Transcript for:
Heart Channel Acupuncture Points

do you feel like there's so many  acupuncture points with similar functions   well today i am going to look at the heart  channel and its nine acupuncture points   and i'm gonna differentiate them to make it  easier for you to grasp and learn let's go hi i'm clara from acupro academy and i  create acupuncture and transmission content   for practitioners and students making it easy  to grasp and fun to learn if you found this of   value please give me a like or even subscribe  so you don't miss out on any future video   and now let's rock it i like to make it simple  so we want to start with the meridian pathway   and explaining the heart meridian first  of all it is a hand channel or a hand   meridian i go back and forth that's how i  do it because english is not my language   but the hand shao yin meridian because anything  that starts or finishes at the hand is a hand   meridian shao yin obviously yin is a yin meridian  the heart is again meridian because it's a heart   yin organ but shao means lesser or smaller so the  too shall yield meridian the hand is the heart   and the foot is the kidney they both have the  least amount of chi and the least amount of blood   what does that mean in clinical practice it means  that if there's any heart or tcm kidney issues it   takes a lot more treatments to get to the core of  the problem because heart is related to the mind   which obviously when there's emotional trauma  or emotional long-standing emotional issue it   affects our heart mind or the root of who we are  the genes that we are our aging system the kidneys   that's also hard and it takes a long time so  because they have the least amount of qi and blood   doesn't mean they don't work it just means we have  to be more consistent and explain to patients that   it take a little bit more time to see results with  those two meridians or specifically when heart and   kidneys and tcm are affected make sense okay so  the shao yin hand meridian is activated between   11 am and 1 pm so kind of lunch time right midday  because the heart is the fire organ is the one   that is at the height of summer and noon and  the highest uh hottest time of the day in summer   with the sun being at the highest of course not  today you guys can't see but it's pouring rain in   vancouver right now so we have no sun hope you can  see me because i'm using the light from my window   anyway i digress all the time so at noon around  lunchtime this is when we want to protect the   heart so in clinical practice when people tell me  they eat really fast at their desk and they don't   have time to go for lunch and they overwork i know  their heart is being affected and then they have   a lot of anxiety and they can't sleep because  they're not taking the time to kind of sit down   chew their food and be calm at lunch time so you  don't want to have coffee or do any excitement   or overworking at lunch we're supposed to come  and be nice to the heart so that gives us a clue   in clinical practice now let's look at  the pathway when we look at the pathway   of the heart channel if you remember the  previous channel which flows into the heart   is the spleen and the spleen ends up in the  heart or there's a branch from the spleen that   goes directly to connect with the heart channel  so the heart channel actually starts in the heart   organ that's pretty rare for most meridians so  it starts in the heart organ and it will go down   to meet the small intestine is counterpart yid  nyon related meridian because they have to connect   then it's going to go this is an internal  branch by the way it's going to go   up through the throat all the way to the  eyes and the reason is remember that the shun   s-a-g-n the shun in tcm is the spirit the mind the  soul and where do you see the connection to that   the eyes are the open windows to the soul right  so the eyes reflex into the shen into the mind we   always say in tcm if someone has really really  been defeated you could see it in their eyes   their mind or gender emotional trauma will show  in their eyes this is why the heart meridian has   to connect to the eyes because it's the window of  the soul make sense okay and then it's gonna have   a branch from the heart organ going through the  lungs and then coming out at heart one which is   under your arm armpit sorry armpit so from heart  one now we're on the external branch the external   branch is where all the points are located versus  the internal branch which is the connection of the   points that we connect into the internal branch  that's how we connect the acupuncture needle   so heart one is going to be under the armpit and  we're gonna go all along the channel it's gonna go   on the medial aspect of your arm all the way down  to the pinky right and we're gonna have heart two   on the arm on the medial aspect of it heart three  is going to be at the elbow and then four five   six seven at the wrist area eight at the palm and  nine at the tip of the finger of the baby finger   that's the heart channel and at the tip of the  baby finger this is where the channel connects   to small intestine and small intestine one will  also be there so that's where they are connecting   together as well all right let's look now at all  the points function location and clinical pearls   and my experience in clinic let's do it let's look  first at the location of heart one two and three   a quick reminder between the elbow crease  and the auxiliary the anterior axilla   it is nine soon right your whole arm  from the elbow to the axilla is nine   soon just a reminder so heart three is  located at the medial end of the elbow   heart two is located three two and above heart  three um right at the edge of the biceps the   medial edge of the bicep and then heart one is  located at the center of the axilla pretty simple   let's look at the function now heart one is not an  easy point to needle just because of its location   so usually the patient will be facing up so supine  and then the arm this way laying down on the table   and that's the best way to needle it and keep  the arm above the head on the pillow that's the   easiest way having said that it's not a point i  use a lot in clinical practice just because of its   placement and where it is and there's other points  that do the same which is to promote circulation   for cardiac or chest pain and it's used locally if  there's swelling or anything happening in the ribs   or the arm pretty simple heart two is very similar  to heart oneness for chest and cardiovascular   issues so it promotes blood circulation it can be  used for stress or for people that have headache   and then you can put a cold compress and it feels  better so it does kind of clear heat as well but i   think there's better point for that than this one  and i use it mostly locally if there's biceps pain   heart three is the heart c point of the heart  so as all horsey point it does clear heat   it is also useful of course all cardiovascular  chest pain kind of thing but mostly it's going   to be great for manic depressive behavior but  especially for the manic stage and it can be   used for internal wind specifically due to heat in  the blood which creates tremors like parkinson's   but the root cause should be heat in the blood  that's always the best thing in tcm is looking   for the root cause to figure out the best point  for your protocol let's now look at the locations   of heart four to heart nine heart four five six  are going to be in relationship to heart seven   heart seven is at the wrist crease as you can  see there on the radial side of the flexor carpi   ulnaris which i'm going to be called fcu much  easier than say flexor carpi ulnaris every single   time you're with me on this okay so we see heart  seven in relationship to height four is one and a   half tune above heart seven one and a half soon is  two of the patient's fingers the first two fingers   that's one and a half tune so you can use that to  help you and all those point four five six seven   are all going to be on the radial side of the fcu  right so heart four is one and a half tune above   heart five is one soon above heart six is half  it soon above makes sense and then heart seven of   course at the wrist crease heart eight is located  between the fourth and fifth metacarpal bone   on the palm and it is really found by forming a  fist and gently resting the baby finger where your   baby finger lands that's literally where heart is  and as you can see heart nine is point one soon   at the base of the corner of the nail  on the radial side of the baby finger   let's look at their functions heart four  is used mostly to nourish blood and Yin   deficiency of the heart it's the jing river  point and so it's great to use for people to   have anxiety insomnia specifically due to blood  deficiency and or yin deficiency again always   look for the root cause it can also be used for  sudden voice loss specifically due to stress heart five is the lower connecting point  from the heart to the small intestine and   remember in tcm the small intestine separates  the clear from the turbid which relates to your   urination right to the bladder and urination  so heart five actually in clinical practice   i use a lot for interstitial cystitis it's really  good for cystitis because that's an inflammation   of the ureter not an infection and so this is  a really good point in conjunction with other   points like level five globalist 34 and other  related points but that's a really good point for   cystitis that's the urinary tract connection of  the dual connecting point yes it is also used for   chest issues and palpitation but also it  can be used for speech impairment so um the   the heart opens into the tongue in  tcm right so when there is stuttering   and when you're anxious and you stutter that is  a hard issue hard five is a really good point to   be part of your protocol to help calm  the mind so the person stuttering   is more calm and they're not plagued by it all the  time does that make sense awesome all right let's   do the next one i love heart six and clinical  practice heart six is first of all the she cleft   point of the heart and remember she cleft points  on the yin meridians are going to be looking at   blood issue and on the young meridian at pain  issue but often they are related so obviously   the heart is in charge of blood circulation so  heart six is going to improve blood circulation   specifically when there is chest pain or angina  pectoris so heart six is one of the best point for   chest pain that is distal of course when 17 and  other points that are local can be used as well   pericardium six is also a really good point  because it's a commando point of the chest   but heart six is the best point for cardiovascular  chest pain due to heart issue like angina pectoris   so that's the first thing the second thing that i  love to use in clinical practice part six with is   kidney seven kidney seven and heart six together  are the best combination for not night sweat sorry   night sweat due to yin deficiency remember the  heart is connected to sweat in tcm foundation so   hard sex and kidney seven for heartburn deficiency  creating night sweat this is the best combo and it   can be used for nosebleed due to excess fire but  there are better points than that so i would focus   mostly on the two first one that i mentioned the  chest pain and the night sweat are you enjoying   my graphics so far well you can found them all  and my accuplace made easy an illustrated guide   to all acupuncture points and so much more the pdf  version has a lot of video links you can download   it on your phone your tablet your computer  and have it at your fingertips at any time   it has a great table of contents the hardcopy  ships all over the world if you're someone that   loves to hold a book and really enjoy the colorful  part of my graphics you'll find them all exactly   the same as the pdf in the hard copy book the  feedback has been amazing as you could see here   so many people have just loved the book or  the pdf or both so what are you waiting for   click the link below and get your copy today  let's get back to what we're talking about today   drum roll this is heart seven i think this is the  most common use hard point in clinical practice   it is called men and sham means the spirit  the the the soul the spirit the mind and   man means the gate the gate of the mind that's  the name of this point so we understand by the way   this is the best point to help calm  the mind for anxiety for insomnia for   anything that the mind just gets so busy this  is a really good calming point specifically   for insomnia also it is the u.n source point  of the heart and you and source points go   to the source the unqi right which means any  long-standing heart issue like lots of palpitation   for many years or cardiovascular disease issue you  want to put heart seven because it is the source   point the un source point it's also a shoe stream  point which means it's really good to help as well   for poor memory we don't have a lot of points in  tcm that help with memory this is one of them so   it's a fantastic point don't you love it heart  seven specifically you can combine it with its   counterpart ear shenmen here shenmen in heart  seven that's double shenmen that's the best   i love heart ate unfortunately being on the  palm it makes it a bit more difficult for   people because you have to ask if they're okay  with it because a lot of more nerve sensitive   area just like on the soul with  kidney kidney one give me five   kidney one i'm not editing i'm just going  and running with it you know me easy peasy so   heart ate on the palm it's not that bad to do i  think it's easier than kidney one but it's such a   good point for people that have excess heart fire  what are the symptoms for excess heart failure   generally lots of canker sores on the tongue not  in the mouth the mouth is more stomach but on   the tongue that is a heart fire also for burning  painful urination that is a heart fire moving down   to the small intestine if there's no infection  it's more inflammation again for cystitis you   could combine this with heart five that would  work really well um it can be used for external   genitalia burning like vulvodynia specifically  combined with liver five so for vulvodynia heart   eight level five great combo it can be used for  hop bombs like people i feel really really hot   in the palm and the hands all the time so it's  really for that excess fire in the heart right   which obviously can affect competition anxiety  everything but it's really that excess heat   that's the best point for it last but not least  is heart nine it's a little tricky just because   there's not a lot of flesh on the baby fingers so  it's quite painful we prick to bleed and that can   be quite painful this is a general point so it's  used usually for fainting for manic behavior fever   kind of like aldine wall points in general but  i usually like to use pericardium nine because   it's more on the flesh and less by the corner  of the nail so less painful and that wraps it up   i like to recap everything quickly at the end  so you can differentiate all those nine points   because all of them have palpitation and cardiac  chest pain as a function right or indication   so let's look at differentiating them all heart  one is going to be more local heart to as well   heart three on the other hand here can be used for  tremors right we said that so that's a little bit   of a difference there heart four is usually used  for anxiety and insomnia due to heart yin or heart   blood deficiency heart five is going to be your  lower connecting point to the small intestine   so really good for cystitis or urinary tract  inflammation not infection heart six best point   for night sweats specifically combined with kidney  seven it's also the sheet left point so really the   best point for chest pain due to angina pectoris  or having a heart attack right obviously this is   something we can use for prevention heart seven  best point to calm the mind for anxiety insomnia   any emotion that's coming stress anything  calms the shen it's the shen man right   heart eight is usually clearing fire for canker  sores in the mouth or burning genitalia that is   to clear the fire and heart nine is a jingle point  so for all general point fever fainting and manic   behavior and that was all the nine points of  the heart i hope that was useful there's so   much more on my website check it out my resource  page is full of information case studies pdf   i also have lots of free courses and of course  i have my couple of books which are listed on   my website acupunctureacademy.com but also below  this video as well if you are interested because   that is 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