When I was a young student of acupuncture, the channel system I was most intrigued with was the extraordinary vessels. Described as the foundation, I initially wanted to always treat with this channel system.
As I matured, I came to see that the extraordinary vessels can be quite demanding. They are difficult to access. They don’t easily “open” for every patient; and once they do, they require a lot.
A patient recently told me he’s been trying for years to connect with his chong vessel: the deepest of extraordinary vessels. I advised that he may need to work through the other channel systems to gain access. This is a concept he’d never heard before. We decided to explore this and its meaning together.
I see the other channel systems, especially luo vessels and divergent channels, as necessary to “open,” access or prepare for the extraordinary vessels. This is essentially stated through the use of “opening points.” They are a major teaching tool. They establish the preparatory work required to access the extraordinary vessels.
Jeffrey Yuen taught the bladder shu points in a very exciting way, advising us to look at the functions of each point as criteria for spiritually “cultivating” the associated organ. If we want to work on the heart, for example, we can look at the functions of BL 15 (Xin Shu). This can direct us. The “opening” points of the extraordinary vessels can be viewed in the same way.
Extraordinary vessel opening points provide the criteria and direction for accessing the vessels. They also give clues as to why some of us are unable to get into our extraordinary vessels. The opening points define the initial preparatory work needed before “graduating” to the extraordinary vessels.
All opening points of the extraordinary vessels are either luo or shu-stream points. Divergent channel “opening points,” in contrast, are more associated with he-sea points; and the sinew channels with jing-well points.
What is the significance of these two types of points? What do they tells us about what’s required to get into the vessels they open? Do they define the vessels themselves, or are they like gatekeepers, or tests?
The luo are “distractions” to the primary channels. They represent our fixations and aversions. They can also be associated with traumas and mental-emotional difficulties. It is understandable that these issues can block our ability to go deep into ourselves. The luo naturally connect with the source via the source-luo relationship.
Chong mai relates to our ancestry. It is the “luo of shao yin,” representing “the blueprint” of our lives. The basic philosophy of the luo is that our traumas, fixations, distractions and aversions can pull us away from the “primary” energy flow of our lives. They can also block access to our “source.” My patient was expressing this. We’ve been exploring this through working with the luo.
Anything that remains unresolved in the luo, as a “fullness,” can empty into the primary channel initially and then into the source.
The shu-stream point is the directionality point along the primary channel: the doorway between the external and internal aspect. Something that empties from the luo into the primary channel has to interface with the shu-stream point, which determines whether it continues along the channel toward the he-sea point (the bowels) or into the source.
The yin shu-stream have access into the source. The yang shu-stream do not. The Nei Jing says progression of pathology enters the bowels before the viscera: the fu before the zang. The shu-stream points that “open” the extraordinary vessels are yang points, however, not yin, so their connection is a bit confusing. The yin are about storage; the yang are about movement.
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