Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) began over 2,500 years ago in ancient China, as a means to help heal the royal family and warriors injured in battle. These Chinese medical practices were formalized into distinct branches of healing: acupuncture, acupressure, diet, herbalism, qigong, and tui na. Among the most important components of TCM is the Chinese meridians system, which channels qi (life force energy) running through every living person.
Traditional Chinese Medicine is practiced widely throughout the Asian world and has pockets of adoption in other parts of the planet. Through clinical studies and scientific reviews happening via the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH), one of the centers with the National Institutes of Health (NIH), more and more healthcare practitioners are embracing TCM for pain management and improving quality of life.
It reasons that to understand Traditional Chinese Medicine more, we must understand the basic principles of the Chinese meridians. So, let’s take a look at the meridians, the 12 channels and eight extraordinary meridians.
Chinese Meridians
Meridians (or, jing luo in Chinese) are similar to the way that blood flows through the body, in Chinese Traditional Medicine, it’s the qi that flows through the body. Qi is not visible and meridians are invisible pathways that meander their way between parts of the body, carrying qi to where it is needed. When a meridian is blocked in some way, qi is interrupted from flowing smoothly and this is the root of disease in the body.
Most often, you see the use of meridians in acupuncture and acupressure treatments labeled as points on a diagram of the human body. These specific points are manipulated by various TCM methods to help reestablish the proper flow of qi.
There are more than 300 such points along the Chinese meridians, comprising 12 “regular” or “principal” meridians and eight extraordinary meridians. The regular meridians connect major organs in the body to the hands or feet.
Chinese meridians are divided into two categories–yin meridians and yang meridians–leaning on the ancient Chinese philosophy of Yin and Yang balance. The yin meridians make up the filled cavity-based organs, such as the heart, kidneys, liver and lungs, while the yang meridians are those with an empty cavity, such as the bladder, gallbladder, intestines and stomach. These yin meridian and yang meridians run through the inside and outside of the limbs, respectively. By doing so, this creates a human superhighway for qi to flow.
The other eight meridians, for a total of 20 meridians, are the extraordinary meridians. These meridians do not have an organ relationship as they are storage containers for blood and qi, which they supply to the regular meridians.
12 Regular Chinese Meridians
As the Chinese consider all of nature breaks into fundamental elements, it’s logical that Traditional Chinese Medicine lends heavily on the meridians use of these “Five Elements” (also called “Five Phases”)–wood, fire, earth, metal and water. Each of the 12 principal Chinese meridians are connected to yin or yang, one of the five elements, and an organ. (Additionally, they are also related to a time of day, rotating from one channel to the next throughout the day.) As detailed by Kootenay Columbia College of Integrative Health Sciences, these are the 12 regular meridians and their corresponding organs:
- “Arm Tai Yin channel corresponds to the Lung
- “Leg Tai Yin channel corresponds to the Spleen
- “Arm Shao Yin channel corresponds to the Heart
- “Leg Shao Yin corresponds to the Kidney
- “Arm Jue Yin corresponds to the Pericardium
- “Leg Jue Yin corresponds to the Liver
- “Arm Yang Ming corresponds to the Large Intestine
- “Leg Yang Ming corresponds to the Stomach
- “Arm Tai Yang corresponds to the Small Intestine
- “Leg Tai Yang corresponds to the Bladder
- “Arm Shao Yang corresponds to the San Jiao
- “Leg Shao Yang Channel corresponds to the Gall Bladder.”
This leads us to the remaining eight extraordinary Chinese meridians.
Eight Extraordinary Chinese Meridians
As stated above, in addition to the 12 principal channels within Traditional Chinese Medicine, the body also contains eight extraordinary meridians that related to an organ. They cycle two different types of qi throughout the body–jing (one’s essence) and wei qi (one’s defensive qi).
As the diagram below shows, each of the eight extraordinary meridians are named to indicate their special function independent of the principal meridians.
Among these meridians, the most important extraordinary meridians are Ren Mai (The Conception Vessel) for its purpose of carrying qi to all yin meridians and Du Mai for transporting qi to all yang meridians.
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Altogether these Chinese meridians provide the scaffolding for how the human body generates, regenerates, heals and becomes diseased in Traditional Chinese Medicine. As more and more integrative and complementary medicine makes its way into modern medical research, it’s important to understand the cultural and practical contexts of concepts like the Chinese meridians.
Have you ever gotten acupuncture or acupressure performed? What was that experience like? And, what Chinese meridians did the acupuncturist / acupressurist work on you (if you’d like to share)? Let us know in the comments!