Channels and Acupoints
There are 14 main channels on the surface of the body, and six main deep inside the body. (You may have read elsewhere that there are 12 ordinary channels and 8 extraordinary channels known in Chinese as the jing and the mai respectfully. From my practice and from what I have felt, I prefer to talk about them as the external or surface and the internal channels because that is simply where I have felt them to be located. It also makes it easier to teach visualizations of the channels. However, it is important to know that the nature of the extra-ordinary and the ordinary channels differ.)
Channels (also known as meridians) are an intrinsic network of flowing channels of Qi with small and large channels working together to make each part of the body connect with flowing Qi. Acupuncture and acupressure are designed to work on balancing the flow of the channels, and removing blockages impeding the free flow of the Qi to allow the body to heal itself.
The channels are either yin or yang. The yin channels flow on the inside of the arms, legs, and chest. The yang channels flow on the outside of the arms, legs and the back. The rule of yin/yang applies here too. The yin channels flow on the yin side of the body, and the yang channels flow on the yang side of the body.
The majority of the channels have organ names because they are connected to the major organs. TCM separates the organs into either “transforming” or “transporting”. The transforming organs are yin (kidney, liver, heart/mind, spleen, and lungs). These organs store, clean and circulate energy. The transporting organs are yang (urinary bladder, gallbladder, small intestine, stomach, and large intestine). These organs intake food and extract waste. Needless to say, eating and drinking are another form of gaining energy.
The channels have a “hierarchy”. There are the king and the queen, and two generals who “lead”, and the rest are “subjects”. When the king and queen are strong, the subjects will also be strong. When the king and queen are weak, so will the rest of the country be weak. This country is your body, so having a strong king and queen means having a strong and healthy body. The king and queen are the Du and Ren channels respectively. The Ren channels flows down the front center line of the body, and the Du flows up the spine.
San Jiao, Pericardium, Heart/Mind
There are a few channels that are interesting enough to deserve some attention: the san jiao, pericardium, and the heart/mind. The generals are the san jiao and the pericardium. The san jiao flows up from the backside of the two ring fingers up to the brow. And the pericardium runs from the side of the breast down to the tip of the middle finger on the inside of the arm. They regulate the immune system and the hormones respectively. These are important because they protect the body against pathogens and keep the body chemically balanced. The heart/mind is an interesting channel. From the western scientific perspective, the mind is in the brain as a result of chemical and electrical processes. However, that might not necessarily be the case. We still understand very little about the mind. So it may in fact actually be centered in the heart!
Internal (Extraordinary) Channels
The internal channels are the chong, dai, yang qiao and yin qiao, yang wei and yin wei. The chong channel is in the center of the upper half of the body, i.e. the head, torso and the abdomen. The dai channel is the “belt” channel that goes around the waist. The qiao channels are in the legs and the wei channels are in the arms. These channels are deep inside the body, so acupuncture on these channels cannot be used, except for a few acupoints, because needles will puncture internal organs, arteries or veins. But with tui na, the healer can focus Qi to flow directly through the internal channels much easier than with the use of acupuncture.
Acupoints are vortexes on the channels that open the internal body to the external environment. They are used in acupuncture, acupressure and even martial arts.
This acupuncture chart is used to show how the channels flow.