Let's have a brief talk about Meridians

The wondrous meridians (or channels) of acupuncture! These can be viewed as the information transporters, the balancers of the body, the zang fu (body organs) extensions to the outside and back again, the holders of points, the nerve stimulators, in short, they are close to the be all and end all in acupuncture (depending on your point of view - no pun intended!).

There are 12 meridians and 8 extraordinary vessels considered to be a part of the channel network of our bodies. The 12 meridians are related to our organs or viscus and are paired as yin and yang partners while also having an individual yin and yang element (stay with me - sounds confusing but worth the feeling of confusion when you get it!). The 8 extraordinary vessels do not have an associated organ but are a vessel themselves. They are not paired as yin and yang partners however they do have affiliations with each other which allow a balancing effect to be used when a vessel is out of balance or inharmonious.

The meridians and the extraordinary vessels stimulate, store and carry what TCM calls qi (think mana, prana, universal energy, frequencies or neural information) throughout our system which allows our organs to communicate, share and transform information between each other and the external environment for optimum health.

Through both biological and neural mechanisms, qi is motivated and changed when certain points along these meridians and vessels are stimulated. The points used to re-establish health are chosen by your acupuncturist after a diagnosis of the effected meridians and their related organs has been achieved. If you are wanting further information on how stimulating points along meridians works, there are two research papers which are a good read. The first is an article called Understandings of acupuncture application and mechanisms ¹ and the second is called The Anatomical Specificity Between Acupoints and the Facial Nerve: A Cadaveric Study.²  The links to these articles are included in the reference list below.

TCM has an order of flow between the 12 meridians (this is where I start hearing the age old bone connection song....the toe bone is connected to the foot bone, the foot bone is connected to the ankle bone......) starting with:- Lung (yin)-Large Intestine (yang); Stomach (yang)-Spleen (yin); Heart (yin)-Small intestine (yang); Bladder (yang)-Kidney (yin); Pericardium (yin)-Sanjiao (yang - note, not a visceral but represents the upper, middle and lower parts of the torso); Gallbladder (yang)- Liver (yin) and then back to Lung. The flow of qi between these meridians and viscus occurs over a 24 hour period, with each organ and meridian having a two hour time slot where they are functioning at their peak qi and ideally feeling revitalised.

The 8 extraordinary vessels have relationships with selected meridians by having points located on the meridian they have a relationship with. If used in a treatment, this will bring in the vessel’s nature along with the host organ and meridian nature - it can be thought of as a double whammy! They also function as a stand-alone vessel and are often used with emotional and esoteric diagnosis ³ but also as support to the physical and mental aspects of any treatment.

Sooooo, how is any of this information useful to you when working with an Acupuncturist? My belief is the more we can inform ourselves about the many health treatments available to us and how they are going to effect our wellbeing, the more a person will take on the responsibility for their individual health. This brings with it many challenges and opportunities, one of them being the joy of choosing a modality that resonates with you and brings wellness, balance and harmony into your life.

Reference

1.       Lin JG, Kotha P, Chen YH. Understandings of acupuncture application and mechanisms. Am J Transl Res. 2022;14(3):1469. Accessed July 10, 2025. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8991130/

2.       Chiang P, Martins MR. The Anatomical Specificity between Acupoints and the Facial Nerve: A Cadaveric Study. Med Acupunct. 2022;34(6):391-399. doi:10.1089/ACU.2022.0030/SUPPL_FILE/SJ-DOCX-1-ACU-10.1089_ACU.2022.0030.DOCX

3.       Farrel YvonneR. Psycho-Emotional Pain and the Eight Extraordinary Vessels. Vol 1. 1st ed. Singing Dragon; 2016.