Asian Bodywork IIIClass 7

Timur Lokshin LMT, CPT, LAc.

Kwan Loong Oil

• Kwan Loong Oil: (acrid and cooling) Effective topical pain relieving liquid that provides relief from aches and pains of muscles and joints. It is especially helpful in the treatment of minor sports related injuries and pains. Can be used for minor skin irritations, dizziness, nausea, and insect bites.

• (Damp/Heat Presentation)

Neti Pot• A neti pot is a container designed to rinse debris or mucus from your nasal

cavity. You might use a neti pot to treat symptoms of nasal allergies, sinus problems or colds.

• If you choose to make your own saltwater solution, it's important to use bottled water that has been distilled or sterilized. Tap water is acceptable if it's been passed through a filter with a pore size of 1 micron or smaller or if it's been boiled for several minutes and then left to cool until it is lukewarm.

• To use the neti pot, tilt your head sideways over the sink and place the spout of the neti pot in the upper nostril. Breathing through your open mouth, gently pour the saltwater solution into your upper nostril so that the liquid drains through the lower nostril. Repeat on the other side.

• Be sure to rinse the irrigation device after each use with similarly distilled, sterile, previously boiled and cooled, or filtered water and leave open to air dry.

• Neti pots are often available in pharmacies and health food stores, as well online. Talk to your doctor to see if nasal rinsing is right for you.

Earth Description Chart Element: Earth

Yin Organ: Spleen

Yang Organ: Stomach

Color: Yellow

Sound: Singing

Smell: Fragrant

Emotion: Pensiveness

Taste: Sweet

Tissue: Muscle

Sense Organ: Mouth and Lips

Climate: Dampness

Spirit: Yi, thinking, memory, concentration

Foot Yang Ming• ST meridian begins internally, where the LI meridian ends. Next to the nose.

It ascends to the bridge of the nose, meeting up with the UB meridian at the corner of the eye and emerging under the eye. Descending lateral to the nose, entering upper gum, curving around the lips, passing through the angle of the jaw. Turns upward, running in front of the ear to the corner of the forehead. An internal branch descends to the lower jaw to DU 14. Enters the body and descends through the diaphragm where it enters its self (ST) and Earth pair (SP) while another branch from the lower jaw on the surface crosses over the neck, chest and abdomen and terminates at the groin. Internally the meridian reconstitutes itself and reconnects with the external branch in the groin. Runs downward over the front of the thigh, to the outer knee, to the lower leg and terminates at the later side of the tip of the second toe. A branch of the ST meridian deviates just bellow the knee to the lateral side of the middle toe. A short branch from top of foot also connects to the SP meridian.

Stomach Channel Key Point

• In the chest (1st through 5th rib) ST 14-ST18 is measured at 4cun lateral to Ren, in the abdomen ST19-ST30 is measured 2cun lateral to Ren.

Foot Tai Yin

• The SP meridian originates at the medial side of the big toe. It then runs along he inside of the foot of the inner ankle bone. Ascending along the posterior surface of the lower leg and medial aspect of the knee and thigh to enter the abdominal cavity. It runs internally to its pertaining organ and its Earth pair ST. The main meridian runs upward to the surface of the abdomen and upward towards the chest. Where it penetrates internally to follow the throat, up to the root of the tongue, under which it spreads its qi and blood. An internal branch leaves the ST and pass upward through the diaphragm and enters the HT, where it connects to the HT meridian.

Digestive System

• The Spleen, Stomach and Intestines are the main organs in the digestive system. The most important of these are the spleen and stomach, which are interconnected by channels and stand in the interior-exterior relationship. The spleen governs movement and transformation, while the stomach governs the ingestion. The spleen governs the upbearing while the stomach governs downbearing.

Digestive System Cont.

• The formation of qi, blood, and fluids relies on the splenogastric function of moving and transforming essence of digestate. This is why it is said that the spleen and stomach are the basis of formation and the root of acquired constitution. The small and large intestine are connected by channels to the heart and the lung, with which they stand in yin-yang relationship. However, the small intestine’s function of separating the clear and the turbid and the large instestine’s function of transforming and conveying waste are part of the digestive process.

Clinical Practice

• In clinical practice, most of the disorders of the digestive system are treated as disorders of the stomach and spleen. Other disorders such as water damp, phlegm, failure of qi to contain the blood frequently stem from impairment of splenic movement and transformation and thus are also treated as disorders of the spleen.

Physiology

• Initial decomposition of the digestate is carried out by the stomach. The spleen then extracts the essence of digestate (nutrients) and dispatches it to the other organs. Ultimatly, it reaches all parts of the body. Thus it is said that the spleen moves the fluids of the stomach, and governs movement and formation of the essence of digestate. Modern writers explain this function as comprising digestion, assimilation and distribution of nutrients.

• Because of its importance in providing nutrients for the production of blood and qi that maintain the life and health of the organism, the spleen is described as the basis of qo and blood formation and the root of acquired constitution.

Impairment

• Impairment of splenic movement and transformation can lead to a variety of disorders. Deficient digestion and assimilation may cause abdominal distention, diarrhea, or nutritional disturbances. If the distributive function is impaired, improper movement of fluids may give rise to endogenous damp, phlegm, rheum, or water swelling. For this reason it is said that the spleen ails by damp and is the basis for phlegm formation. Disorders resulting from impaired movement and transformation are commonly denoted by the term splenic vacuity.

Pathology

• Pathologically, hemorrhage occurring in qi and blood vacuity patterns stemming from impairment of splenic movement and transformation is explained as the spleen is failing to manage blood. Considering strictly from the point of view of bleeding, such conditions could also be described as failure to contain blood.

• Because the spleen is the basis of blood and qi formation, all the muscles of the body rely on their nourishment on the capacity of the stomach and spleen to move and transform the essence of digestate. Only when the stomach and spleen are functioning properly are the muscles full and sound and the limbs powerful. Impairment of splenic function may therefore lead to wasting of muscles, loss of limb power, and in sever cases atrophy and paralysis.

Function of the Stomach

• The function of the stomach is to receive ingested food and perform the initial stages of digestion. Normal performance of this function is dependent of “free downflow” of the digestate to the small intestine. The spleen’s role in the digestive process is nevertheless preeminent, since it moves and transforms the essence of digestate and moves the fluids of the stomach.

Impairment of the Stomach

• Impairment of the stomach function may take the form of gastric qi disharmony, characterized by distention and fullness in the upper abdomen, dyspeptic anorexia, stomachache, or counterflow ascent of stomach qi, presenting signs of nausea, vomiting, eructation, or hiccoughing. Gastric repletion heat is characterized by constipation and halitosis. It is attributes in western medicine to the intestines.

SI and Digestion• The small intestine’s function of further transforming the

digestate already decomposed by the stomach is referred to as the separation of the clear and the turbid. The clear refers to what is useful to the body, while the turbid denotes waste. In the small intestine, the essence of digestate is the assimilation into the body by the action of the spleen. Waste water is absorbed and, by the transformative action of the kidney qi, is conveyed to the bladder. Hence, “The small intestine governs liquids”. Solid waste is passed to the large intestine where it is formed into stool before being discharged from the body. Thus, the large intestine is said to govern transformation and conveyance of waste. Since it absorbs further fluid from the waste, it is also said to govern humor.

Key Points for ST

• ST function – Rotting and Ripening– Controls transportation of food essence – Controls the descending of Qi– Is the Origin of fluids

Key Points for SP

• SP Function – Governs transformation and transportation– Controls The Rising of Qi– Contains Blood in vessels– SP produces blood, LV stores it– SP T/T qi and LU governs qi– SP root of post heaven qi, KD root of pre heaven qi– SP produces blood, HT moves and governs blood