i f s easier to
describe in physical form, because if s easier to relate to.
Question: So in your practice, you said that first you dean out the closet, then
you start .. .
JY:Right, well, you're going to find that I'm going to recommend two
approaches to Eight Extra Channels. I mean, if one knows exactly what they
believe which Eight Extra Channel is imbalanced, they could go directfy to that
Eight Extra Channel. But lef s say that, after this weekend, you became
somewhat enthusiastic about the use of the Eight Extra Channels for your clients,
and you don't know where to start Then you're going to start with either the
DBi Mai or the Ctong Mi. Dai Mai would be if you have a situation where you
believe your client has predominanfty more Excess than Deficiency, you're going
to deal mostly with Dai Mai. If you're going to think of your client as having
more predominance in Deficiencies, then you might start out with the Cbang,and
see where that leads the unfolding of life into.
D. Some Clinical Considerationsfor the Eight Extraordinary Vessels
1. Commentary Presented by the Nan Jing

We're going to move into some clinical considerations for the use of Eight
Extra Channels. After that, we should be able to start descnig, and looking at
the particulars for each of the Sight ,.:
quetion of amessability. Can I *B Vessels. The first is the
to the Eight Extra Channels?
Thafs been a profound question,I think, that has confronted clinicians for many,
23
0 New England ^fActtpuncture &Jeffrey C.Yuen, 2005
term. They say, "Sea of Yin," "Sea of Yaw," "Sea of Blood," "Sea of Marrow."
These all refer to the Eight Extra Vessels. So like a "Sea," they're going to be
where a lot of things are going to flow into: the idea of a reservoir, the idea of
taking on surplus pathology or physiology.
Now, we know that the time of the Nan Jing was, essentially, one might
say, the Han Dynasty ... Yes?
Question: I was just curious. I haven't attended any of your other lectures. I'm
just curious about this idea of "absorbing excess." When we talk about it in
terms of a dike or a dam that holds back water, that water, in terms of
agriculture, would eventually be used to irrigate. So if you have something that's
potentially calamitous coming into the body, is that necessarily going to stay
calamitous energy? Or is it going to transform into useful energy at some point?
JY:It can transform into useful energy, provided the Kidneys are intact.
Remember, here the inference is that you have some type of Pathogenic Factor.
The Pathogenic Factor could be an Exogenous or an Internal Pathogenic Factor,
and it has moved into the Interior. As it moves into the Interior, if s going to
confront, the Primary Meridians, or the Luo Meridians, and, we may even say,
the Divergent Channels, while the Sinew Meridians really deal, primarily, with
external Pathogenic Factors. So this Pathogenic Factor is going to be maintained
as Latent. The idea of Latency is that you're going to keep something from
moving, by financing Yin, be it in terms of Blood, Luos; be it in terms of bodily
Fluids, and the Divergents would deal with that; or be it in the form of Essence.
These are the things that have the density to maintain pathology, and keep
something in the form of a pathological process. So this would be where you
could think of a reservoir, using up this water supply, moving this water supply
out, to try to quench the thirst, to try to quench the appetite, to basically satisfy a
need of the body. But, nevertheless, that need stems from a Pathogenic Factor.
So,the idea of this (Yin)going in to maintain, or to control this Pathogenic
Factor, is known as Fu Qi ^^L ,Hidden Qi,or later on, we translate this as
Latent Qi. So what you have here is the notion that a number of Meridians can
get involved in this process. If involvement comes directly from Essence, that's
going to be the Eight Extraordinary Vessels.
Now, others would say, if s not energy coining out to satisfy a need, but
rather, it is something that has gone in, to the level of the reservoirs, something
that has gone into the reservoir itself, and has contaminated the reservoir. Some
people see it in that fashion. Rather than seeing something corning out, they see
the Pathogenic Factor moving in, but, because it is a reservoir, which means there
are things that are not being used, right now we are not feeling any signs and
symptoms of it. We're not feeling the contamination, we're not feeling the
pathology, because if s still, nevertheless, at this point, a reservoir. So this whole
notion is what we have, in terms of Latency.
Question: I know in the Korean system, they talk about the elements externally
coming in and nourishing the system, or supplementing the system, and I was
curious if. . . in herbology we sometimes talk about Transforming as opposed to
25
@ New England School of Acupuncture &Jeffrey C. Yuen, 2005
Purging. So I'm curious if there is a way to look at this in terms of Transforming
a pathogenic energy that's accumulated in the body, as opposed to Expelling it,
or maintaining it as Latent.
JY: Remember, pathogenic energy can only be transformed, when the body
perceives it as different If s almost like, if you see something thafs negative, it
cannot in if s own intrinsic function, transform i t It can only transform it when
there is an actual reorientation, literally, of the Shen, the Blood, to what the
Pathogenic Factor is. You see this in cases of multiple personalities. In one
personality, the person will have one disease. When they switch their
personalities, they don't have that disease any more. So the change of mind
changes the disease. But we can't say, "Well, I have this condition. Can I
transform it, by just simply transforming it?'Thafs not how Chinese medicine
will look at it. You can only be transforming it by first transforming your
perception of it, rather than it, itself.
Question: I was thinking along the lines of that same idea, in fact, some illness
that actually allows the Essence to do if s job, that that transformation is the
realization that that was what needed to happen, for that person at that time. So
it actually does transform the energy.
JY: Does everyone follow that? The suggestion here, is that one uses the disease
itself as a measure of one's spiritual development. The disease itself serves a
purpose, and that purpose was to be able to engage with the disease, to allow the
disease to help you to transform who you are. So there is that component. Some
people are uncomfortable with what the role of a physician or a healer really is.
Is our role really to save lives, to change the outcome? Or is our role, simply, to
help the person understand what the illness process is, and give them the choice
to move with that particular disease process? That's why I said earlier, that some
people are very uncomfortable working with the Eight Extra Channels, because
they are really uncomfortable working with the disease, or trying to alter one's
DNA, so that one does not have the disease. And be reminded from our
Divergent Meridian class, that, sometimes you get one disease, so that you do not
develop another kind of disease. So that, itself, is also a process, that we see as
an intrinsic wisdom of the body, that I give my Jing to a lesser evil, instead of
having something that might be much more taxing on the Jing, which you can't
deal with at all. So these are all issues that we encounter in the study of Chinese
medicine. Remember, if you're looking at the process of transformation, or
transmutation, where the Jing, or even the pathology, can be transmuted into
something else. Some of you have heard me talk about this in Alchemical
Acupuncture. That can only occur in the presence of Opposition.
Transformation does not occur by itself. It only occurs in the presence of
Opposition. When two opposing forces take place, the body will have to
transform to become one of those opposing forces, to allow for resolution to take
place, or all you're doing is Harmonizing the situation. And Harmonizing
doesn't really resolve a condition. That's one of the fundamental principles of
Yin and Yang Theory, that takes place.
26
Question: [inaudible, ? ... In order for transformation to take place the body has
to assume one aspect of the opposition?]
JY:No, in other words, you have Transformation taking place in your body at all
times. The notion that we mentioned earlier, that the Jing is Transformed into
Kidney Qi, and that Qi goes to move the Blood. But we also know that Blood can
get transformed back into Jing, and we can even include the body Fluids in all of
that. So there is always a Transformation taking place in the body. We're
Transforming this into becoming that, and all of these major Alchemical
processes are taking place in the body. But our Transformation, in many ways, is
not the same as Transmutation. Transmutation is where one form becomes
something entirely and totally different. Here we can still trace the remnants of
what that form is. So when you look at Transmutation, the idea that they have in
Chinese Alchemy ... the study of Alchemy is the study of longevity, because
what they're trying to do, is to Transmute the Jing to redeem the Spirit. The
Spirit that's in the Jing is being redeemed, and in the process of redeeming the
Spirit, what they're really saying is, you redeem your awareness of your
Curriculum. So now you have a choice. To continue life our not, where now, this
life is of your own making, because you've already fulfilled the Curriculum of
this lifetime, consciously. Do you follow the idea of what I just said? That the
floppy disc, if I take that floppy disc, and I ripple it, so that the movement of it is
going faster and faster, within the element of time, and I'm able to observe and
see, that means, if I'm rippling the floppy disc to take place faster, those
experiences that have to take place in my life are going to come faster too. As I
graduate, and it reaches the point that I've transcended all those experiences, and
I'm still alive, at this point, because you've graduated from the Curriculum, you
are now creating all of those new experiences that were not part of the floppy.
That's what they meant by longevity. That you can deade. "Well, now my life is
finished. I've done all the experiences. I'm going to close my eyes now. Or, I
can continue to live on, and the experiences now are of my own making. If s no
longer based on the earlier program. That's called Transmutation.
The theory of Transmutation, is based on the theory of Yin and Yang, that
says that you have the four basic principles. Opposition, Transformation, and
that is also the same process that causes Transmutation, Mutual Consumption,
and Mutual Interdependency. These are the four basic components in Yin and
Yang Theory. That is to say that if the body experiences Cold, what the body
generates, to oppose the Cold, is Heat. We see this as the struggle between Hot
and Cold. We call it an Exogenous Pathogenic Factor, be it Wind Heat, be it
Wind Cold, be it Wind Damp, whatever is predominant, in terms of Hot and
Cold. So that's this Opposition taking place. And when the body begins to have
the Opposition, and it knows if s not able to succeed, then we know that what
you have, in this case, let's say that this is Wei Qi that's generating the Heat. The
Ying Qi now gets Transformed into Wei Qz. So there is an increase in Wei Qi.
That's why you have high fever. You now have thirst, because Fluid is being
Transformed into Heat, to help support the body's opposing nature. You have
Flooding Pulses. We all know of this as Yang Ming, according to the Shang Han
Lun tradition. Earlier, it probably would have been called a Tai Yang condition.
And then you have Yang Ming,the body's attempt to transform Ying Qi into Wei
27
Qi, and, in doing that, what you have is Consumption. I lose my Ying to become
Wei. And that, of course, is the idea that they are Interdependent. So the idea is
that you become one thing, at the expense of another. Energy, remember, cannot
be created or destroyed. It can only be transferred, using western physics theory.
And thafs the same idea. I'm not creating, really. I'm just transferring energy
from one to the other. But why is it doing it? Because if s experienced
Opposition. It only quantifies if s Qi to another area in a very extreme way,
because it experiences Opposition. That's why, in Alchemical language, what
you see is the Opposition between Fire and Water, which is another way of
saying Triple Heater. And depending on how strong that Opposition is, which is
how you get the right firing time, if the firing is not right, you can't cause
something to be Transmuted into if s proper form. That's the whole idea that
you have in Alchemy.
Remember, Eight Extra Channels, because they contain the Jing, which is
the seed of creation, you could create anything you want, provided that you are
able to understand and come to terms with what that seed is. I mean, you have
to be able to see that floppy, to know how you can live out your life, embrace
that Curriculum. This is built into the Chinese belief. So this is a reflection of
their philosophy. Some of us would say that life is of our own making, that we
have a blank slate, that if s the circumstances of our lives that make us who we
are. The Chinese would say, those circumstances occur because they were
already destined to happen. So thafs where they would disagree.
2. Ming Dynasty Emphasis on the Kidneys

As I said earlier, the Ming dynasty is where there is a big shift in
emphasis on the Kidneys. That began already in the Song dynasty. In the Song
dynasty, Chinese medicine got more interested in the Zang Fu. During the Song
dynasty is when Neoconfucianism is developing. The key word of that tune was
Li Principle. What is the Principle of things? So, in medical arena, what they did
was they decided, "Well, what is the principle of the Liver? What is the principle
of the Heart?" Previous to that, we don't have the summary of, "Oh the Liver
controls the smooth flow of Qi. The Liver stores Blood. The Liver opens to the
eyes. The Liver manifests through the Sinews. The Liver Harmonizes the
emotions." We don't have that. Thafs the Principle of the Liver. So, in the Song
dynasty, everyone was getting into, "What is the Principle of life?" What are the
virtues of life? Benevolence, Righteousness, Humility. So people were starting
to ask, what are the roles of each and every one of these organs? People began to
emphasize the roles of each organ. After that, came the Four Great Masters, who
focused on one organ as being really the most important organ. So you had the
School of Cooling and Cold, that emphasized the Lungs as being the most
important organ. You had the School of Attacking and Purging, that emphasized
the Liver as being the most important organ. You had the School of Post-Natal
Tonification, that emphasized the Earth or Spleen and Stomach, as being the
most important organ. You had Zhu Dan Xi, the last of the Four Great Masters,
who emphasized the Kidney as the most important organ, which, of course, is
going to influence the Ming dynasty practitioners, since the last one is focusing
on the Kidney, let's continue his thinking. Zhu Dan Xi was focusing on Kidney
28
Yin. Others would say, "Ithink he's wrong, we should be nourishing more
Kidney Yang." So the School of Warming the Yang, the School of Ming Men Fire,
began to develop during the Ming dynasty. What I'm trying to get at, was that
there was now this great emphasis, with the influence of Zhu Dan Xi, on the
Kidneys. And Kidney is Constitution. So, interestingly enough, it is in the Ming
dynasty that we got interested in the Constitution. It is in the Ming dynasty, that
we start getting interested again, in the Eight Extraordinary Vessels, since they
represented the Constitution. And, it's in the Ming dynasty, that we start saying
that there are these Points that open up Eight Extraordinary Meridians.
So, don't think that SP-4 has been used since the Han dynasty. Someone
would most likely have a look of being very puzzled, if you had said SP-4 opens
the Chong, to someone in the Han dynasty. Or even in later periods of time prior
to the Ming. So, this is the evolution that you're seeing. And some of you might
notice, no one wanted to touch the Heart. Everyone kind of like stays away from
the Heart, because that's the Sovereign Ruler. How can you really have access to
the Heart? They all deal with the Heart indirectly, but no one really tried to
touch the Heart directly. Li Dong Yuan came up with Yin Fire, relating directly to
the Heart. Zhu Dan Xi talked about the Kidney's relationship in nourishing Yin,
and how that balanced the Heart Fire. Zhang Zi He, the School of Attacking and
Purging, came up with the pattern you learn in TCM, Phlegm Harassing the
Heart. So they all dealt with the Heart indirectly, but no one really tackled the
Heart as an organ to be reckoned with, directly.
With the emphasis on the Kidneys, and one's ability to affect Yin and Yang
directly, interestingly enough, this was also the time period, that when you read
Materia Medicas, the categories of herbs that Nourish Yin and Torufy Yang, begin
to appear. Prior to that, how can you Tonify Yin? By Nourishing the Blood.
How do you Tomfy Yang? By Tonifying Qi. They didn't think about Nourishing
Yin and Yang directly. You can't do that. But now also herbal medicine begins to
take a different approach. We can go directly into Nourishing Yin and Yang.
And be reminded that, even though some of you might have learned herbal
formulas that you think Nourish Yin, for example, the Rehmania Six, that
actually comes from Rehmania Eight, a bigger formula became a lesser formula,
but Rehmania Six, the Liu Wei Di Hnang Wan is a formula that is earlier than
Ming. But notice, that formula really Nourishes Qi and Blood, to Nourish Yin.
Rehmania itself, raw Rehmania Cools the Blood. If you're using processed
Rehmania, that really works on the Blood level. Dioscorea does not Tonify Yang.
Shan Yao Tonifies Qi. It's a Q; and Blood building formula. And the recognition
that, if you're Nourishing Yin, what you might get is Dampness, so you have
some herbs to make sure that, if Dampness develops, you Drain the Dampness.
So thafs also part of the strategy. But when you're looking at early formulas that
try to build Yin and Yaw, most likely they're working on Qi and Blood.
The emphasis now on the Kidneys, begins to be an emphasis on
congenital factors. That means that in the Ming dynasty, when you ask, what is
the pathogenesis, what are the causes, what is the etiology of diseases, they
would say, External, the Six Excesses, the Six Climatic Factors. They would say,
Internal, yes, the Emotions, the Seven Injuries, Qi Shang. And, they would say,
29
@ New England School of Acupuncture &JeffreyC. Yuen, 2005
By the time they were writing this, where they're trying to validate
Acupuncture as being an important modality for the consumers, Li Shi Zhen also
. .. out.-.Li .Shi
comes .-. . - -the Ming dynasty,
Zhen lived during .. . ..he also
-- and - wrote- a.
Treatise on bight fcxtra Ulannels. bemgprimarily an Herbalist, because he also
*
wrote the Ben C m (Gang Mu),at that time, he says, Wellt you know, so what?
We have herbs that can also treat the Eight Extra Channels, and affect the
Opening Points. And you know what? Those Acupuncture Points, the Opening
PointsJare wrong. Some of them are wrong. They're not right." And Li Shi Z h
has greater credibility. Most of us know this author's name, probably, more so,
or at least, if you're familiar with the Chinese medical literature, his name is
usually more quoted, than the writers of 'The Great Compendium," or even
''The Great Accomplishments of Acupuncture ." So Li Shi Zhen came and threw
a monkey wrench toward the Acupuncturists as well, "Youknow, I'mgoing to
add more to this, and give more commentaries to it, that shows that we
Herbalists are still a little bit more sophisticated than the Acupuncturists." This
big division was already occurring during the Ming dynasty. I just wanted to
give you the political climate among the Chinese medical practitimers at that
time.
What I'm suggesting, then, is that the Opening Points, while w e might
have to learn them for examination purposes,there is no absolute within the
history of Chinese medicine. We just eventually believe that this is correct, and
now faith allows us to allow these treatments to work.
3. - Curious" Bowels, i.e., GB

dues from the "Qi
The other component that we want to look at is the idea of the dues that
come from the Curious Organs, the Curious Bowels. What is the link between
the Eight Extraordinary Vesselsf which go to the Curious Bowels, and the Zang
Fu? What is the link between -Natal Energetics - Jinff Essence, and Qi and
Blood - Post-Natal Energetics? What is the link? And thelink happens to be the
Gall Bladder. The Gall Bladder is the Organ which also happens to be not only a
Zang Fu Organ, but also a Curious Organ. And, if you consider the Points that
we have adapted within Eight Extra Channel trajectories, outside of the KidneysJ
the Gall Bladder has the most Points that lie on Eight Extraordinary Meridians.
Dai Mai i s primarily Gall Bladder Points. Y a q Wei Mai takes up a lot of Gall
Bladder Points. The Gall Bladder is seen as the link between Post-Natal and Pre-
Natal. Which is also the suggestion that some scholars have made within Chinese
medicine, that, perhaps#wi &out Eight Extra Channels, how the Chinese try to
get into the level of Jinv, was by working on Gall Bladder. And that's even
suggested by the writings of Sun Si Miao, the famous writer and practitioner of
the Tmg dynasty. The idea that, if you're going to tap into the Kidneys, you tap
into the Kidneys through Gall Bladder. Historically, how did we treat fear? Not
by the Kidneys, but by the Gall Bladder.
The relationship between the Eight Extra Vessels and the Curious Organs,
we can make that connection: the Brain and Du Mai. Qiao Mai has a major
relationship to the Brain. To a greater degree, the Ron gives birth to the Du,
31
0 New England School of Acupuncture & JeffreyC.Yuen, 2005
So,iÂ you're looking at conditions where there is a big disparity, in terms
of above and below, left and right, then you can be considering Eight Extra
Channels as potentially causing that disparity, due to mutual Consumption,
because of Transformation. That's the Yin Yang Principle.
2. Issues relating to Kidneys & San Jiao
We can look at Eight Extra Channels as they relate to any condition of the
Kidneys and San Jiao, Triple Heater- One common example of Kidneys, would
be Bone, structural issues. We can look at Eight Extra Channels for conditions
that involve taxation on the structure, Deficiency of the s t r u m . We can look at
it in terms of Marrow. And the Marrow, is the combination of Jing plus Shm.
ThaVs what Marrow r e d y is. As the Essence, the ling, begins to experience life,
Shen, that ling, and it's experiences, gets contained in the Brain, Nao, which is the
Sea of Marrow. Marrow is really about experiences that are kept in the ling,
memory of things that I have experienced in my life. It allows, from a
physiological point of view, Latency, or memory, but also, it is about financing
our ling, and holding on to things that are no longer useful in our lives. We d l
know that a lot of times we have thoughts during the day that creep into our
lives, that are not really useful, that relationship which is already long passed,
gone, but you still think about it. That's unconstructive Jing: something that
needs to be mourned, that needs to be buried, that needs to be let go of, but yet
we keep lingering on with that. That becomes pathology, long term denials,
because Jing is very dense, it can prevent you from seeing, from knowing, that
which is so obvious to others, so the denial, the long term relationship to the Luo
Vessels which we saw.
Kidneys deal with the process of aging, so we can look at the Eight Extra
Channels to work on the issues that confront aging. Remember, geriatrics,
basically, involves treating Curious Organs. When you look at geriatrics, what
are the symptoms? You see Altzheimer's - Brain, Osteoporosis - b n e , heart
disease - Blood Vessels. Whenever you look at geriatrics, you're looking at
Curious Organs. You're looking at Eight Extraordinary Vessels, very often, in
terms of those kinds of concerns that we see in the elderly population. The
movement in China has been, instead of thinking of geriatrics as due to some
type of decline in Kidney Essence, one example of the modern thinking in China
about geriatrics, is that it is more due to Blood Stasis, habituation. I always want
to feel the same things, over and over again. 'That's Blood Stasis, habituation. 93e
it arteriosclerosis, or, as I said, psychosclerosis. It's just about Stasis, not moving
things.
Kidneys are about the perpetuation of the species. We see that in terms of
fertility, reproduction, impotence, and to some degree, even the notion of
immortality. This is the idea that we need to continue our lineage, that we need
to continue our legacy, in some ways. That is also part of the issues relating to
the Kidneys.
In terms of Sun Jiao, it would be issues that deal with an imbalance, or

discommunication between Fire and Water; the relationship between the Heart,
34
. .-
tfmughit's Heark Rokcb, the P a w n , into the Kidneys. Thafs mother
clinical applimtion that we can mak use of thmugh Eight Extras, again, through
geriatrb, structural problems, and pddems that relate to reprodudion, and the
wmtant struggle betwm what is in my Heart, Fire, and what I see in my&,
Kidneys. This h v o l v s our d d , and the way w e might txy to temper the
P e r k d i m , our desk, the Heart Proktm the ways we by to reckon those
d a b with ourselves, the Fire and Water mm&m
If we are going to say that there is such thing as Ccmstitutiod Factors,

then we should be able to alter that. Congenital defecb are usually & a t 4
with too much cansolidationof Yin,with the inability to D h e m h t e Yang. The
Rm is in a state of Ex m yand the Du is in a dative state of Muenq-
R e m e m k that both give birth to each other. So when you lcmk at dwarfism,
bm'sSyndrome, mental retardatim, what do y m see? U s d y a body that's
vexy truncatedywhere the head is very doe to the shoulders. There is a lot of
padding m d the neck region You see that the legs and hands of thee
hdividuds are sometimes clubbed, so all that Yin is coming i
n The faot W i g
dubbed, prevents m-1 from ~ ~ t i n So, gd .this Excess Yin prevents
Ymg, engagmmt and activity, from taking place They k o m e , as you'll w,
more Rm orimtdywhich is becoming more dep~dmt on their mtakem.
Sometimm you might s e the other cornpent, Exhuhant Ymg,with
hufficient Yin. That wodd be infantile k j u m and mvulsim:Exhubrant
Ymg, with hufficient Yin. Or you have a combination of Damp- and Heat,
where the Heat predominates over the Damp, and the &Id is b m with some
jaundice. That would be seen as this compnent.
Congenital Releases o a w with childhood infectiousdhases. To the

Chinese, childhod infectious are an oppmhmity the child is given to
Release Toxins that they inherited horn their parents. W s about components that
are in khe level of Jing, that the body is now given the opportunity to Release.
Think of the metaphor, thatyas parents we sometime lcmk toward our childreny
and give them a better opporhmity to do the things that we do not have the
mpamty of doing. !30ythey are in a way, Releasing our Stagnations, our o m
Wculties. That, somatidy, is reprmted by childhmd hfectious diseases- If
you vacanate them, you can, ptentially then, be musing further, and future
generatiom of Latency. %me people have even argud that vaccination is the
cause of cancer, this destruction of the DNA.
In any case, we h o w that the teething, which is an extension of the

Kidneys, the b n e s coming out, the teething process. . .
Questim:Jeffrey,just a quick question With M d m who have these echo
fevm, which come and go, would that be the same thing as Releasing the
Toxins? And if the parents use things like d s o n e , to suppms ity would that
just be what you were taking abut?
35
@ New Englad k h d ad Acupuncture dk JeffrqC.Yuen, 2aE
Ee pathology.
mted," in
3,ohf I want to
ad, me a half-
the lqiming
ldhd
ise the Jing is
we're gokg to
?,&a Channels,
h d of
~d~if we have
ie Pulses that
The first thing we have to consider is the Needing technique that relates
to Eight Extraordinary Vessels- Gmerdy speaking, the technique is going to
involve Lifting and Thrusting m the Deep 1eveL This is relative to the Point that
is king used. Upan obtaining the QI, De QiJyou're bringing it from that Deep
levelrthe Pre-Natal level, the level of Yum Qi"into the Post-Natal levelpwhich is
on the Moderate level. This is more of a level type of Needling, where you're
going into the Deep levelrthe Yr~anlev& and using the Pre-Natal Energetics, the
Y m n Qi#to suppod the Post natal Qi,bringing it into the Moderate k v d
Uher t e q u s can dso indude Vibrating, just that Vibrating tends to

be a littk more strenuous and, potentially, it can be draining on the clinician.
The other technique is Shaking. So, with Lifting and Thmsting, basicdly, you're
holding the Needle, and you're Lifting and Thmsting, or some people call it
Pecking. Andf when you obtain the Sensation, you're moving it into the
Mcderate level, at which point, you leave the N d k there.
Othmwk, you can Needle Deep, take the N d l e and Vibrate it.
Vibrating is a whuk foream movemmt, M y movement, 1 should redly say,
where the Needle is k i n g Vibrated, and what you're trying to think about is the
malogy of a chop of water hitting a puddle, and sending the ripple throughout
the entire body. The whole idea of Vibration is to jostle the entire body.
Shaking is where the Needle gets inserted and you are Shaking. Instead of
Lifting and Thrusting, which is on a vertical axis, Shaking is primarily on a
horizontal axis. This is done relative to where the Point is located, on the Deep
level.
It is my contention, that unless you have strong intentionality, unless you
have strong cultivation, that Shallow Needling of the Points is not going to get
you into the Eight Extraordinary Vessels. That's not to say that people who do
that do not treat the Eight Extra Channels, but rather, if they do treat them, if s
due to their Cultivation, that's transmitted into the Eight Extra Channels. But it
is, in my opinion, somewhat erroneous to think that if you just touch a person,
that they will miraculously reveal their true self to you. Some of us, because of
our own humility, because of our own vibrations, the person might be able to do
that for you. If s like having an audience with a priest or with the pope. You
might do that. You might reveal the True Essence of your being, because in your
mind, this is a person with whom you feel no energy thafs inhibiting you for
that expression. But generally, I don't think that your client's will reveal
themselves in their entirety to you, with just Superficial Needling. I do believe
that, over time, because of the rapport that has been established, that you can
continue to Needle Superficially, and you'll get into the Eight Extra Channels,
but not in the first treatment. So that's my opinion.
The retention of the Needle, is about thirty to forty minutes. The

treatment itself is relatively long, compared to other Meridian systems, and my
recommendation is that you treat initially, one time a week, and subsequently,
allow longer intervals of rest. That means, we might move into every two weeks,
every three weeks, so you have longer intervals of rest. In other words, you
don't want to be tapping into the Yuan Qi constantly. Tap into the Yuan Qi, give
it the message that is inviting the person to make these kinds of changes, that
you believe, in consultation with the person, would be expected or anticipated,
or would be warranted. And then allow the Yuan Qz the opportunity to do it on
it's own, rather than constantly violating it, and telling it it has to change, or one
has to change. That's why there are longer intervals. In the interim, if you're
treating them with Eight Extra Channels once a month, in the interim they still
can come to you and see you once a week. In the interim, you do other kinds of
treatment to support the Yuan Qi.
Now, how does one measure a treatment session? In terms of, at what
point do you want to start changing the Eight Extra Channel treatment. At what
point should Eight Extra Channel treatment be re-evaluated, if you feel it is not
effective? Generally speaking, if s going to be three to six months. Remember,
the Constitutional level is the slowest moving. Miracles do happen, but there is
not the anticipation that it will necessarily change overnight. It takes about three
to six months to alter the Jing, alter the Essence.
It is also important to note, that if you do Moxa, Ming dynasty textbooks

generally will recommend that you do Superficial Needling. There is that basis,
where Superficial Needling comes from. The Ming dynasty textbooks do
37
recommend that. And if one does Moxa, it is three cones, with the exception of
one cone for the DM,and seven cones for the Ren. Notice that the number of
cones they're using are odd numbers of cones, which is more characteristic of
stimulating movement, stimulating Yang, even though one might say, Moxa itself
stimulates movement, but that's not necessarily always true.
Some people believe that the Ming dynasty textbooks' recommendation of
Superficial Needling, was based on three basic assumptions. One, as I said, Ming
dynasty Acupuncture had become relatively unpopular already. Some people's
argument was perhaps, Superficial Needling made it less invasive. Maybe it was
very, very painful, and as a result it lost if s influence. Most people don't
necessarily agree with that, because they do believe if s not the degree of comfort
that you're necessarily looking at with Acupuncture, in terms of Needling. But
at least, thafs one of the explanations.
The second explanation of Superficial Needling, as it relates to Ming

dynasty texts, was the notion that in the Ming dynasty, it was a common belief
that, to tap into the Constitutional level, you have to peel off layers. So you're
working from the Superficial level, to slowly open into the Constitutional level.
There were more adherents believing that concept.
The third aspect, which is perhaps the most profound aspect, and this is
something that you do need to consider in terms of Cultivation, is that, what
you're trying to institute when you're doing any type of light, Superficial
Needling, is that you are touching the individual, but at the same time, you want
the individual to touch you. If s almost like, you are palpating the Point,
touching the Point, and, as you Needle the Point, already the person is aware of
the area. You ask the person, as the Needle is going in, to think of themselves
going toward the Needle, rather than, if we are afraid of the Needle, getting very
squirmish and trying to move away from the Needle. The idea of
proprioceptiveness. Some of you know that this is a very powerful technique.
This is a technique that is used in Craniosacral therapy. Not only are you
cradling the skull, and feeling the dura, but you're also getting the client to come
incontact, and touch your fingers, as well. This is the idea that I am extending
myself towards you, as a patient, as a client, as you're extending the Needle,
which is an extension of you, the clinician, toward the client. This is the idea of
proprioceptiveness.In any case, those are some of the commentaries that have
come about, why people are doing Superficial Needling at that time.
Now, for the benefit of those who may have some financial difficulties,
you can always use Essential Oils, so they can follow up themselves, as clients,
and apply these Essential Oils over the Acupuncture Points, especially if they can
only see you, let's say, once a month. This way the treatment is continued. And
remember, the Essence of a plant is going to have a stronger resonance with the
Essence of an individual, than, say, Acupuncture Needles, unless you're using
gold and silver Needles. But, generally speaking, the Essence of a plant is going
to have a stronger resonance with the Jing, the Essence of the individual.
38
We have outlined some of the Essential Oils that will resonate with those
particular Eight Extra Channels. On the list you have, for the Chong, Angelica,
which could be Angelica seed or root. There is also Patchouli; another one that
one can apply on Chony Mai treatments. For the Ren, there is Neroli, Orange
Blossom, as well as Ginger. There is a big difference between Neroli and Ginger.
One, more Moving, more Warming, that's Ginger, which is used when there is an
Excess in the Ren, and the Neruli is used for a Deficiency in the Ren. The DM
includes oils like Cedar Wood, and Cinnamon Leaf. For Yin Wei Mai, it would
include oils like Rose and Melissa. Yang Wei Mai includes oils like Rosemary and
Citronella. Yin Qiao Mai includes oils like Narcissus, Jasmine, Juniper. Yang Qiao
Mai, includes oils like Basil, and Cinnamon Leaf, again, as you saw with the DM.
Dai Mai includes oils like Mugwort, Sandalwood, and Niaouli, which is related
to Tea Tree Oil. These are some of the oils that can be dispensed to your clients,
which they can apply. In most cases they would test for skin sensitivity first, and
if they have no skin sensitivity, these oils can be applied directly over the
Acupuncture Points. This will be their way of helping to reinforce the treatment,
when they're seeing you less in a clinical setting.
Question: Is the Essential Oil.applied on the Opening Points of the

Extraordinary Vessel, and should they come in pairs?
JCY: The Essential Oils are applied on the Points that you're using in the
treatment, which include the Opening Points. The treatment that you're using
might not include the Coupled Pairs. You'll see when the Coupled Pairs will
come into play, later on, when we talk about each one of the Extra Channels.
Question: When you're trying to decide which Essential Oil to give to your
patient, and you said it resonates with them, what if, for example, you think you
would like to treat their Chong, and for them to keep it up in between treatments
you give them Patchouli, for example. But they don't like Patchouli. Does that
say something about the therapeutics of that condition, or should you think that
maybe they're just not ready to have that level of treatment, at this time?
JCY: A combination of both. What you're doing when you're working on the
Constitutional level, the client, in many ways, is being introduced to the idea that
you're changing their Constitution, changing their destiny. And while, many of
us, when we're ill, might like that, because we think that's going to change our
disease, it might mean a confrontation with the way we're living our lives. Some
people might find that they are very resistant, so that, when they're applying the
oils, they might find the oils to produce an adverse reaction. As a result, they
will say, "I can't do this". You want to bring that to the client's attention, and say
to them, "Well, maybe somehow, this oil is resonating with a part of you that's
not ready to make those necessary changes, at this tune." You might try another
blend. You might try other types of treatments that will slowly open up, let's say
in your example with the Chong, and see how they react to that. You might also
switch to another oil, like the Angelica oil, and see if they find that more
pleasant. If they find that more pleasant, then it might just be their difficulty
with the scent, the smell.
39
Question: I know there are many suppliers of Essential Oils, but one person I'm
dealing with doesn't have Mugwort. How correct am I, in thinking that I can
apply direct Moxibustion over an ointment on some Dai Mai Points, around the
Belt itself, or GB-41? Does that get there, and is that a good idea?
JCY: Well, if you're applying Moxa per se, you also have the property of
temperature. So it's very different than the application of Mugwort, even as a
herb, as a poultice. It would probably have a better effect, than doing the
Mombustion aspect. Remember, Essential Oils, being the Essence of the plant,
will have a strong impact over the Eight Extra Channels. Original Swiss
Aromatics, for example, will have Mugwort, if you're having trouble with that.
2. Point Selection
That brings us to Point selection. Contrary to what you might be thinking,

the treatment of an Eight Extra Channel, from my perspective, is not just the
Open, or Confluent Point. You really need to use what I'm calling the Confluent
Point, rather than Opening Point, and Points along the trajectory of the Eight
Extra Channels that you're working on. So if s not just SP-4, and voila! Chong
Mai is open. If s not that. I don't think that's going to happen. How does the
body acknowledge that you're using SP-4 to open up the Chong Mai? Maybe
you're using it as the Luo Point. What makes you think if s not just making the
connection between Spleen and Stomach, the Source - Luo concept? And lefs
say, when you pull the Needle out and there is Blood, what makes you think that
all of a sudden, the body didn't recognize it as a Luo Vessel treatment? You have
to give it more dues that you are treating it in relation to the Chong trajectory,
whose Points are not the same as the Spleen's Luo trajectory, and whose Points,
obviously, are not the same as the Spleen Primary Meridian trajectory. You do
need to use Points to further give the body that message, of what you're trying to
do.
Understand that Opening Points came in the Ming dynasty. What was
happening in the Ming dynasty? Revealing your abdomen to someone was not
going to be that common in the clinical practice of Acupuncture There was
already the separation of the sexes. This is where Antique Points, the Distal
Points on the limbs, became more popular in Acupuncture, without having the
need to expose too much of your body. Just give me your hands and your feet,
and I'll treat you. So, this is the Opening Points on the distal areas of the body.
Being that we're more liberal, in that sense, we have the flexibility of Needling a
person's body. This is why Points along the trajectory are also crucial to the
treatment.
Be reminded that the Confluent Points can be used independently of their

Coupled Pair. The Zhen Jiu Da Cheng, The Great Accomplishments of
Acupuncture, developed the Coupled Pairs, but even that textbook, even the
author, himself, did not use them in all treatments, and, as I said earlier,
sometimes, even the Opening Point was not used. They would say this was a
Chow Mai treatment, and there was no SP-4 found within that treatment. If s not
40
-,, ---- -------,-- -- - - - -- - - - - - .- - -. - -- - - - - --- -- -
represents the idea of Yh and Y a w , Above and Below, or Below and Above. The
id& that these are Coupled Pairs, between leg and arm Channels, but that's not
absolute, in terms of Eight Extra Channels, For Li Shi Zhen some of the Points are
the same, but he did not have the same Confluent Points. Some of those Points
are itemized in Kiiko's book, Hara Diagnosis. I don't want to talk about his
Opening Points, because to talk about his Opening Points?you would need to
know his herbal theory, because he's using Acupuncture in relation to the use of
Herbal medicine. So that means, you won't get the same efficacy, unless you
know Li Shi Zhen's particular train of thought, and how he's using Eight Extra
Channels, and subsequently,in that manner, that makes it much more valid.
Acupuncturists have their Opening Points, and they're seeing it independent of
Herbal medicine- So it works better, or it works within the mindset of an
Acupuncturist, rather than a combination of both.
And there is that debate regarding Coupled Pairs, in terms of being

bilateral. If I did SP-4 on one side, and I did PC-6 on the other side, do I go back
and do PC-6, and then go back and do 9 - 4 , the Infinity Trea trnentp that many of
you are familiar with? You see it in the Japanese practice of Eight Extraordinary
Meridians. There are some debates about that. Do we need this connection of
Above and Below? Some people would say, yes, because of the Yin Y w Theory.
It's being postulated that we need to make the connection between Left and
Right, Above and Below; thafs how Yin and Vane come into a synthesis.
Some people have difficulty with that, and say, "No it doesn't have to be
bilateral. It has to be one sided." Then, what side do you start with? Do you
start out with the left or the right side? Some people will answer that by gender,
because Eight Extra Channel's relationship to the pre-given, which includes your
gender. Since we're working on a Post-Natal level, left is Vow, right is Yin. So if
the person happens to be a woman, the Opening Point is done on the right side,
because that's the Yin side; if if s a man, then one would start out on the left side,
if one is using the Points as unilateral, one sided.
Some people raise the debate about, if I'm using the Coupled Pairs, should
I do both the Coupled Pairs first, and then all the other Points in between? Or do
I do one Coupled Pair and the Points that relate to that first Coupled Pair, then
follow up with the second set of Points that relate to the second Coupled Pair?
So there is no consensus as to how you're going to do the treatment. What

I recommend is, if you're doing Coupled Pairs, or you're doing more than one
Eight Extra Channel in one treatment, which does not have to utilize the
traditional pairs, you start out with the Opening Point on one side of the body,
and you can use thegender to determine that. After doing that Opening Point,
do Points on the trajectory, either by palpation of sensitive Points, or basic Points
that relate to the landmarks along the trajectory. Then you do Points that are on
the Coupled Pair's trajectory. And vou end with the Coupled Pair on the
opposite side from where you started the treatment. The Points that are along
41
0 New England School of Acupuncture & Jeffrey C.Yuen, 2005
Question: Dr. Yitian Ni horn California, the woman who wrote the Navi~ating
Channels of Txaditimal Chinese Medicine, has in the past talked a b u t the
chapter in the 5 4 Wen on the Four Seas. In there it says that the Sea of Blood is
the Chong. So she uses the Four Seas, the Sea of Blood Points rather than wing
h e cIasska1 Coupled Pair Points for Chon$ Mi,to treat Chmg Mai disorders.
Have you seen that, or is that something that you have any other ideas on?
Jm Kememkr, first of dl, it's not in the Su W m It's in the Ling Sku. The idea
of the Four Seas is a concept, according to the Ling Shu, which does not r e d y
gve you Opming Points. They just give you some primitive trajectofies of fie
Eight Extra Chmels, some of which aren't wen in the Ling Shu. As a r m l t , the
fact that they're saying there is the Sea of Marrow, the !%a of the Twehe
Meridians, the %a of B l d , thuse so-called Shu Points, Transporting Points,
were one of the earliwt ways some people believed they could tap into the
Constitutiond level. they're using those Pointsfbecause they're S h Points,
Transporting Points, rather than the Opening Points. There are a n m k r of
specda tiom of how early clinicians, at least, those who were hying to tap into
the Eight Extra Channels, tried to tap into it. And yes, Chapter 33 on the Four
Seas is one of the chapters that peopk use, as a way to confirmhow they were
tapping into the Eight Extra Channel IeveL IYs just that N m ling practi tionm
would say, you use the Influential Points.
Question: Sorry, JeffreyF1 did want to ask about Chapter 33 of the Ling Shu, the
Four Seas. 1 saw a case where the person had a congenital defect in their Brain-
lt was arteriovenous malfomations. There was Blood Stasis. I3aska~~y, it was a
bleeding, hemorrhaging issue. And then M o w , she had amenorrhea, Blood
Deficiency, Belowv In that case, if I wanted to h a t that, I was thinking of using
C h q Fbut using the Transporting h i n t s for the Sea of Blood, using BL-I1
Above, maybe to help with the Brain thing, Moving that, or being very careful in
Dispeming it somehow. You had to be careful. You don't want khe penon's
Brain to bleed. And then Mow, Tmifyirtg the Transporting Points. Justas an
idea. Would that be a valid way of using this?
JCY: Yesl when you see other Points that relate to Ymn Qi, all of those canbe
added, as part of a Eight Ektra Channel Meridian treatment. It's just that/ if
you're making the connection between the Chong and the Brain/ and you're
looking at the Transporting Point for Bloodr you might have to consider the
Transporting Point for the Marrow as well/ within the context of the Four Seas.
Back to our discussiont after the Eight Extra Channel treatment has been
done/ other Points that relate to the Constitutional level canbe added to the
treatment, such as Source Points, the Yuan Points. Mu and Shu Points can always
be added/ because they deal with the dissemination of the Triple Heater's
energetics/ which relate to Yuan Qi. The Influential Points/ the Hui Points of the
Nan Jing tradition/ can definitely be added. Luo Points can be added/ because of
the Luo's connection to the Source. Divergent Confluent Points can definitely be
added into it. So these are just Point categories for some of the Points that can be
added into the treatment.
Some people would say that most of them already happen to be Eight
Extra Channel Pointsl Points along the Kidney Meridianr because the Kidney
Meridian conducts Essence. The Triple Heater is another Meridian, as a Primary
Meridian, which can also be added into your treatment of the Eight Extra
Channels.
O n the bottom of the screen/ you see that the Left - Right Opening Point is
generally based on gender. Left for Yang, male, and Right for Yin/ female, with
the exception of Ren and h, which is reversed. Left for Ren, Kidney Yin, and
Right for Du, Kidney Yang. I was going to make this statement in relationship to
the questions that were asked earlier. Where you might consider this polarity
difference! is when someone is already pregnant, and you're trying to work with
the fetus of the pregnant individual/ or someone who's a toddler/ who's just
born, who has some type of Constitutional defect. That's when you might
consider the Pre-Natal aspect/ Left being Yin; Right being Yang. Outside of thatf
d e s s you're working in pediatrics/ most likely you would stay with this Post-
Natal model, of Left being Yang, and Right being Yin.
3. Some W c a l Suggestions
Some clinical suggestions, that I want to at least bring up before we talk

about each one of the Channels, is the idea that the initial treatment/ that I'm
recommending if you do not have an Eight Extra Channel diagnosis and you
want to initiate yourself and your client into getting an Extra Channel treatment,
then you're either starting with the Dai or with the Chong. The Dai would be for
someone whoJ relatively speaking, has more Excess compared to Deficiency, and
the Chon8 would be where they have a Deficiency, that's more pronounced, as
compared to an Excess.
It's also important to understand the role of the trajectories, in relation to

the functions of the Eight Extraordinary Meridians. What I mean by that is, it's
not just Points that they're giving us. The Points satisfy a particular theory that
44
trajectories together, as one trajectory. But, keep in mind! these are two separate
functions of the Chmg.
And, if the Ckong is, indeed! giving birth to Yin, which we know is in the
front of the body! it also is going to give birth to Yang, which is along the back of
the body. It has to give birth to the Sea of Yin, and the Sea of Yang. Sor again, the
first two trajectories of the Chong, are basically moving adjacent to the Ren, and
we know that there is a trajectory that begins at the lower abdomen, that goes
into the back, and into the spine' and follows the spine up, into the head. That
wodd be following Du Mai's trajectory. So,we have now, the C h g giving birth
to the Ren, and to the Du, which will have their own, more midline, trajectory.
After that, these are all trajectories emanating from the lower abdomen,
then we know that it starts to move into the legs. It's going to have two
trajectories that move into the legs. One, in partidar, moving into the heel of
the legs, giving birth to the Qiao Vessels, beginning at the heel of the legs! be it
medial or lateral malleolus. And then at the same time, the Chong! which not
only supports the heel! but it also tries to allow the body to support the entire
integrity of the body, which is represented by, Post-Natally! or distally, one
would say, by ST-42, or represented by the dorsum of the foot. The dorsum of
the foot is the bridge. Another explanation of thisr is that the Chong is also
supporting Ebdy Fluids. ST-42, remember Stomach is where Fluid is produced.
ST-42 is the Source Point. It's also, by the way, called Ckong Yangr the Yang of
Chong, responsible for the Pure Yang of the Stomach, as it enters the face.
The five trajectories are all going to be related to all of the Eight Extra
Channels; Rent as the Ckong begins in the lower abdomen, and it wraps around
to the backr that's Dai. It goes up the spine! that's Du. Qiao (as it goes to the
medial and lateral aspect of the legs)! and again, in earlier discussions, we really
don't know where the Wei Channels begin. If you read the Ling Sku, or you read
the Su Wen, they don't give you any clues about where the Wei Channels begin-
In the Nan Jing, they simply say, the Wei Channels begin where Yang meets Weir
and where Yin Jkor Exchanges. That's where the Wei Channels begin. But
there's no description of the actual trajectories, until the Jia Yi Jing comes out
with a primitive understanding of the Eight Extra Channel trajectories. If
anything, the Wei Channels are the ones that redly don't have a trajectory. It's
most likely something that was invented later on. Before we get into that, let's
look at the Chong.
Question: Could you explain the origin of the Dai Mai, again. I really didn't get
that.
JCY: There's a trajectory, from the Chong! that begins in the lower abdomen. It
goes from the lower abdomen, and it goes to the back, and from the back, it goes
up along the spine. So the earliest depiction of Dai Mai, is something that wraps
from the front to the back. That would be the idea of the Dai Mai. In other
words, Dai Mai is often referred to as the Meridian that maintains the integrity of
the First Ancestries! that returns the integrity: the Chong in the middle, the Ren in
the front, and the Du in the back. It's simply seen as a Meridian that wraps
46
0 New England S c h d of Acupuncture & Jefkey C. Yuen, 2005
----- --- -- --.-- -
. . *., a.-- .&-.,
-..w&..w.%- "----'
A&. ..
..A.WA. -
-.-.- AWV*.
Dai, whatwe want you to do, is to take thatBelt,Openit, andDrainit. We're

not interested in the one that's just circulating around here. We want you to take
something on the Yin,longterm, heavyJon the Yin part of the body, and start
Draining that out That's why GB-26,27, and 28, and then later on,other
traditions, and in particular, Li Shi Zhen added LR-13 to that trajectory. Because,
what am I accumulating? The things from Post-Natal environment What is LR-
13?The M u Point for the Spleen, the Influential Point f o r the Zang Organs. So
everything that Accumulated, that I'm not able to Transform and Transport, gets
Drained into the Belt. And what do I want to do with it? It's not to just keep on
circulak g . You've been doing that all along. I want you to Drain it. Lets get
that to Open.GB-27 and 28 is to Drain it out. You don't need GB-29, because it is
already part of the Eight Extraordinary Vessels. GB-29 in on the Yorag Qiao Mai.
The first discussion is the Chmg. This is now from a Meridian point of
view#not just to have a nice name and call it Constitutional Therapy, like a lot of
times people do. This is true Constitutional Therapy. You're looking at the pre-
givens, the things that you're born with. Basically, in terms of philosophy, the
C h q is the adventure of searching for the Source of our Nature, the Source of
our Being. The term w e use is Xing ,which includes the character Sheng
A ,which means to engender, to give birth to. And the radical next to the word
S heng, is the radical for Heart, Xh ~ c ; . So, you're looking at what was born in
your Heart It's the Heart. The Heart is the chest What is the Heart? The Heart
is the Sovereign Ruler, the Fire Element. It is the Curriculum. The idea that I am
on a conquest in my life, trying to figure out answers to questions that perhaps I
did not get adequate anwers to in my previous life. So this life is about
redefining, and coming to terms with the questions of my existence. And when
that Sovereign Ruler truly has sovereignty, it means that there is no longer
anything left to conquer. The questions become a conquest and that's where our
being becomes truly content. When you feel that there is no longer anything that
needs to be done, because all is done, thafs when you have the True Fire. So,
basically, this is what the C h q is trying to do. It's trying to get to that area of
the Fire. That's why you can see the common pairing, SP-4 and PC-6- That"s the
Coupled Pairing, by theory.
This aspect of the C h o q is that you're looking, and tapping into your
temperament. You're tapping into your archetype. You're tapping into the
Kidney Qi that is expressing through you. That is to sayJwhen you do a Chon^
treatment, if s important that a person keep a diary, or at least begin to be more
conscious of what is attracted to them, in the next week or so. That means, if
you're opening up the Kidney's Qi,which is seeking the fulfillment of the Shen,
and that vibration is being released through the Chon8 treatment, you're going to
track the experiences that this lifetime needs to experience. Once you become
more aware of what those experiences are, you begin to know what your
archetype may be, be it Wood, be it Water, be it Fire, be it Metal, if you're using
Five Element as a measure of archetypes, or be it Tai Yang, S h o Ymg,Tai Yk,
Shao Yin, if you're using the morphology concept, as what is happening.
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0 New England Schwil of Acupuncture & Jeffrey C.Yucn, 2005
What you're doing is, you're essentially looking into your nature, rather
than looking into your culture. The Chong is searching for one's nature, not
influenced by culture. For example, when a person is in pain, their nature is
generally to cry. A baby in pain cries. Culture would say, men don't cry. So, as
a result, if you're a man, you might be influenced by culture, and you do not
listen to your nature, and when you're in pain, you simply try not to cry. That's
a cultural influence, and not a natural influence. So the Chow is to get to one's
nature. That's why if s not uncommon that people report to me that when they
were treating someone, they were weeping on the table, or they had some type of
emotional release. Thafs their nature being pent up by their culture. This is part
of the blueprint. And if s also looking at our medical history, which is part of our
blueprint, of what we have allowed to occur in our lives.
The influence of nature, is Pre-NataI. In other words, nature allows you

the capability to feel anything you want to feel. But culture says no, you can only
feel these things, or else you can't be in our culture. You can't be in our society.
Culture puts limitations. Nature, very often, is unlimited. In other words, the
Jing could really be any shape it wants to be; Water takes any shape that's
willing to retain it. The question is, how comfortable am I with this vessel that's
holding the Water? Well, this vessel might be relative to the culture. Some
people might find this type of mug, this type of body to be very much in vogue.
Others might find that this is not very interesting; you're better off using a glass
or a paper cup. That is a cultural influence, as compared to one's actual nature.
The idea of SP-4: not only is it a Luo Point, which means, remember, in terms of
the Chong, you're no longer looking at the Self out of context with society. You're
looking at the Self and seeing how society has influenced one's nature, how Post-
Natal Qz is taxing on Pre-Natal Qi. So, as a resultf we're not looking at the
Kidneys as if s Opening Point; we're looking at the Spleen. And SP-4, by if s
name, tells us there is a certain degree of lineage: Grandfather Grandchild, Gong
Sun, the idea that Ancestral Vessel is about perpetuating lineage. What is my
medical history? What is my lineage? We can see that the idea of SP-4 is
relevant, not only in terms of if s name, to the idea of the Eight Extra Channels in
relation to the Chong, but also if s connection, that Spleen connects with Stomach.
Stomach and Spleen is the basis of Post-Natal Qi.
Now you have the first trajectory. The trajectory that we have followed,
this is a Su Wen trajectory. If you read the Ling Shu, that trajectory is a little
different. We don't accept their trajectory. In some cases we take the Ling Shu. In
other cases we take the Su Wen. This is a Su Wen trajectory that you're seeing,
where it says, the Chong begins in the lower abdomen. In the lower abdomen,
there are a number of Points, that, arguably, can be seen as where this trajectory
begins, ranging from Hui Yin, CV-1, Ken-1, or one could say Ken-2, the Pubic
Bone, Qu Gu, which is where the Liver's Divergent Meridian goes intof the
relationship that the Divergent Channels have to Yuan Qi, also the Divergent
Channels to Eight Extraordinary Meridians.
In any case, the general consensus is that the axis, the horizontal axis
along the pubic bone, is a major series of Points, that have an effect on the Chong:
CV-2, KI-11, ST-30, and in the proximity of that area, SP-12. All of these Points
48
&3 New England School of Acupuncture & Jeffrey C. Yuen, 2005
are energetically associated with the C h q . It begins in the lower abdomen. It
moves into the genitals, which makes the connection with the Liver's LMO,the last
Luo of the sequence of the Luo Meridians. We expect that the last Luo of the Luo
sequence should communicate with the Source, and that is represented by the
genitalia. It goes from this area, the lower abdomen, to the genitals, and then it
comes out, at KI-11. So if s unfolding Kidney Essence. And it travels along the
Kidney Meridian, into KI-21, You Men. The word You Men is often translated as
"Pylorus," but You A also means something that's very mysterious. Men Ft ,
the doorway to something thafs mysterious, which, in truth, is your Heart:
looking into one's Heart. Essentially, KI-21 is half a Cun lateral to CV-14, which
is the Mu Point for the Heart, so the connection, Moving from the Kidneys to the
Heart, and then it Diffuses into the chest. So it goes and it Diffuses into the chest.
This is the principle trajectory, in modem Acupuncture, that we tend to

put most of our focus on. Here is Chow Mai essentially beginning in the area of
the lower abdomen. There is that trajectory that goes from the lower abdomen
into the back, and up the spine. That's the Du Mai aspect that I mentioned
earlier. But the idea is that it begins in the lower abdomen, goes into the
genitalia, and emerges at ST-30, which is going to be another very important
Point along this trajectory. But eventually, it takes up with the Kidney, and it
follows the Kidney Meridian until it reaches You Men, KI-21, and then it scatters;
it diffuses. The term is really San #k ,if you want to be technical. It is often
depicted as a straight line, but really think of it as the idea that Heart "scatters"
the Qi. The Heart disperses the Qz. Think of it in that context. So, it goes up and
it scatters in this area of the chest. That's the first trajectory.
This trajectory represents the relationship between the Kidneys, the

Stomach and Spleen: Kidney, Stomach and Spleen. In other words, if s coming
from the lower abdomen, supporting the Spleen and the Stomach: Post-Natal Qi.
So this is a trajectory then, of how Eight Extra Channels, in terms of the Chong,
how Kidney Qi goes to support Spleen and Stomach Qi. That trajectory would
be useful for imbalances that lie in Kidney and Stomach, Kidney and Spleen. The
most common imbalance would be, in TCM, Deficient Spleen Qi affecting Kidney
Qi, manifesting as Cock Crow Diarrhea.
The Unfolding of Essence, or the absorption of Excess, Surplus, that we

talked about earlier today, we can see when Kidneys are absorbing, perhaps, the
Excess Dampness, coming from a Spleen Deficiency. And as it absorbs it, it tries
to remove some of that, in which case the Chong has Cock Crow Diarrhea. That's
one way of looking at it. The other way is that the Kidneys are trying to give
their Qi to the Spleen, and as a result of that, there is taxation on the Kidney's Qi.
It also weakens the Kidney, and can manifest as Cock Crow Diarrhea, and more
so, as low back pain.
This is the first application of the Chow, using the Chong to support
Spleen Qi, and likewise, using the Chong to absorb Excess in the Post-Natal level.
It's important to understand that, when you're looking at the Chong at this end,
that the Needling technique is going to be either obliquely, toward the anterior
midline, or obliquely away from the anterior midline, on the Kidney Meridian.
49
thology to the
"hannel. If I am
Je the Kidney
YUquely away
rentiate that
dim? For the
icular, in other
against the
r But, with the
i g the Spleen's
idney's Qf to
So,let's say someone had Deficient Spleen Qi, and you decided that you
want to use the Chong to treat that. Because, let's say, this happens to be a child
who is colicky,. who's digestive system is relatively weak. And if you were not
paying too much attention to the person's structure, which would show you that
they had a weakened Stomach, and as a result, you feed them a lot, yet they're
not putting on any weight, and they get colic. You decide this is still in the Re-
Natal level; let me get the Kidneys to support the Spleen Qi,support the
digestion. So you tap into the Chong. You Needle, or you apply pressure at SP-4,
and then you go into the Kidney Meridian, and you're going to Needle obliquely
away from the anterior midline, to support Post-Natal Qi.The Points that you
would use could be Points that are sensitive. For a child, we won't know which
Points those are, so you would use the Points along the major landmarks: the
pubic bone, KI-11, the navel, KI-16, and KI-21. This would be a basic treatment,
supporting Post-Natal QL This would be why there is the statement that the
Chong would be the Sea of Post-Natal Qi. If s about the movement of Kidney Qi,
supporting Post-Natal Qi. Other landmarks can include also KI-13, and that
landmark is mainly because of if s name, Qi Xue ^L A . If s called the
Acupuncture Point of Qi. A very interesting name on if s own-
The trajectory I gave you was the trajectory from the SM Wen. The Ling
Shu, if you wanted to know, has the Chon? Mai beginning at the Bowel, the
Uterus, with the Ken, and then it goes into the Kidneys, and i t emerges at ST-30.
This is the focus we see in the Ling Shu. It is more on the Point, ST-30. The Su
Wen is more that axis along the pubic bone, the lower abdomen. ST-30 is very
definitely a popular Point for the Chong. We know it's called Qi Chon^, where
theQienterstheChmg,butifsalsoknownasQi]ie\^i ,theThoroughfare
or thestreet of Qi. Also in the Su Wen, and theNan ling, it's important to
understand that they refer to ST-30,as Qi lie, as the Street of Qi, while it is the
Ling Shu that refers to ST-30 as the Qi of Chow. So already, you know that the
Ling Shu is trying to advocate that ST-30 has a deeper connection to the C h n g .
Whereas, in the Su Wen and the Nan /kg, they're referring to it as the
Thoroughfare, which means that a lot of things go to that Point, in which case
they say, thafs the origin of the First Ancestry: the Chony, the Ren, and the DM.
At least in if s commentaries, they say ST-30 is where the Chow, the Rm,and the
D Mintersect.
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0 New England School of Acupuncture & Jeffrey C.Yuen, 2005
even mougn 1 aescrme me Maney rouits in me su wen s aescripuvn, me
technical word that they used in the Su Wen, was that the Chong runsparallel to
the Kidney Channel, parallel. It did not say it runs on the Kidney Channel. And
then, the Afon Jing says that the Chung runs parallel to the Stomach Channel. So,
there are discrepancies. How people reconcile that is, "I can understand what
this is. Here's the Kidney Meridian." Lef s say I'm lying down, 'The Chong runs
parallel to it, because if s deeper than i t See, if s parallel." That's how people
reconcile it. I f s deeper; thafs why i f s parallel. And, what the Nan fing was
saying, was, "Yes, this is also parallel to the Stomach Meridian." So whatever the
debate is, 1 just wanted you to see that, in the old days, in the Classics, not
everyone agreed with the description.
But the consensus is that it is the Kidney Channel, since in the SM Wen it
states that the C h g Mai has twenty two Acupuncture Points. Twenty two
bilaterally, means that it has eleven Points that are being displaced bilaterally,
and if you count from KI-11, up to K3-21,what you have is eleven Points.
Stomach and Spleen won't give you that. Those are the other ones that are
parallel, but you won't have the total twenty two Points. So people say, it has to
be the 11 Kidney Points, on each side.
Now, the paradox is that the Chmg i s primarily completed in the first six
to eight yearspthe first Cycle of Seven and Eight Pretty much, the Meridian is
intact already by the first six to eight years of our early life, where the first two to
three years are considered the most important period of one's so-called
development. Because, remember, if s these early stages of human development
that set the imprints of future behaviors and future dynamics. The paradox is,
that within a very short period, we have these Meridians which will then effect
the entire period of our lives. That's the paradox of it. It provides the confidence
that we're going to have in future relationshipspthe Yin Wei and the Yin Qiao, or
it might even cause one to withdraw, by setting up barriers, that stunts our
growth by fear, the fear of annihilation, that threatens the survival of the species.
Let's continue talking about the C h q , because there are a lot of
interesting dynamics of the C h q that give birth to the other trajectories of the
Ckmg.
Question: If the Chow Mai is complete in the first Seven or Eight Year Cycle,
when the kid is about three years old, you can't really use Acupuncture to treat it
because the Chon$ Mai is not complete.
JCY: Well, i f s not to say ifs not completed. Chong Mai is already most active in
utero. By the time you're born, the Ren takes a little bit more priority over the
C h q . And then as the child learns to become upright, then the Du Mai takes
more priority over that. So during the first two years, all of those three
Meridians are actively engaging with the child. It's just that they don't finally get
their imprints finished, until the first Cycle of Seven and Eight. So you can use
Eight Extra Channels during that period of time.
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0 New England School of Acupuncture & Jeffrey C.h e n , 2005
Now, the Chong represents the sum of our emotional and physiologies
experiences during our earliest months and years, including in that the in-ub
envirommt. So, if someone has in-utero problems, if you're working with t
woman who is pregnant, and has some type of in-utero complications, you'n
going to be thinking of the Chong. The Chong can also be blocked early in life
The basic survival of the species, the basic physiological needs of a newborn,
being fed, hunger, and having the emotional need of being touched. If those
.I '
mings * * a . I
are not met, aurmg mis early cmianooa penoa
1 1 -1 H I - aner
1 .-. me cnua is tworn,
T il . 1 - 1 1 -
that
will very of ten produce a lot of tension between the Kidneys and the Spleen, the
communication between Pre-NataI and Post-Natal Qi, which means, that the
child, early on/ can have a history of gastrointestinal difficulties. They have food
allergies. They have food intollerance. And, if you do Japanesestyle, very often
they like to describe the Chow as having tightness along the abdominal rectus,
whichiscalledFuLiang^.% ,theHiddenBeam.Thenotionthatalongthe
area of the Stomach and Kidney Meridian, it feels like a chopstick is in there. It
feels like a beam, when you go in obliquely, not perpendicularly, but obliquely,
either toward the navel, or away from the navel, you feel that there is a chopstick
underneath that area. That would be a Classical indication that this individual
has some form of Chng Mai imbalance. They most likely, will feel that their
basic needs are not always being met, very physiological. You can translate that
as an emotional issue; they never make enough money, because money is a form
of commodity. It's a form of resources, so they always feel inadequate. Even if
they make a lot, they still, somehow,use it up, and always wind u p in a state of
deficit. That would be seen as a potential Chong Mm imprint.
In Chapter 29 of the Nan Jing it says, when Chmg Mai has an illness, Qi
moves contrary to it's normal flow. It becomes Stagnant, and it Stagnates in the
abdomen. So it's going against if s normal flow. It doesn't move to support the
Spleen. It Stagnates in the Spleen. So we always find some type of eating
difficulties, eating disorders. One of the basic treatments that we can use for the
C h q , would be to Strengthen or Tonify Spleen Qi,via Kidney Qi.The use of
SP-4, depending on gender, left or right, and then, bilaterally, the landmark
Points, KI-11, Kl-16 and KI-21. And again, note that the Needles are done
obliquely, from the Kidney Meridian, toward the Stomach, because you're
bringing the Kidney's Energy toward the Stomach: Post-Natal Qi. That would be
one basic application of the Chony, for someone who comes to you with this long
history. They would say that, ever since I was young, 1 always had some type of
eating disorders. I had lactose intolerance. I had a lot of dysentery, when I was
young. W e can see that as part of the history of the C-.
B. Link Between Jinx Essence, Xue Blood, & Jin Ye Body Fluids
The second component of the Chon% is that it is the link between the Yin
Humors of the body, the Essence, the Blood and Bodily Fluids. In terms of
Bodily Fluids, we're talking primarily about the Pure Yang of the Stomach. The
Pure Yany of the Stomach, is the Fluid of the Stomach that goes to the Sensory
Organs to allow for heightened perception, because the Sensory Organs are the
tool of perception, as well as sensation. The Pure Yang of the Stomach allows
52
you to further receive information, perceive information about the world. This is
the saying that we find in books, that the Chong is the Sea of Blood. They also
say that the Chong is the Great Luo of Sho Yin. What is Sho Yin? Heart and
Kidney: it's that Luo, that Passage, that Connection between Heart and Kidneys,
the Great Luo of Shao Yin.
Numerous clinicians have disputed the meaning of the Great Luo of Shuo
Yin. Some argue that it refers, specifically, to Kidney's Luo, because Kidney's Luo
goes from KI-4,travels along the medial aspect of the thighs, and goes into the
region thafs right along the lower border of the ribcage (CV-15). From that
lower border of the ribcage, it goes into the lumbar spine, making the connection
between Ren and Du. Although one might say it doesn't go into the coccyx, to
DM-1,some people believe that that's making the connection between the Luo of
the Ren and the DM.That's the Great Luo of Shao Yin. Others simply say, no, if s
more of a relationship between Kidneys and the Heart.
Consider the signs and symptoms of Kidney's Luo. If s Fullness is

difficulty in urination and defecation. If s Emptiness is lumbar and genital pain,
which are symptoms that relate to Dai Mai. A lot of those are Dai Mai symptoms.
We know that there is a connection between the Chong and the Dai.
But, what I'm trying to get at with this relationship is how the Kidneys are
communicating with the Heart: the Fire - Water Shao Yin relationship. We know
the relationship between the Luo Vessels and the Chong, already. Luo Vessels are
Blood Vessels, and if we're looking at the Chong, as the Sea of Blood, if s going to
have a major effect on the Luo as well as on Blood. Maybe thafs why we can see
that, whenever they talk about the Chong being the Sea of Blood, that's where
they describe it as the Great Luo of Sho Yin.
In any case, some of the Classical symptoms of Chong Mai, in this

description, is that it deals with Heart pain, which is also a symptom of Yin Wei
Mai, its coupled pair, and Running Piglet Qi. Heart and Kidneys not
Communicating, fear overwhelms the Heart, and we get anxiety; we get panic
attacks. Running Piglet Qi is not only a physical sensation, of something rushing
up from my lower abdomen to my chest, if s also the idea of the psychosomatic
aspect of having panic attacks.
This then, is the second trajectory. How does it really get into the chest?
The first trajectory says it scatters into the chest. So ifs not like really allowing
something to remain in the chest. In the second trajectory, they say that the
Chong begins in the chest. It goes to the throat to the face, and as it goes into the
face, it goes to the throat, to the mouth, and the nose. Furthemore, the Ling Shu
says that the Chong meets with the Ren at the throat and the face, circling the Ups,
and the nose and the eyes. Remember earlier, 1said Chong somehow has to give
birth, or make connection with the Ren, if the Chong represents that which gives
birth to Yin, and that which gives birth to Yang. So now you see that if I
connected the first trajectory, and the second together, it's just moving adjacent
to the Ren Channel. That's all it is.
53
When they talk about the relationship to the chest, there is also a
description of the Chong to Ancestral Qi,Zong Qi Z *L . They also make the
connection with 20% fin ZSS ,a term that is often found within the
description of Dai Mai. Zmg Jin is the Ancestral Sinews. What is the muscle that
connects you with your Ancestry? One might say if s the genitals, because that
definitely is a muscle of reproduction. Some people say, "No, Ancestral Qt is the
breath, so Zong Jin is the diaphragm." And, if you're familiar with the writings of
Kiiko, she often refers to Zong Jin as the Abdominal Rectus. So these are some of
the interpretations of the Ancestral Sinews.
And lastly, the Great Luo of the Stomach, which is a Luo that basically
represents the Heart. It is a Meridian that goes into the diaphragm and goes to
the left side of the chest at the breast, where a pulsating vessel can be felt. Thafs
your heartbeat.
As the Sea of Blood, we can look at the Chong for either nourishing Blood,
or we can look at the Chong for establishing Communication between the
Kidneys, the Essence, into Blood, Pericardium. So if s this trajectory that you
should be pairing off with PC-6. That's where the Coupled Pair comes in. First
trajectory there is no need to pair it off with PC-6, because you're not making a
connection to the Heart, really, in the first trajectory. First trajectory is how the
Kidneys are supporting the Spleen. If you look at the first and the second
trajectories, together, we should then be pairing it off with LU-7, because the first
and second trajectory is going adjacent to Ren Mai. That means, if I'm using
Chong to help support Essence, Blood and Fluids, I should be pairing off Chong
Mai with Ren Mai, because that's the first two trajectories. And I would be using
Points along the first two trajectories of the Chong, as well as major landmark
Points along Ren Mai that deal with Nourishing Yin. That's what I would be
using in that Coupled Pair scenario.
Now, the Chong also connects with Du Mai, and it does so via the Dai Mat,
connecting with the spine. That means it connects with Du Mai. Thafs the third
trajectory. Now it means that I can pair off SP-4 with SI-3. If s not just Chong and
Yin Wei. We've already argued Chong and Ren. I've argued Chong by itself.
Now we have Chong and Dai, with GB-41. And we have Chong and Du Mai, the
spine. That trajectory is given support by the discussion in Chapter 79 of the
Ling Shu. It says, Wei Qi travels to Du-16, Feng Fu, the Warehouse of Wind, and it
begins a daily Descension, along each vertebrae, reaching the coccyx on the
twenty first day, in other words, three cycles of seven. The Chinese believe that
you have this idea of twenty four vertebrae. But it reaches the coccyx on the
twenty first day, where it then enters the Chong, and, on the twenty second day,
it allows Chong to have menstruation. In other words, you need Kidney Qi to
move Liver, if s Child, Wood, Blood out, otherwise you wouldn't have
conception. So on the twenty second day, Du Mai, Kidney Qi, goes to the Chong,
and it causes menstruation to take place.
Here we have the relationship between Du Mat, as it's moving along the
vertebral body if s going to have an effect along the Back Shu Points, and the
Bladder Shu Points. Then if s coining down and down, and enters the Chong.
54
And it has also an effect on the Kidney Shu Points on the chest. Wang Shu He, the
famous clinician of the 5th Century, wrote that Chong and Du combine, to affect
the Twelve Meridians. Chong is responsible for Moving Blood. Du is responsible
for moving Qi, and if s the combination of the two that affects the Qi and Blood
of the Twelve Meridians. In other words, if I just had general Qi Deficiency, not
Spleen Qi, but just Qi Deficiency, I could be using the Chong, and Du Mai to treat
that. I'd be Moving Blood and Qi. If you have general Qi Deficiency, this is the
idea that Qi will have an effect on Blood, and vice versa.
Furthermore, Chong and Du Mai deal with Rebellious Qi ,

leading to what
they call Bi Obstruction Syndrome. If Qz is not moving into the Lower Burner to
promote menstruation, not moving down the spine, where is the Qi most likely
stuck? If s stuck in the four limbs, because the spine extends to the four limbs.
So if there's Rebellious Qi coming from the digestive system for example,
Rebellious Qi produces Bi Obstruction Syndrome. What they're saying is you
need to work on Du and the Chong. How you apply this clinically, for example
would be in the case of an infant that's born with infantile paralysis, Bi
Obstruction, and can't move the four limbs, or even infantile seizures, Rebellious
Qi moving through the four limbs.
Question: Can you repeat that about the relationship of Rebellious Qi in the
abdomen and chest? Are you saying that is affecting Qi getting stuck in the
limbs?
JCY: Yes, this is a concept that we see in the past a lot. You have a Pathogenic
Factor traveling from the Exterior to the Interior. It does so because there is
Insufficiency of Wei Qi,because, if there was Sufficiency of Wei Qi, you would
have gotten rid of the Exogenous Pathogenic Factor already. So the Pathogenic
Factor is traveling from the Exterior into the Interior, the axis of where the Qi
meets, between Exterior and Interior, is at the chest. The chest is the bridge, the
separation between outside and inside. Some people would call that separation
the diaphragm, because the diaphragm, in Chinese, simply means, a separation,
Ge SSs .That's all it means, a separation. So the body says, "Gee, 1can't get rid
of this Pathogenic Factor. What am I going to do?" Well, it came from the
Exterior, and the fact that my Wei Qi was Deficient means that the Lungs must
have been Deficient. I was not able to get rid of it. So what does the Lung draw
upon? If s Mother, the Spleen, the Stomach, and they say, "Oh, we'll give you
some Energy to make sure this doesn't go deeper." And what you have now is
Rebellious Qi. The Qi goes to the Lungs, and you have coughing. All of this as
an attempt to try and push the Pathogenic Factor out. Maybe the Stomach does
it, and you have nausea and vomiting. This is Rebellious Qi. The notion of
Rebellious Qi, is to move things up and out. So, Rebellious Qi that is trying to
move things up and out, but yet, is still insufficient to move things totally out of
the body, gets trapped in the head and the four limbs. In other words, I'm trying
to move things out, but I don't have enough to move it out of the body. So it
stays on the Exterior, the head, the four limbs, which comes to be known as Bi
Obstruction Syndrome.
55
*."- - -*.- ---- --------,
-+ - - .-
. .- -.
the Exterior into Interior, and deal with Rebellious Qi. In the LUOChannel
description, they say Rebellious Qibecomes Bi Obstruction Syndrome. It's that
concept This is a concept wh& they're saying, "Well, what is happening on a
Constitutional level is that, when a child whose Post-Natal Qi is still weak, when
you're very young, and a Pathogenic Factor comes in, it's not going to be Post-
Natal Qi thafs going to try to support that It's going to be Y a q Qi,Du Mni,
which is going to try to deal with this. And Chong Mai, which controls the
abdomen, and the movement of the digestive Qi,is also going to be Rebellious.
So when these two get involved in that process, you can have a child who has all
its energy moving to the surface, but it can't come out, so the surface starts to
shake. You have seizures, infantile convulsions. Or it moves here, but it is so
Blocked, so rigid it can't move; you have infantile paralysis. Which can happen,
if you have an acute infection that goes into the Brain, that goes into the Curious
Organ. Some type of condition, like meningitis, or encephalitis that will then
have an effect on the neurological aspect, as you might translate it, or we might
even see that with polio. This would be an example of how the Chong and the
Du,simply were trying to get rid of a Pathogenic Factor that was so pestilent, so
strong, that the body couldn't get rid of i t So while we didn't die, we
nevertheless became handicapped from that point on. That's what I mean by
Chong Mai and Du Mni dealing with Rebellious Qi,that will lead to Bi
Obstruction Syndrome, and an example of that would be infantile paralysis.
Lets take a break here, give you a chance to digest some of this.
BREAK
Something I'd like you to note in our continuing discussion on the Chong
is that in Chapter 66 of the Ling S h , it says that when Perverse Qi is trapped at
the Shu Points of the Six Channels, preventing flow to the Four Limbs, with pain
in the Jointsand stiffness in the lumbar, it will eventually travel to Chony Mai.
Think of this in relationship to the diagram I just drew out, which is about this
idea that, if you have the movement of Rebellious Qi trying to expel a Pathogenic
Factor, and that as a result of this constant need to keep this Excess Pathogenic
Factor at bay, what we're doing is we're maintaining Qi constantly in the region
of the chest, and as a result of that, this Qi in the chest prevents that Pathogenic
Factor from entering. It also keeps the Pathogenic Factor out, causing the Bi
Obstruction, and what you have is Chest Bi.
Remember, in that second trajectory we mentioned earlier, the Chmg

begins at the chest. It goes into the head, and these Points that it goes to on the
chest are namely the Kidney Shu Points. For those of you who are new to this
material, in the Su Wen they mention that there are Transporting Points on the
chest, and those Transporting Points are the Kidney Shu. So do not confuse this
terminology of S h which they are referring to here, with the Shu Points of the
Bladder. Here, they're talking about the Points of the Six Channels. The Six
Channels refer to the Six Z m g Organs, per se. And once you have Chest Bir it
prevents the flow from adequately flowing out of the Four Limbs, and as a result,
you have pain in the Joints, and that connection to the chest will also have an
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0 New England School of Acupuncture& Jeffrey C. h e n , 20(15
effect, because of the Great Lw of S h o Yin,that was described earlier, how the
ribcage connects to the lumbar spine. So if there's Blockage in the chest, i f s
going to cause Blockage in the lower back, and, as a result of that, they're saying
that this is, or this will eventually travel to the Chong Mai, that this is also an
issue that relates to Chong Mm.
Points that arc on the chest, namely the Points from KI-22 to KI-27. That brings
up our next treatment strategy, which is making use of PC-6. That is, that we can
look at the C h g for treating conditions that involve Blood Stagnation, as well as
Chest Bi, because the chest is where Blood is finalized in it's production. Andf at
the same time that you have Blood Stasis in the chest, you also will have, in
many cases, Blood Deficiency.
The idea here is that there is Wei Qi Insufficiency. By the principle of
Transformation, Blood Transforms to Qi,to move the Pathogenic Factor out;
YiÃ§Qi Transforms into Wri Qi,to move the Pathogenic Factor out The axis
where Wei and Ying Qi communicate, is the chest So if I am Transforming my
Blood, to try to move out to the Qi level, to expel a Pathogenic Factor, I'm going
to become Blood Deficient At the same timeJmy chest keeps the Qi and Blood
pooling at the chest, which prevents the Pathogenic Factor from entering into the
Interior, then I also have Blood Stagnation. This is a very popular theory in the
field of gynecology. That you cannot Nourish Blood without Moving Blood; and
you cannot Move Blood, or Invigorate Blood, without Nourishing Blood. The
idea of using the Chong, to Nourish and Invigorate Blood, and included in that,
you would also be Regulating the Qi of the chest.
Some of the Classical symptoms that we can draw from the Chony Mai
include, in this regard, in terms of this treatment strategy, in terms of this
Coupled Pair with PC-6, would be heart pain. This is what they call Xiom,
which is the chestJlie, i s the Binding, or Knotting of the chest. Those of you who
study Herbal medicine, would know that word as Clumping. We talk about the
Clumping of Qi,the Knotting of the chest, with fullnesspdistension, tightness,
and pain below the sternum, which very often, as the body attempts to get rid of
that Stagnation/ Rebellious Qi results in vomiting, nausea, and in some cases,
what is referred to as Sudden Turmoil Disorder. Sudden Turmoil Disorder is
where the person is vomiting and having diarrhea at the same rime.
How you would treat this type of scenario would be to use the Kidney Shu
Points as they are palpated, either for nodules along the Kidney Shu, or,
depending on where you believe the Blood Deficiency, or the Blood Stasis is
located, and selecting the Shu Points that relate to that particular Organ. That i s
done after the Opening Point of SP-4, followed by these Kidney Shu Points done
bilaterally, and then adding to it, Points along Yin Wer Mai, if you want to. But
you don't really need to. And ending it with PC-6. That would be the Eight
Extra Channel part of the treatment. He Sea and Y w n Source Points that are
associated with the Blood Stasis, as well as the Blood Deficiency, are also added
into this treatment.
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0 New England School of Acupuncture & JeffreyC.h e n , 2005
. .- ,
. -
- -.. .. >. - -
,L- Tf
done after the Eight Extra, ~ n dremember,

, the Eight
Extra Channels, youwent fromt&Deeplevel, and you moved it to the
4
th
Moderate level. That was the depthoftheLifting and Thrusting. Now
everything is on the Moderatelewd. YOUcan go and do Primary Meridian
treatments, which is on the moderate level. 1fsnot on the ~ e e level.
p So thafs
thecontext
Be reminded that, if this treatment fails, in terms of removing some of the

Stasis,it might be because you added in the Rimary Meridians. For this to be
effectivewith the Primary Meridians, especially if you're looking at the Yuan
Points, it requires that Du Mm and the Bladder Shu Points an the back, are Open.
So,if I have tension building up on BL-18, that might make LR-3 somewhat inert
in it's function. Or if I have tension along the spinousprocess, in line wife BL-18,
that will potentially make LR-3 inert, or any other Shu Point in terms of the
Source Point. It can even be a TCM treatment If you're using a treatment where
you're using Source Points for Tonification, and if s not working for you, it might
be because the Shu. Points along the back, which most likely in TCM you would
be using anyway, for Deficiency that's their popularity, but if that's still not
walking, you have to palpate the Du,in line along a horizontal axis with the Shu,
and that may be what's Blocking it And if that is still not working, you do
Moxa on TH-4, because TH-4, as the Source Point, Opens up the entire Triple
Heater mechanism. TH-4 is called the Pooling of Y q , Yang Qi'.
Question: In termsof that, are you also going to have to dear the Governing
Vessel up to that point? If there's obstructionsbeneath that?
JCY: If there are obstructions in the Lower Burner, yes. You might have to do
that
Question: I was wondering, since you're using Kidney Sfm lines, putting the
Kidney Shu line one half Cun from the midline, why are you taking the Bladder
ShÃ line to be one and a half? Or are you? Wouldn't that also be half a Cun? I
know that that's sometimes done with the Divergents.
JCY:Well^ rememk, whenever you talk about the Kidney S h , it has to be half
a Cun in relation to the Constitutional level. If you're using Bladder Shu from a
Constitutional point of view, as you do with the Divergents, then it will be half a
Cun. But, remember, if you're looking at it from the San Jiao mechanism, if s still
one and a half Cun, if s no longer half a Cun.
Question: OK.And the second part is, would we expect to see, in your example,
some &' signs with that? Is that related to the previous discussion, to Blood
being Transmuted to Qito , try and move stuff out, and getting into Bi in the four
limbs and the head?
JCY: It can be, if the person has those presentations already. If they don't have ...
in other words, this could be someone who has Raymud's. They have a lot of
Chest Bi. They have no Blood movfaig to the extremeties. It gets ocduded very,
very easily. If s very Cold, andyw're thinking/ oh this is a Sea of Blood issue. I
59
mother. AHof
have
with
Question: Jeffrey,veiy quickly. ..you mentioned adding SJ-4,to supplement a

treatment. That was to Nourish fee Yuan Q^ or to Release fee Yuan Qi?
JCY. To help move Yuan Qthrough
i the spine: thafs only if you did a regular
treatment with Source Points, and ifs not working for you.
Now, furthemore it says, according to the Ling Shu, women and eunuchs
do not have facial hair, because their Ren and the C h g have an insufficiency of
Blood.
Another strategy that comes from our earlier discussionofthe Chong as it
goes along the Dai into the spine, is where we can use Oamg to Invigorate Yang
for Bi Obstructiondue to Blood Stagnation. This is an example where it would
be appropriate to think of it for Raynaud's, because you're making the
connection now, to Du Mai. Du Mai, remember, is the Sea of Yang, The Chong
gives birth to the Du,as well as the Ron. So, as the Chong goes to communicate
with the Du,and it does so via the Dai, the Belt Channel. It gives birth to this
Meridian, that wraps around from the front to the back, that moves from the area
of the back up the spine, basically going into the Du Channel: the idea of Blood
being Invigorated from Yang. The relationship between Blood and Yang,would
be where you're looking at someone who has Blood Stagnation as a form of Yin
Blocking Yang Qi.hi other words, if I have a lot of Blood Stagnation in the lower
abdomen, I can Block the Yung Qir because of my Chong Stagnation, from moving
into my lower back to be disseminated along the spine. So this would be where
you're using it to InvigorateYang for Bi Obstruction, due to Blood Stagnation. In
other words, someone who has chronic cold limbs, due to Blood Stagnation, and
Raynauds would be an example of that. It could be a herniated disc; it could be
fractures; it could be osteoporosis, or even arthritis.
In the treatment of that, you're looking at the use of 94. You're
following the trajectory as it goes to the Belt. You don't necessarily have to Open
the Belt, but you simply add to it, GB-26, which is along the trajectory of the Belt.
Then you notice that if s going into the spine, in particular, Du-4, Ming Men. And
then you are acknowledging that, as it moves along the spine if s going to have
an effect along the Shu Points that are adjacent to the spine. We know that the
Shu Points that are adjacent to the spine, that affect Blood, are BL-17, from the
Nan Jing point of view; BL-11 from the Four Seas point of view, as a Point that
Transports Blood, and from a Nan Jingpoint of view, it would be a Point that
deals with the Jointsand the Bones.You add these particular Points into the
treatment.
If you want, you can definitely add GB-41 to the treatment, to affect
where the Blood might have also had an effect on one's libido. That is, this Y m g
60
C New England Schoolof Acupuncture & JeffreyC. Yuen, 2005
-- - .
have endometriosis. She -have amenorrhea..She c& &ha& pain during
sexual intercourse, obstructimi$t~h i & ~ iwhich n case, GB-41affects the
Ancestral Sinews, which canincludethe-~talia.It could be a man who has
testicular pinwhen he is having se^f he also has some type of cold
extremities, low back pain. With.this,.tceatmen t, have to add to it SI-3.
you
Before ending with SI-3, you might palpate all the DM Points that are sensitive, or
Points adjacent to the DÃ which a r e a Shi Points, to help Release this Blood
Stagnation. All of this is in ielatioti to that third trajectory, that makes the
connectionbetweenIheCtomgandfileZAa,andtheDÃ§
Then thenext trajectory, the fourth trajectory, is hew the Chong supports
the structural aspect of the body. We're moving from the Blood Vessels, to the
Mairow, to the spine, and now we're moving into the Bones, (he Curious
Organs,, basically. At the same time, we're seeing this trajectory give birth to the
Qiao Vessels. So,we saw the Ren, the Du,the Dm; now we see the Qwo.
The fourth trajectory basically states that the Owng begins at the lower
abdomen, at KI-11, which is called the Wag Gu, and is referred to as the Curved
Bone: the relationship to Gu Bone, Kt-11. It travels down to the crease at the
knee, KI-10 - BL-40, the region of the crease of the knee. W e might even add BL-
39, if we want And then along the medial aspect offhe legs, it goes to fee
medial malleolus. It goes to the heeL And, as it goes to the heel,it goes to the
Qiao Vessels. If we're staying within the concept of medial malleolus, then w e
would say Yin Qiw, If we say it goes to the heel, that would include both Yin
and Yang Xiao. Then it goes to the sole of the fool The idea here is that this is
the C h g that is now supporting the Du,after you've gone into the upright
posture.
So basically, you're following a progression: how it supported the Ren,
which comes after the Chong; and thenif s supporting the Du. And then, once
you have the Du,and you begm to have upright posture, that means, these three
bony cavities which w e associate with the Eight Extra Channels, the pelvis, the
thoracic cavity, and the cranial cavity, are mediated by the spine. The C h g , by
i connection,went into the region of the lumbar area. It followed along fee
it's h
Du.
Once you have the DM, you have the ability to stand upright You have
the upright pture. Remember, the Qsao Vessels, are often translated as
Motility, or El& or Stance Vessels. If s about the way you stand and face the
world. I f s a ht articulating yourself upward, faring Post-Natal @. So this
trajectory helps to support fire Ascension of Spleen Qi. It allows us not to be
squatting, not to be in that infantile structure of being squatting, rather we're
able to articulate, and lift ourselves fully up.
If you consider the feet, thefeet have three basic padded areas. You have
the padded area behind the big toe; you have a small padded area behind the
little and fourth toe; and you havethe heeL If you look at these pads together,
if s basically a tripod that is inten&$ to lift up. And that lifting up, goes to the
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0 New England ScilOfiofAtMHincture&JeffreyC. Yuen, 2005
Qi.
aorsum or me toot. ine axsum ot the toot is a mage mat heips to lift up the
entire body, and to support the weight of the lower pelvis, which further helps to
support, through the spine, the weight of the ribcage, which through the support
of the shoulders, supports the skull.
So in bight lixtra Channels, those are the threebony cavities we're

interested hiWe already saw the connectionbetween the first trajectory of the
Chong that is making the connection, primarily in the pelvic region. The second
one starts in the thoraac cavity. I f s moving into the face, making some
connections. But the full movement into the head, the full movement into the
face, doesn't really occur until later on,until we get into Du Mai. That's when we
begin to fully lift our heads up, away from the curvature of the spine, away from
the curvature of the collapse of the body, away from the W e , away from being
fully in union with oneself. Now we begin to look up, look out. We're able to
propel ourselves forward. And that's going to be reflected by the Motility
Vessels, the nature of how we move into the world, as conveyed by KI-6 and BL-
62.
This particular trajectory is used to support the Ascension of Spleen

So if s used for prolapse; if s used forSinking Spleen Qt. If s used for prolapse
commonly in the lower abdomen: uterine prolapse, hemmorhoids, intestinal
prolapse, hernias. These are Classical symptoms of the Chong. So now if you
want to support that aspect, you're looking at this trajectory, how we can get the
articulation of the malleolus, the heel, to come up and support that If you're
using that treatment, you'll use SP-4, KI-11.Where this particular trajectory
emphasizes Points along the crease of the knees: KI-10, BL-40. Then there is KI-6,
as it goes to the medial malleolus. The medial mdeolus supports the weight of
the body. The lateral malleolus supports the movement of the body, as one
articulates oneself forward. Here, you would be adding KI-3 and Kl-1, in other
words, Points that are moving into the sole of the foot. So that would be the
treatment of the Chong in supporting Spleen QF. Notice there is no Coupled Pair.
If you do think there is a Coupled Pair, the coupled pair would be KI-6/ Yin Qiao
Mai.
C. Support of Post-Natal Qi (Sea of5 Zang, 6 Fu, & 12 Meridians)
The last part of our discussion of the Chong, is that the Chong is also
known as the Sea of the Five Zang and Six Fu, and the Sea of the Twelve
Meridians. I alluded to that earlier, in the discussion of the first trajectory, of
how the Kidneys are supporting the Spleen, via the first trajectory moving along
those Kidney landmark Points. So, when you're looking at this idea, in Chapter
33 ofthe Ling Shu, which is the chapter on the Four Seas which was refered to in
some of the questions here, it says the Chong MÃˆ is the Sea of the Twelve
Meridians, with its Upper Shu Transport Point at BL-11, and the Lower Shu
Transporting Points at the Great Hollows. The Great Hollows are, respectively,
the Upper Great Hollow, ST-37,and the Lower Great Hollow, ST-39.
They also describe what they refer to as the Sea of Grains and Fluids,
which is not the same as the Sea of the Twelve Meridians. In the Sea of Grains
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0 New England School of Acupuncture & JeffreyC.Yuen, 2005
Food, Jaundicefrom.Aldiohol, and what they d lUnilateral Jaundice. Unilateral
Jaundiceis often seenas jauittlice that comes fromWind.Umbic Jaundiceis
usually from excessivephysicalexertion of the- limbs,where the limbs then
begmw ' ,andastheybeginto ,Heat gets trapped there, and you
gaia~ ~ m h w ~ m ~ a
sex. Those are the five kinds of jaundice.
Finally, thereisastatementwhichcomesfromChapter60oftheSu WCT,
where it says that CfionsMai dealswithRebellious Qi. In the commentariesto
Chapter 60of the Sw WCT, they actuaUy talk about treating Jten-22, and ST-5 for
this Reba- Qmarufesbg
i in ttw chest and h the throat, in the form of
shortness of breath, hoarse breathing, and plumpit throat
It shouldn't come as a surprise, if we look up in Acupuncture textbooks of

the past, that whenever you see Chsmg treatments beingused,some of the most
common Points that are combined with the Chang, include Points like CV-l2, ST-
%, CV-17. We can.already see the mrdlationbetween those Pointsand the
Stomach.
If you were treating Jaundice, one of the most popular Paints for treating
jaundice was Dw-9. Thafs a popularPoint in TCM for chronic Damp Heal; and
withtheinclusionofw-7forthetreatmentofNMS malaria.
Are there any questions on fee C*? I hopeI didn't overwhelm
everyone!
Question: A couple of quick questions. When you're doing the Points here, like
SP-1, but you're not using (he Coupled Pair Point, PC-6, are you still doing 9 - 4
tmilaterally, and then the rest of the Poults bilaterally?
JCY:Yes, SP-4 is done based on gender, and any other Point that is added to the
treatment is done bilaterally. The reasonwhy Fm not using PC-6, isbecause this
particular trajectory is not involved with that trajectory that involves Blood.
Question: So there's just that one Ptant on the one side, and there is no other
single Point on the opposite side?
JCY:Right.
Question; Now,for SP* ju&'a~~lte and bolts question: some people, when they
Needle SF4 in-terms of usingitfer Chong Mai, Needle SP-4 slightly proximally,
like on a tender Point., somewhereinbetween SP-4/N-2 area. Do you
recommend that, or doyou,-d the TCM textbook location of SP4?
. oA2i I
JCY: I don't know what theT<3M;textbooklocation of SP-4 is. If you look at the
medial side of the lee,and d m of the foot, the highest point, and
64
0 New AcupunctUre & JeffreyC. Y u m 2005
Question: So should we use that if we want to be more Classical? Would that be
theplacewe'dfinditall the time,orjustspecifically wifhrespecttoChengand
Constitutional typetreatments.
Quettion: That's whatyou were taught for any time you use M-l?
Question: DoyoueverusebilateralOpening@QosmgPoints,oralways
unilateral?
your pactice. Bat if you

it Ifs.l&iw that you
inthe&anduseit,
, 17-i*
-nE
C New --- . ... &Jeffrey C.-2005
-
.u UL.,%A&LA. "-%A- w- V L -
-... .- .-. --- --- -- -.--.-- --...- -- -0 ----
and the same. There is no separation. Ifs not another person. There is mepand I
am, basically, as a child, essentially the same as mother. This is crucial. Think of
this idea of the symbiotic relationship; as the child bonds to mother, as the child
embraces mother, the child is not seeing himself or herself as separate from
mother. So these early imprints which are the imprints of nourishment, are
going to be the kinds of imprints you seek out, to a greater degree, when you
want nourishment or you want to feel connected, for the rest of your life.
For example, let's say the child is being held by a relatively young mother.
This is a child which was born to a young woman, who, lei's say is eighteen. If s
her first child. It was a difficult pregnancy in the sense of thinking about the
pregnancy; should I have an abortion, should I not? So there was already a
certain degree of anxiety experienced while the child was in utem The woman
and her boyfriend decide to have the child. Now the child is born. The mother is
still anxious; this is the first child. Am I really nourishing this child right. And
the child, who does not see mother as separate, picks up that anxiety as a form of
nourishment. You're being fed, but you're kind of nervous about it, and you're
constantly picking up this nervousness. That means, as you begin to have that
imprint, as you grow up, any time that you want to feel nurtured, you're going
66
to look for a situation that will make you feel kind of anxious, because you can't
separate anxiety from nourishment. You thrive on anxiety as a way to make you
feel alive. That's an early imprint that occurs, and if s planted into the Ren
Channel.
Sometimesyou wonder why a person would consciously, in your own

judgement of that person, put themselves in those situations that cause so much
suffering. But that's the only way they know how, because that's most likely the
kind of environment they came into; to have that meant they were being loved.
This is the kind of early issue that we see with the Ren. It's a bonding issue that
we are looking at.
So, there's the symbiotic union of mother and child that occurs the first
year after the child is born. The mother represents to a greater degree, the
totality of the child's existence. The very sense of oneself, the very sense of one's
body, is absolutely dependent on the mother's beingness, which will provide the
circuit of participation for the child to feel and to live in. So the child and the
mother are one to one, eye to eye, mouth to nipple, body to chest, interestingly,
that is the trajectory of Ren Mai. At least, it is one of the trajectories of Ren Mai.
We know the other one is simply the Du Mai trajectory. Yin gives birth to Yang,
and as we see with Du Mai, it has a trajectory that is precisely the same as Ren.
The Yaw also gives birth to Yin.
In the first trajectory, it says that Ren Mai begins below Zhong Ji CV-3.
Below Zhong Ji means, below the Central Pole, Ji as in Tai Ji. So, Zhong Ji is the
center of the Tai Ji, and Tai Ji, remember, is the circle. It's not the Yin Yang
configuration; if s the circle. That means out of the circle that one was born
from, the uterus, I get broken up. I got broken out of the circle, and I'm trying to
return back. I'm trying to go below it, back to the uterus, back to the womb,
below (3-3, below Zhong Ji. I'm trying to go back to that which broke, the Water
that gave me my birth into the world, the Bladder, Kidney's Essence, going to if s
Yang, coming out of if s Yin, to if s Yaw, which is the Bladder. This is the whole
idea of the Jing Well Point, the most superficial Point of Bladder, helping to
deliver a child, BL-67. I want to go back into that area; I don't want to stay in this
area. So it goes below the Mu Point for the Bladder, (3-3.
It begins below CV-3, and it travels into the genital area. From there it
goes up, along the pubic hair, along the lining of the Stomach or the abdomen, to
the throat. Then they're not just saying that it goes into the mouth; it circles the
mouth, because, the idea here is that the child is not chewing, rather the child is
suckling. It involves the orbicular muscles of the mouth that wrap around the
mouth as the child suckles on mother's breast. So it wraps around the mouth. It
circles around the mouth, the idea of closure. Now, remember, nourishment's
coming through the mouth. Previously it was coming through the navel. So it
wants the mouth to be like the navel. Anyone who's studied face reflexology,
knows the relationship between the mouth, the navel, and the genitalia. And
then, from there it goes into the area of the eyes, moving into what we know
today as Stomach Meridian, going into ST-1. Some people even extend it into
BL-1.
67
.. . -
K you look at the first trajectory, w e see that this is a component that can
begin either at the lower abdomen, or at the uterus, or at ST-30. Justbe reminded
that there is that relationshipthat it wants to have with the Bladder, be it with
(3-3, or as Li Shi Z h did, with CV-7. He also makes that Bladder connection to
Ken-7, as well as saying feat Ren-7 is the Mu Point of San Jwo, H e does not say
that CV-5, for example, is-the Mu Point -for San Jim, H e says it is 07-7.
1; ;' '. .,.<
-
-
4 , a
some of the other Points that a& crucial to U Ski Zten's discussion is the
connection of Ren-22, and Ken-23, with Yin Wei Mirim That had not necessarily
been standardized, prior to Li Shi Z h . Yin Wei Mai, in addition to the Points
along the trajectory, goes into RCT-22 and 23. If s Li Sfu Zhen who puts that
emphaais in there. And the relationship of Ren-24 with Du Mai, that again also
with the connections that have been provided by Li Shi Zhen.
*--3:
J .'f' So the Ren deals with conditions that involve synchronidty. That means,
the child is not only bonding to the maternal matrix, it's also bonding to time. I
begin to realize that when there is a lot more light around. I hear more noises. I
realise that I see mommy's face a lot more when there'slight around. I now
leam to conditionmyself to be awake, so I can catch mommy's face more. I sleep
more in the evenings now, and I wake up during the day. That's being in
synchronicity with time because it allows greater bonding. I notice that when if s
dark and I'm crying,yes, mommy does come to me. But sometimes mommy, or
someone else comes to me whom I don't even know. But they come somewhat
. late. So I notice that sometimes there's less attention given, in terms of the
bonding to light Sleep patterns begin to develop, as part of theRen.
r
r: Breathing patterns: remember, the child, in bonding to mother, is trying
to breathe like the mother The child's heartbeat is trying to synchronize with
mommytsheartbeat. Those patterns are patterns it tries to duplicate, that
represent the patterns of nourishment When I feel my heart racing in a certain
way, or moving in a certain way, then I breathe in a certain way, and it reminds
me of the way my heart and my breathing was when mommy held me,when
mommy was first in love with me. That's the pattern that I look for in
relationships, because in those patterns I believe that this person is all accepting
of me, because that's what the maternal matrix does. It accepts you for whatever
you are. It has no judgement until you start walking. That's when judgement
comes in. So,right now,you're OK. You can make noise. But once you start
walking, we expect a certainmaturity from you. We'll punish you if you don't
listen now. So,this is the process of learning the rhythms of nourishment, and
-vq a*~/l:fUlrv,
m
0 NewEngland &JeffreyC.Yuen, 2005

learning about what is nourishing for me. If s not taken for granted. I learn to
cherish it to some degree, and that's what the Ren, to some degree, represents.
We're going to end at this point. Tomorrow when-we come back we'll continue
the discussion on the Ren, and move beyond its philosophical basis, but I just
want you to realise that philosophy is what creates the understanding of the
pathology. Once you understand that, if s very easy to understand what they're
trying to get at when you read through Classical symptoms, and why there are
similarities between some of the Eight Extras, and why there are also differences. +
Â¥
B. Process of Bonding
As I pointed out yesterday, keep in mind that this is a sequence. There is

the notion of a continuum, which you should always keep in mind when
studying Extraordinary Meridians, or any Meridian system. There is a heirarchy
of which Meridians seem to be more important, and the issue of which Meridian
begins the process. And subsequently, there is the issue of how that process
begins to develop into other Meridians along the way.
The Chong, remember, is the Meridian responsible for in utero

development. It is the Meridian responsible for the changes, in terms of the
morphology, that occur with the fetus, as well as the Astrological influences.
After the child is born, the child begins to bond with the maternal matrix, which
in most cases is the mother. The child bonds eye to eye. The child bonds mouth
to nipple, and the frontal part of the child's body is embraced into the chest of
the maternal matrix. That's precisely the area we associate with the Ren Channel.
This is the area that the Ren Channel circulates through, and we also talked about
it going from the lower abdomen, into the chest, to the mouth, and eventually to
the eyes. All of these are the instruments by which we bond. We bond eye to
eye. We bond and we connect with our mouths, the frontal, the Yin part of our
body, rather than the Yang part of our body.
One can say that we are connecting from a nutritional point of view. We
are connecting from an emotional point of view, as well as from a tactile point of
view, in the process of bonding. Bonding is also a major phenomenon of human
behavior. It is a phenomenon that defines how we establish relationships, that
conjures up terms such as r commitment," such as "dependency," and, to a
greater degree, the value that we call "human love." In truth, what you're
looking at, when you're looking at bonding, is a sense of completion, that I can
come into a state of completion, with the maternal matrix. This idea of
completion means that I'm willing to accept the way that I am communicating
with someone as one and the same thing.
So, if a person is overly bonded, which can occur because the child,
perhaps, is overly nourished, or the child is being overly protected by the
maternal figure, if that happens then we can develop a life of overdependency.
This is a person that easily feels victimized, because they're so dependent on
others. The fact that someone says "No," to you, can make you feel hurt by that
particular statement. You feel that you can never really fully take responsibility.
70
satisfied on a very unconscious level. &you always fed &newhat inadequate.
You always feel somewhat inferiorjÃ§y& alwayslonging for someone to
rescueyou,totakeyewawayfromfeeGaE'Ctanstanoes.Beinginthepresenceof
theseotherpeople,youfeelyourlifeisinastateofcompletio~~ Weknowthat
there are individuals that we see,who are like that They come and when you do
-*7 tell you about how much they've been victimized, how much
they'vebeen i^howthingsaresodairhtheirKves,andtheymightevengo
as far back as childhood. This is someonewho, generally, has a Ren Mui issue,
relating to the iien Channel.
What very o ^ ~ u n doccurs
y in the Ken is overanpensation. We try to
do things that are more nourishing. So we try to accumulate Y h to feel more
whole, to feel more completetto fed more weighted down, to feel more in a state
of nourishment. Theseare individuals who generally on a somatic level,
accumulate, Yin Stags,be it Phlegm, be it Blood, be it Dampness. In Chinese
Qassidliterature,theyrefertotheJiCTiashaVllffitheconditionsofS/wn.S h I S
often translated as "hernia," the Stem disorders. The Seven Shan, as they often
referto it. And for the women, they refer to it as the Eight Jia. Jhare
accumulationsin the lower burnerxrangingfrom fibroids, to ovarian cysts,
These canbe conditions that eventually develop, lefs say, when a woman
develops a fibroid after her son or her daughter graduates, and startsto Kve
awayfromthefamily. Youmightthink,Well,hereyouhaveaparentanda
duld relationshipu,but in truth, the parent might have been.overiy dependent osn
the child. That is, they were alwaysprotective of the children, and their children,
inrevolt,begintodevelopmoreindependencefromtheparenk Oritmight
happenafterthechildgets&ed/and thereisagain, thisideaofseparation.
Thefre no longer around. So what do I do when I no longer have this support
system around me? I develop something else, that, in a very distortedway,
supports the body. I develop Yin Stasis in very traumatic, disjunctiveintervals of
time, where somethinghappens. Someone can develop a tumor after the loss of
a loved one. Again, during the separationprocess, someone may not be able to
o nlonger around. That becomes a
see life as being complete, with this p ~ ~ s no
RenMaiissue. Dowehave(hegiftof~abletomournthedeceased,toletgo
of the deceased, and get on with oui-fives, or do we get stuck with the need to
havethispersonstillaround? Dowe@owthatpersontostillbeanearthbound
entity, in which case we get vmyphlegmatic, and thafs the Yin Stasis.
A lot of timeswhatwe have, wbess-you consider the Sen Mai from a

dinid pOmt of view, is the who cam- to y m with Yin Stasis and Yin
Deficienq, The repletimerf@pmwpafter after birth inindividual who is born
with congenital defects, wherethereishcess Yin. That can be where they have
dubbed foot They can have tmtms, usually in the two areas that are going to be
very much involved in the separation, from the Ren into the DM. They can
develop tumors around Du-14, tumors around Du-4. In other words, they have
these masses, that you sometimes see with mental retardation, that you
sometimes see with Down's syndrome. They have these fatty deposits on the
area of Du-14, Heart Yang, or the area of Dw-4, Kidney Yang, in other words, on
the areas that eventually become the curvature of the spine. The body loses the
ability to separate. The person becomes always overly dependent. Some of us
develop these fatty accumulations as we get older, as we sometimes see in the
elderly population. They have fatty deposits at DM-14,the "buffalo hump" that
we sometimes see with elderly individuals. When we see that, this would be a
person who most likely is feeling very alone, very isolated, who's probably living
by himself or herself, who's children have probably already grown up. They
may have grandchildren, but have chosen not to be very connected with the
family.
So over time, the area of Du Mai which can allow us to look further into
life to be able to do our own things, to be able to separate and not feel so
dependent on others, but we find that we need that dependency. As the
individual develops this 'buffalo hump", it also can call the attention back from
the family which has separated from them, to tell the family that "I am in need . I
need your company. I need someone to take care of me more often." Depending
on if that particular need is accommodated, we see the progression of the
person's posture. In other words, one very common place that many of you will
see "buffalo humps" will be in nursing homes: a statement of the Ren Channel.
We can see that the Ren Mai is a very fundamental process of bonding. So
you should already be asking yourself, as a clinician, how do you bond with
your client? Are you the type that really does not want to connect with your
client? You do a very fast intake, and you just want to get them on the table, do
your Acupuncture treatment, and leave the room. Some of us are like that. One
of the important things about Eight Extra Channels is that our understanding of
them comes in the form of Cultivation. They give us a dearer understanding of
ourselves, and our relationship to our own Eight Extra Channels. Do you allow
your clients to bring their particular statements into a state of completion? Or do
you always cut them off dumg the intake to inject your own assumptions into
their particular disease process? All of these things are about the Ren because
your client is like a little child, in the eyes of a clinician, and also in their own
eyes. You have this authoritative image to them. You're supposed to know
more than they know. That's why they're coming to see you, at least, most of
your clients. Some of your clients will tell you more than know already; they've
done a lot of research themselves. But in general, the image of authority,which
is what the maternal figure is to the child, is like the image of God. The maternal
figure has the ability to give the child anything the child wants. When the child
is hungry, the child is being fed; when the child is cold and crying, the child is
being cradled. Literally, all of our desires, as a toddler, as an infant, are being
satisfied by this maternal matrix. So if you go to any individual, if you have a
certain need, and you feel this individual is satisfying you, the way you bond to
this individual is a statement of Ren.
72
As I was saying before, if you're l m h g at the Ren Chamel and you see
that t h e are also fatty deposits dthe ama of Dud, or h-14,these are
usually early hdicatms of mental rehdaticm, and are mxnmdy h d in
Down's syndrome. S o m e h a we a h ihd n d d e s along Rm &,most likely
when the individual has a lot of+ expe&timl and their h d a r i never
~
fed enough. They never h l h t Wr needs are being met, so they k i d of Eke
always Clump their Qitheir
, d d s i a d &en that Clumping of the Qi
develops into nodules dong the Rm Channel.
Again, in the Nan Jing it says that symptoms of Ren Mai involve the Seven
Shan, for males; and Zhmg - J& for females, which gathem in the lower abdomen.
On the other hand, inadequacy of nourishment may result in hsuffiaency

of Yin. That is, one never feels contained. One never feels content. One never
feels complete. You see this in conditions that always involve some type of
barrenness, dryness. Remember, Empty Yin produces Empty Heat. So we
always get these Deficiency Yin signs and symptoms, and these dryness
symptoms, not because we have an actual Heat that is going on, but rather
because we have this Insufficiency of Yin, the inability to feel nurtured, the
inability to feel complete, the inability to feel happy. In other words, what I'm
suggesting to you is that some individuals you treat, i n b k s i d y , will have
constant Empty Heat signs and symptoms, no matter what you try to do, until
you're able to work on the level of Eight Extra Channels, and make them start to
feel nurtured, complete and content in their lives. Those are all symbolic
components of the Ren Channel. Remember, if someone is never happy, they
might always feel victimized, and you're treating them for all those Heat signs
and symptoms, rather than Clearing the Heat, you might need to Nourish the
Yin. That's what I'm suggesting here.
The above condition can also reflect an imbalance in Du Mai, since Ren
and DMare mutuaLly inclusive of each other, though DMM i does not evolve
fully until the child graduates, or ascends into the upright posture to support the
Three Bony Cavities: the skull, the thoracic cavity, and the pelvis. Remember,
before the badc of the body, the Du of the body becomes more involved, right
after the child is born, we're primarily seeing the front of the body as being the
most important axis of the body. This is even proven in the study of neonatal
psychology. During the first year, it's the frontal part of the child that is fully
differentiated. The badc of the body is not that actively engaged yet, in terms of
the nervous system of the body. It's the frontal part of the body that's really
differentiating during the first year of an infant's life. That's Ren Mai that we're
seeing in this context.
So, because the Ren gives birth to the D Uwe ~ expect, in the Ren Channel,
that there is a trajectory that originates in the pelvis, travels to the spine, and
from the spine, travels until it reaches the nape, or the back of the neck. In a way,
one can say, by Reducing DMMai, we encourage Ren Mai. By Reducing Ren Mai,
we encourage DMMai. That's why, if someone has a Ren issue, I can work,
indirectly with the DM,and if someone has a Du issue, I can work indirectly with
the Ren. This is the idea of using Yin to balance Yang, and using Yang to balance
Yin.
The first basic treatment strategy that we have relating to the Ren Channel,
treats Yin Stasis, with Yin Deficiency. This is the component that we can look at
strategically, where the Ren a a n n e l comes in- A woman/ after going through
the Cycles of Seven and Eight, reaches menopause. At that time, the fibroid that
she has, which she was told would start to reduce with the cessation of the
menses with the decline in estrogen, which as a growth hormone, would no
longer exist in higher concentrations, and thus would allow the fibroid to shrink.
74
0 New England S c h d of Acupuncture & Jeffiey C. Yuen, 2 M
using a l l of those Points, m e might say, Wd,lek me affect dl Three Burrim,
namely, Ren-17 for the Upper B m e r , Rm-12 for the Mdde Burner, and Rm-5, if
not Rm-7 fm the h w e r Burner.'' These are usually the defining burdm of the
Three Burners of the M y . Others would say, use LU-7 with the Terminations-
T e r m h t i m are especially important in trying to deal with the idea of Yin Stasis
with Yh DeficknqmTermhations are b a a on the theory that comes horn the
Ling S hu that states that the three Leg Yin Q ~ m d sbegin at the Jing W d Points,
and they Tmnhate, they cmcenb-atetheir Qi at the Certhl Axis of the body,
namely, (37-12 (SP), CV-18 (LR) and CV-23 (a). Then I can lmk at where the
three Y h of the legs concentrate their Energy at CV, and utilize those Points to
Disseminate, if there is Excess, say Liver Yin Stasis, if there is E x w s Kidney Yin
Stasis, if there is Fxess Spleen Yin Stasis. Even though thafs not a TCM tern,
there was that concept in Claskal thinking, that you can have Excess Splem Yin,
which tday we would often banslate as Stomach Yim So if you have Excess
Kidney Yin, Excess Stomach Yin,or Excess Spkm Yzn,Excess fiver Yin, you can
go to the T d n a t i m and Disperse it" and it will go back out to the Jing We11
Points that will deal with Stagnation.
Question: . . E x c e s Yin for Liver#would that be something like Ever B b d
Stagnation, or?
JCY: h T W it would be Liver B h d Stagmkkm. But it d d be Liver Yin Stasis

too.
Rm Moi is also responsible for the hitid learning of mtrol. h other

words, when 1begin to bond, 1 begin to maintain d m e Closure, opening and
closing, is a measure of m n h l . First J'm opening to the maternal matrix,
because I'm in all accvtmce, and I l e m to dose around the maternal matrix to
embrace the matemd matrix. 50 all of thme things that have opening and
dosing as we saw with the orbicular m u d = of the mouth, the orbicular
muscl~ mound the anus, Rm-1, the orbicular muscles around the area of the
wetha, the orbicular musdes around the eyes, all of these me things that are
circular, are what some people would refer to as the ring muscles. These are the
first p u p s of muscles that ex& a certain d q p e of opening and dosing,or
mnh-01over bodily hnctjons via the sphincter muscle activities of the moutht the
eyes, the orbicular muscles, and likewise, of the anus and the metha.
h other words, this is how 1c m t r d the amount offdthat is coming

into my system. Remember#that's one of the first components of nourishment.
As J suckle mothefs breast, 1 am closing m m d the nipple bmause 1 desperately
mummy s mpples to De swouen ln wmch case m m y mght not want to
breastfeed me as much, so whm m m y does breastfeed me, T want to dme
around the nipples even more,
There's also the idea now that the child is experiencing defmatim, if you
haven't b m toilet trained. SQ we're just experiencing that there's something
that d a t e s the rectal musdm, the anal muscles, and something is coming out.
And the child realizes, as they're playing with their Mv and they squwze their
abdomenf they realize they can mtd, to a certain degree, this p m a s of
defecation and urination. Obviously, they won't f e l a need to mnM1 that,
because we haven't been toilet training them at this p i n t - But thk m t r o l over
the lower region will have an effect over the upper region, and vice versa*
With the spbckr muscle areas, the ring musclm, this is a mcid time
perid during which we are manipdating the External environment, and how
that External envimmmt is going to have an effect over the htmd
e n v h m e n t , This is the idea of the Lungs as being the most vuherabk organt
with LU-7f the Opening Point, the Luo Pointf communicating between E x t m d
and Internal, where often, ~vercontrolis the result of compensation for a lack of
mntrd: againrCompensation theory. In 0 t h words, a t d d k having difficulty
in being weaned off breast feeding, an External sthdation, it's coming
ext~rnallyinto the mouth, may ~v~rcontml their Internal envimnment. So 1
dodt want to stop drinking milk 1 don't want to stop, by moving h m the
breast to the bottle. SQ what happens as you try to squeeze the mouth, realizing
there is nothing to squeeze onto, then you're going to squeeze your rectum. And
you start to get diaper rash. You very often will see Diaper rash as the child is
starting to be weaned off, or the child is being changed. If the child is already
M g fed by the bottle, and you're starting to change the recipe, starting to move
them away from the soy milkf m d you're moving them into sume type of juice.
You might begin to see that there are changw, not only in the stoolsJ but them are
also going to be changes in the bowel frequencyt a d there might be diaper rash
I might also by to change the Internal mvimmmt, and develop a s h a , the
constriction of the throat. T h y rnight develop fwd sensitivity during this
period of time, not because they're actually semitive to the fwd, h t they're
sensitive to the fact that they're king weaned off something that they're still not
ready to be weaned from. So there might be this gluten or lactose intolerance
that are we very often introducing into them, horn the mothefs milk,
introducing cow's milk. From the mothefs milkf if you're more wholistic, you
might start introducing thm to some type of fruit juice, or something of that
sort.
An infant with diffimltv in toilet training, which is htema1 now, not

External, can develop a need <or Excess control of External events. If Ican't
control my toilet training, then I'm going to want to manipdate more of the
External environment. SQ a child who has difficulty with toilet baining,
generally tends to be very much in conbol, or what we think of as v q much in
control of their hands. They 1ike to manipulate the External mvjmmmt a lot
mom. They usudiy want to have marc toys. If they m ' t c m h l Int m d l y , they
77
0 New Engrand %hml d Ampwncturc 8~Jeffrey C-Yum, 2 W
want to be able to control Externally. They very often will not want to share their
toys with others. These children will grow up always wanting to be the first in
line. You see this with children who are walking, the child always wants to be in
front of you. They don't want to be behind you, and you can hold them for a
while, but they'll break away from your hands and want to run to the front.
Thery are always wanting to be the leader, maybe because they have difficulty
with Internal control. They're still bedwetting, or other issues relating to the idea
of the orbicular muscles. That means, if you're going to treat them, you have to
treat around the eyes, around the mouth, around those the External areas.
Obviously, because we're not going to treat around the anus, you treat around
the navel. That's going to help us to deal with the initial issues of control.
In my opinion, this is a crucial key to success in pediatrics. In pediatrics

you find that if you're going to treat infants, you don't use excessive stimulus.
The more stimulus you use with a child, the more control they need, because
there are more factors coming in. You'll find that with the more stimulus you
use, it will interfere with their adaptive formation, because infants will
demonstrate a very narrow spectrum of behaviour; they're trying to conserve
Yin, most of their Energy for the growth process. So if you're trying to distract
their Yin, by giving them a lot of toys, by giving them a lot of different foods,
then what happens is they're going to teethe faster, because the only way that I
can metabolize something that is no longer easily assimilated, is that I have to
start chewing on it. If the toddler is lying in the cradle and you have all these
toys dangling on the cradle around them, and you have a room full of different
colors, thafs a tremendous amount of stimulation. The only way I can control all
the stimulation that's hitting me, is I have to start assimilating it. And the only
way I can assimilate it, where previously all I'm doing is swallowing, is I just
accept it. But now, "Gee, all these things, what can I accept?" I start teething. It
is interesting that when you compare societies that are so called primitive
societies, with modem societies, primitive societies' children teethe at a much
later age, than those that are in "modern" societies. Because in modem societies,
we have the luxury to provide more stimulation, or if you want to use the word,
more "nourishment"for the child, while underdeveloped countries generally are
more fixated with one form of stimulation. Which means that while their
intelligence appears to be slower, their Jing tends to be more healthy. This is the
context that we need to consider.
D. Birth of Form, Substance, Matter

In any case, if we're looking at Ren Mai as the Sea of Yin, this is the
beginning of where we are identifying with our Yin, our form, our matter, our
substance. That means we begin to identify with our gender. We begin to
identify with the ethnic group, the lineage that we're born into. We all begin to
identify very early on. That means if you are born into a Chinese family, most
likely after you're weaned from breastfeeding, they'll start introducing you to the
Chinese culture. You'll be eating meals that are basically Chinese cuisine. You'll
be introduced to customs that are considered Chinese customs. So their ethnicity
is going to part of that. In truth, what you're really being indoctrinated into is
group consciousness. If one has difficulty with this identification, with this
78
group identity. Ifs not that sophisticated. All of us could have come up with
4 .
that because anatomically that'swhere thoseorgans are located. So to say that

Rend treats intestinalproblems, thafs not a big deaL To say that Ren4 treats
reproductive problems, that's not a big deal, because thafs the location of that
Point But one would say that, in 'cular, one would be interested in the Ken
p
Channel on the lower abdomen/ ' one has reproductive problems that involve
Yh Stasis and YinDeficiency; someone who has urogenital problems, where
there isDampness, but at the same time, thereis Fluid Deficiency. I would be
interested in Ren Mai for conditions that are intestinal, where there might be
Blood Stasis, with an underlying Blood Deficiency. There is always a
compensation factor whenever you consider the Ren Channel. When you think
of Eight Extra Channels,for the Ren, there is always a compensationfactor,
because it is mutually inclusive.
The middle plexus has issues that pertainto digestion* The middle
plexus, from K e n 4 to Ken-15, is also the area in which we exert control issues.
The lower plexus deals with group identity, so if you have trouble playing the
rote of bring female or male, that's going to be reflective of the lower plexus. If
you have issues where you always have to be in charge, you always have to be in
the front ofthe line, you always have to be in control, that's most likely going to
be middleburner issues.
And lastly, the upper plexus, those Points from Ken-15 to Ren-24 deal with
respiratory and cardiovascular issues, but they also deal with (he upperDan
Tim, which means having faith/ having trust in the Divine. hi terms of infancy,
the maternal matrix is theDivine. You have trust h your mother and father, as a
child. You might not trust them nowadays, but at least, when you were young,
you had total trust in them. Thafs coming from your connection to them from
the chest,from your heart, from the breath. Some of us who have lost faith, one
might say we can look at the Upper Burner in terms of the Points.
E. Classical Symptoms
Classical symptoms that relate to Ren Mai include conditions that occur
after delivery, such as low bade pain,depression, the retention of the lochi&the
placenta. Classical symptoms alsoiadude digestive issues, Food Stasis,
vomiting, constipation, diarrhea,wring musdes and sphincter musde activity,
hemorrhoids, and what they d SpleenLao, consumption, which generally was
the earlier way of saying WasfaganB-Thteting. Today we are familiar with that
term, generally refering to diabetes, Spleen consumption or Shoo Ken Wasting
and Thirsting syndrome.

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L-hannel Systems

Edited by Stephen Howard, Lie. Ac

Many thanks to Adele Straw, Uc. Ac.

for her diligent work

helping to preserve the tradition

A. Its Role Within the Meridian System ......dÃˆ.Ãˆ.. ...................................... 1

II. Some Clinical Considerationsfor the Eight Extraordinary Vessels

C. InitialLearningofControl .......Ã£..................................."...*.......-......... ... 76

I. Theoretical Aspects of the Eight Extraordinary Vessels

A. Its Role Within the Meridian Systems

I would like to begin by welcoming all of you for coming to today's

Exterior Meridians Interior

Bone 9 Gu Divergent Zang Fu I

Let's begin with some ofthetheoretical aspects of the Eight Extraordinary

In general, we can say that the Eight Extra Channels, as roadmaps,

It also deals with pathology, and in particular, they're looking at

And again, if s role in terms of evolution. How is it getting us to

2. Relationship to}ing Essence

In Chapter 71 of the Ling Shu, it says, lfZong % ,Ancestral Qi,

Here, I am trying to begin establishing the importance of BL-1 Jing Ming

3. The Relationship to the Other Channels

In previous discussions, we already made the connection between the

I mentioned already that there are Luo Meridians, and, depending on

B. The Unfolding of Life (Ming Fate & Yun Destiny)

1. Pre-natal to Neo-natal in Post-natal Energetics

So already we know where the Opening Points are going to be located.

2. Eight Extra Channels as a Continuum

There is also what they refer to as a PR-Heaven Chmg and a Post-Heaven

So in brief, if one were to look at the sequence in a way that makes it

To use a very simple analogy, imagine constructing a room. What do I

And anything that 1donptwant to look at, or something that I'm

So,we're going to take a b r e d at this junction, and when we come back

Any other questions? Yes?

1. Commentary Presented by the Nan Jing

2. Ming Dynasty Emphasis on the Kidneys

3. - Curious" Bowels, i.e., GB

2. Issues relating to Kidneys & San Jiao

In terms of Sun Jiao, it would be issues that deal with an imbalance, or

If we are going to say that there is such thing as Ccmstitutiod Factors,

Congenital Releases o a w with childhood infectiousdhases. To the

In any case, we h o w that the teething, which is an extension of the

Uher t e q u s can dso indude Vibrating, just that Vibrating tends to

The retention of the Needle, is about thirty to forty minutes. The

It is also important to note, that if you do Moxa, Ming dynasty textbooks

The second explanation of Superficial Needling, as it relates to Ming

Question: Is the Essential Oil.applied on the Opening Points of the

That brings us to Point selection. Contrary to what you might be thinking,

Be reminded that the Confluent Points can be used independently of their

And there is that debate regarding Coupled Pairs, in terms of being

So there is no consensus as to how you're going to do the treatment. What

Some clinical suggestions, that I want to at least bring up before we talk

It's also important to understand the role of the trajectories, in relation to

Dai, whatwe want you to do, is to take thatBelt,Openit, andDrainit. We're

The influence of nature, is Pre-NataI. In other words, nature allows you

This is the principle trajectory, in modem Acupuncture, that we tend to

This trajectory represents the relationship between the Kidneys, the

The Unfolding of Essence, or the absorption of Excess, Surplus, that we

Consider the signs and symptoms of Kidney's Luo. If s Fullness is

In any case, some of the Classical symptoms of Chong Mai, in this

Furthermore, Chong and Du Mai deal with Rebellious Qi ,

Remember, in that second trajectory we mentioned earlier, the Chmg

done after the Eight Extra, ~ n dremember,