Essentially these are the pathways that the qi and
blood of the body move through, they are what form a network that connects
tissues and organs together. The meridians are the bases of these channels and
run longitudinally in the body, while the collaterals represent the branches.
Collectively they are known as Jingluo in Chinese medicine. This whole system
is comprised of 12 main meridians, 8 extra meridians, 15 collaterals, 12
divergent meridians, 12 muscle regions and 12 cutaneous regions.
The
purposes of these channels are to move the qi and blood to the zang-fu organs,
skin, muscle, tendons and bones to ensure normal functions of these organs and
maintain a relative equilibrium in the body. Since there are some many channels
and sub channels to cover within the body, Dr. Song figured it’d be best to
just cover the basics of the 12 main meridians, then move onto some of the
acupuncture points in the body that would be commonly used and easy to access. What
makes up these 12 channels are the 6 yin and yang (3 yin and 3 yang) channels
of the hand and the 6 yin and yang channels of the foot (3 yin and 3 yang).
The
meridians and collaterals serve 4 main functions: transport qi and blood and
regulate yin and yang; resist pathogens and reflecting symptoms and signs and
lastly transmit needle sensations while regulating deficiencies and excess
conditions.
The
first function is pretty self-explanatory. What it means when the meridians can
resist pathogens and reflect symptoms and signs is that anytime there are any
disorders of the organs, it can reflect in the face, basically what I explained
in my previous blogs. These two tend to have a concurrent relationship as any
disorders to the meridians affect the internal organs and any disorders to the
organs can cause damage to meridians.
Luckily
it can be repaired with acupuncture and acumoxibustion. These two treatments
stimulate the qi in the body to travel to the zang fu organs thereby restoring
the their regular functions and curing diseases. Therefore the major objective
of acupuncture is to regulate yin and yang and the flow of qi. Once that is
achieved the body and organs are in their best shape.
This
is the second time I’ve on a Saturday since I started working with Dr. Song,
the rest of the times were usually on a weekday afternoon, and it’s really
weird yet exciting to really see Dr. Song in action. Saturdays are usually her
busiest day and today is no exception, she currently has 5 patients in her
small office at 1pm and she’s been able to keep her cool while catering to every
need of each her patients. Of course I’m not allowed in the rooms because of
the confidentiality agreement Dr. Song has with her patients, but it’s kind of
funny to hear the sounds the patients make during treatment. For example, just
right now one of the patients is groaning in pain, but she’s laughing, I don’t
know what to make of that, but whatever. Another patient that is waiting out
front just talked to me about patience and the younger generation. He told me
that when he was younger he was taught patience was gold and how that lesson
has helped him every day and even while being in treatment. I think that it’s
really cool that all the patients Dr. Song works with are from different walks
of life, some are doctors themselves while others are retired or working. It’s
amazing as well because Dr. Song builds these relationships and in return she
is able to get all these valuable lessons, information, insider tips and such.
No comments:
Post a Comment