Meridian lines ?

When we hear acupuncturists, shiatsu therapists, or our alternative friends, discuss the so-called 'meridian lines', are they expressing a mere belief in something?

Are they a kind of theoretic framework, where-in only the initiates of the ambiguous channels of energy can be understood?

Or are they something very real, easily seen, tangibly felt, and a part of our physiological structure equal to that of organs, bones, and our blood...?

The answer, of course, is the latter.

..Ok, so how are meridians felt?

Wikipedia tells us, "there is no scientific evidence for their existence..."?

Anthropology tells us our ancestors were practicing 6000 years ago. Isn't 6 millennia of continual practice evidence enough?

These energetic pathways of our body carry our life force (Chi/Qi), just the same as a wire carries electricity for a light bulb. And these pathways can become blocked, or opened up, depending on a variety of factors, such as posture, movement, thoughts, environment, among many others.

Let us look at a simple example ...

Name this game ?

The Lung meridian

Just as a computer, our meridians have software and hardware.

Software being emotions.

Hardware being posture.

The lung meridian starts in the corners of the chest and runs down the arms.

One emotion connected to depressed lung function is grief/sadness. What posture do we see in episodes of these emotions? Collapsed chest with shoulders rolling forward? This is a very easy visual, you may even close your eyes and embody this emotion right now and feel how the body wants to move into this position. This is an example of the 'software' influencing the 'hardware'.

It moves vise-versa however! Everything has an influence on everything else.

An example of the 'hardware' influencing the 'software' is when we hold our body in certain positions - and it affects our emotions.

Sticking with the Lung meridian, a posture that would collapse the Lung energy is the same shoulders rolled forward , subsequently collapsing the openness of the lungs, and resulting in the grief/sadness emotion.

All-day typing on a computer??

Staring at the rising sun and taking a deep inhalation??

You get the picture of the posture.

As a Zenthai Shiatsu therapist, it is our profession to notice the structure of bodies. Where is the energy stuck, where have physical manifestations emerged - such as structural misalignments, and where does the body look deficient or in excess.

Let us keep in mind though, there is no right or wrong in a body. Every client we work with is added to our internal intuitive database. We all have our individual constitutions, our predisposition to strength, and areas in need of additional support. Learning the finer energetics of our individual make-up is an excellent method for the prevention of disease, and seeking professional support for the harmonizing of our inter-connected physiological systems is a practice that has shown thousands of years of efficacy.