Senior Dogs: Meridian Massage, Acupressure and …...Senior Dogs: Meridian Massage, Acupressure and More Lesson 3, Topic 1 4. Locations of meridian points, and especially “pathways”,

Senior Dogs: Meridian Massage, Acupressure and More Lesson 3, Topic 1

Welcome to Lesson 3!Now that you've had your introduction to the course, and then Lesson 2 on “Do No Harm” for some of the “Don'ts”, it's time to get into what you can do for your senior pup!

In this Topic, I'll share an overview of the meridian system we work with when doing acupressure, “meridian massage” or Shiatsu. Or a “Chi Bath”, for that matter! In Topic 2 you'll put this information into use, and experience a “Chi Bath” for yourself. And after the Topic 3 video, you'll be ready to give your dog a “Chi Bath”!

Here are some points I want to be sure you take in before sharing my meridian charts with you.1. You don't have to know (or remember) any of this to help your dog, so don't worry!

2. Have fun learning whatever does soak in, whenever it does. Get out the coloring crayons and play. I did! (I'll add a PDF of the plain outline of the dog for you to draw on, as many times as you care to print it out.)

3. The meridian lines you'll see in the next pages are hand drawn. Please be kind. :-) I'm not an artist. They look a little crude, yet in fact, the information is quite good. Someday I may see about having someone make the charts all 'digital' and polished, but for now, I actually had a lot of fun making these for you. I used several sources, including books and classes I've taken over the years, and including horse, human and dog references. But I've consolidated it all into a version I believe will be most helpful to you. I apologize for my handwriting. If there's anything you can't read, just ask me, please! (I'll also provide a typed translation of my handwritten notes after each chart. You can refer to that for help as well.)

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4. Locations of meridian points, and especially “pathways”, are not exact. That is, the points may be fairly precise on an animal (or person), but when you look at various books and charts, they're never exactly the same. And even on a real live animal, experienced practitioners may identify points a little differently. Still, there IS a lot of consistency! At least among people using the same point “system.” (See my point #6.)

5. I realize I'm talking here about points.... this lesson is not about learning points. I'll show you many of the best points for senior dogs in later lessons. This lesson is only about the pathways and directions of energy flow.

6. In the West, almost everyone (most veterinarian acupuncturists, most bodyworkers) uses a “transpositional” system of meridians, meaning the human chart is “transposed” onto the dog's or horse's body and used just as if they were humans. (The numbering of the Bladder Meridian gets changed around a bit. I don't know why just that one. I don't think the few differences in numbers of ribs and vertebrae quite explains it. Otherwise very consistent with humans.) In China, and for some practitioners outside of China, they use a “traditional” system, in which the points for animals are not the same as for humans. (Although there are still significant commonalities and similarities.) Both systems work, and work well. I say that simply knowing of veterinarians who use each system and who have many clients very happy with results. I do not know any bodyworkers (yet?) who use the traditional system.

7. I'm going to give you a lot of information on meridians in this lesson! More than you need for this course. I got started, and had a hard time stopping. And having the ideas and images in your head can add to the effectiveness, and the fun, of doing bodywork. I know many of you will enjoy the extra learning. If it's too much, just put it away and ignore it. You can always come back to it later. If you want to.



Here's the first chart, showing the general pathways and directions of the yin and yang meridians. You'll see this demonstrated in the video for Topic 2, and in another video for Topic 3.



Here's the translation (and with more detail) of the above chart, from my handwriting into typed, read-able text....Yang energy is drawn in light blue.Yin energy is drawn in dark blue.

1. For the meridians of the front legs (or in humans, for the arms), the Yin meridians begin in the chest muscles, go down the inside of each front leg to the paws, ending at the nail beds of the dewclaw and two other toes (on each paw). (We'll get to the points more later in this lesson.)

2. For the front legs, the Yang meridians begin at the nail beds of three of the toes (yes, if you're doing the math, you may notice some meridians do have to share toes!), go up the outside of each front leg, across the side and front of each shoulder, along the sides of the neck and onto the head. One of these front leg Yang meridians goes around the ear (between the ear and the top of the head), and the other two go from neck onto face passing under each ear.

3. From the head, the Yang meridians for the hind legs begin there (near the eyes), and two of the three meridians go over the head (between the ears and the top of the head), along the back and sides of the neck and body to the rump and hind legs, and down the outside of each hind leg to the toes. (Note: There is one Yang meridian, of the three for the hind legs, that does NOT follow the pattern. The pattern I mean is that the back and outsides of the body are considered Yang, while the front and inner sides (inner aspect of legs and arms) are considered Yin. Yet... the Stomach Meridian is a Yang meridian that goes along the front of the body. This is just EXTRA information for you. You can ignore it for now if it's too much! When doing a “Chi Bath”, feel free to include the Stomach Meridian pathway, or leave it out. Both options are GREAT! You'll see the pathway of the Stomach Meridian later in this lesson.)

4. Yin meridians return from hind paws/toes, up inner hind legs, across belly, onto ribs and chest. Two end on the ribcage on the side of the body, and one ends on the ribs further forward on the chest, on either side of the sternum (breastbone).



Summary of some meridian theory

There are other “meridians,” or energy channels, identified in other types of bodywork. The meridians I'm describing here are from both the Chinese tradition of acupuncture, acupressure and Tui Na massage, and also are the same used in the Japanese tradition of Shiatsu.

For these traditions, there are 14 meridians most commonly learned (at least in the West!). 12 Primary meridians are “bilateral”, meaning they're located on the left and the right sides of the body. 2 “Extraordinary Vessels” are on the midline, one along the back (Governing Vessel-yang), and one along the front (Conception Vessel-yin).

Each meridian has a “partner” or “sister” meridian.Each pair of meridians are associated with many things, including an organ, emotion, sense organ, season, element, color, type of body tissue, time of day, and much more....

Here's a little chart for you of the associations with the 12 Primary Meridians...Yin Yang Element Emotion Body tissue

Lung (Lu) Large Intestine (LI) Metal Grief Skin

Spleen (Sp) Stomach (St) Earth Worry & Sympathy Muscle

Heart (Ht) Small Intestine (SI) Fire Love/Joy Blood/Circulation

Kidney (Ki) Bladder (Bl) Water Fear Bone

Pericardium (Pe) Triple Heater (TH) Fire Love/Joy Lymph/Circulation

Liver (Li, or Liv) Gall Bladder (GB) Wood Anger Tendons, ligaments



It's hard to see all meridians well on a single chart!Then again, it's nice to see their locations relative to each other.I've put 6 (3 pairs) on one chart and 6 on another so you can get some of both benefits.



Notes to clarify the chart above:Apologies, the difference between the red and pink is not clear on this digital version. This is mainly confusing where the Stomach and Small Intestine Meridians seem to connect by the elbow. They don't. To clarify, the Small Intestine meridian is red (solid line), coming from the front paw, up the outside of the leg, across the shoulder, along the neck and onto the head, ending between the base of the ear and the jaw joint (TMJ). (Heart is also on the front leg, dotted red.)The Stomach Meridian is in pink (solid line), beginning under the eye, to corner of mouth, along jaw and up more onto head, then down the front of the neck, front of the chest (between the front legs), along the belly and across the groin onto the front of the thigh, and all the way down the front of the hind leg. (Spleen is also on the hind leg, dotted pink.)

Where I indicated the beginning of the Lung Meridian, and the end of the Kidney Meridian at the chest, it looks like they're on the shoulder, but they're not. Those points are between the sternum (or breast bone), and the point of shoulder. They're on ribs/chest, not at all on the shoulder.

Yin meridians are harder to show on a two dimensional drawing! For these side views, I have drawn them partly on the right side of the dog's body, and partly on the left side, depending on which side has the “medial aspect” (inner vs. outer) visible. So, for example, you'll see the Kidney Meridian coming up the inner hind leg on the dog's left side, but then the portion on the belly and chest is drawn on the dog's right side. On your own dog, you would follow the Kidney Meridian all the way from hind paw to chest on one side of the body, and then follow it again on the other side, not switching sides halfway along. Make sense??

You may also wonder about the Heart Meridian. It does mostly run along the inner leg, though from the “wrist” down it's just slightly to the outside, ending on the outside toe, though on the inner side of it. The Small Intestine and Heart Meridian (“sisters”) share the outside toe. The Heart's end point (Ting point) is on the medial/inner side of it, at the nail bed, and the Small Intestine begins on the outer/lateral side of the same toe's nail bed.



More Meridian Pairs....



More Notes: I think this chart (above) is mostly clear. The dotted green across the shoulder is not Liver meridian though, it's only indicating that the Gall Bladder (otherwise solid green) pathway is considered to travel under the shoulder blade (scapula), so I made the line briefly dotted there.

And now, on the next page, one more chart, just to add a little better view of the meridians through the chest area. Please note, same issue here with the pink and red being hard to distinguish. I DID use the same pink for Stomach Meridian, and red for Heart/Small Intestine as I did in the earlier chart. I didn't include the Spleen or Bladder meridians in this chart, even though they are “sisters” of Stomach and Kidney, because they don't go throught the chest area, so no need to show them again with this different angle.

(Bonus “lesson”, for those interested.... For the next chart, I'm using an image from something else, which, in very blurry writing (not mine), is showing about directional terms on a dog's body. That information is not the point of this lesson, I'm just using the picture for the dog's body. But if you have questions about it, you can ask anytime. The only directional terms I do tend to use in this class are “medial” and “lateral”. Medial means towards the midline of the body, and lateral is the opposite, so away from the midline. For example, the Yin meridians are along the medial side, or medial aspect, of the legs, the Yang meridians are along the lateral side of each leg. And another example, using medial/lateral in a slightly different way, you can say that the Bladder Meridian, being closer to the spine (which is on the midline), is medial to the Gall Bladder Meridian, since that one is farther away from the spine.) You can also say, the Gall Bladder Meridian is lateral to the Bladder Meridian.)

And one more Bonus/optional lesson.... When we do get into learning some points, you'll find out we use numbers. (The Chinese don't, they use names, poetic names, for each and every point. We're not that good at memorizing in the West, without a system to follow, like numbers.) And then we also abbreviate the meridian names to two letters. So you'll see references to points like Ki 3, St 36, Bl 67, and so on. I've added the abbreviations to the earlier chart of the 12 Primary meridians. And if you're looking at books, Pericardium is sometimes called Heart Protector or Heart Constrictor.




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Senior Dogs: Meridian Massage, Acupressure and …...Senior Dogs: Meridian Massage, Acupressure and More Lesson 3, Topic 1 4. Locations of meridian points, and especially “pathways”,