This dissertation is based on my research and knowledge of pressure points gained from 37 years as a martial arts instructor. It is about what
energy is and how meridians work and connect to the body's internal organs. All points be they known as pressure points, acupoints or energy points are all the same.

Meridian energy psychology is only one of many which use energy to help people address the balance of the body, a modern day work to help
clients, family, friends and yourself to gain better health and balance within your body on both a physical and emotional level. The meridian system has been around over 5000 years, but it is only in this last century that great innovators have brought it to the world as an effective alternative to the harmful side effects of drugs and working with and along side the medical fraternity to aid in the health of all people.

It is now an accepted medical fact that almost 80% of illness is a direct result of energy imbalance, there is stress and anxiety and other emotional problems. Our very thoughts create imbalances if in a negative context, which can produce a host of problems and these emotional imbalances left unaided for some time are likely to produce physical symptoms and illness.  Some of these great innovators are Dr George Goodheart, Roger Callahan, Gary Craig, Larry Nimms, Tapas Fleming, Donna Eden and John Diamond. Energy therapy is constantly moving forward and developing and it is my own personal belief that it will become more and more sought out in the future. There are no side effects and no harm can be done with it's application.  Gary Craig founded a statement which is that, "all negative emotion is caused by a disruption in the energy system." So what is energy?

Our body's are a product of our thoughts, it is being recognized by medical science that emotions impact on the physical structure of the body. It is our thoughts and emotions that are continually shifting, reprogramming and recreating our bodies. Every thought is energy based and every thought brings about an emotion, and in turn causes a physical response. So again to simplify what is energy? If we can look at it this way, we think of our body as a solid mass. Yet this is not the case. If we could use a proper microscope and look at yourself, you would not see you, but would see a swirling mass of energy.

To look at this further there are different levels of energy. There is the Universe of course, then there is our Galaxy, then there is our Planet,
then us as individuals, then inside us the body's organ system, then there is monocles, then atoms and then there is Energy. Everything in the
Universe is energy. Looking at yourself under a microscope we would only see an energy field, meridians are the energy pathways just as arteries carry blood around the body's highways, so too do the meridian pathways carry energy through the body's energy highway system. Connecting to all the organs of the body and the sub-systems, there are twelve meridian channels and these meridian channels also access the seven chakras channels. These are vitally important energy channels, with the meridian channels the belief is that the body is traversed by channels of energy and this energy is the driving force behind all functions and movements within all the various organs, muscles, tissue and even into cells of every living thing.

The Universe is bursting with energy, all this energy vibrates at different frequencies, our conscious mind is only aware of some of these. All
physical matter is made up of Atoms, which are in turn composed of electrons, protons and neutrons. Energy particles move at astonishingly fast speeds. Energy takes many forms, it is in the air we breathe and throughout the very fabric of space itself . We know there are two different energy levels, there is the physical energy and there is psychic energy or mind energy. Our physical energy comes from what we eat and what we drink and from the air we breathe, psychic energy is like electricity, it has polarity and can be controlled. If we have either too much energy, either positive or negative, we will be out of balance. The same is true if we do not have enough positive or negative energy this needs balance, this is the yin and yang aspect. If we have too much negative energy we will fall victim to illness and disease, the yin and yang form part of the triad to keep the balance in the universe. When the universe came into being it had to have two poles, a positive and a negative, but without the yin and yang to bridge the balance nothing could exist.

Taoist believe that we are all microscopic universes, energy is the universal life force, in humans we call this force Chi or Ki and there are many
other names it goes by. Our body has meridian channels which connect to all the organs and sub-systems of the body.  I will endeavour to explain as best I understand the concept.  The Conceptor meridian channel used in martial arts are for the practice of Chi-Gung and meditation. It regulates the blood, the CV meridian begins below the bottom lip and travels down the front of the body to the underside of the genitals, where the GV meridian begins this meridian travels up along the spine, over the head and ends up at the top lip, together these two meridians form a continual flow of energy and when working fully improve strength and long life.  As all martial artists are taught these same energy points that can maim cripple and kill are the very same points to treat and heal.

These meridian points are used to heal a host of things. Meridian energy therapy uses tapping points to treat problematic conditions from anxiety to stress to phobias and fears and almost any condition can be helped by addressing the energy imbalance and correcting the flow. This is done in atherapeutic context and using the energy therapy conditions including anxiety, depression, psychological, mental /physical disorders, aggressiveness drugs like heroine, methadone, low self confidence and low self esteem can be successfully treated and the list goes on. In Chinese medicine there are transformational and storage organs, there are twelve of these organs or units, which are identified as being either one or the other category. The storage organs fall into these, they are the lungs, pericardium, liver, spleen, kidneys, heart and pancreas.  The transformational organs are the stomach, small intestine, large intestine, bladder, triple heater and gall bladder.

An explanation of these follows; with the lungs we take air into the body, this energy source is responsible for the combined nourishment of the whole body and the food we eat, the energy from the food works with the air, you can think of your body as a finely tuned machine and the air and food form of energy is the fuel to enable the body to work at optimum levels, increasing our vitality.

The pericardium protects the heart and stimulates the circulation.  The pericardium is a sac that hangs around the heart to protect it. In Chinese
medicine the pericardium is known as the bodyguard of the supreme controller the heart, it's counterpart is the triple heater, it is widely thought of nowadays that although external pathogenic factors may attack only the pericardium as well as the heart, internal emotional factors will attack the heart as well as the pericardium. 

When external pathogenic factors attack the heart they have to invade the pericardium first, which causes sweating, fevers, dry mouth, dizziness and delirium.  The liver meridian is the other part of the gall bladder meridian, it is located on the right side of the abdomen, these are linked as if a pair, if we try to heal someone with a liver imbalance it would not be complete unless we balanced the gall bladder meridian also. The triple heater is not so much an organ, as it is a function, and as such there is no western equivalent, it's function is the controlling of the body's thermostat, it's body temperature. There are three heating spaces in the body, the upper from the diaphragm to the head, middle from diaphragm to the navel, lower from diaphragm down.

The upper is concerned with heart and mind, the middle has to deal with the stomach, the spleen, the liver and the gall bladder. Where Chi is concerned it has to do with digestion, the lower has to do with the kidneys, the bladder, the small intestine and the large intestine.  In Chi- Gung it has to deal with elimination, the upper heater is concerned with the distribution of blood and air and chi, middle for nutrients from food digestion, and the lower with expelling waste. These three sacs are areas of work, which create heat, when the three heaters are said to be balanced or in harmony, then the whole body is in harmony, the triple heater is the epitome of the fact that all the organs and the meridians are all interconnected, and if one organ or meridian is not in balance the whole organism is out of balance.  It is acknowledged that well over 80% of all known illness and disease are stress related which is now supported by scientists worldwide. Stress left to it's own devices has an impact on the emotional state, which will, if not addressed, manifest in the form of a physical symptom and the energy must be balanced or you will be thrown into turmoil.

We have a positive nature and a negative nature, a negative nature will produce illness and disease, so we need to be more assertive and positive
in our outlook, use the energy forms of food and air to nourish and produce vitality and wellbeing, try to strike the balance of being neither too
positive or too negative.  We have within us all a microcosmic universe of energy, we are all the children of the universe. We are composed of mind, body and spirit. We contain all the elements of the universe, made up of animal, vegetable and mineral. Tapping, pressing or rubbing of the acupoints that run along the meridian channels are performed to re-balance the mind and body, all this energy vibrates at different levels and frequencies, the ancients it is said, that the body has seven levels of energy, which are bodies of vibratory energy levels.

There is an aura which surrounds the outer body and is believed in many cultures that not only does it surround the body with an energy field, but it also surrounds the body with varying colours. Although it is beyond my scope, there are people who can read auras and can see the colour changes and are able to detect illness and disease. There are other energy bodies, there is the Etheric body, it functions with the physical body just outside the skin and it is here the meridian and energy systems are found.

The Astral body which extends outwards from the physical body by several feet, the Mental body which extends beyond that of the astral body and into the realms of telepathy and the Causal body, your soul being the higher being that extends beyond all bodies, in a therapeutic context applying these simple non-invasive tapping techniques can be of a life-changing event for the people who seek help.

With today's modern stressors to undo the emotional blockages which are causing the problems, when energy flows freely there is good health, but when energy is blocked or disturbed illness is a result and will eventually progress into a physical problem. Energy is ever moving and in human beings energy is the raw material from which we are created, even our thoughts are made up of energy. We find energy described as electricity, atoms, protons, neutrons, x-rays, radio wave and the like, the mystical world views energy as Chi- Ki- Prana and so on, our vital energy flows invisibly throughout our being, connected to all the organs and the sub-systems to cellular level, these rivers are called meridians and channels, each meridian has a fixed direction which is termed either Centrifugal or Centripetal.  Centrifugal energy or vortex flows outwards towards the centre of the body, Centripetal energy flows inwards in a swirling motion away from the centre of the body.

Bibliography

Fourteen classical meridian charts by Sue Hix
The way to locate acupoints by Yang Jisan
Healing with pressure point therapy by Jack Forem

Healing power of eft and energy psychology by David Fernstien, Donna Eden and Gary Craig
Eft course by Gary Craig
Ultimate therapist by Gary Craig

Touch of healing by Alice Burmeister and Tom Monte
Five steps to healing by Gloria Arenson
Treating serious illness and disease by Gary Craig.
 

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