THE TWELVE PRIMARY ACUPUNCTURE CHANNELS
The twelve primary acupuncture channels run vertically, bilaterally and symmetrically in the body. According to Chinese Medicine and acupuncture theory, each primary acupuncture channel connects with the internal organ with which it is associated.
Acupuncture theory is based on the Traditional Chinese Medical principals related to the internal organs or “zang fu” as they are called in Chinese. Each specific organ can be either categorized as pertaining zang or fu. This in turn allows each organ to then be categorised as either yin or yang since fu pertains to yin and zang pertains to yang. Since the primary acupuncture channels are related to the organs, they can then also be classified as those which are connected to zang and those which are connected to fu. The acupuncture channels that relate to zang are yin by nature, and in turn the acupuncture channels that related to fu are yang in nature.
Once all the primary acupuncture channels are paired, there are six yin acupuncture channels and six yang acupuncture channels. Three of the yin acupuncture channels are located on the arm and the other three yin acupuncture channels are located on the leg. Likewise, three of the yang acupuncture channels are located on the arm and the other three yang acupuncture channels are located on the leg.
The three yin acupuncture channels on the arm are the lung acupuncture channel, the pericardium acupuncture channel and the heart acupuncture channel. These acupuncture channels start on the chest and travel along the inner surface of the arm to the hands.
The three yang acupuncture channels on the arm are the large intestine acupuncture channel, the triple heater acupuncture channel and the small intestine acupuncture channel. These acupuncture channels start on the hand and travel up the outer surface of the arm to the head.
