Acupuncture Points
Any of you who have ever had an acupuncture treatment have likely been curious about all those points. What is their nature? How many are there, how do you find and remember them all, how were they discovered, what do they do, and how do you decide which ones to use? That's a lot of questions and there are certainly answers.
It goes without saying that the acupuncture points are the foundation of all acupuncture. They are considered a type of doorway, that with stimulation, access the QI flow in the body and facilitate balance and healing. They have been shown to have a lower electrical resistance than their surrounding tissues, and so have indeed been found to be idiosyncratic spots on the body.
A few interesting things:
The term "point" is a little misleading . Our western minds consider a point as a very small, discreet, one dimensional unit. Though translated as "point," the Chinese term "xue", actually means something more like a cave or a hole, giving it at least three dimensions.
Different points are thought to be different sizes as well, some being the size of a pea, and others being the size of a spherical dime and even, some claim, of a quarter.
Most western acupuncture students learn the acupuncture points through a system of numbers. A meridian will have 44 points on it for example, which follows a natural flow that goes from point #1 through #44. Thus we may refer to a point as Gall Bladder 34, or Pericardium 6. (Meridians bear the name of the organs they connect to.)
Points traditionally have names, though. These ancient names often describe the point's location or overt function. Other names are more mysterious, and some points will often have more than one name, or a name variously translated and full of layered meaning. These names reveal the greater spiritual depth potentially accessed by the stimulation of that point. Here are a few of these names as examples: Convergence and Gathering, Spirit Hall, Celestial Pivot, and Camphorwood Gate.
There is a bunch more to know and here are a few links to fill in gaps for the curious. For a more scientific look at the points, here is your link. For some information about how a practitioner makes her point selection, this link will work. For descriptions of some commonly used points including their locations and common functions, please click here. And for a description of how various points are grouped and categorized,
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