Direction of the Meridians

Yin Side and Yang Side

Imagine the standing stance with palms facing forward with your back against the sun. Since the back side is shining against the sun, generally the meridians on your back are Yang and the meridians on your front are Yin since they are not hidden from the sun.

- 3 Yin hand meridians (Lung, Heart, Pericardium)

- 3 Yin foot meridians (Spleen, Liver, Kidney)

- 3 Yang hand meridians (Large Intestine, Small Intestine, Triple Energizer)

- 3 Yang foot meridians (Stomach, Gall Bladder, Bladder)

Acupressure Points on Each Meridian

Different number of acupressure points reside on each meridian. In Chinese/Japanese, each acupressure point is named with a specific meaning. But in English, each acupressure point is numbered from the starting point towards the end point with abbreviation for the meridian.

For example, the Heart meridian is abbreviated as HE, HT or H.

Here is an example of the acupressure points on the Heart meridian:

Meridian (Abbreviation)	# of Acupressure Points
Lung (LU)	11
Large Intestine (LI or CO for colon)	20
Stomach (ST)	45
Spleen (SP)	21
Heart (HE, HT, or H)	9
Small Intestine (SI)	9
Bladder (BL or UB for urinary bladder)	67
Kidney (KI or K)	27
Pericardium (PC or P)	9
Triple Burner aka San Jiao, triple-heater, triple-warmer or triple-energizer (TB, TW, SJ or TE)	23
Gall Bladder (GB)	44
Liver (LR or LV)	14
Governing Vessel aka Du (GV)	28
Conception Vessel aka Ren (CV)	24
Total:	351

Each of the 14 meridians has a starting point and end point.

There is a video animating the flow of the meridians on YouTube here. Since the original video is in Chinese, I added English label. There is a known issue that hand Ying meridians (Lung, Heart, and Pericardium) are animated in a reverse direction so I reversed the direction on those too.

In the video, the number in (parenthesis) is the number of acupressure points on the meridian.

These meridians are connected at the end with each other to create a big loop as seen in this picture (Lung→Large Intestine→Somach→Spleen→Heart→Small Intestine→Bladder→Kidney→Pericardium→Sanjiao→Liver→Gall Bladder→Liver→back to Lung):

Imagine learning all 351 acupuncture points and their effects and relationships and the angle and depth to insert needles in each! That's what's least required to become an acupuncturist in Japan.

But not to worry because in this course, we will focus on the Primary Point, the most powerful point on each meridian to communicate to your organs. We will use Primary Points to condition and revitalize your body.

2. Flow of the Meridians and Acupressure Points