Questions Regarding Symmetry of Acupuncture Points & Bitter Herbs

[Guest guest]

IMPO it sounds like you're probably less sensative to them, and they

actually taste better to you because that is what your body is looking

for. Your son might have a completely different unblance where bitter

things could make him worse. As far as the taste goes, it's more of a

bitter function, rather than a bitter taste. We think of bitter as an

adj, where they are more refering to it as a noun, or as a type of

function. Same thing as with organs, like the liver. TCM doesn't

just view the atonomical liver as the liver, but also certain

functions they have determined correlate, and they call that

collection of functions the liver. Same thing with the taste. As far

as the taste, they found that certain foods had certain functions and

certain noticable taists. As it went on, they would have started

classifying foods by function rather than taste, and the taste could

be the same, or actually completely different than the sensation that

you feel in your mouth.

 

As far as the acupuncture, I'm pretty sure that you're right, that

when you needle one side it affects the other side as a general rule.

I am sure there are exceptions to this though =)

 

Chinese Traditional Medicine , Judy Wilkins <isomorphix

wrote:

>

> I'm trying to 'kill 2 birds with one stone', so to speak. as I have two

> separate questions but didn't wish to post trwice. Even if only one

can be

> answered by someone, I'd appreciate it.

>

> Acuxo.com has good diagrams of meridians & points that I often refer

to. In

> the diagrams, a certain meridian will be shown on one side of the

body &

> points along there. It makes sense to me that the opposite side of

the body

> also has a corresponding meridian & points too. Is that correct &

only one

> side is shown for ease of drawing the diagram? Or is there something

> different I don't understand?

>

> If both sides have the same meridians & points, is there an

advantage to

> needling one side only? And if both sides have the same meridians &

points,

> does the points on one side correspnd to the body parts on the

opposite of

> the body? Sort of like the left part of the brain controls the right

side of

> the body in basic anatomy. Is this true in TCM points & meridians?

>

> About bitter tasting Chinese herbs & teas. Those prepared for me are

all said

> to be *very* bitter. While I can tell they're somewhat bitter, I

don't find

> the taste at all unpleasant. In fact, they taste 'clean' &

refreshing to me.

> They seem to leave a pleasant taste or sensation in my mouth

afterwards.

> Could this be because I have a weak sense of taste toward bitter

compounds?

> My son thinks this is true of me as I enjoy Brussel sprouts & other

foods

> that he says taste bitter to him. Or it is because my body can

'sense' that

> many of these herbs & foods are healing to me?

>

> I'm only curious to understand TCM & how it applies to me & whether

this will

> apply to others too. I thank everyone in advance on enlightening me.

>

> Judy

>

[Guest guest]

Hi, Judy:

 

I'll take a try at your second question. Many Chinese

are forced to take herbal Chinese medicine during

their childhoods, so they consider all herbal medicine

as bitter (not in the technical sense - the word in

Chinese is ku).

 

Sort of the equivalent of Americans having to take cod

liver oil, if you have had that experience.

 

By the time they reach adulthood, many Chinese feel

that all traditional herbal medicine is bitter and bad

-tasting and many never wish to try it again. One

reason why western medicine has grown in popularity in

China.

 

My wife was ill for most of her childhood, was forced

to take lots of herbal medicine daily, and so today

refuses to take herbal medicine, even though it would

help her considerably. She would prefer to suffer.

 

Living in China offers the opportunity of

experimenting with and sampling many types of herbal

medicines, and I do so almost every night. I don't

find the herbal medicine bitter at all, especially

when I consider the good the medicine will do for me.

 

At worst, most herbal medicine tastes like black

coffee without sugar.

 

So, IMO, it's a matter of perspective. I didn't grow

up with the experience of herbal medicine, so now I

approach this from an adult point of view, and think

of the great opportunity here to help my body and

improve my health.

 

Kind regards,

 

Jack

Qi Men Dun Jia

Medical Divination

 

 

 

--- Judy Wilkins <isomorphix wrote:

 

> I'm trying to 'kill 2 birds with one stone', so to

> speak. as I have two

> separate questions but didn't wish to post trwice.

> Even if only one can be

> answered by someone, I'd appreciate it.

>

> Acuxo.com has good diagrams of meridians & points

> that I often refer to. In

> the diagrams, a certain meridian will be shown on

> one side of the body &

> points along there. It makes sense to me that the

> opposite side of the body

> also has a corresponding meridian & points too. Is

> that correct & only one

> side is shown for ease of drawing the diagram? Or is

> there something

> different I don't understand?

>

> If both sides have the same meridians & points, is

> there an advantage to

> needling one side only? And if both sides have the

> same meridians & points,

> does the points on one side correspnd to the body

> parts on the opposite of

> the body? Sort of like the left part of the brain

> controls the right side of

> the body in basic anatomy. Is this true in TCM

> points & meridians?

>

> About bitter tasting Chinese herbs & teas. Those

> prepared for me are all said

> to be *very* bitter. While I can tell they're

> somewhat bitter, I don't find

> the taste at all unpleasant. In fact, they taste

> 'clean' & refreshing to me.

> They seem to leave a pleasant taste or sensation in

> my mouth afterwards.

> Could this be because I have a weak sense of taste

> toward bitter compounds?

> My son thinks this is true of me as I enjoy Brussel

> sprouts & other foods

> that he says taste bitter to him. Or it is because

> my body can 'sense' that

> many of these herbs & foods are healing to me?

>

> I'm only curious to understand TCM & how it applies

> to me & whether this will

> apply to others too. I thank everyone in advance on

> enlightening me.

>

> Judy

>

 

 

 

 

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[Guest guest]

Judy:

 

As to your acupuncture question, there is a basic

principle that you can needle one side to affect the

other side.

 

" Needle below to affect above. " This is particularly

helpful when there might be a need to needle sensitive

or dangerous areas, such as around the lungs, which

can be easily punctured.

 

Instead, one may select alternative points to achieve

the same end.

 

And yes, the diagrams only show one side, but for the

most part, the acupoints come in pairs on both sides

of the body.

 

Kind regards,

 

Jack

 

Qi Men Dun Jia

Medical Divination

 

--- mrasmm <mrasmm wrote:

 

> IMPO it sounds like you're probably less sensative

> to them, and they

> actually taste better to you because that is what

> your body is looking

> for. Your son might have a completely different

> unblance where bitter

> things could make him worse. As far as the taste

> goes, it's more of a

> bitter function, rather than a bitter taste. We

> think of bitter as an

> adj, where they are more refering to it as a noun,

> or as a type of

> function. Same thing as with organs, like the

> liver. TCM doesn't

> just view the atonomical liver as the liver, but

> also certain

> functions they have determined correlate, and they

> call that

> collection of functions the liver. Same thing with

> the taste. As far

> as the taste, they found that certain foods had

> certain functions and

> certain noticable taists. As it went on, they would

> have started

> classifying foods by function rather than taste, and

> the taste could

> be the same, or actually completely different than

> the sensation that

> you feel in your mouth.

>

> As far as the acupuncture, I'm pretty sure that

> you're right, that

> when you needle one side it affects the other side

> as a general rule.

> I am sure there are exceptions to this though =)

>

> Chinese Traditional Medicine , Judy Wilkins

> <isomorphix

> wrote:

> >

> > I'm trying to 'kill 2 birds with one stone', so to

> speak. as I have two

> > separate questions but didn't wish to post trwice.

> Even if only one

> can be

> > answered by someone, I'd appreciate it.

> >

> > Acuxo.com has good diagrams of meridians & points

> that I often refer

> to. In

> > the diagrams, a certain meridian will be shown on

> one side of the

> body &

> > points along there. It makes sense to me that the

> opposite side of

> the body

> > also has a corresponding meridian & points too. Is

> that correct &

> only one

> > side is shown for ease of drawing the diagram? Or

> is there something

> > different I don't understand?

> >

> > If both sides have the same meridians & points, is

> there an

> advantage to

> > needling one side only? And if both sides have the

> same meridians &

> points,

> > does the points on one side correspnd to the body

> parts on the

> opposite of

> > the body? Sort of like the left part of the brain

> controls the right

> side of

> > the body in basic anatomy. Is this true in TCM

> points & meridians?

> >

> > About bitter tasting Chinese herbs & teas. Those

> prepared for me are

> all said

> > to be *very* bitter. While I can tell they're

> somewhat bitter, I

> don't find

> > the taste at all unpleasant. In fact, they taste

> 'clean' &

> refreshing to me.

> > They seem to leave a pleasant taste or sensation

> in my mouth

> afterwards.

> > Could this be because I have a weak sense of taste

> toward bitter

> compounds?

> > My son thinks this is true of me as I enjoy

> Brussel sprouts & other

> foods

> > that he says taste bitter to him. Or it is because

> my body can

> 'sense' that

> > many of these herbs & foods are healing to me?

> >

> > I'm only curious to understand TCM & how it

> applies to me & whether

> this will

> > apply to others too. I thank everyone in advance

> on enlightening me.

> >

> > Judy

> >

>

>

>

 

 

 

 

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[Guest guest]

Sometimes I crave foods with a bitter taste. Especially in the spring.

 

All of the 12 main meridians named after Organs are bilateral (on both

sides of the body). The Governing Vessel and the Conception Vessel

(that " run " up the middle of the back and middle of the front) are not.

Neither are the other Extraordinary Meridians.

[Guest guest]

Judy

 

About your acupuncture question, from my understanding, meridian does

not correspond to opposite sides of the body similar to how the left

brain controls right body and vice versa. We must understand that

meridian lines are not nerves. One of the main purpose of meridian

lines is to provide pathways for body fluid, thus it is not really

possible for fluid to cross paths similar to our nervous system. The

purpose of meridian lines is clearly defined in the famous scripture,

" The Yellow Emperor's Classic of Internal Medicine " . I am currently

working on an article that simplifies the main ideas regarding

meridian lines from the scripture and make it a bit easier to

understand. When it is complete I will post it here and it should

make the concept much clearer.

 

The main 12 meridian lines (The Zan and Fu lines) all extend to either

our hands or to our feet. As someone else said, because it is

dangerous to perform acupuncture in the chest area, unless you are a

highly experienced acupuncturist, we usually needle the points on our

limbs. This is not because certain points correspond to opposite

sides and such, but rather for safety reasons. Almost all of the

time, the needling is done on both side of the body.

 

However, there are certain situations where we might perform

acupuncture on one side only. Say that someone sprained their left

ankle. Because the left ankle area is injured, we might leave that

area alone and needle or massage the corresponding area on the right

ankle. From experience such practice is indeed effective, which means

there is some correspondence between both sides of the body. But

under normal circumstances, we usually perform on both sides unless

there is an external injury or other concerns that forbids so.

 

Gary