What are the meridians?
Just as our body has a circulatory system, which through small and large arteries and veins transport the blood throughout the body, providing the organs and body with the necessary oxygen and nutrients as well as discarding the waste products, we have a meridian system, providing the body and organs with the necessary life energy. This system has, like the circulatory system, many routes around the body, though invisible, so we cannot see them as we can the circulatory system. In Eastern medical practices the life energy is referred to as Chi. The goal is to keep these streams of life energy flowing in balance and not to block them. We have 14 of these meridian ”tracks” in the body, 12 of which run in pairs providing energy for example to our organs and the 2 extra run down the front and back of the body. These 14 tracks of energy are used by therapists using acupuncture, reflexology, kraniosakral therapy, kinesiology, osteopathy and Body SDS.
How do these meridians function?
The meridians affect every organ and every physiological system in the body including the immune system, nervous system, glands, circulatory system, pulmonary system, digestive system, skeletal structure, muscular and lymphatic system. Each system is nourished by at least one meridian.
The 12 meridians that a Body SDS therapist uses are the following: The kidney and bladder meridian, small intestine and heart meridian, lungs and large intestine meridian, liver and gallbladder meridian, stomach and pancreas meridian as well as the hormone systems meridian.
The Life energy can flow too weakly or strongly through the meridians and can even be blocked due for example to stress, grief, shock, trauma, thought patterns, medicine, lack of sleep, unhealthy diet etc. If the meridians are blocked it doesn’t mean that the attached organ is sick, but merely that it doesn’t receive enough energy to fulfil its function optimally. This can initially mean that we get sore muscles, a tingling in the body, fatigue, myalgia, swollen joints etc. In the long run it can result in illnesses in the organ in which the energy flow is not optimal. Disturbances to the meridian energies often occur before the sickness and in Body SDS treatment we, among other things, check the state of the meridians in order to investigate where your health and energies may be more fragile and need stimulation in order to prevent a sickness or disease.
By massaging along a meridian, you activate the organ which the meridian is connected to such as the liver. As the organ is activated, so is a bunch of specific muscles which are specifically connected to this organ. This means that we activate the energy inside an organ by activating the attached meridian and surrounding muscles. Through this the organ ‘releases’ the energy block and it starts returning to it’s optimal balance. When reversed this means that the pains we have in the surrounding muscles go away as the organ returns to functioning optimally.
The different meridians are also connected to our senses. The kidney meridian is for example connected to our hearing, the ears and the balance center of the inner ear. This is why clients who have anxiety often have issues with dizziness and tinnitus. The liver meridian is connected to our sight and the eyes. The heart is connected to the tongue, which is why clients who have experienced serious shock can begin to stutter or lose their ability to speak.
When the body ‘releases’ during a session and the energy in the meridian starts flowing easily again it is referred to as ‘to be in process’. There may be a tingling sensation in the body, or a feeling of bubbles flowing through the meridians which are opening, and some can even feel the energy releasing again giving room for one’s self in one’s own body.
Body and mind are connected and the meridians are a direct bridge between the two.
During a session clients often experience remembering forgotten or discarded events, as a certain meridian is massaged.
An example is a female client who had been assaulted 12 years ago. She had worked through the experience and thought she had recovered from what had happened. She had however not recovered, instead she was continuously facing issues with anxiety and fatigue as well as joint pains in the fingers. When she felt she was under emotional pressure , she began to stutter. Being assaulted is an incredibly stressful experience and all forms of stress affect the heart. The speech function is connected to the heart and its meridian running through the arms and fingers. That is how trauma, speech difficulties and joint pains are all connected through the meridian system.
During a session experiences of the assault started appearing, which she had not seen before but the body remembered. After three sessions the woman was in a much better condition both physically and emotionally. Both the joint pains and stuttering were elements which rarely occurred in her daily life. The moment we released the old experiences, the energy started flowing freely and the body could slowly start working towards a balance. This does not mean that the woman forgot that she had been assaulted, it simply means that the assault doesn’t control her life, body or energy anymore.
In the Chinese understanding of the meridian system, it is said that the kidney energy dies down due to age or sickness and that is how we die. This can be considered a strong motivation to keep these energy tracks flowing. And it is actually possible as we can get treatments which activate the meridian system, by doing conscious breathing exercises, yoga and meditation and we can eat food and herbs which stimulate the different organ functions and life energies. We (luckily) have an influence on our own life energy and health.
Cassandra Marian Larsen collaborates with Doctor Pernille Knudtzon and host retreats in Spain. For more info check out www.vitafakta.es and www.body-buddy.dk
About the author
Dr. Pernille Knudtzon, MD, Specialist in Family Medicine, Acupuncture, New Health Technology and NLP Trainer runs Vitafakta Health Clinic in Southern Spain. Her main medical training was done in Denmark. But curiosity led her to travel and study Holistic Medicine and Lifestyle aspects in many places around the world over the last 30 years. From her consultation in southern Spain she is now providing Personal Health Consultations based on a holistic health and functional medicine approach. She focuses on Health, Wellbeing and Vitality and guides her clients to live a healthy life and to thrive and shine the most. She is presently studying Functional Medicine at the Institute of Functional Medicine https://www.ifm.org/.