I'm so excited to have you join me today as I'm diving into the 15 most effective acupuncture point for clearing heat heat manifests in various ways in the body and as practitioners it's really important to discern between excess heat and deficiency heat or Ying deficiency it's not just about needling points it's also about understanding the underlying imbalances and applying our knowledge to promote balance and well being for all our patients today I'm going to guide you through the key differences between excess heat and deficiency heat or deficiency then we'll dive into the 15 most effective acupuncture points for clearing heat and their use in clinical practice welcome back to my channel if it's your first time here I'm Clara and I create Chinese medicine and acupuncture content for students and practitioners making it easy to grasp and fun to learn don't for don't forget to hit that subscribe button so you don't miss out on any future videos let's go when we go back to Foundation that the basis of everything is the Yin Yang theory if you haven't seen my video right here check it out it's all on the Yin Yang theory and understanding the differences however today I wanted to talk about the specifics between Yang excess which is excess heat and Yin deficiency which is deficiency heat because it's really important to understand the key differences is in the symptoms so it's more of a tonifying versus excess heat it's more of a clearing so it's a very different treatment however some acupuncture points can do both clear excess heat and nourish Yin deficiency now let's start with excess heat excess heat is manifesting as acute or chronic so acute would be a fever would be having an infection what chronic which is what we see mostly in clinical practice it's red face red tongue with a yellow coat on it a full strong rapid pulse often there is a person that feels hot during the day sweats easily when they're hot they have tendency to have constipation with smelly stools because heat dries fluid and when the bowel movement is large and full bowel movement it will be smelly which is excess heat as well also the person may be very irritable or angry easily right like a volcano with lots of anger coming out that could come in insomnia could come in as well which would be excess heat would be the insomnia where we don't sleep at all or we wake up during the night and we cannot fall asleep as in liver fire for example now when it comes to Yin deficiency it is going to be smaller symptoms so for example with excess heat and in deficiency the person is really thirsty specifically for cold drinks because they want to cool off with excess heat the person will gulp a lot of fluid with Ying deficiency the person will sip the fluid all day so see big versus small now the Ying deficiency person would have red cheeks and the Yang excess would had red face the Yin deficiency person would also have constipation but when they have a bowel movement it will be little Pebbles little beads little sheep Pebbles so differences between the excess heat which has large formed bowel movement or stools that makes sense the person with Yin deficiency because Yin is night time will be hot at night with night sweats while the Yang excess youngest daytime the person will sweat easily during the day and feel hot during the day the Yin deficiency will have a thin rapid pulse so it's still rapid because there's heat but it's very thin because of the deficiency compared to the Yang excess with the pulse is large big full rapid the tongue of a Yin deficiency will be red just like the excess heat however the Yin deficiency will have a crack tongue no coat while the Yang excess will have a yellow coat so see there's a lot of differences here so it's really important to make the key different symptoms for a treatment however because Chinese medicine is always complicated it's never just anything is one way and that's it can someone have Yin deficiency heat and excess heat yes they can and that's very common with liver a lot of people have liver yang rising or liver fire and they also have liver Yin deficiency at the same time so when that happens we can combine our treatment and usually we clear the excess heat first and then we nourish the yin you can do it at the same time if you want to clear the heat first do it with acupuncture and then nourish yin with diet that is a good idea as well when we do treatment does that make sense okay so today we are talking about the 15 most effective points when it comes to excess heat I wanted to share a story with you because when I grew up my mom had excess heat and Ying deficiency around menopausal symptoms so she had the night sweat she was tossing and turning all night she'd be very irritable very angry all the time because she was stressed so there was a lot of bursts and although I loved my mother sometimes it was really scary because she had a loud voice and I'm very sensitive and as a child I was very sensitive so that was always a tough balance for us to navigate was she had a strong personality and I was very sensitive and I would cry easily when she had the big loud voice another thing that my mom did is she smoked two packs of cigarettes per day yep and so so she had a lot of heartburn and acid reflex and when I told her it's because she smoked and it affected her esophagus she was like no it has nothing to do with this okay so she has a lot of stomach heat coming up which is very common right stomach heat is heartburn acid reflux bad breath acid regurgitation so those symptoms come up from stomach heat when there's a lot of acidity and smoking can lead to that as well we can have Lung heat long heat is very common as well which is to cough we can cough phlegm that is thick and green or yellow that is excess heat or phlegm heat in the lung we can have like I said earlier liver yang Rising liver fire with lots of anger irritability temporal headaches that feel better on the cold compress that is excess heat in the liver we can have a lot of heat in different organs like large intestine heat when there is constipation with stools that are large we can have damp heat which creates diarrhea with smelling stool as well so there's lots of heat that can affect different organs those are the most common one we see in clinical practice okay ready let's dive in those beautiful effective acupuncture points to clear excess heat and how to differentiate them so we know which one to use best in clinical practice let's start with the best point to clear Heat anywhere in the body which is large intestine 11 large intestine 11 is fantastic because it will clear heat for acute or chronic disorders acute like fever infection Hives sore throat but also chronic for people that have excess heat or inflammation in the body which can show up as a lot of irritability like we said earlier with smelly stools with inflammation anywhere in the body that comes up sometimes as feeling out of control getting really angry getting really rageful and usually those people end up having bowel issues like diarrhea when they get really angry so that's a ghost point and if you haven't seen my ghost Point video yet the link is up here or up here somewhere in there check it out now large intestine 11 is my favorite point for this but I'm going to give you a little Caution because it's located at the elbow crease at the end of the lateral elbow crease a lot of people use it when there is tendonitis which is fine or lateral epicondylitis which is fine if the symptoms of the pain are pain that is relieved with a cold compress or that is worse on heat right but if the pain is due to blood deficiency or it's been there for a long time and the person has numbness tingling that's traveling down the forearm or the extensors that is not the best point to use because there is blood deficiency and if the person says I put heat on it and it feels better you do not want to clear the heat right so we do not want to use log 11 in this case we can use the points on the extensors like large intestine 10 9 8 and anything around it does that make sense that's why it's really important to do a diagnosis even when it comes to pain spleen 10 is fantastic to clear heat from the blood so when there is blood heat it affects mostly the pericardium and the liver so what happens is we can use it for menstruation when there's heavy bleeding with pain or cramps that's usually blood heat with blood stasis in the liver and that is a really good point to use when it comes to menstruation it's also a great point to combine with Large intestine 11 when there is a lot of hives or heat affecting the skin even eczema for example it works really well so I love to use that point for that perspective because remember in TCM or in the Five Element Theory the Earth generates metal or the spleen and stomach generates lung and large intestine which are connected to the Skin So when there is hives it's great to use large intestine point and also spleen 10 stomach 44 is the best point to clear fire how do we know the difference between heat and fire think about this fire is worse than Heat make sense so when there is heat we talked about all the symptoms of excess heat fire is the same there is exactly the same symptoms however there is an amplification and the symptom that is added is bleeding when there is fire it moves and rushes the blood so there's excess bleeding or abnormal bleeding so it could be red bloodshot red eyes it could be Heavy menstruation it could be blood in the urine or blood in the stools or nose bleeds when there is bleeding or vomiting blood or bleeding ulcers in the stomach or bleeding gums anything that is bleeding with excess heat symptoms that is going to be fire and also when there is fire the tongue is much more dry and there is strawberry prickles on the top strawberry prickles if you don't know what that is you can watch my video on the tongue it'll be up there for you as well now when it comes to stomach 44 I love that point specifically for stomach issues for acid reflex regurgitation bad breath bleeding gums and also for vomiting if it's chunky sour pieces of in the vomit I know that sounds really gross but watery vomiting is due to excess cold chunky pieces is due to excess Heat let's not mix them together stomach 44 fantastic also because it clears fire it brings the fire down and allows the person to calm down so it's great if the person has lots of dreams at night is manic or has a lot of excess fire that brings them into a rage or a state of manic Behavior make sense that's a fantastic point I think that heart 5 is misunderstood or it's not used enough in clinical practice heart five is the Luo Connecting Point of the heart to the small intestine and because of that it is really a good point to use when there is interstitial cystitis because remember that the small intestine in TCM is in charge of separating the clear from the turbid for water metabolism to come out as urination it is more related to fluids than solids so when there is a bladder infection we can look at the bladder in TCM like damp heat in the bladder or heat in the bladder but if there is a inflammation like in cystitis then we have to look at the small intestine and heart 5 is a great Point specifically combined with liver five and Large intestine 11 because it clears heat perfect when it comes to Interstitial cystitis heart 8 is a Yin spring point and pretty much all Yin spring point will clear heat so heart 8 is really good for hysteria for when people get into a manic or hysteric behavior have a lot of excess fire it cools that mind it calms the mind brings the fire down also remember that the heart opens into the tongue so if there's canker sores or bleeding canker sores in the tongue this is a really good point for that as well the difference between mouth sores and tongue sores is the stomach opens into the mouth so if they are in the cheeks or in the mouth that's a stomach heat fire if they are on the tongue that's more of a heart does that make sense this is how we distinguish the key symptoms when we make a diagnosis and that leads to better treatment kidney 1 has to be there the most grounding point on the body so kidney 1 is great because it does both it helps with yin deficiency and it clears heat for excess heat excess fire specifically for people that feel scattered brain and cannot ground themself on top of it they have a tendency to be very irritable and have insomnia but that's the kind of insomnia where they are tired they want to fall asleep they're exhausted but they cannot sleep if you combine kidney 1with DUO 20 to help patients that cannot fall asleep even though they're very tired it's a perfect combination the highest point in the body with the lowest point in the body perfect for a great night sleep it works like a charm kidney 2 is another Yin spring point and they are part of the 5 SHU transporting points if you haven't seen my video on the5 SHU transporting Points check it out up there because it's one of my most popular now the yin spring point like I said before clears heat kidney 2 is really good when it is for coughing blood specifically combined with with lung 6 which is a Xi Cleft point of the lung which is great for bleeding of coughing blood so those two combine lung 6 and kidney 2 are great for coughing blood however we need to figure out why the person is coughing blood we need to look for the root cause but it can help for sure now the second thing if there is very heavy menstruation bleeding abnormal normal bleeding with uterus prolapse that is a good point kidney 2 because it is related to the reproductive system make sense kidney 2 is great when it comes to smelly diarrhea because as we said earlier that's an excess heat and you combine it with spleen 9 and with gallbladder 34 and large intestine 11 and it's fantastic you can also do the digestive Diamond which is Ren 6 Ren 9 and stomach 25 that is a good combo when it comes to smelly diarrhea now I think that bladder 65 is also underutilized it's a great point to help detoxify after an insect bite bladder 65 helps to body release its natural antihistamine to try to fight that insect bite so I think that's a great Point that's underutilized for acute issues for chronic issues it's great to calm the mind when there's a lot of confusion let's say for people that have Alzheimer with excess heat do not use it if the person's very deficient makes sense always use the right point for the right patient by the way if you're enjoying my Graphics right now and you haven't got your copy of my AcuPoints Made Easy yet this is your time the link will be below the video as you can see here is the PDF and there is the hard copy they contain exactly the same points which are 365 with all my Graphics it took me two years to make I'm so proud of it and so many students and practitioners have used it for the last three years and the feedback has been amazing so get your copy if you haven't done that today because you are going to love it in this video I chose two points that are located on the palm unfortunately heart 8 and pericardium 8 I know they're not easy to needle but they work so well specifically when it comes to mental health and pericardium 8 is a ghost point which is really good for paranoia and hallucination specifically due to excess heat including hysteria so those are really good to calm the mind and it's used for incontrollable laughter which often comes from phlegm heat misting the mind because the person is laughing but there is nothing funny and they can't stop laughing very loud out loud so that could also come into a disorder like schizophrenia pericardium 8 perfect for that as well as paranoia if there is excess heat liver 2 that's an easy one it brings the liver yang down right when there is liver Qi stagnation if someone has a lot of stress their button is going to be pushed pushed pushed and the volcano effect happens and there's a burst of anger irritability specifically women at PMS time when their Qi is stagnated because they're super stressed and then they lash out and they're moody oh boy watch out so liver 2 can also have temporal headache at the end of the day when the person is stressed and definitely irritability anger and also waking up between 1 and 3:00 a.m. which is the liver time that is a really good point to bring the liver yang down and calm the Mind liver 5 is a LUO Connecting Point like I said earlier when I was talking about heart 5 as a LUO Connecting Point this one connects the liver to the gallbladder but also the LUO collateral ends up around the external genitalia it's really a very good point when there is external genitalia issue specifically swelling and heat in the testes for example but also for external genitalia outbreak like herpes and for people that have tendency women specifically to have a unary tract infection after intercourse that is the best point I use this also for cystitis when it comes to inflammation and I combine that with heart five specifically gallbladder 43 is another Yin spring point and this one is fantastic when it comes to migraine and headaches that are very hot to the touch and that feel better when you put a cold compress that is the fantastic point for that it's also used for dizziness and vertigo when there is a lot of heat rising up to the head gallbladder 44 is a Jing well point so great for fever however it is used for dream disturbed sleep so when a person has a lot of nightmares and they have excess Heat this is the best point specifically combined with stomach 40 because stomach 40 clears phlegm when there is a lot of Mind issues when there is recurring nightmares there is definitely phlegm that affecting the stomach and the gallbladder so gallbladder 44 perfect for that it's also used to clear fire for vertigo and dizziness as well just like gallbladder 43 but a little bit stronger in carrying the fire and bringing it down du 14 if you remember in the channel Meridian Theory all yang channels converge or pass through D14 at C7 so all the yang meridians six of them converge their so it's a hot bed for yang right so D14 is the best point to clear heat when it's acute specifically fever in children because what you can do is you can use cupping on the child's D14 to try to release that fever so that works really well for fever but also for excess heat affecting the person in an acute state and because it's located in the upper part of the body it's really good for asthma due to excess heat cough but also the common cold due to wind heat so D14 great for acute heat in the body that creates fever there are many points when it comes to clearing heat I wanted to give you the 15 most effective ones in clinical practice that I think are just fantastic it doesn't mean they're the only ones it just means that I really think they're very useful if you haven't seen my video on the 15 most effective acupuncture points to calm the Mind check it out here because you are going to love it I hope you have a fantastic day and no matter what keep rocking it using TCM