The Punkling's Guide to Japanese Meridian Therapy

The Punkling's Guide to Japanese Meridian Therapy Version 0.9 Robert Hayden Copyright 2015 POCA TECH STUDENT COPY NOT FOR GENERAL DISTRIBUTION PLEASE DO NOT SHARE WITHOUT PERMISSION 1 Introduction NOTE: This is an unedited copy of the first half of a longer work. This book’s ostensible purpose is to be a textbook for the class I am slated to teach on Japanese acupuncture at POCA Technical Institute. So, this first section of the book is going to be a presentation of that very thing, a sort of basic introduction to a rather orthodox version of Japanese Meridian Therapy. I decided to mostly stick to a very simple, almost skeletal form of JMT; my view is that the more basic and skeletal the structure is, the more it is open to possibilities of personal variation and thus the more practical it is for purposes of one’s own particular clinical context. Certain chapters will present some variations I have learned that I have found useful, but for the most part, what you will find is a very rudimentary version of the style. I will state right now for the record that there are far better books on the subject, which will be referenced in the text and/or listed in the bibliography. I highly encourage anyone who is interested in learning more to seek out one or more of those books. Since this book is aimed at second or third year acupuncture students (and beyond), I assume that the basic theories of Yin Yang and Five Phases have been learned. For discussion of those theories, I refer the reader to basic texts such as John Pirog’s Dark Warrior Guide to Chinese Medicine. I will discuss Five Phase correspondences which directly relate to the material, as well as more advanced theories such as Ten Stems. Terms and Names As regards the nomenclature of Chinese medicine, I have not adhered to any single standardized term set. I chose to use terms which I feel are easily understood by the reader. Some standard conventions have also influenced my choices; since the Japanese term Keiraku Chiryo is most often translated in English as Meridian Therapy, I have decided to adopt that term and thus Keiraku or Jing Luo is rendered as “meridians” rather than “channels”. Japanese and Chinese names are rendered in their standard order (family name first) except in cases in which the person in question is already well known in the West under their name rendered in the Western convention (given name first, family name last). It is my hope that this work proves useful to the students of POCA Tech, and whoever else happens to read it. Robert Hakim Hayden Hollywood, Florida, 2016 2 Part 1 Bits of Theory 3 NAN JING The Nan Jing, or Classic of Difficulties, is a text written sometime during the Han period (about 300 CE). Its author is usually named as the legendary physician Bian Que, though we can’t be sure who really wrote it. The book is a short work of 81 chapters, each answering a “Difficult Question” on Chinese medicine; in other words it is meant to clarify some issues which were raised in previous classical texts such as the Huang Di Nei Jing Su Wen and Huang Di Nei Jing Ling Shu. More than merely a commentary on the Nei Jing, the Nan Jing itself introduces some revolutionary concepts not found in earlier works. While a complete discussion is outside of the scope of this book (I would refer the reader to Paul Unschuld’s exhaustive work on the text), I think it is important to point out some features of the work and its importance to the formation of JMT. It is almost entirely a work on acupuncture. It is internally consistent. It is a based almost entirely on Five Phase theory. It is brief and thus amenable to memorization. I remember visiting the clinic of one of my Japanese instructors in Tokyo. On the wall was a large framed work of calligraphy; it was the first chapter of the Nan Jing. The sensei, who was blind (one of the many blind practitioners I took instruction from), proceeded to recite the entire passage from memory. It was a very touching moment, to see the reverence he gave the classic, and it underscored how the Nan Jing is seen as the foundation of JMT. SOME AXIOMS JMT makes use of some fundamental axioms which guide the practitioner in organizing one’s thinking about diagnosis and treatment. They aren’t absolute dictates to be followed slavishly; rather they help explain why the system is set up as it is. Some of them are similar to other styles of East Asian medicine and some are dissimilar. The explanations of each reflect some of what I was taught and some of my own thinking on the subject. Yin Leads, Yang Follows In some ways this may seem counterintuitive; Yang after all is the active principle and one may say that those who are naturally more active are more apt to lead. The first number (after zero, which 4 is neither odd nor even) is one, an odd number and odd numbers are Yang. But consider that our day begins at Midnight, the most Yin time, and in the Abrahamic religions such as Islam and Judaism the day begins when the sun has set (when Yin overtakes Yang). The first stem is Yang in that it is numbered one and ruled by the Gallbladder, but consider also that of all the Yang organs, the Gallbladder has the function of storing and thus behaves like a Yin organ; this is why it has the designation of being an Extraordinary Fu organ. In any event, a simple explanation of this axiom is that it refers to the organs themselves, and that the Yin organs are charged with storing Vital Substances such as Qi and Blood. The Yang organs have the function of transmitting, separating and excreting food and waste. Without the function of storing Qi, no transmission, separation or excretion will take place. The beginning of life outside the womb primarily involves the Lung and Kidney, with the initial breath of the newborn sparking the Mingmen. So, as far as the organs are concerned, the function of the Yin organs is primary. Yin tends to Deficiency, Yang tends to Excess Since Yin organs store, their dysfunctions tend to involve deficit of Vital Substances. The Yang organs, on the other hand, tend to manifest accumulation and “stuckness” if their functions go awry. First Deficiency, then Excess Following the above axioms, if Qi is depleted, nothing will move or transform. If there is sufficient Correct Qi (ability of the body to resist and recover from disease), no external pathogens will penetrate the body’s defenses. So underlying all problems of excess is a component of deficiency, and unless the deficiency is addressed, the condition of excess will reappear no matter how often it is drained. First Tonify, Then Drain Here is a key difference in treatment principle between JMT and TCM. In TCM, the basic idea is if you are looking at an excess, it needs to be cleared before tonification can take place. As my first year theory teacher would say, if you want to redecorate a room, you have to clear the old furniture out first. This is very important in Chinese herbal medicine; since tonic herbs tend to be heavy, starchy or sticky, it is difficult for the body to digest them if there is any accumulation in the digestive system. But JMT takes a little more vitalistic approach; the goal is to help the body to heal itself, and this is done through enhancing its ability to store and use Qi. As we shall see later, the emphasis is on using what healthy Qi the body has - according to what I was taught, tonification is first done on the side of the body that has more Qi, in order to circulate it to 5 the less healthy side. All of this taken together means that in JMT treatment usually begins with tonifying deficiencies in the Yin organs, and afterward draining excess in the Yin and Yang organs that are determined to be excess. FIVE PHASES Japanese Meridian Therapy is grounded quite firmly in the theory of Five Phases; this follows from its adherence to the Nan Jing, which is perhaps the most rigorously consistent example of the application of Five-Phase theory to be found in the Chinese medical classics. Five Phase theory is usually learned in the earliest weeks of a standard TCM-oriented acupuncture program, and, once tested on, summarily forgotten. Beyond the Five Tastes, Chinese herbalism has little use for Five-Phase theory (indeed, the Five Tastes themselves often get short shrift when teaching the Materia Medica), and TCM acupuncture largely follows the priorities of herbal medicine. Invariably, when reviewing for the acupuncture boards in third year, students need a refresher on Five Phases. What follows here is not a complete review - you’re invited to go to one of the standard textbooks for that - but some reminders which may be useful to the discussion at hand. The Five Phases themselves Phase Wood Fire Earth Metal Water Correspondences to Organs, Meridians, Tissues and Orifices Phase Yin Organs/Meridians Yang Organs/Meridians Wood Liver Gallbladder Fire Heart (Pericardium) Small Intestine (Triple Burner) Earth Spleen Stomach Metal Lung Large Intestine Water Kidney Urinary Bladder 6 These are fundamental correspondences. In order to use this system, you need to remember which organ/meridian goes with which phase.

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