Transcript for:
Understanding the Luo Connecting Points in TCM

Using Stomach 40 as a LUO Connecting Point  connecting the Stomach to the Spleen is a   true gem when it comes to metabolism syndrome  or blood sugar imbalances Today I'm going to   talk about the relationships of the Yin and the  pair Yang organs like the Spleen and Stomach the   Lung and the Large intestine the Heart and  the Small Intestine which are often hard to   understand where the connection is with those two  the Liver and the Gallbladder the Kidney and the   Bladder and also the Pericardium and the San Jiao  that way we can truly utilize the LUO Connecting   Point in clinical practice to help out patients  because it's really important to understand the   relationship between the Yin and the paired Yang  organs welcome back to my channel if it's your   first time here I'm Clara from AcuPro Academy  and I create Chinese medicine and acupuncture   content for students and practitioners making  it easy to grasp and fun to learn if you haven't   subscribed yet please click the Subscribe button  so you don't miss out on any new videos let's go   what I love about the Stomach and the  Spleen is that to me they have the perfect   Yin Yang relationship according to Chinese  medicine because they are completely opposite   the Stomach Qi when it's healthy goes down right  if it's unhealthy it goes up and we have nausea   we have acid reflux vomiting etc the Spleen on  the other hand when it's happy and healthy it   raises clear Qi to the head and it keeps the  organs from falling down so it goes up when   it's unhappy or unhealthy the Spleen goes down  and we are very tired exhausted chronic fatigue   and maybe even prolapse of organs so see how its  completely opposite second the Spleen tendency to   be affected by dampness or excess body fluid and  by Cold the Spleen does not like cold the Stomach   is the opposite it gets affected by heat and then  by dryness so very much dry and heat affects the   Stomach but it's cold and damp affect the Spleen  so see how very much opposite which is really cool   because they work really well together however  digestive system is at the center of our health   and because the Spleen and Stomach is such  opposite if there is a lot of cold affecting the   Spleen for example and we eat a lot of warm food  it might be too warm too hot too fast and now the   Stomach has too much heat and now we have excess  heat in the Stomach vice versa if the Stomach has   a lot of heat and we want to cool it down with  cooling food cooling formulas we have to be   careful because it might make the Spleen too cold  right so it's a fine balance between the two and   that's why diet and talking about health and how  we eat our eating habits makes a huge difference   it takes time consistency but it's really at the  center of balancing our whole health so I love   that connection what's the connection between the  Heart and the Small Intestine because really where   is the connection when I was back in school in TCM  school I had a really hard time understanding why   the Heart is connected to the Small Intestine what  does it have to do with anything so it separates   the clear from the turbid as a function in the  physical aspect in the emotional aspect this is   where things are going to get connected the Small  Intestine also separates the clear from the turbid   and what does that mean it is the ability of  having clear judgment and being able to separate   right from wrong right so for example when I see a  patient that is in an abusive relationship doesn't   matter if it's a man or woman they are with a  partner that's abusive in their relationship it   could be physically or emotionally or both but  that person is excusing and saying oh but they   love me but it's okay because you know it's my  fault I did it I created this it's all my fault   it is a Small Intestine issue not being able to  separate the right from the wrong make sense so   when it comes to the connection between the Heart  and the Small Intestine there's two things on the   mental aspect as you know the Heart is in charge  of all our emotions all our clear thinking with   the Spleen sending clear Qi to the head so when  the Small Intestine is not able to separate right   from wrong there is phlegm in the brain there is  phlegm in the Heart right if someone is going to   take a gun and start shooting at everybody there  is phlegm in the brain right there is an imbalance   because the person is not seeing this as wrong so  there's a mental health aspect that's affecting   the Heart mind that's the connection the second  one is when there is Heart Fire it can create   Fire in the Small Intestine how does that show  often that shows with Interstitial Cystitis so   Cystitis is an inflammation of the urethra  and the ureter that creates really painful   urination maybe even blood in the urination but  the person does not have an infection and I see   a lot of women with IC in my practice over the  years and every one of them have insomnia they   don't sleep well for many years so that affects  the Small Intestine and often we use a Point like   heart five Heart 5 is a LUO Connecting Point  of the Heart to the Small Intestine and that's   a great point to have when there is Interstitial  Cystitis isn't that cool I love Chinese medicine   the relationship between the Lung and the Large  Intestine is twofold the first one is the Immune   System the Lung is in charge of the defensive Qi  the Immune System and so is the Large Intestine   because in the physical organ we have probiotics  which are fighting invaders which are fighting   bacterias right so that's the first thing the  second thing that's connecting the two is the skin   they both manifest on the skin and this is part  of the Five Element Theory right when we talked   about the Five Element both Large Intestine and  Lung manifest on the skin so when someone has a   lot of constipation it might come out on the skin  with zits or eruption or cystic acne it could be   a hormonal I'm not saying this is what happened  every time you have is it but I want to tell you   a story that's really interesting for example so  I moved to Canada from France many many many moons   ago because now I'm in my late 50s oh my God time  flies anyway when I was from France born there I   read of course I had baguette and croissant so  I moved to Canada and I have to tell you as a   teenager I never ever had a zit or acne at all  ever in my life and within two years of being in   Canada I started having massive cystic acne like  a lot of acne really really painful and I was just   like what is happening to me so I went and had  my hormone checks everything was fine with my   hormones I'm like I don't understand and it lasted  quite a long time until I figured out that the   gluten or the wheat in North America is processed  completely differently than in Europe and my gut   my Large Intestine was like no no no I don't  like this and that created information it took   two years for the week that I was eating here to  create massive inflammation in my Large Intestine   so I thought okay well let's stop the wheat  and see what happens within a month my whole   skin cleared completely cleared see how the Large  Intestine and the skin right and then I remember   the first time we went back to France with my  husband after I went gluten free he said to me   what are you gonna do when we go to France and I  said I don't care if I look like you know I have   zits all over I'm having baguette I'm having  croissant I'm gonna have everything nothing   happened when I was in France nothing happened  anywhere I've been in Europe nothing has changed   my skin here if I have a little piece of cake at a  birthday party the next day I wake up and I have a   zit right away so obviously it's processed  differently but the point here is that my   Large Intestine is telling me something on my skin  that's the relationship between the Lung and Large   Intestine Liver Gallbladder relationship is very  simple you know when we have a lot of tension on   our shoulder this is where gallbladder 21 is one  of the best points when we have traps or trapezius   muscle that is so tense and tight because we have  a lot of stress as we know Liver is affected by   stress because it removes Qi all over the body  allowing us to be relaxed when we are stressed   shoulders tightens and that's the Gallbladder  Meridian that we can utilize to relax the shoulder   this is great trigger point to relax all that  tension up in the upper traps right so that's   also another point that we use is Gallbladder 34  which is one of the best point for influential   point of the sinews tendons ligament and joints  this is the best point when there is issue with   the joint so that complements the Liver very very  well makes sense I know I love those two together   because also when we have temporal headaches which  is often due to stress right at the end of the day   people are like oh I have a temporal headache and  we know it's Liver Yang Rising the best points   are going to be around the Gallbladder Meridian  which goes on the temporal area we are going to   use a Gallbladder and absolutely like Gallbladder  41 Gallbladder 40 distal point to allow temporal   headache to be relieved so see they work really  well together let's look at the Bladder and the   Kidney so we know this because it's easy in the  Western sense the Bladder excretes the fluid that   we don't need through urination right the Bladder  in the Kidney work very well in transforming   fluids and excreting fluid because of course  the Kidney is in charge of water metabolism in   the Lower Jiao so the Kidney and the Bladder work  really well and they get affected by fear and it's   easy to see because when there is a fear or shock  the person can have Bladder incontinence right or   lose bladder control so that's the fear affects  both of them and that's their relationship in   that perspective you now also the San Jiao and the  Pericardium let's talk about that connection the   Pericardium is the protector of the Heart right  it's the protector of the Heart in the physical   aspect because the Pericardium function is to have  great blood flow and blood circulation but it's   also mental aspect to protect the Heart from being  affected emotionally very deep now the Pericardium   in the San Jiao connection their connection is  very much more mental than physical or emotional   versus physical and you can see together they  affect the person's capacity to relate to other   people in the external world so outside of  themselves so when people have a really hard   time with being in the crowd being with a lot  of people feel really anxious when there's too   many people that's San Jiao and Pericardium not  properly connecting or working together I wanted   to remind you that about all the graphic you saw  today are all from this book as you can see like   I have three books but this book is where I have  the Chinese Medicine Foundation and diagnosis all   my books come in digital version or hard copy  they ship all over the world if they don't ship   to your country unfortunately that does happen  unfortunately you can get the pdf version which   has a lot of video links to complement it and the  link of all my books is below this video I have   tons of resource on my website resource page tons  of PDF free courses treatment protocols lots of   videos lots of blog posts and courses and my books  everything is there use the search bar when you're   looking for something let's say tinnitus put it in  search bar it'll come up for you and then you'll   find it it's super easy to use and I keep adding  all the time so definitely use my website for that