Web That Has No Weaver

Chapter 4 -
The Meridians: The Warp and Woof

I. Meridians = channels; name derived from jing-luo, jing = to go through or a thread in the fabric, luo = something that connects or attaches, or a net

A. Move Qi and Blood

B. Regulate Yin and Yang

C. Moisten tendons and bones

D. Benefit joints

II. Meridians connect interior body with exterior

A. Acupuncture (working with points on the surface of the body will affect what goes on inside the body) Yang treatment

B. Herbology (will enter meridian pathways) Yin treatment

III. Disharmonies in organs may show up in corresponding meridians

IV. Goal of Chinese medicine: rebalance disharmony

A. Yin and Yang ordered and harmonious

B. Right amount of Qi in body

V. Acupuncture as a treatment for disharmony

A. Needles can:

1. Reduce what is excessive
2. Increase what is deficient
3. Warm what is cold
4. Cool what is hot
5. Circulate what is stagnant
6. Move what is congealed
7. Stabilize what is reckless
8. Raise what is falling
9. Lower what is rising.

B. Western equivalent to above

1. Anesthesia . . . jams lower nerve bundles in CNS so other pain signals cannot reach brain
2. Stimulate release of endorphins to alleviate pain
3. Clinical uses of acupuncture have not been studied by west

C. Random acupuncture facts

1. 365 acupuncture pts on body
2. Approximately 2,000 pts actually exist
3. About 150 are used in modern practice
4. Location of pts is anatomical and by body description
5. Usual treatment requires use of 5-15 needles
6. Needle composition
   a. Originally bronze, copper, tin, gold, silver
   b. Earliest bone, horns, bamboo, gold, silver
   c. Now stainless steel in hairlike thickness, barely hurts
7. Depth of needle determined by where
   a. Finger, millimeters
   b. Buttocks, inches
8. Popular in west in 1970's

V. Herbology as treatment for disharmony

A. More practiced than acupuncture

B. Prescribed as treatment for pattern of disharmony

C. Prescriptions

1. 500 prescriptions to rebalance
2. Usually made up of 5-16 substances
3. 3-15g per herb in prescription
4. Distributed in form of drinks, powders, pills, poultices
5. Doctor will manipulate ingredients to suit indiv. patient and disharmony

VI. More on Meridians

A. Inside and outside body

B. All except Governing and Conception Vessels are symmetric on the body

C. List of Meridians

1. Lung
2. Large Intestine
3. Stomach
4. Spleen
5. Heart
6. Small Intestine
7. Bladder
8. Kidney
9. Pericardium
10. Triple Burner
11. Gall Bladder
12. Liver
13. Governing Vessel
14. Conception Vessel

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