Smells so good
Okay
Welcome everyone to this video
Today, we have Marika here and she is fast asleep
She has been gracious enough to allow me to use her legs today
in some acupressure
Locating some acupuncture points, as well as some massage
At school, we have been learning traditional Chinese medicine
and how to apply all the knowledge that we've learned about
different channels and acupuncture points
in creating an individualized treatment plan for a patient
How to assess the patient
take a traditional Chinese medicine intake
how to make a diagnosis
evaluate various differential diagnoses
which can get quite complicated because often times
in traditional Chinese medicine, it's not that cut and dry
You often have different presentations happening at the same time
One that comes up a lot is liver qi stagnation
overacting on the spleen
It's very, very common here in the Western world
because often times, we have suppressed anger and other emotions like anxiety
that haven't been released and worked through
So they end up building up in our organs
The liver is the organ responsible for anger
so it holds a lot of anger and that anger really affects the liver
Whereas spleen, it's overthinking and pensiveness and worry
That's what affects that, so...
Many, many of us have spleen qi deficiency
as well as liver qi stagnation
I can talk about that more as we go through the channels
both the spleen and liver channels start on the legs
We also have the stomach channel, the kidney channel
that starts on the legs as well
or the feet rather
We have the urinary bladder channel and the gallbladder channel
that ends at the feet, if I remember that correctly
Okay. So we're gonna start off with a little massage.
Marika can just continue to drift off into dreamland
I like to warm up the channels, the meridians with some massage
before I really go into the acupressure
I'm also going to be drawing the points
tracing and drawing, which will help as a memory aid for me
as I continue to familiarize myself with the acupuncture points
I'm finding it very difficult to memorize them all
and I feel like sometimes
I study them just for the sake of the exam
Then once the exam's done, the memory has disappeared so...
I'm just going to work on some of this
If you all haven't checked out Theodore
my friend, Theodore Castasus
Their channel, I highly recommend it
I'll put a link in the description below
Theodore always talks about the importance of massaging the feet
You'll find that kidney, the kidney channel
actually starts here right?
Right in here, I believe
Let me just double check
My memory can be a little distorted at times
Okay. So it's at the junction of the distal one third and
proximal two third of the sole
From the base of the second toe to the heel
That's the line that we're following
Theodore talks a lot about how this point is
where we allow energy from the earth to enter
I know. It can be a little bit uncomfortable, this point.
It's also the point where energy will flow out
so it is our connection to mother earth
Really helps ground us
Let's work on this one here
Let me put a little bit of oil here as well
Put right here
Let me warm up your leg
Get it nice and hydrated
and also, allowing the smoothness of the massage
It's nice and moisturized
Just warm up your feet, they're a little cold
It's a wonderful point to massage on yourself
either in the morning, at night, perhaps both
Alright
Good, good, good, good, good
I'm like just kind of squeezing the feet. Might give a massage.
I'll do the same thing on this side, just squeezing the feet
Strange because Marika is actually asleep right now
but she's reacting to the massage
I wonder if she's dreaming about it
I'm just gonna massage the achilles tendon right here
Oh, I know, I know, I know
It seems like... it's just a little tender
Very good
Now I'm just going to do a bit of massage here
the patellar region
Just get a little bit more of this massage oil
and just apply it right in here
Warming up the area
It can be common for the cold to enter the knee
So, it's nice to give it a little massage too
Although, if you really have cold knees
it's a good idea to try moxibustion, just kind of like...
you can find smokeless moxibustion sticks and you can use it to really allow
the heat to penetrate deep into the knees
Really help warm it up from the inside
You can also receive acupuncture in this area
and use a method called
"burning the mountain"
I think that's what it's called
It'll really help to heat up an area
Just a little bit of mobilization here. Can help to loosen this up.
All the ligaments and tendons here
A little bit
Just to move it in different directions
Good
Okay, very good
Alright
So for the second part of the video, I want to go ahead and locate some points
draw them, trace them as a memory device and we can choose some of the points
to apply some seeds as well, to help Marika with the next day
and also with her sleep
So let's go ahead and start with kidney, the kidney channel
since that's what we kind of already started with in the massage
So I'm going to use this Burt's Bees liner
just because it draws on really well and it's easy to clean off as well
We're going to start with kidney 1, which is at the junction, the distal
one third, approximate 2 thirds of the sole
When the foot is in plantar flexion, find it in the depression
Right here
So when you put in the plantar flexion, it'll be in the depression
Okay, so that's kidney one
Kidney 2 is anterior and inferior to the medial malleolus
anterior and inferior to the medial malleolus
in the depression on the lower border of the navicular tuberosity
Navicular tuberosity
I believe it's here
This point is good for clearing heat, empty heat
So, sort of yin deficiency heat and it regulates the lower burner
It's also a spring point and a fire point
Next, we're going to find the source point, which looks like
it's right behind the medial malleolus
Kidney three
So far, the meridian seems to go like this but I'll trace it all together later
so we can get a clearer picture of how the meridian moves
And then after kidney 3, we have kidney 4
which is interesting
It actually moves
After that, it goes back here
Kidney 4 is posterior and inferior to the medial malleolus
in the depression anterior to the attachment of the calcanea tendon
Right here
and right here
Next, we have kidney 5
which is 1 cun directly inferior to kidney 3
in the depression anterior and superior to the calcaneal tuberosity
anterior and superior to the calcaneal tuberosity
1 cun directly inferior
Roughly that
Depression anterior and superior. About one cun.
I'm just using my thumb to kind of guide me a little bit
but it's not perfect
Okay. Next, we have kidney 6
which looks like it's actually right
I think maybe my kidney three is a little bit too close to the medial malleolus
Is that what I did wrong?
Depression between the medial malleolus and calcaneal tendon
Okay, so I made a mistake here
Let me just redo those points
That's part of the learning process
Okay, sorry about the little mess here
Okay, so kidney 3 is in the depression between the malleolus
medial malleolus and the calcaneal tendon
More like this
More like that
Like that
And then, I'll go a bit lower for kidney 5
Good. And then for kidney 6, we're going to go in the depression
at the lower border of the medial malleolus
Okay. So this point would be contraindicated in pregnancy
because you don't want to use it before the third trimester
to stimulate labor
It's interesting, these kidney points
A lot of these down here
tend to have some role in regulating the uterus and menstrual function
Kidney 5 also has a similar kind of action
where it regulates the menses, regulates the uterus
Now we're gonna go up to kidney 7
Kidney 7 is 2 cun directly proximal to kidney 3
So with 2 cun, we can use 3 fingers roughly
or we can be a little bit more precise
We can find kind of a tibial plateau here
From there to the medial malleolus, it's 13 cun
Cun is just a...
It's a measurement that is used in traditional Chinese medicine
In Mandarin, it means inches
but in this case, we actually use the body as a measurement
Sort of like different parts of the body have different
cun measurements
You can also use your thumb and your fingers but overall
you also want to look for the specific landmarks
and the depressions that coincide with each point
So from here to here, 13 cun
If we go halfway about 6 and a half, go a little bit lower
6
Then we just divide this into thirds
So here, which as you can see, roughly 3 fingers width
is kidney 7
Kidney 7 right here. And you're going to find that it is
on the anterior border of the calcaneal tendon
There we go
That's the calcaneal tendon, basically the achilles tendon
Same thing
I guess I don't have to mark it on both sides
but I've just been doing that
Alright. So now, we're going to be working on this foot
and like here, while we keep the other one
nice and toasty warm
So, we ended off at kidney 7, kidney 8
Kidney 9 is 5 cun directly proximal to kidney 3
at the lower end of the belly, of the gastrocnemius muscle
the line joining kidney 3, kidney 10
Kidney 10 is up here
Line joining kidney 3 and kidney 10
It is 5 cun directly proximal
So...
Again if it's 13 and it's 5 cun
Gonna do....
5 cun
6
Or we can even go a bit lower and do around 5, 5 cun
and it's gonna be on this line, connecting from there
So roughly...
Especially if this is 2 cun
Right over there will be kidney 9. Kidney 8 moves stagnation
dissipates masses, regulates the menses
and kidney at 9 will nourish the kidney yin
Clear the heart, resolve phlegm, release pain in this area
If you move up to kidney 10, then this point is with a knee flex
We're just gonna flex the knee a little bit
Just a little bit like that
The point is on the medial side of the popliteal fossa
between the semitendinosus and semimembranosus tendons
level with UB 40
Okay, so right here
It's kidney 10
This point also is good for resolving dampness
and it benefits the kidneys
So it's interesting that this resolves phlegm
that resolves dampness
I wonder if it's specific in this area as well
that would be interesting to look into for future reference
Then a lot of these points regulate the lower burner as well
So the kidney channel does continue moving up
It goes up the lower abdomen and then it looks like
it continues to go up towards the chest and along the side of the chest
and it terminates
Let's see here. And terminates on the chest, is what it looks like
Yeah, but we're not gonna do any of those points
not this time
We'll do it next time
I want to stick to these
So I'm going to start with this
We're gonna trace it all the way to the first point
kidney 1 to kidney 2
Then to kidney 3
I believe is this one
I'm gonna go to kidney 4, then kidney 5, then kidney 6
and then it's so interesting. Kidney 7, 8
9, and then all the way up, 10
That's the kidney channel
It's kind of how it looks like
It looks kind of like a constellation
Alright
Let's keep moving
I hope you're finding this relaxing
I'm gonna continue with the liver channel
So liver is such an important organ
Oh my goodness, it's a powerful organ too
It is quick to attack other organs
Like if there's a lot of fire in liver
it can scorch the heart
If the qi is stagnated, that will attack the spleen
and yeah, it's a pretty, pretty fierce organ
and it also stores the anger component as well
The liver also tends to be the one to move blood
So there's a lot of... when there's indications
something like liver blood deficiency, where there's not enough blood
to begin with
and also not enough blood to move around
there tends to be scanty menses, amenorrhea or oligomenorrhea
that kind of thing
So issues with a menstrual cycle is very common in liver dysfunction
And then also issues with irritability and anger
There can be with liver fire
the fire can come up into the head
It can cause vertex headaches
It can also cause the eyes to become red
and the face to take on a red complexion
In liver qi stagnation, you can see symptoms of PMS
So you'll find that there is distension in the breasts
You'll find that there is of course, irritability
because liver really does control that
You'll find pain, cramping pain as well
and that's because the qi is stagnating and it's not moving
So it's really helpful to work on this channel
as well as other points that can help to regulate the liver
Alright. So now, we're moving on to the liver channel.
Let's start with liver one, which is a Jing-Well point
So this is on the lateral side of the dorsal, of the big toe
between the lateral corner of the nail bed
and the interphalangeal joint, just right over here
And then, we're gonna move to liver 2, which is over here
Just the web
So, liver one is good for regulating menses
resolving damp heat, clearing heat, promoting this smooth flow
of liver qi, calms the mind and stops bleeding
A lot of these points around the nail bed are really good
for stopping the bleeding, whether it's specific to the channel
Like in this case, moreso to do with the menstrual blood
or it could also be used for other parts of the body as well
That's a really important point
Then liver 2, we can actually clear liver fire
It can also subdue liver yang
So as I was... when I was talking about how when liver yang rises
it can end up causing headaches, tremendous irritability
red eyes, red face
It's kind of similar to liver fire
We can help to subdue it, bring it down
That can be really helpful
It can also help to clear heat, expel interior wind
remove stagnation, calm the mind
It also stops bleeding
Liver 3 is a very famous point
You'll find it just between the first and second metacarpals here
Sorry, meta... metatarsals
Forgot that we're working on the feet, metatarsals
It's just distal sole junction first and second metatarsal bones
Such an important point
The liver 3, if you can needle liver three, as well as
LI4, large intestine 4, on the hands here
You open up the 4 gates, which will help to move qi
It's often used to reduce pain
Another great thing it'll do is
it'll help to subdue liver yang
It can also clear liver fire
It has so many functions
It can smooth the flow of liver qi, so really good for liver qi stagnation
It can resolve damp heat in the lower burner
calm the mind, nourish blood
There's so many, so many indications for this point
and how it's going to act really depends on what other points you choose
in the treatment
and that'll help to guide this point, as well as LI4 point
and what it should do while it synergizes with the rest of the points
that are needled
The next point is liver 4. Zhong Tang, Zhong Feng.
That's a jing river point, one cun anterior to the medial malleolus
and midway between spleen 5 and stomach 41
depression on the medial side, medial side of the tibial centre
So here's the tibialis anterior tendon
I can feel it pretty well right here
and it will be on the medial side
Okay, very cool
Alright, that's liver four
Now we're gonna move into some of the higher ones
Okay, so liver 5
It's in proximal to the tip of the medial malleolus
medial aspect of the tibia
Near the medial border, 5 cun
So it's kind of actually in line with kidney nine
which I did not locate on this
But it is 5 cun
So let's just measure that really quickly
Around here, and it's going to be fairly close on the medial
It's literally on the medial aspect of the tibia
near the medial border
It's located... you can find it in...
Oh, you can actually feel the depression in the bone
That's really interesting
Here we go
Again, this one promotes a smooth flow of liver qi
So there's quite a few points here that will help to do that
I think we said liver...
Liver 1, no
Liver 2, liver 3, and now liver 5
Liver 6 seems to do something similar as well
and that is 7 cun
So it's gonna keep going a little bit higher
and if we just do this again
6 and a half
We're gonna go a little bit higher here
5, okay
Did I do that one rule?
Let me just check
6 and a half
It should be that depression that you can actually feel
Ah, never mind. I've been palpating it wrong.
Sorry, so that is 5
And then, this is 6
Number 7 is all the way up here
It's in the upper portion of the medial
ahead of the gastrocnemius muscle
One cun posterior to spleen nine, posterior and distal
to the medial condyle
So this is spleen 9
We're going to go one cun posterior to find liver 7
So, we're going to go ahead and connect all the liver points
on the lower leg
So let's start with one right here and we're gonna go up
and then we're gonna go this way
Then we're going to go this way, that way and all the way up
That's the liver and it'll keep travelling up
travelling up the leg, the thigh
lower abdomen, upper abdomen, chest
Once it goes to the chest, the liver channel will actually go internal
It'll go through the liver organ, I believe
and then up the breast tissue and then up the throat
and it can actually go... I believe it goes all the way up
to the pituitary gland
So it's... yeah
By then, you can't really... you know, needle any of those points
but you know that, you know where the liver organ is exerting its functions
So now, let's work on the spleen channel, which is...
I think it's my favourite channel
because it is so versatile
These points are used... I use them all the time
and I think I'm actually going to put a seed
for one of these points for Marika
I might even put a seed for the liver channel as well
I think that could be helpful, just to circulate her liver qi a little bit
So let's go back to the liver really quickly
I'm thinking I would like liver 3
would be really nice to use
This will help with calming her mind
calming any irritability or anger and also helping with
any stagnation of the liver qi
That can lead to some pretty painful cramps and other pains
around the body
Sometimes it's not very sticky. Place it on this foot as well.
Put that nicely there
So we're gonna start with spleen 1
It is on the medial side of the big toe
So liver 1 on this side and liver 2, I mean
I am getting sleepy. So liver one on this side
and then spleen one on the opposite side
So this point again
Good for stopping bleeding
It can restore consciousness in the TCM perspective
and it also helps to harmonize the spleen
It will calm the mind, warm the spleen, open the chest
and tone by yang
Just a wonderful point
Next, we have the spleen 2, which is a spleen spring point
and a fire point, medial side of the big toe
distal and inferior to the first metatarsal phalangeal joint
the junction of the red and white skin
just basically where the skin changes in its texture
and appearance
It's gonna be right there
But it's interesting because that's what that is
But then, on here, it's...
I guess it'll be here
That's spleen two
Which harmonizes the spleen, clears heat, resolves dampness
calms the mind, harmonize the stomach
and tone by spleen yang
Then we have the source point
I find the 3 of the channel tends to be the source point
not always
and it is proximal inferior to the head of the first metatarsal
So, proximal and inferior at the junction of the red and white skin
So basically right here
Can you see that?
Right there
Oh, spleen 3 is a good point
and that's a good point for tonifying the spleen
and it can resolve dampness and harmonize the middle burner
regulate the intestine
I think this would be a really good point for Marika
I don't think we can go wrong with this one
So let's go ahead and just make sure
Place it right here
I'm going to do the same thing on the other side
because we want to make sure it's balanced
So it's going to be right here
Let's put a little seed on there
Just basically, these seeds are basically like needles
but more of a milder long- term stimulation of the point
There we go
After spleen 3, we're gonna move to spleen 4
depression, distal and inferior to the base of the first metatarsal
base of the first metatarsal
Good, okay
Also this junction
That was kidney 2
Unless kidney 2 is more here
Spleen 4 is more metatarsal. Approximately here
to the head of the first metatarsal
Okay, so right here
Proximal and inferior at the junction
I got it, right there
That's where that is, spleen 4
And then, spleen 5 is and might that be a good point
Tonify spleen in stomach, stops bleeding, regulates
That could be a really good point, but I think spleen 3
is enough for now
I might also choose spleen 6 when we get there
Spleen 5, depression, distal inferior to the medul...
medial malleolus, midway between the tuberosity
the navicular bone and the tip of the... ah, okay
So here, yeah
Right there
Spleen 5: tonify spleen and stomach
regulates intestines, resolves dampness
calms the mind
Ouu, that might be a good point for her, but I also feel like
I'll just go ahead and choose spleen 6
because it also promotes a smooth flow of liver qi
Yeah, I'll do that
So that's spleen 5, spleen 6, spleen 6
Spleen 6, 3 cun
Depression
Just posterior to tibia
Right, good
Spleen 6
That's a good point, I think for us to go and put another seed on
Just make sure... I know
Let's put a seed on that one
Let's put a seed on this side as well
See if I can just
feel the depression
Yeah, right there
Just a little bit closer to the tibia would be good, I think
Okay, good
Okay, so let's keep moving up the spleen channel
After spleen 6, we have spleen 7
which tonifies the spleen, harmonizes the stomach
It's 3 cun proximal to spleen 6
on the line joining the tip of the medial malleolus
Spleen 9, which we know, is right here
So it is 3 cun proximal to spleen 6
Okay, so let me see if I can...
So here, basically doing this measurement again and again
But essentially, it's here and it is just on the line
connecting that spleen 7 and then spleen 8
Keep going
That's going to be 3 cun distal to spleen 9
So again, I'm gonna find... sort of right here
on the line
So that is spleen 8
And then, we know where spleen 9 is, which is
such an important point
Hope you guys can all see that
Spleen 9 is the point that is very, very important
for resolving dampness, harmonizing the spleen
It can remove obstructions and regulate water passages
So let's go ahead and trace
So let's start from spleen 1 to spleen 2
and then spleen 2 to spleen 3
which we... then spleen 4
Then spleen 5
So we're gonna go from spleen 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
6
7
8
The last part is right up here, up to nine
Alright
So, that is the end of this video
I hope you enjoyed it
I'm gonna go ahead and get Marika back on her bed
so she can really sleep nice and peacefully
not set up on a massage table
Thank you so much for watching
I hope you were able to relax and sleep to that
and I wish you a good night
I love you all, bye