Ep. 16: Currents of qi: A journey along the acupuncture meridians

Welcome to Notes from your Acupuncturist everyone. I'm your host Alexa, and today is a solo episode. I like to use these solo episodes to talk about some of the fundamental concepts of acupuncture. And today is all about meridians. Let's get into it. So, what are meridians? Acupuncture meridians, or channels, as we sometimes call them, are pathways of qi flow in the body. And I want to share a few analogies that I find helpful for understanding the concept of meridians. So first, we can think of them as being similar to the network of blood vessels in the body. Your body's arteries, veins, and capillaries deliver blood to every organ and tissue in your body. Tissue that doesn't receive blood will die. And similarly, the network of meridians delivers qi to every organ and tissue. Qi is the animating force in the body, and without it, we die. Now, another analogy that I'll sometimes use is comparing meridians to a system of roadways, roads, transport, cars, and people. And meridians, of course, transmit qi. Cars can travel along many types of roads. We have interstate highways, we have city streets and boulevards, and we have dirt roads. Similarly, there are different types of meridian pathways in the body, and we'll talk more about those different types in a minute. 

But an analogy I find even more useful is to think of meridians more like air currents. So air exists everywhere around us. Sometimes it's just sort of floating around, and sometimes it moves in a direct and specific way as a current. And a current is just a mass of air moving from one area to another. When you go outside and you feel a gust of wind, that's an air current. But air doesn't exist only within the current. It's everywhere. And it's similar with Qi. Qi exists everywhere in the body. And the meridians are like currents that the Qi flows along. And we can also imagine meridians as water currents or bodies of water. And in fact, the ancient doctors who categorized and named the Acupuncture points and the points fall along the meridian pathways. These doctors often used water metaphors to describe the points and the meridians. So the most distal points on the meridians and these are located on the tips of the fingers and toes, these are called well points. So we can tap into Qi that's just under the surface of the skin at these well points on the tips of the fingers and toes and then moving more proximally towards the center of the body, we have spring points and then stream points and river points and sea points. And all of these point categories function similarly to the bodies of water that they're named after. So for example, at spring points, Qi bubbles up to the surface of the body just like it does at a spring in the ground. At sea points, the Qi plunges inward to the organs. 

And just like there are categories of individual points, we also have different categories of meridians. So I'll talk about each of those. The meridians we use most often in a typical acupuncture treatment are called the Twelve Primary Meridians. And each of these twelve primary Meridians corresponds to a specific organ system in the body. These twelve primary meridians are grouped into six Yin and Yang pairs. So for example, the Lung meridian is yin and its yang partner is the large intestine. And the large intestine meridian begins where the Lung ends. And these twelve primaries are also grouped into six arm and leg pairs. So the large intestine is what we call the Hand Yang Ming meridian. And then the stomach is the foot. Yang Ming meridian. And the stomach meridian begins where the large intestine ends. And so we can even think of that pair of them as just one big meridian circulating through the arm and the leg. And if we want to zoom out even further, the Twelve primary meridians are really just one continuous circuit. One meridian begins where another ends and Qi flows continuously through the cycle. 

Now, each of the twelve primary meridians have a few corresponding meridians associated with the main pathway of the channel. We don't tend to use these as often in acupuncture treatments because these corresponding meridians generally don't have acupuncture points on them, but they're still important. One of these categories is called the Low Connecting channels and each meridian has a low connecting point. And I like to think of these low connecting channels as shortcuts. And they quickly and easily move Qi from one meridian to its Yin or Yang partner. So I just mentioned how the Large Intestine meridian picks up where the Lung meridian ends, and those are Yin Yang pairs, and this occurs at the fingertips. But there's a lung low connecting point on the wrist and a channel that branches off from this point, which has a direct path to the large intestine meridian. So it's like a little shortcut. 

Each of the twelve primary meridians also has what's called a divergent meridian, and this is a pathway that branches off from the primary channel and diverts Qi into the deep interior of the body. The divergence connect the inner and outer parts of our being. And then we also have tendinomuscular meridians, which run more superficially, and these tend to follow the lines of major muscles, tendons and ligaments. The tendinomuscular meridians, or TMMs as we call them for short. These are really useful in treating pain and injuries. And then finally, we have the eight extraordinary meridians, and these are our deepest network of pathways for the movement of Qi and blood. And essence, I think of the eight extras as sort of the DNA of our meridian system. And in fact, our classic textbooks tell us that the eight extras are the first meridians to form in a developing Fetus. 

Meridians are in essence conduits of the stuff that makes us alive. And there are many ways we can affect the flow of Qi through the meridians. So let's go back to our analogy of water currents. You can change how a body of water moves. You can place your hand over a spring to stop water from bubbling up. You can clear debris from a stream to encourage water to flow more freely. You can splash around in water or stir things up, or you can just float and let the current carry you. And your actions and your intentions can have a similar effect on the meridians of your body. You can change how your Qi flows through you. An acupuncturist will do this with needles, but you can also do it with acupressure or movement, like Qigong or Tai Qi or breath work or meditation. Ultimately, the power to move Qi through your meridian pathways comes from within. 

So there's your brief introduction to the concept of meridians. If you have questions about the meridians or anything else related to Acupuncture and traditional Qinese medicine, I would love to hear from you. You can message me on Facebook or Instagram at Notes From Your ACU comment or reply on Substack or contact me through my website notes From Your Acupuncturist.com And if you leave me a voice message, I can play that on the air. I hope you enjoyed today's episode. Be well out there. Friends. Thanks for listening. Thank you for listening to today's episode of Notes From Your Acupuncturist.