Why are the Extraordinary Vessels of Chinese medicine relevant today?
and why aren't they as well known as the 12 channels ("meridians").
I’ve just posted a video of QiGong inspired movements to connect with all Eight of the Extraordinary Vessels on my YouTube channel. It’s one of my favourite practices to connect with all Eight Extraordinary Vessels and with the core four organs : our Heart, Brain, Kidneys and Palaces (reproductive organs). It is a little under 20 minutes long. I’d love to hear how you find the movements, please post your comments. And do let me know what other videos you would like me to make. And so, the Eight Extraordinary Vessels:
We connect also with the Inner Four organs of the Vessels - our Heart, Kidney, Brains and Reproductive organs (or Palaces) as well as with the Earth beneath us and the Space (Heaven) around us. I love these movements because we can explore our relationship with the spaces around us and how we give and receive.
In the video I share some affirmations that I have developed for all the Vessels
I am connected to the fullest expression of who I am, my potential and my creative power
I contain the energy and power of the whole cosmos within my body
I am connected to heaven and earth
The Eight Vessels are: Governing (Du), Conception IRen), Penetrating (Chong), Girdle (Dai), Yin and Yang Linking (Wei), Yin and Yang Stepping (Qiao).
With our Heart, we open into the space and people around us to give and to receive.
With our Palaces, we connect with the earth and our capacity to create.
With our Kidneys we connect with our ancestors and the past.
With our Brain we can open up into the wider space around us.
On my YouTube channel as well as on my website blog I have lots of videos and articles about different aspects of the Vessels. I’d love to hear what you think of them too and I am planning on posting some of them here on Substack.
In my posts on the menopause and the menstrual cycle, I have only talked a little about the Extraordinary Vessels of Chinese medicine. You might wonder why, if they are so powerful, they are less known than the 12 meridians. That’s a good question and I will try to explain.
In my initial Shiatsu training in Shiatsu with Sonia Moriceau (link to blog on her) we weren’t taught about the Extraordinary Vessels of Chinese medicine, apart from the central axis of the Governing and Conception Vessels, and this is still the case in many shiatsu and acupuncture schools even today. I think it is partly because they are so powerful and because of their more fundamental, even spiritual, connections that they are less renowned. There were times in ancient China when it was felt “unwise“ to work with them because it might change people, interfering with their basic constitution and “destiny”. It was a hierarchical society and the powerful didn’t want the common people to question their place within it. The Extraordinary Vessels were probably taught to more experienced practitioners, who would have guarded their knowledge. Perhaps they even created the myth that they might be dangerous to work with because they might drain our core energy. In fact, the reverse is true.
I think it is also partly because the way that ancient Chinese medicine arrived in Europe, from the sixteenth century, was mainly through European medical doctors. These professionals of their day integrated the more material aspects of the twelve channels which were understandable in a biomedical model. It was not until the 1970’s that acupuncture become more popular in the USA and by then the practice of traditional Chinese medicine in China had severely declined. When Mao Tse-tung (Mao Zedong) decided to revitalise traditional practices in the 1960’s he focused on its purely material applications and, during the cultural revolution, many of the more esoteric texts, which would have referred to the Extraordinary Vessels, were destroyed or taken out of the country.
In the last 20 years the Vessels have become better known within the acupuncture community but even so, many acupuncturists do not work with them. In the last 10 years there have been a few books devoted to them but, once again, only for acupuncturists. These books focus more on what the ancient texts say, rather than interpreting their relevance today. Some of my colleagues say that maybe we haven’t been ready to understand them until now. Whatever the reason, I hope through my work to aid more people’s understanding of the Extraordinary Vessels and to give them their rightful place in our world.
Here is a short introduction to them. If anything seems unclear, or you disagree with something, please let me know. I am always developing my understanding.
Our connection to the infinite and why we are here
The Extraordinary Vessels are energetic pathways in the body, like the better known 12 Meridians, but they circulate more fundamental energies. They exist before we take on our physical form and all form, including the 12 Meridians, emerges from them. At conception they imprint on the fertilised egg our connection to the whole universe (Tao and the Source Qi) and draw our Shen/Soul in from space, creating parameters for our life. Within them is the memory of why we are here. As we are the microcosm of the universe we are always influenced by the whole and the Vessels connect us to it. There are Eight Extraordinary Vessels, which is fascinating since 8 represents infinity.
Our Cycles of Essence (Jing) – our energetic DNA
The Extraordinary Vessels store and circulate our Essence, which is fixed at conception by the fusion of an egg and sperm: our “energetic” DNA. This creates not only our physical structure but influences our emotions and holds the memory of our ancestral line - Pre- Heaven Essence (genome). Our Essence is constantly modified by our environment both past and present - Post-Heaven Essence (epigenome). Understanding these modifications is the relatively new science of epigenetics: yet is a fundamental concept of Chinese medicine.
Essence is our body’s blueprint for life, determining the time and place of our birth, the nature and length of our journey through life and what changes are possible within it. We cannot increase our Essence, but draw less on its reservoir by taking in healthy Food Qi and Air Qi which also influence its quality. Essence is a form of energy (Qi). Essence is the quality of the seed we plant in our garden and how it grows in response to the outer rhythms of the world.
Essence flows in 7-year cycles for women and 8 years for men. These cycles closely mirror hormonally driven changes in our development, which happen later for men than for women. The first cycle of 7/8 years is our childhood. Sometime during the second cycle we shift into becoming adult, and, by the time girls are 14 and boys are 16, this shift is completed. By the end of the next cycle (21, 24) we are at peak fertility. After 5 cycles, 35 years for women and 40 years for men, our fertility starts to decline. After 7 cycles, (49,56) our Essence shifts to support us in the second half of our life. The Chinese considered our natural span of life to be around 100 years which means the latter cycles last as long as the earlier cycles of growth. This is why it is important to use our Essence wisely.
Turning points
Some phases during these cycles are “turning points” when something fundamental has an opportunity to shift. Each turning point offers an opportunity to transform ancestral or past patterns, or it may create blocks.
It is fascinating that there are 8 main turning points –showing our infinite ( ∞) potential.
Conception
Birth
Standing upright
Puberty
The beginning of sexual activity ( ‘marriage’ in the oriental texts )
Parenting: Pregnancy and childbirth – for men and women.
Ageing: menopause, ‘andropause’
Dying
Overall regulator and Our Reservoir of Qi (energy)
The Vessels are our reservoir and regulator of energy (Qi). Qi is the word for all forms of energy, both within our body and the world outside. The outer world is constantly influencing us.
The Chinese character for Qi shows rice cooking over a fire and producing steam. This represents a constantly changing process in which the material, uncooked rice is transformed through cooking producing immaterial steam. A similar process of constant transformation of material and immaterial aspects happens in our body. Qi is that which we cannot see and yet it regulates everything.
I hope you have enjoyed discovering more about these powerful Vessels. As I say, I have many more blogs on my website too. Meanwhile please ask any questions on things which are not clear and share your thoughts too. Maybe you disagree with me ! Chinese medicine is a living breathing way of being in the world.