My favourite CV/GV (Ren Mai/Du Mai) points

I have now reached the final selection of my favourite points, those which are on Conception and Governor Vessels.  I have left these to the last because I think they should be viewed as a very special group, to be used always with care.  These two great meridians form the trunk of the great five element tree, from which each element branches out.  Unless there is the major blockage which we know of as a CV/GV block, where the energy from this trunk is unable to feed its branches as it should, I regard these points as adding something very special to the main body of a five element approach to treatment, to be drawn on only where necessary. 

One great distinction between these two series of points is that Conception Vessel runs over the front of the body, its yin aspect, and Governor Vessel over the back, its yang aspect.  In deciding which of these points I might consider adding to an element's points, my first thought is therefore whether my patient needs strengthening from a yin or a yang aspect.   Simply stated, do I think that he/she needs more backbone (yang) or more inner strength (yin)?

 

I also base my selection on a point's anatomical position, and on the name it has been given over the thousands of years of its use.

 

But I turn to CV or GV points only when I feel that all the good work I am doing to strengthen a patient's guardian element is somehow lacking something, and I need to add a deeper layer to my treatment.

 

 

CONCEPTION VESSEL (CV)

 

CV 1                Meeting of Yin             (5 points)

CV 8                Spirit Deficiency

CV 12              Middle Duct

CV 14              Great Deficiency

CV 22              Heaven Rushing Out

 

In addition, there are many CV points which have a special connection to individual officials, and are together known as the Alarm Points.  These points have a special relationship to each official, and on being palpated can provide information about the health of the official.    

     

 

GOVERNOR VESSEL (GV)

 

GV 1                Long Strength             (6 points)

GV 4                Gate of Life                 

GV 12              Body Pillar

GV 14              Great Hammer

GV 19              Posterior Summit

GV 20              One Hundred Meetings

 

 

 

48. An element's yin and yang officials

It is good to remember the fundamental qualities which distinguish the yin officials from their yang counterparts.  We can think of all that is yin as being inward-facing, internal, and all that is yang as being outward-facing, external.  If an element’s two officials are regarded as acting as a unit, as they should be, then the yin official remains hidden within us, whilst  the yang official is turned towards the outside, protecting it.  It acts as a connection, a link, between ourselves and what lies beyond us in the world outside.  Each yang official therefore creates an opening for cosmic energy to enter and leave the element with which it is associated, whilst each yin official concentrates its work deep within us.

Although each of us is handed over to the protection of one element as our guardian element at birth (or perhaps at conception, who knows?), one of its two officials has a greater influence upon us than the other.  On the analogy of the term I coined for our element being our guardian element, I like to think of this as our guardian official.  I always say that it is difficult enough to pinpoint a person’s element, let alone decide which of its two officials is dominant.  This seems to be most easily done in the case of Inner Fire, where the overwhelming number of people, if not all perhaps, form part of the extensive group within it of those with the Small Intestine as their guardian official.  This particular official is the odd one out, acting almost as if it is a guardian element all on its own.  I have come to this conclusion because in all the years that I observed JR Worsley diagnosing one patient after another I never heard him say that person’ guardian official was the Heart, although he very frequently diagnosed people, like me, as Small Intestine, what we five element acupuncturists call a II CF.  I was told that one practitioner had been diagnosed as having the Heart as her guardian official, but since this was told me by the person herself and I did not directly have confirmation from JR himself, I was always rather suspicious that there was a slight element of self-diagnosis in this.  After all, who would not like to feel that they were under the supreme Controller’s special protection?  But there may well be people out there with the Heart as their guardian official that I have not come across.