Dong San Family Clinic - Introduction

“lt is by virtue of the twelve channels that human life exists, that disease arises, that human being s can be treated and illness cured. The twelve channels are where beginners start and masters end. To beginners it seems easy, the masters know how difficult it is.”

“Qi cannot travel without a path, just as water flows or the sun and moon orbit without rest.

‘channels and collaterals’ is a translation of the Chinese term ‘jingluo’. ‘Jing’ has a geographical connotation and means a channel(e.g. a water channel) or longitude.

It is translated as ‘channels’, elsewhere as ‘meridians. Using the image of the tree, the

‘jing’ are like the trunk and main branches of he channel network. They generally run longitudinally through the body at a relatively deep level, and connect with the internal zang-fu.

Specifically they comprise the twelve primary channels. The eight extraordinary vessels and the twelve divergent channels.

‘Luo’ means ‘to attach’ or ‘a net’, and refers to the finer branches of the channel network which are more superficial and interconnect the trunk and main branches(jing), the connective tissues and cutaneous regions.

The study of the channels in traditional Chinese medicine can be said to be the equivalent of the study of anatomy in Western medicine. Chinese medicine paid scant attention to the physical structure of the interior of the body, and references to the shape and location of the internal zan-fu in classical texts are few and very brief. For the more there was no study of the distribution of the nerve, or the origin and insertion of the muscles. Traditional Chinese medicine did, however, describe in minute detail the pathways of the wide variety of channels that serve to circulate the qi and blood to the every part of the body.

The channel penetrate the zang-fu and the extraordinary fu in the deepest levels of the body and connect with the skin, muscles, flesh, tendons, and bones, the head, body and limbs, and the sense organ, linking all the tissues and structure of the body into an integrated whole.(A manual of Acupunture, Peter Deadman & Al-Khafaji with Kevin Baker p12)

Acupuncture stabilizes the blood flow of the arteries to the brain. There are two arteries in front of the neck (carotid arteries) and two behind the neck (vertebrae arteries). The balance of these four arteries to the brain is key for health. When the body is ill, there is an imbalance between the blood flow of the cartotid arteries and the vertebrae arteries. The difference on blood flows to the brain causes disharmony in the mind and autonomic nervous system, the five major organs (liver, heart, spleen, lungs, kidneys), the five senses, hormones secretion, and the digestive and excretory systems. When the blood flow between the carotid arteries and vertebrae arteries is in balance, optimal circulation in the brain restores these malfunctions. Besides this one, there are many other theories about acupuncture.