Mental Activity - Jing Shen

Dr Tran Viet Dzung

March 2004 – Bastyr University

Susie Hayes: “The Ling Shu states that when you needle, you should needle as though you are
holding the head of a tiger and if you lose your concentration, it will bite your head off. The
Ling Shu states that when you needle, you should needle as though you are walking on the edge
of a precipice and if you lose your concentration, you’ll fall off the cliff. The Ling Shu states that
when you needle, you should needle as though you are waiting for the arrival of a very important
guest. And here he is, Dr Tran Viet Dzung.”

This subject is not only passionate, it is an essential subject, important on a daily basis as our
jobs as doctors. Why? We are speaking of the mental. As you know for me, everything is
mental. You can see a man of robust constitution with a strong muscular structure, but you may
remark that he does not have a solid mental, you only have to blow on him and he falls down. If
your mental is strong and well balanced, I assure you, you can move mountains. That is how it is.

Su Wen
I would like to site several paragraphs from the Su Wen, which is one of the two books of the Nei
Jing, a medical classic. Here are terms from the Su Wen, Chapter 13. They say that in the past,
in the ancient times, man lived among the birds, quadrupeds, internally no passion could have
disturbed their spirit. Externally no public action could impede there their freedom of action.
Thus, in this epoch of calm and sobriety, the mental state of man was solid internally. From the
moment the mental is solid, the perverse energy of the external cannot penetrate into his body.
Modern man (remember we are speaking of the Su Wen, the era of Nei Jing when they spoke of
mental disturbances) is no longer the same. He is full of worries internally and overworked
externally. There is not a big change from what happened thousands of years ago and today.
This has not changed, because they say in the Su Wen that man is no longer the same. The
energies of the body (Nutritive and Wei) are insufficient and at that moment perverse energy
(wind, cold, etc) takes advantage of this state of emptiness triggering mortal diseases.

The 14th chapter adds that when the Jing Shen of an organ is disturbed, the organ can no longer
perform its role of metabolization of nutrients. So at this moment, the Ying and Wei energies
find themselves in a state of insufficiency and we have the appearance of 100 diseases. They
also added that the Jing Shen is diminished because modern man has too many preoccupations,
ambitions, worries, desires, and passions. This is why the Ying and Wei are diminished and
there is the easy appearance of the 100 diseases. Before any treatment, no matter what disease
or pathology, it is urgent to consolidate the Jing and the Shen. If you don’t consolidate the Shen
there is always a risk of the diminishment of the Ying and Wei energies and the appearance of
mental maladies. So you see that in the ancient times, they gave a lot of importance to the
mental, Shen. But when they spoke of Shen they said Jing Shen.

Jing Shen
This is to tell you that even now the mental is extremely important. It is something that you
don’t see and cannot touch but it is there and accompanies us in every second of our life. That
which you cannot see or touch is what we call immaterial. It cannot be put under a microscope,

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we can’t touch the anguish and anxiety or see the sadness in someone. We can’t say that these
emotions don’t exist – they exist. They are in every moment of our lives. The problem is that
they are immaterial, we can feel it but we can’t see it. It is like the wind. You don’t see it but it
exists. That which is immaterial is energy. This is why acupuncture is an energetic medicine.
And this is why psychiatry is an excellent indication for acupuncture. You only have to see the
number of patients with mental problems such as nervous depression, insomnia, hysteria, bipolar,
and you will understand the importance of the Jing Shen.

Mental diseases = energy diseases. It can be well treated with energetic medicine, acupuncture,
but to be affective, and to help these people, it must be effective. We must be very rigorous in
the comprehension of this phenomenon. Be very prudent in the choice of the terms you use.
When you say Shen, mental, it is limited. In energetic medicine we never say mental, we say
Shen, we always say Jing Shen. Jing is the quintessence and Shen is the mental. Jing Shen is the
energetic quintessence in the purest form to be transformed into the mental.

Jing
To understand the Shen, you must understand the notion of Jing. First of all there are several
explanations of Jing Shen. Here is the stomach and the alimentary bolus. When the bolus
arrives in the digestive tract, it reaches the fundus where there is the phenomenon of
metabolization. This metabolization of energy we call Cereal energy and it goes to the Spleen.
The Spleen (TaiYin of the foot/Earth) receives this cereal energy and circulates to TaiYin of the
hand/Heaven, Lung. The Lung has the function of receiving the cereal energy from the
Spleen/Earth. Cereals are food and foods are Earth. And the Lung receives energy from Heaven,
oxygen. Because of this association between Heaven and Earth energies, we have the formation
of Ying, the Nutritive Energy. This is why they said in the ancient texts that Man is the son of
Heaven and Earth. We live because of the energies coming from Earth and Heaven, from foods
and air. This Ying energy, Nutritive energy, circulates in the principal channels.

TaiYang ---------SI----------------------------------BL----------------------
ShaoYang ---------SJ----------------------------------GB----------------------
YangMing ---------LI----------------------------------ST----------------------
TaiYin ---------LU---------------------------------SP-----------------------
JueYin ---------XB---------------------------------LV-----------------------
ShaoYin ----------H-----------------------------------K-----------------------
Diagram of 6 Great Channels.

From the Lung (the beginning of energy circulation) Ying energy goes to LI, ST, SP, H, SI, BL,
K, XB, SJ, GB, LV, then it begins anew at the LU. The circulation of Ying energy is the
circadian cycle, the 24-hour cycle. This Ying energy circulates in the Principal Channels, goes
across the channels to get to the organs. This is very important. Why? because Ying passes
through the level of the channels and into the organs. It gets to the Lungs, then Large Intestine,
then Stomach, etc. What do the organs do? They must nourish themselves thanks to the Yang
polarity. So they capture this Ying energy to metabolize it into a more pure energy that we call
Jing. As this Ying goes through the Lung and is metabolized we have Jing. The texts say the
Lung rule the skin and hairs of the body. But what is it of the Lungs that rules? It is not just any

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energy of the Lung, it is not the Ying of the Lung, or the Yang polarity of the Lung. It is the
Lung Jing. When you have a disease of the skin, you must treat the Lung, but what? You must
treat Lung Jing, the purest part of the energy that rules the skin, epidermis, and body hairs. If
you want to treat dermatology you must understand the Jing of the Lung.

Secondly, we tell you that the Lung rules the nose allowing the sense of smell. It is not just any
energy. Patients come with a complaint of loss of smell. The ancient texts have many things
about ENT, but often they won’t state which energy. So we treat the Lung but we don’t have
any results and we say the ancient texts are blah, blah, blah. It is because we don’t understand
and have misapplied their techniques and teachings.

There is another thing that is very important. We don’t understand in allopathic medicine
because in order for each organ to function it needs Jing Shen, a mental activity. We as humans’
only function because of the mental and the organs only function because of their mental. Each
organ has its own mental. When the Ying energy arrives at an organ (assume the organ functions
correctly) the homework of the organ is to metabolize this Ying energy into energetic
quintessence, Jing. It transforms this under different aspects. Here is the first form of
quintessence, the anatomical Jing, the Lung Jing rules the anatomical structure of our bodies, the
skin, hairs and epidermis. Secondly there is the sensorial Jing, the nose and smell. Someone
comes in with, for example, sinusitis and you must understand the Jing of the Lung. There is
another Jing that the ancients attached great importance to. They stated that without this Jing the
organ could not function. This third Jing is Jing Shen, the mental activity. The Jing Shen that
corresponds to the Lung is the Po, the Sensitive Soul. So when you speak of the Lung you must
think of the Jing Shen, the Po.

Next you see the Ying passes through the Large Intestine and reaches the Spleen. The Spleen is
an organ with a Yang polarity that will transform this Ying energy into an even more pure
energy, the Spleen Jing. The Spleen Jing has the anatomical aspect consisting of the connective
tissue, flesh, and dermis. Secondly, the Spleen rules the lips, allowing taste. If someone has lost
his or her sense of taste, you must treat the Spleen Jing. And 3rd you are going to have the
mental activity that corresponds to the Spleen. The Yi, Thought, is extremely important.

Next the Ying energy goes to the Heart where it is transformed into Jing of the Heart. Heart Jing
anatomically rules the blood vessels. The sensorial Jing of the Heart rules the tongue that allows
speech to happen. In the Heart you also have Jing Shen (pure). This Shen is the Mental.

Then the Ying energy goes to the Kidney where it is metabolized to form Kidney Jing. Kidney
Jing rules several things anatomically: bones, bone marrow, and the brain. Secondly it rules the
ears and allows for hearing. If you don’t understand this idea of Kidney Jing, when you treat
any ear disorder, your treatment will be mediocre. Jing Shen (mental activity) of the organ can
only function when its mental activity is in a state of sufficiency. The most important, in my
opinion, is Zhi, Will.

Finally, in the Liver there is the transformation of Ying into Liver Jing which rules the
neuromuscular system. As everyone says, when you have tendonitis, a sprain or a muscular
problem, treat the Liver. But not just any part of the Liver, you must treat the Jing of the Liver.
Sensorial Liver Jing rules the eyes allowing vision. Here again you have plenty of patients
coming with ophthalmology problems, cataracts, glaucoma, etc. Know that we can do

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something, we can treat at the level of Liver Jing. Jing Shen of the Liver is Jing Shen Hun,
Vegetative Soul, Creativity.

Law of the 5 Movements

We are speaking of the Jing Shen, the mental activities called Po, Yi, Shen, Zhi and Hun. Be
rigorous with the terminology. Often I hear people talking of the 5 Elements. 5 Elements is too
static, like this table here. In energetic medicine, we do not see it as an element, we see it more
as a movement going towards another movement. Think of the movement of Wood going
towards and making Fire, the movement of Wood that inhibits Earth and the movement of Wood
that is created by Water. In the ancient texts there is no law of the 5 Elements, it is only the Law
of the 5 Movements. We must not use incorrect terminology, because we then understand in a
false way, so we are not able to have efficient methods or results.
Diagram of 5 Movements
Wood – Liver conserves the mental activity of Hun/ Vegetative Soul
Fire – Heart conserves the mental activity of Shen/Mental
Earth – Spleen the activity of Yi/Thought is conserved
Metal – Lung conserved the mental activity of Po/Sensitive Soul
Water – Kidney conserves the mental activity of Zhi/Will

Law of the 5 Jing Shen

Around this Law of the 5 Movements is the Law of the 5 Jing Shen. We have Jing Shen Hun,
Jing Shen Shen, Jing Shen Yi, Jing Shen Po and Jing Shen Zhi. . These 5 Jing Shen are what we
call mental activity. In the ancient texts they are never spoken in an isolated way. These
different mental activities function in pairs. For example, take the Hun, the Vegetative Soul,
creation, creativity. For those of you who understand Chinese or Vietnamese, you know that we
don’t say Hun, as we don’t say blood, we always say blood/energy. We do not say Yin without
Yang. These are all concepts that go together. When you are talking psychiatry and you are
speaking of the Hun, say Hun Po. Hun is always paired with Po.

1 - Hun Po
Among these mental activities there is an intimate relationship between the Hun and the Po.
Here are the eyes and the heart. Here is a movement of interiorization, which the ancients called
the Po, the Sensitive Soul. Each one of us has a different Po, a different level of sensitivity.
Why can two people look at the same movie, one can cry and the other one laughs? This is Po
and is a movement of interiorization, from exterior to interior. There is another movement, Hun,
which, in contrast, moves from interior to exterior. In Seattle, for several days, I had the chance
to travel around. This state is so beautiful, especially now in spring with all the flowers
exploding with color. It excites my sensitivity and penetrates into me. It excites my sensitivity, I
am excited by the beauty because I have this sensitivity. It penetrates through my eyes because I
must look and it reaches my heart where there is Shen. Shen will metabolize this sensitivity
allowing exteriorization. This movement of exteriorization, if I was Picasso or Mozart, I would
express this sensitivity by a painting or music. This movement of internal and external is what
we call the Po and the Hun, movement of sensitivity and creation.

This is not only theoretical. If you study energetic medicine, there is no blah, blah, blah. Either
we advance a theory or we don’t have a theory. If there is a theory, it always ends up in a
therapeutic action. From the moment these two mental activities function together, you can see
there is a very intimate activity between sensitivity and creation, between the Lung and the

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Liver. When a patient comes for lung pathologies, it is best to treat both the lung and the liver
because of this intimate relationship.

2 – Yi Zhi
The second very important thing, in my opinion, is Yi, Thought. The ancients never said Yi in
an isolated way - it is Yi Zhi. Here are the eyes, the heart, and the spleen. In the Spleen are the
thoughts, the Spleen conserves the thoughts, Yi. The ancients said the thoughts are the Spleen.
Remember, earlier I said that the Jing Shen comes from the metabolization of nutrients. From
the Stomach the nutrients go to the Spleen then to the Lung where we have Ying energy. Here
we are speaking of Jing Shen, the five mental activities that come from Ying. Ying comes from
the metabolization of foods, which are acquired. When you speak of Jing Shen, you are
speaking of Acquired energy. When you speak of something that is acquired, you must
understand another energy, Innate energy.

Innate Energy – Innate Jing

This Innate energy is conserved in the Kidney. The Acquired Jing is at the level of the SP/ST
system. Each time you speak of Innate energy, you are speaking of the Kidney energy. You
have a movement of thought, Jing Shen Yi coming from Ying, which is Acquired. Acquired is
something like the sun and for acquired there must be something before, which is Innate. So the
Innate Jing is situated in the Kidney and there is something before the Spleen. There are two
kinds of Innate Jing, 1st is Tong Qi and the 2nd is Ming Men.

Tong Qi
Tong Qi, in Chinese medicine, is described as thoracic energy. But for me it is much more
important than thoracic energy. Tong means Ancestral and Qi is energy, so it is Ancestral
Energy. You have the fusion of the spermatozoa and the ovum. As soon as fertilization
happens, we have the fusion of Yang and Yin, you have a movement that is created at the very
beginning, is the Ancestral Energy. This energy gradually triggers a transformation and
mutation, which allows our bodies to have several innate movements. There is an innate
movement that is extremely important - the diaphragm. Look at nature. The energy of the sun
descends - Yang descends. The trees grow up - Yin ascends. This is natural law. We have Tong
Qi, an Ancestral Energy. I used to say it was from our parents, from sperm and egg fusion, but
even more, the Tong Qi is the Law of Nature, which is given to us and it affects all phenomena
of life. If you consider what happens in our bodies, the Stomach/Yang descends, and the
Yin/Spleen ascends. This movement of the Yang and the Yin happens thanks to the innate
movement in the diaphragm. This innate movement is what we call the Tong Qi, a universal
natural energy. That is why there is the symbol of the descending of Yang and the ascending of
Yin. Thanks to this Ancestral Energy, this SP/ST system can function.

SP/ST corresponds to Acquired energy because it functions as soon as the baby cries. It breathes
and then it goes to mothers breast, contacting Earth energy, Acquired energy. This is the
formation of Ying energy and from this Ying energy we get the different Jing.

Thinking, Making a Decision, Taking Action

When you think of Jing Shen think Acquired energy. When you think of the child, think of the
son and the father. When you treat the student, you must think of the master that has taught the
student. These are the laws of nature. For something as important as mental activity, the idea of
Yi, thought, is at the level of the Spleen. When you say Spleen, say both Spleen and Stomach.

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Acquired is the son, the student, and they can only exist because of the father or the master.
When you treat a mental activity, like Yi, there are two things, either you treat or you do not
treat. If you treat, you must treat correctly. When I speak of thought, I usually say that in life,
either you think or you don’t think. If you think, make a decision and take action. Why?
Because the son, from the moment he is put into movement, from the moment that thought is put
into movement, the physiological law obliges us to have this movement that goes just to the
Kidney.

The Kidney is Will, which is action. Put thought into movement and from a physiological point
of view there is a fluidity that goes all the way to the Kidney. This fluidity goes just to the level
of action. If you put thought into movement and not into action, you create a blockage of the
movement of thought, a mental activity. This blockage is very serious, because it will lead to a
poor malfunctioning of a very important system – SP/ST. Why? because the SP/ST system rules
over all of the acquired system. When Ying energy diminishes because it can’t be well
metabolized, and Ying is the 1st element of Jing, nothing works anymore. From here you have
insufficiency of everything formed by the Ying. This movement of thought towards action is so
very important. Try to find solutions to your problems.

Preoccupation
This is so important because now I see it everywhere. I travel all the time. We don’t live in
physiology, in normality. We live constantly in a state of pathology. We don’t live with thought
- we live with preoccupation. Your head is full of worries and preoccupation first thing in the
morning. All day long you live with preoccupation and even more when you come home. If we
have something to think and we know how to put it into movement and evolve into action there
is fluidity of the mental energy. You will have less activity of the Spleen and the Kidney. But
the problem is that we reflect, we think a lot and very often we don’t try to find a solution to the
problem. I am a man who never thinks, my head is always empty. Don’t think that I don’t have
problems, lots of preoccupations! But I have decided that the preoccupations have their life and
I have mine, we have two parallel pathways. You only have to look around you and everyone
has a bloated belly. This is Spleen insufficiency. As soon as I see this, I treat it. If there is
hypo-functioning of the Spleen, they will have problems later on because the Spleen function is
to metabolize humidity. It does not like humidity and to do this the Spleen must be strong.
What is humidity? It is Earth energy and Earth is form. All that you don’t see is energy coming
from Heaven. Never is your head in a state of calm. But even more, if we have something to
think, and we know how to put it into action, Kidney/Will, there is fluidity of the mental energy.
Then we will have fewer problems at the level of Spleen and Kidney. We think a lot, but often
we don’t try to find a solution or there may be no solution, but we think of it constantly.

The preoccupations have their problems and I have my pathway. I don’t have to meet them.
They are parallel. Now we give it too many preoccupations, the Spleen can’t work. It can’t
metabolize Earth energy, form. We see so many tumors, whether they are benign or malignant.
Why? because we are not taking care of our acquired energy. The ST/SP system can no longer
function and humidity isn’t metabolized, creating an evolution of pathologies toward form. And
form is tumors. So this is prevention, if you decide to think, take a decision for good or bad, find
a solution and let your thought be free.

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Say you have a psychiatric patient with nervous depression and you tell him this, they will say
you’re crazy! It is difficult for them to do this because they can’t make a decision and take
action. There are points that will help them to move their thought.

The Hun, Shen, Yi, Po, Zhi, are the five mental activities that we call Jing Shen. These are
physiology, physiological mental activities, which, when they are in a state of harmony allow us
to have a concept – consciousness. Consciousness is perception, understanding that is more or
less clear in each one of us that we can have in our existence and know we are different from the
exterior world. It allows us to distinguish between our internal and external worlds. When these
five mental activities are harmonious, they allow us to have a notion of self and not self.
Therefore, it allows us to have a life of relations.

The above is the Ideal Physiology. When the 5 Jing Shen function well, everything functions
well and that is paradise, nirvana. But the world we are living in is not paradise, far from
paradise. It is a sea of suffering. The moments we are happy in our lives are so rare. Often they
go so fast. We are left with the vicissitude of life. This makes it that little by little, emotions
develop within us, abnormal psychological factors which are negative and will disturb these
mental activities triggering disease. When an organ lacks mental activity, it functions less well
and metabolization functions less well, we have the appearance of the 100 diseases. These
negative psychological activities are what we call emotion.

Emotions
Law of 5 Movements
The negative psychological activity at the level of the Liver is anger. The Heart is anxiety or
excess of joy, unmotivated laughter. The Spleen is preoccupation and worries. At the level of
the Lungs is sadness, often they complain all the time so we have lamentation. The Kidney is
fear, fright often leading to crying. All of this is negative psychological emotions. The ancients
said these pathologies destabilize the mental activities creating a disturbance at the level of the
organs.

Everything I am telling you comes from the ancient texts, not from me. The Ling Shu says these
pathological psychological elements will destabilize the organs activity. How? There are
different pathways of de-stabilization
1 pathway onto the organ itself
2 inhibition
3 son towards the mother

Pathology
When you are speaking of pathology, you are speaking of anger, anguish, preoccupation,
sadness, and fear. In the Ling Shu, these psychological elements (emotions) are going to disturb
the mental activities leading to a disturbance at the level of the organ.

1 Movement of the Organ on Itself. Here, for example, is the Liver. In the Liver there is a Yin
polarity and a Yang polarity. When you have anger, it inhibits the Yin polarity of the Liver
organ allowing Liver Fire to flare. This flaring triggers pathology by diminishing a mental
activity conserved in the Liver, Hun.

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2 Pathway of Inhibition. Here you have the Law of the 5 Movements. In the Liver you have
the mental activity of Hun, Creation, Vegetative Soul. This mental activity corresponds with
Wood and may be disturbed by the negative pathology of sadness. Sadness is an abnormal
emotion that corresponds to Metal. Metal destroys Wood. Sadness may trigger a disturbance
in the Hun creating Liver pathologies.

3 Pathway of the Son towards the Mother because it is the mother that worries for the son
when he is sick. This is a physiological law. Through her worries, she gets sick herself.
Law of 5 Movements. The movement of Wood towards Fire is favorable. But if there is a
contrary movement, in other words, a movement of Fire towards Wood (the son towards the
mother) makes the mother susceptible to disturbance. The ancients have remarked that in the
point of view of psychiatry, there exists a pathway whereupon an abnormal psychological
element may disturb a normal mental activity. E.g., you know that the Spleen conserves the
mental activity Yi and here in the Lung there is sadness. Sadness is in the Lung and the Lung
is Metal, the son of Earth. The abnormal psychological element of sadness in the son comes
back to disturb the mother.

By these three pathways, these psychological factors may trigger a disturbance at the level of
these mental activities, triggering disease. This is from the Ling Shu.

An Example
Take the movement of the Shen, the mental activity of Jing Shen-Shen, and it is disturbed. What
are the different psychological elements that can disturb the Shen? 1st is in the organ itself. The
psychological element of the Shen is too much anxiety, anguish, or joy. The 2nd is fear from the
Law of Inhibition. And 3rd is preoccupation, worries. These may trigger problems in the Shen.
And the Shen is so important because it is conserved in the Heart. The Shen regulates and
harmonizes everything. We must protect the Shen by living without anguish, fear and
preoccupation. This can be very difficult to realize. When you have these elements disturbing
the Shen, the Ling Shu says (and here are the signs): when Shen is disturbed and self mastery is
absent we have panic. And in a chronic state the patient may have myotropia, changes in
complexion and form. Disturbances of the mental affect the physical and if the disease evolves
to a state that is too great, the patient presents with hair and body hair loss. They say that people
who suffer from Shen must be very careful in winter when it’s cold because Shen diseases are
worsened in the winter. Winter is Water and is cold. Water destroys Fire. Shen is summer and
is destroyed by winter.

We have spoken of the causes of Shen disturbance and the clinical signs and seasons. Now we
will look at the treatment of the Shen. Remember, the Su Wen says that when the mental activity
(Jing Shen) of an organ is disturbed, the organ is disturbed. The Jing Shen (Shen) is disturbed
and may lead to an energetic problem at the Heart. It is an important organ and it is not for
anything that we call the Heart the Sovereign, the King. When the King is disturbed nothing
works anymore. That is why we must treat the Shen by way of Jing Shen, to give it back its
mental. The organ is like a human being, we function thanks to our mental and our organs
function the same way. The ancient texts say that the activity of an organ depends on its Jing
Shen. This is why in the Ling Shu there is a description that I translated with my master Dr. Van
Nghi.

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Treatment of Shen
In our bodies there exist places, often in areas/places of passage, that are the entry/exit of Jing
Shen. Here is the heart and between C5 and C6 is a point of entry/exit of the Jing Shen-Shen.
When you needle or moxa this point, think “I will stimulate the mental activity called the Shen in
the goal of helping the heart to function”. You are going to continue and heat two points: BL15,
Back Shu points of the Heart. Remember this Jing Shen is the result of Ying Energy
metabolization and can only happen through the function of the organs. If the organ doesn’t
function, the Ying can’t be metabolized and you can’t have all of this. Each organ has a Yin and
Yang polarity. It is the Yang polarity of the organ which allows this organ to metabolize Jing.
In order to act upon this Jing, we have the Back Shu point (Shen, Heart). When you act upon
this point think “I’m going to increase the possibility for the heart organ to transform Ying into
Jing Shen Shen”. Each time you act on a Back Shu Point, don’t needle or needle it as little as
possible, heat it with moxa.

From the time that you have heated BL15 you are going to have the formation of Jing Shen-
Shen. Once it is formed it is going to be concentrated at the level of the lateral branch of the
Bladder meridian, BL44. This point is called Shentang. You have allowed the possibility of
formation at BL15 and at BL44 you increase its affect and concentration. Heat both of these
points.

Always think with each needle or moxa. Don’t do anything without using your head. Don’t
look at the needle, it is only a tool. What is happening in our heads is what commands your
gesture. It is the reasoning that is the base of effectiveness. You can’t have a good technique if
you don’t have a good reasoning. This medicine is a medicine of rigor, you must always ask
why? Why? Why? And he who transmits the information must have the answers. Don’t accept
a concept without an explanation. It was this energetic medicine, not allopathic medicine, that
brought rigor to me and my thinking.

When you are thinking Jing Shen-Shen, you are thinking Acquired Energy. Acquired is the son
so you must think of the father. When you treat the student you must think of his master. At that
moment you must have a reflex, what I call the Reflex Towards the Innate, towards the father,
the master. All of these for me are physiological laws. It is normal for a student to always think
of his master. It is normal that the children come back to take care of their aging parents. Reflex
of Return: the Tong Qi, without which the Ying energy cannot exist, the whole of the SP/ST
system, which corresponds to Acquired Energy, cannot exist. So, if you want the acquired part
(Ying Energy) to be metabolized and transformed into Jing Shen, you must always maintain the
Father, Ancestral energy. The texts give you points of concentration of the Tong Qi - Sea Points.
There exist upper, middle and lower Sea Points. Upper Sea is CV17, Middle is CV12, and
Lower is CV4. CV6 (Sea of Energy) is a point that corresponds to all the above points. So
Heart Shen corresponds to the Upper Jiao where you have the Lung and the Heart. If you were
not lazy you would treat all these points. If you’re lazy like I am and want to choose the
minimum number of points in a logical way to treat Tong Qi, treat CV17 and CV6.

We have treated the point through which the Shen penetrates (C5/C6). We have activated the
function of the heart organ (BL15). We have increased the concentration of energy of Jing
Shen Shen (BL44). And we have allowed the Ying Energy to come back and take care of the
Ancestral Energy, Tong Qi (CV17, CV6).

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Can you stop here? What is missing? Remember we are giving a treatment for Jing Shen-Shen,
treatment for mental activity. The world in which we live is not paradise, it is a sea of suffering
and develops within us emotions, abnormal psychological sentiments. The most important are
fear (what we call stress), anger (daily frustrations), preoccupation, anguish, sadness. We are
treating Shen and we want to consolidate the mental activity of the Heart. You must impede the
enemy of Shen. Shen is a normal physiological activity. These enemies are abnormal
psychological elements, pathologies. There are three pathways these enemies may disturb this
activity. So, 1st is the organ on itself, anxiety and anguish. 2nd is inhibition, fear. And 3rd is the
son toward mom, worry and preoccupation. We have consolidated the Shen. Now you must
prevent and destroy the enemy. Our work is to exterminate these enemies. When we treat the
Shen we must treat anguish, fear and preoccupation.

Law of Inhibition to Treat Anguish, Preoccupation and Fear

This is a technique from the Nei Jing. With one point we can treat these different psychological
problems. Here is the Law of the 5 Movements. The Liver corresponds to Wood, Heart to Fire,
Spleen to Earth, Lung to Metal and Kidney to Water. We are here in the midst of consolidating
the Jing Shen-Shen. To preserve the Shen first we must protect you from anxiety (destroys the
mental), then fear (inhibits the Shen), and then preoccupation (the son of Fire). There are several
ways to treat this. We used several points earlier to consolidate the Shen, now we want to use
the minimum number of points to treat these psychological elements. The Nei Jing has given us
a technique based on the Law of Inhibition: Liver destroys Spleen. Here is the heart channel and
you have the Jing Well, Ying Spring, Shu Stream, Jing River, and Ho Sea points. The Jing Well
points on all Yin channels are Wood. Ying Spring is Fire, Shu Stream is Earth, Jing River is
Metal and Ho Sea is Water. The Nei Jing says that when you want to treat anguish at this level
of the Heart/Fire, you must use a movement that inhibits Fire, and this movement is Water. If
you wish to treat anguish in the Heart, choose points on the Heart channel, the point that
corresponds to Water because Water inhibits Fire, H3. And next you treat preoccupation.
What destroys Earth? Wood, so SP1, the Wood point of the Spleen meridian. And to treat fear
the point is K3. Use the Law of 5 Movements to treat these different physiological elements
which disturb the mental activity. All of this is the Shen.

Yi - Preoccupation
Now we will talk about something very important, the Yi. Each time you study a mental
activity, you are going to take the same plan – 1st Cause, 2nd Symptoms, 3rd Treatment.

Causes that disturb the thought are preoccupation, anger, and sadness.

Symptoms. The Ling Shu says that when the Yi is disturbed we have thoracic depression, weak
limbs, and in worse cases patient will present with hair loss, dry skin, fading of the complexion
and, sooner or later, the mental will have an affect on the physical. They must be careful when
Spring arrives. This is the Law of Inhibition that can disturb even further the late summer, the
movement of Earth. Be very careful in the springtime when you treat someone with a
disturbance of the Yi.

Treatment is very important here. The Spleen rules over the entire acquired portion of the
energy. When you speak of thought, Yi, you must think of consolidating the Yi. 1st is T4/T5,
the point of entry/exit of the mental activity of Yi. Needle or moxa and think “I’m going to
increase the function of the spleen organ by increasing its mental activity”. In order to help the

10
Spleen to better metabolize the Ying energy, the 2nd thing you must do is act upon the Yang
polarity of the Spleen - BL20 and think “I’m increasing the Spleen function, transforming the
Ying into Jing Shen-Yi”. When the Jing Shen-Yi is formed then I will act upon BL49. “I’m
going to act on Jing Shen-Yi, the acquired, so it is the son, the student”. And 3rd come back to
the father, the master, Tong Qi. CV12, CV6. The Spleen is the Middle Jiao.

What are the enemies of Yi? Preoccupation (acting on the organ itself) SP1. Anger (inhibition)
LV4. Sadness (Law of Son to Mother) LU10.

Is there anything else to do? We are working with the Spleen and it rules the Acquired Energy,
which for me is very important and the only one that we can act upon. We cannot act upon the
Innate Energy. We can only have a certain potentiality of innate, we can’t have any more. Over
the course of our lifetime this Innate Energy diminishes. We always say Kidney insufficiency,
never Kidney fullness. Now we are talking about the Innate Jing coming from the Innate Energy
of our parents. We are born with a certain potential and we can’t make it more. What we can do
is maintain this Innate Energy. To do this we must take care of the Acquired Energy, so we must
treat the SP/ST system and I am thinking Acquired. But, in fact, in my head I think Innate,
reinforcing the son so he can better help his father. Because of all this, I ask you, what can we
do?

Either you think or you don’t think. If you think, make a decision and take action. If you don’t
do this (here are the eyes and here the heart) you are making the thought move to the heart to be
metabolized. According to the physiological law, the son must come back to his father, the
student toward his master, the acquired to the innate. Innate is Kidney. Kidney is will. Will is
action. With the thought, there must be energetic fluidity, and mental fluidity making this
thought end in an action. If you don’t do this, there will be a blockage. The blockage of thought
is preoccupation and it is our enemy. It destroys our mental activities and impedes the organ
from functioning correctly.

Everyone who follows me knows this is truth. I am at an age for retirement. I’ve lived. And
from the moment that you have lived, you know that preoccupation is very negative. When you
have something trotting in your head it has an affect on your physical health. That is why I have
decided in my life to ignore my problems. Each one has a parallel pathway and from time to
time, when I feel like it, I might have a little meeting to find a solution to a problem. And then I
return to my life. I have thoughts which I cannot find a solution to, so the problems can rest
there where they are and I’ll come back to them when I feel like finding a solution. I don’t think
in order to respect this fluidity, if not preoccupation will lead to Spleen hypo-functioning.

Technique of Moving Thought

When the Spleen doesn’t function, the stomach can no longer function. The ST/SP is a system
and if the Stomach doesn’t function, it is impossible for it to metabolize. If there is an
insufficiency of Ying energy and insufficient defensive energy (Wei) we have the possibility of
100 diseases. When a patient comes in with depression, can’t get dressed in the morning, can’t
act and you tell them “either you think or you don’t think, make a decision and take action”, this
patient will think you’re nuts! So what can we do? Often, in this case, I’ll needle SP1. Why?
because the Spleen is thought, Yi. Jing Well point corresponds to spring, spring is wind, and
wind is movement. When you speak of preoccupation, you speak of stagnation, blockage of

11
thought so you have to help the thought move. So 1st you use a point on the Spleen channel and
2nd you use a point corresponding to the wind.

When you have the thought move, it must go somewhere, and then you can help it come towards
action. But there is a way to act on the decision that is even better. Many people think, think,
think and they can’t come to a decision on anything, even what dress to buy. We have got to
help them with their decisions. This organ is Gall Bladder and I choose a point that is strong
enough for this. Tonify GB40 and think, “I’m going to help the patient to move thought and
make a decision”. Let your patient know that you’re going to help them move their thoughts,
make decisions, but don’t guarantee it is a good or bad decision. That’s their problem!

The problem is that one-day we decide to do something and then when it comes to the solution of
the problem, we say, ah, I’ll do it tomorrow. The fact of always putting the act off until later,
with the decision we have made, will also lead to a blockage. That is why we can help them with
doing one point, K3. You can also add ear Kidney (will). If your patient presents with
humidity, indentation on the tongue and their abdomen is bloated and if you haven’t used too
many points, always try to help them move their thoughts. This is prevention.

5 Movement Diagram - Here is the Hun, Shen, Yi, Po, and Zhi.

Hun. Vegetative/Creative Soul.

Causes that disturb the Hun: anger, sadness, and anxiety.

Symptoms. Ling Shu says that when the Hun is disturbed, amnesia, mental confusion, Yin and
Yang madness (manic depression/bi-polar), penal contraction, muscular contraction,
hypochondrialgia. When it is in a chronic state there is an alteration of the form and complexion.
The Liver is an organ that fulfills the function of the General. The Ling Shu says that all
strategies come from the Liver. When the Liver is harmed, the commander hesitates and
judgement is not clear. That is why, when Hun is disturbed, patients often present with
forgetfulness or mental confusion. The Liver is associated with the Gall Bladder. The GB
contains bile, a liquid of several purification’s and is very pure. The GB is a pure bowel, so it is
loyal and honest. And because of this, it has the function of Judge, the power of decisions.
When you have a disturbance of Hun you have a problem of decisions, which is hesitation.
There is a point for patients who hesitate with decisions, GB40. Liver controls the muscles and
Liver energy is shared with the genital organs (penal contraction, muscle contraction,
hypochondralgia). Often they have vertigo because when Hun is disturbed there is Flaring of
Liver Fire. If this disturbance evolves the mental activity will have an effect on form and
complexion. The problem is at spring, Wood. Wood is inhibited by Metal, fall. All, who have a
disturbance at the level of the Hun, must be careful in autumn because often at this time the
disease worsens (The Law of Inhibition).

Treatment.
a) Treat the Hun, C7/T1 - the mental activity of Hun. When you act on this point you
stimulate activity allowing an increase in Liver function. There are several functions of the
Liver, one being the final phase of Wei energy formation. And it is not for nothing that at
this area is located GV14. All Yang channels, in their trajectories, must pass through this
point. GV is the Sea of Yang channels so it is a point of concentration of water. Yang
channels bring water. Water is the starting point of the formation of Wei energy. So when

12
 you act on this point with a needle or moxa, think “I’m first of all increasing the potential
of the defensive Wei energy”. Secondly, because there are several actions in this area,
(anti-microbial, anti-allergen, anti-pyretic). Look at a patient with a high fever that does
not respond to any anti-pyretic medication. Moxa this point and come back 5-10 minutes
later. You’ll see the temperature has diminished. This is a point that increases your
immune system. Up until now, when I was acting on this point, I only thought of the
effect of water and that water was the starting point of Wei. For Wei energy to be
increased, I perceived that the Liver must function well for metabolization, no formation of
Wei energy. You must add to your reasoning that acting on this point is also acting on the
Hun, allowing the Liver to metabolize and form the defensive energy. So there are two
actions in this area – GV14 and C7/T1.

b) Stimulate the Yang polarity of the Liver with BL18 and think, “I’m going to help the Liver
metabolize Ying into Liver Jing”. Among this Liver Jing there is also Jing Shen-Hun.
Once Jing Shen-Hun is formed, where does it go to concentrate, where can I act? BL47
(Hunmen) is a door of the Hun where Jing Shen-Hun is concentrated. When I act upon this
point, I am increasing the Jing Shen-Hun, an acquired energy. It is the son, the student. I
have to come back and help the father, Tong Qi CV4 and CV6.

c) Now it is a question of prevention. Your enemies are anger, anxiety, and sadness. LV4 for
anger, H3 for anxiety, and LU10 for sadness. First we treated the mental activity and
secondly we treated the causes so you have re-balanced the Hun.

Po, the Sensitive Soul.

Causes which can disturb the Po are sadness, anxiety, and fear.

Symptoms. Once these negative psychological factors have disturbed the Po the Ling Shu says
there is Yin madness, Yang madness (bi-polar). When Po is disturbed over a long term, this
Yin/Yang imbalance may lead to loss of consciousness leading to a loss of a notion of self. The
thought wanders and there is a loss of consciousness of the ‘other’. When there is a loss of
knowledge of another (remember Po is a movement of interiorization and it is sensitivity coming
from the exterior to the interior) there is a loss of the concept of ‘other’. This is a disease that
exists more and more often everywhere in the world affecting the young - schizophrenia. Po is
Lung, skin so there can be dryness and discrimination of the skin, Po controls the cutaneous
system. When this disturbance is serious, Ling Shu says loss of hair and faded complexion.
Autumn (Metal) is destroyed by Fire, summer. So people with problems with sensitivity must be
careful in the summer. Fire destroys the Metal. They are already very sensitive from the point
of view of the mental activity and when the fire comes from summer it leads to an even greater
disturbance of Po.

Treatment:
a) C3/C4 area is the entry/exit of the mental activity Sensitivity/Po. Follow the reasoning,
acupuncture is not recipes. If you follow the reasoning, you don’t need me anymore.
When I activate this point, in my head think “I am going to activate the mental activity of
the Lung by way of this point with the goal of increasing the function of the lung organ”.
The organ is like we are, we only work thanks to our mental. If it has a good mental it
functions well. Then I will act on the Yang polarity of this organ with BL13, the Shu point
of the Lung, allowing us to help the metabolism from Ying to Jing of the Lung, Jing Shen-

13
 Po. Once I have acted on the Jing Shen-Po, there is a place that will increase an
accumulation and concentration of Jing Shen-Po, BL42 (Pohu). Moxa, do not needle.

b) Now I have reached the son because Jing Shen is an acquired energy, and at that time you
have to come back to the father so you must treat Innate Jing. Innate Jing is Tong Qi,
CV17 and CV6.

c) Sadness LU10. Anxiety H3. Fear K3.

Zhi, the Will

Causes are fear, preoccupation, and anger.

Symptoms are mentioned in the Ling Shu, excessive fear and fright disturb Jing Shen-Zhi leading
to latent pain in the bones (Kidney) so there will always be a problem in the bones. If you don’t
treat this, the patient will come up with atrophic impotence and then spermatorrhea. It will
cause a diminishing of memory of spoken words, memory and consciousness of what has
happened, a forgetfulness of all that has happened in the past. As it is Kidney, you will have
lumbago, impossible to stand up straight and lay down because of stiffness in the spine. In
serious cases, there can be hair loss, dryness of skin, and a fading complexion. Here is winter,
Water, which is destroyed by Earth. This disturbance at the level of Zhi may increase at the end
of summer, so you must carefully watch over the patient.

Treatment: In my opinion, Zhi is a mental activity that is extremely important. When you treat
Zhi, you must play the game to the maximum.
a) 1st have an action in the area of the Kidney Yin - CV4, BL23, BL52, K3, and K7. Kidney
Yang points are CV4 and GV4. When they have a disturbance of the Will you must go
further in your reasoning. Kidney corresponds to marrow and you have to act on the
marrow, something that is very important. There are four points, two at the level of bone
marrow (GB39, LI16) and two at the level of the spinal column (GV20, GV15).
Remember that Kidney is the Source, you must needle deeply. To help your patient even
more, Kidney corresponds to bone, BL11. BL43 is the concentration of the Kidney energy
and is a specific point for asthenia (extreme fatigue). When you do this, it is not bad. But
you will go even further in your reasoning.

b) T7/T8 is the entry/exit of the mental activity of Zhi. “I am going to increase the
function” with BL23. And then act on Jing Shen-Zhi, BL52 (Zhishi).
c) Now act on the father, Tong Qi CV4, CV6.
d) K3 fear. SP1 preoccupation. LV4 anger.

Now you have the tools to treat mental diseases. To illustrate all this, we will go into pathology.

14
Nervous Depression
This is something that we see more and more in our offices. It is the disease of the century.
Several years ago I would have said 30-40% came for mental and now 90% of patients come to
see me for mental disturbance. This is a problem for society and the patients themselves. If you
observe them, they suffer from these diseases and a lack of understanding from those around
them. They suffer from 1000 things (fatigue, pain, etc), and we do a lot of things - blood tests,
MRI’s, etc and find absolutely nothing. And when we in western medicine find nothing, we say
it is all in your head because everything is normal. But they live in a state of fatigue, insomnia,
anxiety, etc. Husbands will be very irritated when he brings in his wife. He can’t understand
what she is complaining about. If you have not been here you cannot understand it.

Terms and Signs Used in Psychiatry

1 As a psychiatrist, I see a wiping out of attitude. They are very pessimistic and very sad.
They have a pessimistic view of the world and themselves.

2 Loss of their vital desire. They are so sad they no longer want to live. This moral suffering
can lead to suicide. When they are at this point, they have an affective anesthesia, a complete
feeling of hopelessness, impotence, and inferiority. They feel they can never succeed.
Before they even start doing something they give it up because they say I can’t do it, I can’t
fix it.

3 They are anxious and this anxiety is buried.

4 Behavior is characteristic because of psychological modifications. They don’t come in and

say, “I have nervous depression”. They say, “I am tired. I get up in the morning and I don’t
have the strength to get dressed. Even getting dressed is a problem.” Or it may be they have
inhibition in their ideas, their concentration is diminished (psychiatric term is slowness of the
ideas). Ideas are no longer clear and there is a lowering of attention. And for some there is a
motor inhibition. They feel like “I’m good for nothing. Normally I’m in control and take
initiative and now I can’t do anything, I’m afraid to take anything on”. This is an inhibition
of movement.

5 Somatic manifestations. Remember in the Ling Shu, in the evolution of a mental disease,
there are always affects on the form, the complexion that rebounds on the physical. We see
patients who come in with insomnia or a stomachache, constipation or anorexia (these are
all fire signs). Or they come in with decreased libido. We will compare this with energetic
medicine. How many come in and can’t swallow because they have a lump in their throat, a
blockage in the throat (called esophageal ball in psychiatry). For us it is a manifestation of
anxiety. Or they come in because of heart palpitations. They come in and say, “I don’t
know why, everything is great, but I cry all the time, for nothing, no cause” (unmotivated
crying, a disturbance in the Po). Headaches on the top of their head or generalized
headache. We all have these signs. All of this leads to latent internal irritability. Often the
patient is very calm externally but inside there is a latent Fire inside. These people
understand what you are talking about, it is something that they feel, always ready to
explode. When they are at a serious stage of auto-depression, they don’t appreciate
themselves and the big problem here is suicide.

15
In western medicine, in psychiatry, we give medications, anti-anxiety and neuroleptic. Often
they give excellent results and you won’t see them in your office. But you will see more and
more because the problem is they have a huge list of medications and everything is negative.
They come in like a zombie.

The fact is that they come in spite of all the medications. Why all of the vocabulary above? You
must understand. Why are people tired, have a lump in their throat, heart palpitations and are
sad? You must know one thing: all we see here that we have described well as psychiatrists are
things you can’t see. How can you touch the anxiety, sadness, anguish that someone has? It is
immaterial, energy. You can’t resolve an energetic problem with medications. Medications may
help in the short term, but if you really want to help you must understand the wind, the energy,
what is immaterial. We have been speaking of the leaf that moves, now we are speaking of the
wind, the patho-physiology seen from the point of view of energetic medicine.

There exist two kinds of nervous depression in western medicine. Minor depression, reaction
depression, is due to sad events in our life such as a problem with separation, a death in family,
divorce, etc and is termed neurosis. Major depression is termed psychosis. The most
troublesome of these is called melancholy depression, which is very serious. This can lead to
suicide.

Energetic Medicine
Law of 5 Movements diagram
When you have a problem of the Kidney, e.g. insufficiency of Kidney Yin, it can lead to flaring
Liver Fire and corresponds to minor depression. However, with major depression you have
insufficiency of Kidney Yin with a flaring of Heart Fire. The ShaoYin axis, Kidney to Heart, is
broken, a flaring of Heart Fire, so there is a rupture of ShaoYin. Minor or major depression
comes back to Kidney, an insufficiency of water. Now, let’s make a comparison with all of the
western medicine signs.

We see several things among all the signs I explained earlier in psychiatry. Often patients are
very fatigued, and when you ask what time of the day, they often say in the morning. Asthenia
in the morning is Kidney. Secondly, they often present with diminished libido, this is sexuality
and this also is Kidney. Some patients come in who normally take initiative, but now they’re
loosing that will, they can’t decide. This lack of motivation is diminished Will, the capacity to
go to the act. Will is Kidney. Crying for no reason is also Kidney. When you see all of these
signs, you see it is a problem of Kidney Yin. If you understand energetics and you see asthenia,
decreased libido, decreased will, right away your therapeutic act will be the Kidney Reflex in the
aim of treating the Zhi.

If you don’t treat this, or you have done a poor treatment, the disease will evolve. Kidney
insufficiency will lead to a flaring of Liver Fire. These signs are headaches often at the cranial
summit. The Liver Channel has an internal trajectory from LV14 to GV20 (you must understand
the internal channels of the principal channels! Forget recipes, try to understand. And in order
to understand you must first understand the physiology, the internal trajectories. Otherwise you
cannot practice acupuncture because you don’t understand symptoms. If you don’t understand
symptoms you cannot have an affective treatment). Or they may hurt on the side of head or just
generally. From GV20 it goes to the cochlear vestibular area and then it spreads out. Pain at the

16
summit of the head or general headaches are signs of Liver Fire. Often patients will come in
with irritability and anger, also Liver Fire.

Vertigo often occurs in the elderly and you must treat it because they may fall. If an older
woman with osteoporosis fractures her bone, it is very serious (Kidney). Our work and worth is
to prevent. You must be very precise. We observe but don’t analyze because we don’t
understand. When they have vertigo you must ask, “do you have vertigo with a heavy head or an
empty head”. Heavy head vertigo is Liver Fire. At this point, pull out your Liver Reflex, you
must treat the mental activity, the Hun.

Suppose you haven’t treated here and the Liver Fire goes beyond. It destroys the Yang polarity
of Spleen. The signs of insufficiency of Spleen Yang are diminished thoughts causing, what
they call in psychiatry, slow thinking and slow perception. We have the SP/ST system, which
is everything that is digested. The patients will have one or several of the following: anorexia,
constipation, stomach pains, gastralgia, nausea and vomiting, or abdominal bloating. You
must understand the energy. The Spleen is thought. It is SP/ST. Why have the physical
problems when it is a mental disease?

The disease has evolved from Kidney to Liver to Spleen. When it has reached the Spleen, do the
Spleen reflex and Yi. Don’t forget that when a patient presents with Earth problems, it was not
treated at Liver and Kidney level, so you must do all the reflexes of Yi, Hun, and Zhi. When
they come in at this point there is a lot going on and your treatment will depend on what is
presenting. If they come in with stomach pain you have to treat SP/ST, that is the priority. If
they come with headaches, then you have to treat Liver Fire and for decreased libido treat the
Kidney.

If you do not treat by the time it gets to the Spleen the Kidney Yin is decreased even more. Then
there will be a disturbance at the ShaoYin axis. The ShaoYin axis is the most important in our
body because it is a Yin/Yang axis, the Water/Fire axis. At this point there will be a flaring of
Heart Fire. The signs now are anxiety, insomnia, palpitations, or irritability. We must now
put these into a place that explains these signs. For us, from the moment that you understand
energetics, it is flaring of Heart Fire, so pull our your Heart Reflex and treat Shen.

Once it reaches this stage, remember Fire destroys Metal, Metal is Lung and when the Lung is
affected often people are sad, there is a decrease in attitude. In psychiatric terms we say ‘wiping
out of the attitude’. People have moral suffering, they feel inferior, a feeling that they can never
succeed. If you transfer this to energetic medicine, here is sadness (Metal) and often people are
anguished. They don’t breathe well and have thoracic oppression. Put this at the level of the
Lung and pull out the Lung Reflex, treating Po.

You must understand energy, the leaf that moves. You must understand wind and its existence.
Just because you can’t see the wind does not mean it doesn’t exist. Our problem is not to discuss
the existence of energy - it is to accept this. There are not two medicines, there is one medicine
with two aspects: the aspect of the leaf that is moving (matter) and the aspect of the wind that
makes it move (energy). Our job is to try to fuse these two together for the good of our patients.

17
If you try to sum up the problem here, you see that everything comes from the diminishment of
the Will, a decrease in Water, the Kidney. From the time we have this movement of Water that
decreases, there is a disturbance of the Zhi.

How Dr Tran keeps his health

Many ask how I keep my health at my age because I work and travel a lot. Up to now I didn’t
work at all. I spent my time having fun but now I work a lot. My colleagues that follow me and
my patients ask me “How do you keep your health, you work and travel a lot, but you seem to
always be in good health. Do you do Qi Kong?” No. “Do you do Tai Chi?” No. “Do you
follow a particular diet?” No. For those that go out with me know that I’ll eat anything, I’ll
drink wine, I’ll smoke (now less). “Well, certainly when the sun goes down in winter you are
already in bed.” I go to bed when the sun comes up and I get ready to dance when the sun goes
down! In other works, I’m not an example of how to live. I am a bad boy! You must not follow
my example, it is a bad one! I do have a lot of things to do. You feel in me a passion, a
conviction. I have a purpose in my life that I want to realize before I die. I need Will to succeed
in this. If I don’t have Will, I can’t go forward. Personally I decided to try three things. I try not
to think of emptiness/nothing, either I think or I don’t think. If I think, I make a decision and
take action. I try to do anything possible to minimize preoccupations and to find solutions. If
there is something to resolve, I think about it only until I have find a solution, then I don’t think
of it any more. This is to preserve Will, Zhi. Zhi has enemies, which can disturb it in many
ways. One way is the Law of Inhibition. That is to say that Earth inhibits Water, preoccupations
can harm the Will.

Secondly, there are lots of contrary things that can happen in life. There are lots of negative
people and this leads to frustrations, anger. Try to ignore all these little events. All of these
people that come into your life and aggravate you, file them into what I call the little details of
life and there are lots that we can avoid. Once an event has been filed don’t think about it, ignore
it. I’m still talking about protecting the Zhi. Will can be disturbed by the Law of the Son
towards the Mother, by anger and frustrations, so minimize them as much as possible.

Thirdly, on the organ itself, the Kidney can be disturbed by fear and fear for us is stress. I have a
good sense of humor with my work. I try, as much as possible, to avoid stress, fear. I do this to
reduce these negative psychological abnormal elements that can destroy my will and keep me
from succeeding in the aims of my life. This is my way of consolidating the mental. The mental
for me is very precious. The ancient texts say that the mental is to man what precious stones are
to the earth. Everything is mental and we must do everything we can to preserve it.

Now it is up to each of you to take the meaning out of this and apply it into your own lives.

The mental is something that is extremely important. When you speak of the mental you do not
say mental or Shen, we say Jing Shen, energetic quintessence to be transformed into the mental.
When you treat something with the word Jing in it, you must understand where this Jing is
situated. It is situated in several places but in particular at the level of the Curious Points. Now I
am doing a study of all the curious points from the ancient texts, pathology by pathology.
Psychiatry is a specialty where we have lots of curious points because it is Jing Shen.

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Curious Points
1 Mental Spirit. Posterior ear. Prominence (a fossa in front is a prominence behind) formed by
the triangular fossa and superior concha, in the gutter between the two that goes to the
temporal bone, at the root of the ear where the cartilage meets the bone. Needle from above
to below and lateral to medial. Follow along the bone, 0.5-1cun deep. Sensation of pain and
tension. It treats several things, but above all neurasthenia.

2 Headache Point. In the nostril, right side at 11 o’clock, left at 1 o’clock, 0.1 cun behind the
nasal opening. H/A, nervous depression, neurasthenia.

3 Induction of Calm Sleep. Nose at left 10-11 o’clock and right 1-2 o’clock. 0.5cm behind
nasal opening. Needle obliquely 15-20 degrees, 0.2cun deep. Insomnia and neurasthenia.

4 Stomach Point. Ear, root of helix, at the end where the helix disappears. An important point
that treats many things. Nervous depression and neurasthenia because it is Stomach/Spleen
and Spleen is thought, Yi. Corresponds to Jing Shen-Yi.

5 Kidney Point. Ear. Take the root of helix in half, trace a line vertical up to inferior border at
root of anti helix. It is very important because it is Zhi, Will.

6 Heart Point. Ear. In cavum concha, the inferior concha, in the lowest deepest point. This is
also very important. 0.1-0.2cun deep, local sensation of pain. Numerous indications, but
because we are speaking psychiatry, nervous depression.

7 Door of the Mental, Shen Men. Ear. A little bit above the angle formed by inferior and
superior root of anti-helix.

8 Occipital. Ear. Divide the anti-tragus into 3, on superior 1/3rd.

9 Bladder Point. Ear, cymba concha on inferior border of inferior root at the level of the
vertical line from external opening of the ear to inferior root of anti-helix. Bladder is Kidney,
so this is to reinforce the Will, because Bladder is TaiYang and TaiYang is Water, Will.

10 Forehead. Ear, anti-tragus, inferior 1/3rd in the middle, exterior surface. Used for frontal h/a
and neurasthenia, nervous depression, insomnia, people who dream a lot, daydreaming.

11 Cortex Point. Ear on internal aspect of anti-tragus, diametrically opposed to Forehead Point.
Very important as it represents the cerebral cortex. Calm mental, calm pain, nervous
depression problems and insomnia. Needle in the evening before bed, it will be very
sensitive. It can treat hysteria and schizophrenia.

12 Neurasthenia Point. Ear. Divide the ear lobe into nine compartments. There are 3 points in
compartment 4. In the middle is a point are for dental extractions, anesthesia. Neurasthenia
is the inferior point used for nervous depression.

13 Cardiac Mo. 1cun lateral to T5/6, 0.5cun medial to BL15 (Shu point of the Heart). Needle
from above to below up to 1cun deep. Neurasthenia, hysteria, palpitations, epilepsy.

19
14 Heart Point. On the palm surface of the middle finger, distal phalangeal articulation, in the
middle. Local sensation of tension and fullness radiating to the tip of the finger.
Neurasthenia and cardiovascular disease, also good for itching.

15 Foot 34. Between SP3 and SP4, midway along this line. Needle deeply, the texts say 3cun!
I needle quite deep, when the patient says there is a sensation of fullness that radiates all the
way to the level of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd toes. Then I stop advancing the needle. Epilepsy,
hysteria, neurasthenia plus many more.

16 Foot 46. 2nd toe, distal articulation, medial aspect next to large toe, separation at skin color.
Neurasthenia and hysteria. Needle to obtain a sensation of fullness in the whole toe.

17 Foot 48. Like Foot 46 but on the 4th toe, distal and medial, where red and white flesh meet.
Headaches, neurasthenia, conditions of the Gall Bladder, especially biliary dyskinesia.

18 Foot 2. Line from area between 2/3 toes to posterior border of the heel (median plantar line).
5cun away from the heel (exactly in the middle) is the guiding point. From this point go
lateral 1cun. Neurasthenia, epilepsy, insomnia, hysteria.

19 3 Cervical Points. GV14, Anmein II. Anmein II location: in the middle between GB20 (at
the angle of trapizius and sternoclydomastoid) and Curious Point13 (located at the tip of the
mastoid). Needle fairly deeply (texts say up to 2cun with Anmein II). I needle until the
patient has a sensation of fullness that radiates over the head. Needle GV14 until you obtain
fullness radiating over the head or over the shoulder. Nervous depression, hysteria, epilepsy,
insomnia.

20 Back Points. These are T5 and T6, the spinous process at the highest point. There is a
specific technique to needle. Needle T5 perpendicular without advancing the needle. Next
needle T6 obliquely from top to bottom at a 10 degree angle and advance 1.5-2 cun deep and
leave it obliquely. Come back to T5, angle the needle and advance it towards the bottom
about 1cun deep, they must not touch. Very important treatment for many things. Here I use
it for serious neurasthenia, excellent for schizophrenia and epilepsy.

21 2 Dragons. BL4, BL5, BL6, and BL7. Needle BL4 towards BL7 and you can use a long
needle. This is a very important technique for treating all mental abnormalities, epilepsy,
hysteria, neurasthenia. Excellent technique to bring water into the brain (GV20). When
water reaches BL7 it goes to GV20, then penetrates into the brain, irrigating the whole brain.

22 Technique of Number 8. GB4, GB5, GB6, GB7. Texts say use one needle, but I place one
needle in GB4 towards GB7. GB4 is good for menstrual headaches. To locate GB4, take
the palm of your hand over their ear, have them chew, feel the place that moves, place a
finger there and find the most sensitive area. To locate GB7, at the ear there are two
directions that meet. Needles look like the Chinese ideogram of the number 8. Neurasthenia,
psychiatric problems, one-sided headaches and calms mental.

23 Hypnosis Technique. Transfix H7 to H4. Be very careful of the vein, so move it aside.
Excellent for insomnia, epilepsy, all mental diseases, palpitations, tachycardia, delirium,
hallucinations, hysteria, sleep walking, frequent day dreaming.

20
24 Unblocking of the Sky. GV23 towards GV20, through GV22, GV21. In general, I stop about
1cun before I get to GV20. This is also a technique for bringing water. GV20 is the Sea
point of Yang channels. The Yang channels carry water, so this brings water to the entire
brain because from here it goes to the vestibular cochular area, will calm the mental and
often patient will say their vision has cleared. Why? Because you’re bringing water, putting
out a raging fire. Imagine a raging fire, everything is blurry. If you want to see clearly you
must bring water, clear the smoke.

25 Needling the Cross. This technique is using these 5 points: GV20, GV18 to GV20, GV21 to
GV20, GB17 on both sides towards GV20. All this to bring maximum water to irrigate the
brain with the goal of calming the mental. GV20 is located at the anterior border of the
posterior fontanel. This treats many mental conditions, brain conditions, neurasthenia,
headache, epilepsy, and rectal prolapse.

26 3 Techniques of Spinal Column. 1st method: GV14, GV13, GV12, GV11, GV10 and GV9,
transfix all. Often I’ll do this one in two parts – GV14 to GV12 and GV11 to GV9. 2nd
method: transfix using one needle GV8, GV7, GV6, and GV5. 3rd method: transfix GV3 and
GV4.

Notice that all of these treatments are on Yang channels. Mental conditions are always due to
fire, heat. So you must bring water and Yang channels carry water. That is why, for
hemorrhoids (heat) needle GV20 directing towards the anus and they will feel a sensation of
coolness in that area.

27 Techniques of Brain Purification. The 1st technique is: GV21 to GV20 and BL4 to BL5,
using 3 needles. The 2nd technique is Technique 8 (GB4 to Gb7). The 3rd technique is GB8
towards SJ20, ShaoYang. The 4th is GB9 towards GB11. And the 5th technique is GB9
towards GB19. These 5 techniques make up part of a method called Purification of the
Brain. These treat everything because of the brain, all acute headaches, high fevers, CVA’s,
hemorrhage (heat destroys blood), and all psychiatric conditions, epilepsy and convulsions.

Yesterday we had a colleague here who had slept for only 2 hours each night for most of his life.
I did an extensive treatment. Remember, when you have insomnia that has gone on for such a
long time, it is difficult to have immediate results. So, it would be interesting to hear from our
colleague.
“I do feel a sense of real inner calm. I think that most of my life I have had a forced exterior
calm. My sleep was interesting because I have never slept very much and it has always been a
waking sleep. I have used not having much sleep for meditation. Last night I really experienced
sleep because I don’t remember sleeping – I slept! It was a different kind of sleeping.”
It is good to work with a colleague because they know how to better analyze things and we can
learn. And help us better understand.

21
Insomnia
Definition:
What is insomnia? It is an abnormal absence (total or partial) of sleep that lasts all or part of the
night, half sleeping or sleeping lightly. They can have very disturbed or agitated sleep. I
consider insomnia to be any non-restorative sleep, whenever they wake tired. As you have seen,
acupuncture can help people have a calmer sleep, helping them wake with a clear head, not
heavy, as is the case of people who take an hypnotic. Often patients come in with nervous
depression, they sleep well, but they are on meds. To me this is not sleep because they wake
with a heavy head and fatigue. This is artificial sleep – you know that when you take a hammer
and bang them on the head, they’ll sleep!

Patho-physiology:
You must understand that in each region of our body there all these zones or points which are
auto-regulatory points. In these areas Yin arrives and Yang arrives, Water/Fire. For example,
take a Back Shu point, or CV17, etc. Now, when you consider the problem of insomnia,
consider the eye, BL1. BL1 is auto-regulatory. Why? because in this area two channels arrive,
two Curious Channels, the Yang Qiao Mai and Yin Qiao Mai. In a normal state, according to
energetic medicine, there is an equilibrium here at BL1 of water from Yang Qiao (opening is
BL62) and fire from Yin Qiao (opening is K6). So there is a balance here of Yin and Yang.
This is why it is an auto-regulatory point. During the night Water dominates. Water is Yin, it is
closing, closing the eyes and this closing leads to sleep. During the day Fire dominates, Yang,
and Yang is opening of the eyelids, leading to waking.

When Fire dominates in the night (physiologically Water should dominate) we have a
pathological state, the eyes stay open and we have insomnia. In this case you must needle,
tonify, BL62 and think “I open the Yang Qiao channel through the opening points of Yang Qiao
Mai in the goal of bringing organic water towards the eye”. It is not just anywhere around the
eye, it is especially to BL1. If you consider these two Curious Channels and you treat insomnia,
tonify BL62. It is very good to know the point, but you must know the technique. When you
use a technique on Curious Channels you must further understand – either you needle or you
don’t needle. Needling must be effective. When you use an opening point, it is always to open a
Curious Channel. When you’re speaking of a Curious Channel, you are speaking of the
circulation of Jing. Jing is Kidney, the Source, and the Source is very deep. Therefore, you must
needle opening points deeply.

Here is the lateral malleolus. Often you have been taught that the point is just inferior to the
lateral malleolus. If you needle here, you are going to touch the bone and you can’t go very far.
I needle underneath the bone, close to the heel, very deeply. Our patient yesterday felt water
coming up to his eyes. I stimulated the afflux of water from the Yang Qiao Mai to BL1. It will
not afflux if you needle superficially, the effect is different. And then you must needle BL1
because this is where Yang Qiao arrives. BL1 is TaiYang, Water. If you are lazy, and you only
do these two points, that is sufficient. But you must be very sure of your technique.

Often I am asked ‘are you going to act on K6”? If I want to act on K6 you must logically
disperse because it is Fire, but in reality I don’t touch this point. I don’t disperse this point
because the Fire here is Organic, it belongs to us, and we don’t have the right to disperse that
which belongs to us.

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Sommulence
This is in contrast to insomnia. There are lots of highway accidents. In France 30% of accidents
are heavy trucks. The drivers are half asleep, hypersomnia - somnolence. This is more serious
than insomnia because with insomnia there are medications. We don’t have medications for
somnolence. This is a serious problem for these people because they can’t keep jobs. In these
people tonify K6. Located way under the bone of the medial malleolus. Needle deeply. Don’t
touch BL62.

Causes of insomnia:
1) Often these people have preoccupation, worries. Here is the Law of 5 Movements. The
Spleen rules and governs the blood. Thanks to SP/ST you have the formation of blood.
Through the pathway of inhibition, preoccupation is a negative psychological sentiment that
acts on the organ, the mental activity of the organ, Yi, thought. From the time that thought
diminishes, the Spleen ends up in a state of hypo-functioning, it can no longer metabolize
blood, resulting in blood insufficiency. When Yin blood diminishes, is exhausted, it can no
longer nourish the Shen, the mental activity that rules the Heart. At that point, you have a
destabilization of Shen, insomnia. So you have the SP/ST system disturbed and secondly it
affects the heart.

Signs & Treatment:

a) Signs of Spleen insufficiency. Patient presents with pale, dull complexion, physical and
psychological anesthesia, anorexia and lack of appetite, amnesia/memory loss, and
palpitations. Pulse is rapid, fire.

b) Treatment:
1) First is PREOCCUPATION. They will not say they have preoccupation. You must
calm the mental by bring water (Curious Points: Anmein, 2 Dragons, Purification of
the Brain, etc). You can also use GV20, H7, and CV17 to calm the mental. When
you say, “I am calming the mental”, think “I am bringing water”. You can also tonify
Kidney Yin (CV4, BL23, BL52, K7, K3).

2) The Spleen and the Heart are unregulated so treat the Spleen system. The Spleen can
only function well if the Yi is functioning well. Yi is between T4/T5, BL20, BL49,
and Tong Qi (CV12, CV6). And, if you are consciences you will treat abnormal
psychological sentiments which destroy the Yi. Often people say that as soon as they
lie down, their head starts thinking (preoccupation), so SP1 is very important. Add
GB40 and K3. This is to move thought, make a decision, and take action.

3) Normally I go further and see if there is a problem with sadness, latent sadness
(death, separation, etc). You can see how they look because often they won’t tell
you. Sadness is not fun, we only have one life and time goes so fast that you might as
well enjoy it to the maximum. Just one point - LU10 helps with sadness because of
the Mother/Child Law, sadness will destroy thought.

You must, as a doctor, feel all of this. This is why, when I am treating, I don’t talk. If you talk,
how can you concentrate on your patient? You must appreciate what the patient is not telling
you. If you let your attention waiver, the tiger will get you. I ask you to concentrate when you
needle. Often we think we have to answer our patient, but kindness is okay, effectiveness is

23
better. Not only must you concentrate on the point that you are doing, you must concentrate on
your patient for the things they aren’t telling you.

4) There are also people who are preoccupied because of frustrations, they live in a state
of frustration from family, work, etc. People don’t tell you these frustrations, but you
can see what is going on inside. These frustrations can be of a very personal nature
and usually they won’t tell you about them. Unfortunately, all of this has an effect on
thought. Needle LV4 if you feel this held back anger. If this doesn’t help, add LV8,
but only use this point if you feel they have intense anger because LV8 corresponds
to Water and Water destroys Fire. This is Organic Fire that belongs to us and we do
not have the right to destroy what belongs to us. You must smother it, not destroy.

All of this will help the Spleen and blood will nourish the heart better. This will make the Shen
more stable and sleep will be calmer.

5) If you haven’t treated the Spleen, the Yi, there will be an instability of Shen. You
must treat the Shen: C5/6, mental activity of the heart, then you do BL15, BL44 and
next you will do Tong Qi (CV17, CV6). Once you have done all of this, remember,
to calm the mental you must do H7. This point tonifies Earth to smother the Heart
Fire. So, you have treated preoccupation, the Yi and the Shen.

6) But, from the time that the patient presents, there is an insufficiency of blood. At this
point, you must act on the blood. There are several points, but I will only give you
two - BL17 (Shu of the Diaphragm), SP10 (Sea of Blood). SP17 is important
because of the movement of bottom to top, innate movement. It is thanks to this
innate movement (ascent and descent) that the SP/ST system can function well so the
blood can be well metabolized. That is why, in the ancient texts, they say that BL17
is a Reunion point of blood. It is BL17 that vaporizes the movement of ascent and
descent of the diaphragm. Liver conserves the blood, Spleen rules the blood, and
Kidney fabricates the blood. There is marrow and there exists points to act on the
level of LV/SP/K. Source energy, Yuan points. LV3 goes directly to the liver organ
to stimulate the function of the organ to conserve the blood. So, with this form of
insomnia, if you add LV3 it is even better, you are thinking of conserving blood. It is
even better if you do SP3 (SP/ST moves the blood) and K3 (Kidney is marrow and
marrow is blood). If you’re lazy, you can just do SP6 to replace these three points, as
it is the meeting point of the 3 Yin channels of the leg.

7) All of this is good, but you need to add water to the eyes. Here is the Law of 5
Movements. Liver is Wood, and Wood is eyes. Often insomnia is too much Yang,
fire, opening of the eyelids. Put out this fire. Water comes from a source that is
Kidney Yin. Nature allows for a delicate movement of watering the plant (wood).
This movement that brings water towards the wood is ShaoYang, GB. From a
practical point of view, to bring water to the eyes, use GB20. GB20 always for
insomnia. To increase efficiency, needle Anmein II, the calm sleep point, so I needle
GB20 towards Anmein II. And, 2nd, always to bring water to the eyes is Yang Qiao,
open with BL62 and bring water to BL1.

24
2) Psychological Disturbance. Law of 5 Movements. The problem is now at the Liver,
frustration, anger, etc. This emotion inhibits the Yin polarity of the Liver allowing Liver Fire
to flare. This leads to a stagnation of energy in the area of the Liver leading to insomnia.

a) Signs: insomnia when falling asleep, nocturnal agitation, often people who get up very
early, and they may have a disturbance in the hypochondriac area. Ask them if they have
a sour or bitter taste in their mouth, they will often tell you they wake with a strange taste
in their mouth. Pulse is tense like a guitar string and fast, rapid because of the fire.
Tongue is red with a yellow coating.

b) Treatment:
1) Calm the mental (Curious Points above, GV20, CV17, H7) by bringing water.

2) Activate at the level of Liver Fire. Liver Fire is the destabilization of Hun: moxa
C7/T1, BL18, and BL47 to help the Liver function better. You are treating the Yang
polarity, the Hun and you will add Tong Qi: CV4, CV6.

3) You have to treat abnormal emotions well. Anger and frustration treat LV4 carefully.
If there is a lot of fire, add LV8. Hun is disturbed by anger, but it can also be
disturbed by anxiety (Law of Son towards Mother). In this case add H3 because it
will diminish harm at the level of the Hun. Liver is destroyed by Metal, so add LU10
to treat sadness. You must treat these three negative emotions that affect the Hun.

4) Don’t forget to always calm the Liver Fire GB34, LV 3. When you think fire is too
great, you have the right to transfix, with one needle, LV2 to LV3.

5) Always bring water to the eyes with BL62, BL1, and GB20 towards Anmein II.

3) Poor or imbalanced diet either in quality or quantity, people who drink too much or eat too
spicy a diet. All cause problems in SP/ST system. Now we are talking about nutrition.

a) Signs: Confused sleep, irritability, anxious irritation, abdominal bloating because of a

backward circulation. Normally the Spleen ascends but here it is blocked. The Stomach
normally descends but it is blocked and re-ascends, ending with thoracic oppression and
dyspepsia, a sensation of bitterness in the mouth and phlegm. Slippery, rapid pulse.
Tongue has a yellowish coating.

b) Treatment:
1) Calm the mental. In this state, the Spleen is in hypo-function and can’t transform
humidity, so humidity is transformed into phlegm, cold, heat and eventually heat
phlegm. This is very bad because it is a form of fire. Calm the Shen.

2) Treat the SP/ST system: Shu/Mu: BL20, BL21, LV13, CV12, Middle Jiao: CV12,
ST25. Next is the mental - Yi Reflex (T4/5, Bl20, Bl49, Tong Qi CV12, CV6). And
you will tell your patient “either you think or don’t think. If you think, you make a
decision and take action”. SP1, GB40, K3 and Kidney ear point.

25
 3) And there is another reflex for SP/ST, the Wei - defensive energy. Remember, in the
small intestine you have the duodenal bulb, and in this area are two things. Here is
the pancreas gland, which is endocrine and exocrine. I’m talking about the endocrine
part, the lipase circulates in the canal of Werzung to the small intestine (duodenal
bulb) to metabolize lipids. Here bile salts (from liver and gall bladder) enter to assist
in lipid metabolization. We know this thanks to the wonderful technology. In
western medicine we say lipids, in energetic medicine we say humidity. The function
of the pancreas is to produce lipase to metabolize humidity. The Spleen does not like
humidity and to do this it needs the Liver energy. The Liver energy is to fabricate
Wei energy. So each time you treat ST/SP, you must act in the area of the Liver,
therefore Wei. Foods are Cereal Energy from the Earth, humidity, Spleen. You must
treat it with rigor. Fire phlegm is very bad. You must also add the metabolization of
phlegm ST40 (located lateral to ST37), ST37 (lower Ho point of the Large Intestine,
dryness) with SP3. This technique is very important, ST40 is the Luo point and there
are 2 Luo points - longitudinal and transversal Luo points. The transversal goes to the
Source point, SP3. When you needle ST40, you send the energy to SP3, a Yuan point
and Yuan points have a vessel that go directly to the organ. Think, “by doing this
technique I am going to increase the activity of the Spleen so that it can metabolize
humidity”.

4) Always bring water to the eyes: BL62, BL1, GB20 towards Anmein II.

4) Weak Constitution. These people can have chronic recurrences that may come from a
Kidney insufficiency, which will lead to insufficient Kidney Yin and eventually flaring of
Heart Fire. This (Kidney/Heart) is the ShaoYin axis, a rupture with the Heart Fire.
a) Signs. Kidney Yin emptiness, sensation of heavy head, vertigo, tinnitus, dry mouth,
worry, sexual dreams, spermatorrhea and leucorrhea. Pulse is rapid and gallops. Tongue
coat is yellow.

b) Treatment
1) Calm the mental GV20, CV17, H7.

2) Regulate the ShaoYin axis. Treat Kidney Yin to the maximum: CV4, BL23, BL52,
K3, and K7. To increase the effect, add the marrow points, of the bones – LI16,
GB39 and of the spine - GV20, GV15. To be even more effective, act on the bones
with BL11 (reunion point of the bones). And BL43 for even more effect because it is
a concentration point of Kidney Jing (excellent for asthenia).

3) Consolidate the Zhi. T7/8, BL23, BL52, Tong Qi CV4, CV6.

4) You must treat at the level of the Heart, Shen: C5/6, BL15, Bl44, CV17, CV10.

5) Flaring of the Heart Fire technique – Making the Imperial Fire come back to its
domain. The Imperial Fire is the Heart. H5 is the Longitudinal Luo point. It brings
energy to the heart. And then add H7, Source point. By needling these points, I bring
the escaping heart fire back to the heart.

6) Always bring water to the eyes, BL62 BL1, GB20 towards Anmein II.

26
5) Convalescence often after surgery and they loose blood. Anemia and insomnia so emptiness
of blood. Blood never goes without energy. This emptiness blood and energy will have an
effect on the heart triggering an instability of the Shen.

a) Signs: Pale complexion, loss of weight, with diminished blood they can be worried, pale,
white tongue. Pulse is weak but rapid because there is an imbalance between blood and
energy, an imbalance between Yin/Yang. In this state of energetic emptiness there is
more fire than water, more Yang than Yin.

b) Treatment:
1) Calm the mental GV20, CV17, H7.

2) Tonify blood BL17 (Reunion point of blood), SP10 (Sea of Blood), LV3 (conserves
blood), SP3 (governs blood), K3 (formation of blood) and these correspond to SP6,
which you may add.

3) Tonify energy, which is formed by an important concept that we call San Jiao. It is
thanks to SJ that we have the formation of energy. Remember there are three Jiao’s:
Upper, Middle and Lower Jiao. Upper CV17, Middle CV12, ST25, Lower CV5,
CV7. These increase the formation of energy. But we have an insufficiency of blood
and energy. When you speak of blood, the energy that corresponds with blood is
Ying energy, Nutritive energy. It is fine to increase the energy through the SJ and the
emptiness of blood, but once it has been formed, we must make it circulate.
Remember energy drives the blood, which follows behind it. In order for the blood to
circulate, we must circulate Ying Energy.

Six Great Channels

Cereal energy from the stomach goes to the spleen and then to the lungs where Heavenly energy
is received (oxygen). From these two coming together, Ying energy is formed in the Lung. That
is why we always teach you 1st of all the trajectory of the Lung. Ying energy goes from the LU
to LI to ST to SP, etc. When you study the channels you always start with the Lungs and end
with the Liver. Then the circulation begins again. Because energy drives the blood and because
blood follows behind energy, to make the blood circulate what do you do? You try to make this
Ying energy circulate. To do this, you use these points: LU7, LI4, ST36, SP2, H7, SI3, BL60,
K2, XB6, SJ5, GB41, LV2. Dr van Nghi and I have tested these points for many years to make
the Ying energy circulate. If you’re lazy, you can replace LV2, K2, SP2 with SP6 (Reunion
point of the 3 Yin). In practice, I do the minimum, but you must be sure of your techniques.
You can just use two points, LU7 and LI4, but LU7 is a Luo transversal point that goes just to
LI4. Needle LU7 towards LI4 to stimulate Ying energy. Tonify LI4 well, this increases the
circulation. If you are not sure of your technique, needle all of the points.

4) Insomnia is fire, so bring water: BL62, BL1, and GB 20 towards Anmein II.

If you know the curious points, it is even better.

27
Insomnia Curious Points
1 Ruling the Head. Midway between the lateral extremity of the eye and eyebrow is a guiding
point. 2cun lateral is Ruling the Head. Needle towards superior part of the ear, 1.5cun deep.
I usually have the patient feel fullness, pain or numbness that radiates all the way to the
temple. Insomnia, schizophrenia, memory loss.

2 AnMein I. Trace a line from the tip of the mastoid (CP13) to SJ17, in the middle is Anmein
I. Needle perpendicular 1-1.5cun deep, feel fullness radiating to the ear. Insomnia,
schizophrenia, one-sided headache.

3 AnMein II. 1/2 way between CP13 and GB20 (angle formed by trapezius and SCM). The
texts say to needle up to 2cun deep, but I needle until they have fullness all the way to the
shoulder. Insomnia, psychiatry, schizophrenia, hysteria, good for treating sleep walking,
anxiety, palpitations, eye diseases, deafness, cephalgia, certain cases of hemoplegia of
cerebral origin.

4 AnMein III. 1cun inferior to GB20. Must needle deeply, at least 2cun. Local sensation of
painful tension. To trigger sleep. Anmein means calm sleep.

5 Inducing Calm Sleep. 0.5cm inside the nostrils between 1 and 2 o’clock (right) and 10/11
o’clock (left). Patient with head tipped back, needle obliquely 15-degree angle, 0.2-0.3cun
deep. Often this point bleeds, so always have cotton ready. Insomnia, nervous depression,
neurasthenia.

6 Curious Point #5. SJ17, 1cun behind is CP5. I often use for ocular problems so direct
needle to contra-lateral side. If I needle the affected side, I still direct to contra-lateral side.
Painful tension that radiates to the ear. Mental disease, deafness, tinnitus, insomnia.

7 BL1 Superior. Texts say 0.2cun superior to medial angle of the eye (BL1). I trace a line
from the brow (BL2) to BL1, midway between. Direct the needle towards the summit of the
orbit (middle of the eye), 1-1.5cun deep. Sensation of fullness, an electrical current radiating
into all this area. If you are not sure of your technique, you may massage this bilaterally,
lightly then stronger. Insomnia and any ophthalmologic condition including excessive
tearing and add BL1 and BL2.

8 Keeping Your Blood Cool. Behind the ear in the middle of the prominence of the triangular
fossa is this point. 0.1-0.2cun deep, pain. Insomnia, above all hysteria, asthma, gastritis,
abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting and a good point for cutaneous purities.

9 100 Miracles #1. Behind the ear of the anti-helix is the gutter, inferior 1/3rd. 0.1-0.2cun deep,
pain. Insomnia, gastritis, poor digestion, infection and inflammation of the entire upper
of the body.

10 Insomnia. Back of ear, inferior extremity of anti-helix gutter. 0.1-0.2cun deep, local pain,
20-30 min.

11 Bladder Point. Trace a vertical line from the opening of external ear up to the inferior root of
the anti-helix, in the cymba concha. 0.1-0.2cun deep, local pain. Useful in many psychiatric

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 problems, notably insomnia because it is Bladder, Tai Yang, Water. Another technique for
bringing water.

12 Kidney. The root of the helix ends in the Stomach point. Take the root in half and trace a
vertical line to the inferior border of the inferior root of the anti-helix. This point is Kidney,
but especially Kidney Yin. You’re bringing water to treat insomnia.

13 Gall Bladder. Very important, especially with flaring Liver Fire. Divide root of helix into 4
parts, lateral/inferior trace a vertical line to inferior border of anti-helix is the point. Only
located on the right, on the left is the pancreas point. 0.1-0.2cun, local pain. The gall bladder
conserves the bile and is associated with the Liver, the Yin/Yang relationship. This is
important for all pathologies concerning Liver/GB - hepatitis, bile stones, unblock bile duct,
dyskenisia. The channel of GB arrives at the level of the ear where it penetrates the ear, so
this is a good point for deafness and tinnitus, HA, stiff neck, and dyspepsia.

14 Heart. In the deepest part of the concha cavum. Put your finger in the inferior concha and
feel the lowest point. 0.1-0.2 deep, local pain. Treats all heart problems, but heart is mental,
so it is excellent for any psychiatry condition. Above all use this point when there is a
rupture of the ShaoYin axis with flaring of Heart Fire.

15 Shen Men. Angle of superior, inferior roots of anti-helix. All psychiatric problems.

16 Occiput. Divide the anti-tragus into 3 parts, in the middle of the upper 1/3rd. 0.1-0.2 deep,
local pain. All psychiatry and especially nervous depression, insomnia.

17 Forehead. In the middle of the inferior 1/3rd of the anti-tragus. Same technique. Indications
are psychiatry and insomnia.

18 Cortex. Directly opposed to the Forehead point, external. 0.1-0.2 deep, local pain. Insomnia,
nervous depression and many psychiatric problems.

19 Finger of the Hand. Palm of hand, space between 3/4 finger and proximal 0.5cun. Needle
distal to proximal, 1/2 length of metacarpal bone, towards the 3rd metacarpal, 2cun deep.
Needle until patient has a feeling of fullness radiating to tips of finger. Insomnia, loss of
memory, hysteria, schizophrenia.

20 Area of the Head. Plantar median line from 2nd and 3rd toes to heel. 7/20th from posterior
border, 0.3-0.5 deep. Local sensation of pain, tension, heaviness. Cephalgia, insomnia
excellent. It hurts.

21 Foot 4. 5cun, middle of the plantar line. Perpendicular needling, 0.5-1cun deep. Painful
tension. Asthma, hepatitis with jaundice, hysteria, insomnia.

22 Foot 2. Horizontal line from 5cun of median line, between 3rd and 4th toes. Perpendicular
needling, 0.5-1cun deep. Painful tension. Epilepsy, insomnia, nervous depression, hysteria,
neurasthenia.

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23 Pericardium Point. On mid plantar line at 9/20ths. Up from median line on line between 2nd
and 3rd toe. Perpendicular needling, 0.3-0.5cun deep. Painful tension, fullness, heaviness.
Insomnia, bi-polar (manic depression).

24 Heart Zone. Plantar area of the heart. Median plantar line, 7/20ths anterior. 0.3-0.5cun deep
with sensation of pain, tension, heaviness and fullness. Yin/Yang madness (bi-polar, arterial
hypertension, intense fever with risk of coma, insomnia, spermatorrhea, some with speech
problems because of a direct attack of wind.

25 3 Cervical. GV14 (C7/T1) and Anmein II (midway between CP13 and GB20) 1-2cun deep.
Painful fullness radiating through entire side of head. GV14 1-1.5cun deep, fullness
radiating to head or shoulders. Nervous depression, insomnia, hysteria, epilepsy.

26 Hypnosis. H7 to H4, going through H6, H5 to H4. Move the vein by massaging the area to
make the vein appear. They can be very contracted because of psychiatric problem, a mental
condition and these are almost always fire. Remember, fire burns wood and Liver is muscle
creating this area to be contracted, needling can be difficult. You must not needle the vein.
Insert the needle perpendicular at H7 0.3-0.5cun, then lift the needle up to subcutaneous and
advance slowly in to H4. Do not turn/manipulate the needle just advance it. In principal,
patient feels a sensation of fullness into palm of the hand and up the fingers, if you work
even better, the sensation all the way to the shoulder. Insomnia, epilepsy, psychiatric
conditions, tachycardia, all cardiac problems, arterial hypertension, sleep walking, frequent
day dreaming, hallucinatory delirium, severe neurasthenia, hysteria.

Questions & Answers

Q Taking a patients pulses and they are on medication such as Welbrutrin, how do you interpret
that into energetics?
A When you take the pulses of a patient on medication, what is important for you is to
appreciate the energetic force behind each organ. So depending on this energetic state you’ll
organize your treatment plan. If this medication leads to hypo-functioning, you must tonify.
Some medication leads to hyper-functioning, depending on the pulse, and then you have to
do a regulating treatment. What is important is the state of the pulse. You don’t have to
worry about the medications.

Q You have given the treatments for mental pathologies which include the use of moxa. How
much moxa on the Back Shu, and is it direct or indirect?
A It depends. In general Back Shu moxa is really important. Think “I’m going to tonify, in
other words, I’m going to stimulate the Yang polarity of this organ”. When you feel
moderate heat, a slight redness, that is enough, so stop. Too much heat is dispersal.

Q When you are talking about taking action from a thought and going to action, in psychology
we are talking about the sensitivity cycle. From action there should be satisfaction and
conclusion. Do we discuss the continuation of this kind of treatment?
A Yes, of course. When you go to a state of action and the result isn’t exactly what you wanted
no one is stopping you from changing your mind and having an action completely opposite
of what you just did. The goal is to not have blocked thoughts, preoccupation. We know
these psychological parasites in our head destroy Yi. The acquired comes back to support the

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 innate; we see the importance of this with all tumors, so treat SP/ST. Lots of people come in
with tumor pathologies and often they tell you they have preoccupation with getting this
cancer. It is because of all these questions of prevention that I insist you treat the SP/ST
system. In order for this system (just like us) to function well it needs a healthy mental
(called Yi). Yi is disturbed by preoccupation so you must treat preoccupation. We are
talking about psychiatry. You have the reflex of treating the SP/ST and the second reflex is
treating the Yi. Yi is divided into 2 groups, the first is directly treating Yi at T4/5 and the
other technique is to move the thoughts. If we were talking about immunology today I would
add another drawer, Wei. You would also have to treat Liver. We must make defensive
energy circulate. This would help them metabolize the acquired energy even better.

Q How long do you leave the needles in and how often do they need treatment?
A In general, I leave for 20-30 minutes. It depends on the state of the patient and the
pathology, but 2-3 times per week. When it is working well, in general a series of 12-15
treatments, but this depends on pathology. Neurosis is not the same as psychosis, or in a
state of melancholy vs. hysteria, schizophrenia, etc. Always needle bilaterally.

Q What if the patient has mental pathology because of a brain trauma from a lesion, lack of
oxygen or car accident?
A This is more complicated to treat, but we can. The brain, in energetic medicine, is like a can
of sardines or jam. It is not the most important organ. Western medicine gives a lot of
importance to the brain. We do not call the brain the King or Sovereign. It is a pretty
important can because the brain preserves Jing. All Jing goes to the Kidneys and after Jing
travels through the curious channels (and other channels), and goes to the brain. This means
that at this level in the brain you have all these Jing’s. When you treat vision, you are
treating the Jing of vision and there is always Jing Shen. When you have a trauma in this
area, it doesn’t mean the Jing is going to disappear. The Jing is created elsewhere, but
conserved here.

Q What is the action of the Back Spirit entry/exit points located on the vertebral column?
A They are points of concentration of Jing Shen-Shen, Yi, etc. At the level of the Shen, C5/C6
is Jing Shen-Shen. You have an action of augmentation on the mental activity Shen on the
function of the Heart. At T4/T5 you have an action on Jing Shen-Yi, Spleen.

Q How is it connected, on the Du Channel?

A The Ling Shu says it goes directly from this area on the vertebrae to Yang polarity of the
Heart. It just says it is there. In no text will you see that there is a connection of the Channel
with this entry/exit point. What I do know, everything I’m telling you, I have experimented
with, especially in immunology. This information about the entry/exit is in a chapter in the
Ling Shu that talks about tumors. While I was experimenting with immunology, I did a lot
with Liver. C7/T1 is Hun. It is also GV14, Sea of Yang, a Reunion point of all Yang
channels. However, the Yang channels circulate water. When you speak of TaiYang, you’re
speaking of Bladder, water. Around the castles are motes, water. The 1st defense is water,
the starting point of immunology, and the starting point of Wei. Because GV14 is a point of
concentration of Yang, it is a point of concentration of water. When it is heated, you increase
the potential of Wei energy. That is why this point is an anti-microbial, anti-parasite, etc. It
is a point that increases the immunity of the patient so moxa. Wei is formed in the Liver, the
end phase of the formation of Wei energy.

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 Now that I know GV14 is Hun, Liver, the last step in Wei formation. There are doctors in
Brazil who measured the lymphocytes, test the immunology and there are good results.

Q Would you have to bring the energy back each time on a weak patient before doing the
Curious Points?
A Yes, of course. Depends on the energetic state of the patient. If the pulse is very weak and
they have clammy hands, especially with escaping from de-nutrition you must tonify and
bring energy. There are several techniques, one is the Chong Mai to distribute fire in the
whole body to help the organs better metabolize Ying. You must do this when they are in
energetic emptiness. Everything comes up together, they get better in a general way by
balancing of Yin/Yang, and then it is good. Sometimes the energy goes up, but there is an
imbalance between Yin/Yang. If this is the case, but at a higher level, you have to regulate
Yin/Yang, tonify Kidney Yin and Curious Points to calm the mental. These are techniques
for bringing water

Q If you are using lots of points bringing water (increasing Kidney Yin) over a long period of
time, will it eventually stay stable?
A The problem is that the patient comes because of an imbalance. You have to know how to
get here, balance and stop when they are in a state of balance. Why keep needling?

Q Usually on a man, the left pulse is stronger, and on a women the right is stronger. What if it
is the opposite?
A I have found that it is not especially stronger on the left in men and on the right for women.
The second thing, there is the story of right/left pulse. A woman has more energy than blood,
so more energy than a man. She has menses, pregnancy, delivery and nursing. With all of
this she looses blood. When they lack blood, they have more energy. When you take a
pregnant woman’s pulse and you want to see if it is a boy or girl baby. You will see if there
is an ample slippery pulse on the right or on the left. If the pulse is slippery on the right side,
it is a girl because the right is Lung and Lung is energy. Left side is Heart, blood so it is a
boy.

Q Can you talk about K2 and the 4 Devil points for mental health.
A I use GV20 and the 4 Devil Points or the 4 Mental Unblocking Points for schizophrenia or
any mental disease. The texts say perpendicular but I direct the needles towards GV20. I
needle GV20 then the 4 points. I don’t needle K2. It is the Spring point. Kidney is a Yin
channel. K2 is the Fire point. Why would you tonify Kidney Yin with Fire? Don’t use it for
Kidney Yin. If you use this point, you have to disperse.

Q Alcoholism treatment
A GB8 is the point for alcoholism, for un-intoxication. You must palpate and needle towards
the mouth. Add a Liver treatment correctly, therefore Hun. Of course you are treating the
Kidney as well. Alcohol is Liver Fire; therefore there is a lack of water meaning decreased
Will. Help with their will – Zhi. But the anti-smoking treatment is less complicated because
alcohol is a part of society, same with drugs. How can you help them? By decreasing their
sensations of lack. They want to stop but when they do they have pain, nausea, etc. Ask
them how they feel when they don’t take drugs/alcohol? And treat them for all the sensations
of lack. Taking drugs is a way to fill up emptiness. If you can fill this emptiness, people

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 have less of a sensation of lack. It doesn’t do any good if he goes home and his family is
wasted, or parents are getting a divorce, etc. That is beyond our competence.

Q Acute and chronic post traumatic stress.

A We see this very often now. They go into acute panic, and then it evolves into a state of
chronic nervous depression. This happens above all when there is a fracture or shock in the
bones. When you have a trauma to the bones, Kidney Yin, you have a sudden insufficiency
of water resulting in an afflux of Liver Fire. In serious cases there can be a disturbance in the
ShaoYin axis, a flaring of Heart Fire. So they present with this flaring fire which destroys
the blood, the Heart, the mental. Tonify Kidney Yin to the maximum, play the game to the
maximum as if you were treating a syndrome of panic. Use all the points given earlier,
including marrow and bone points. If you bring water the fire cannot flare and they’ll be ok.
The blood is not touched, the Heart is fine and Shen is good.

Q Do you needle BL62 or BL1 first?

A Logically, you’d open Yang Qiao first with BL62, then needle BL1.

Q Why does LU10 help with sadness?

A Here you have Jing Well, Jing Spring, etc. points. Lung is a Yin channel, so the Jing Spring
is Fire. Here is the Law of 5 Movements – where is sadness? Metal and Metal is destroyed
by Fire. On the Lung channel, LU10 corresponds to Fire.

Q Do you use HT8 or XB8?

A No. Both are Fire and if I needle I have to disperse. Also, it hurts!

Q If the Yang channels carry water, why not just use BL62 and SI3 to carry water?
A You are perfectly right. I use these for insomnia. YangQiao goes to the bladder and why
when you treat insomnia you must always tonify BL62. I am bringing water to the eyes.
You must close it with SI3. This is the Curious channel technique. Can use it to treat the
mental because it is bringing water and these are to treat the mental.

Q Many people go from doctor to doctor and when you present a reason for their illness, they
block.
A That’s true. Their reason for being is their disease. Leave them with it. Your job is to do a
diagnosis, explain to them and as much as possible to treat them. Everything you do is zero.
There is always something, they are the most bothersome. You think you haven’t done
anything right, but when you have experience you do the maximum and it is up to them to be
cured.

Q Can you speak of hysterics from stagnation of blood that has been there for awhile.
A Blood stagnation, something is causing this. Fire, heat. Heat attacks blood and provokes
stagnation. Blood is heart. Treat blood, make it circulate. It is not because the blood is
blocked, they are given vasodilators and it doesn’t help because you need the energy to move
the blood. Energy must circulate because it rules the blood. In the texts it says, energy
drives the blood, which follows. Energy is before the blood, Ying energy. So before you
treat the blood, make the Ying energy circulate. Calm the fire by bringing water.

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