 One of the most interesting and mysterious parts of traditional Chinese medicine is the channel or the meridian system Now you've definitely seen pictures and videos and charts all over the internet about what these channels and meridians are and maybe you're Wondering what what are they? Are they physical? Are they energetic? Are they something in between now in this video? I'm not going to go into the what why where and how about the channels and the meridians instead So rather than this being an exhaustive intro video into what the channels and meridians are I'm going to break down the 12 primary channels and the pathways that they run through the body I'm Alex high and current doctoral student in traditional or classical Chinese medicine and author of the book master the day Which might be upside down So let's talk a little bit about the 12 major channels or meridians of traditional Chinese medicine again We're going to run through where they begin and where they end as well as the major organ systems that they tend to deal with So when we talk about the primary channels in Chinese medicine We're talking about the lung channel the large intestine channel the stomach the spleen the heart small intestine the bladder The kidney the pericardium the sanjiao the gallbladder the liver and then the ren and what's called the do channels Now when we talk about the lung channel it typically originates in the what's called the middle jiao Which is essentially like the stomach in this case Descends the large intestine comes up to the throat and then comes out on the medial side of the arm ending up On the thumb right there So you can see the lung channel here starting down in the middle here coming up to The arm on the inside of the arm the medial side comes out and ends up there on the thumb Here's a little breakdown of the large intestine channel So you can see this runs on the exterior of the forearm coming up to the shoulder There's parts of it that go in the throat their points on the throat an addition points near the lip and just adjacent to your nose So kind of when your sinuses are blocked next to your nose there So you can see it comes here. That's when it starts the finger comes up on the outside of the arm Comes up into the neck here and then ends up here in the face There's a little rundown of the stomach channel here you can see it kind of runs along the center line of the Abdomen there comes up into the chest the neck their Portions on the face and even in the head and it goes all the way down the front of the leg on the It even goes down along the leg all the way down to the foot. So again begins just under the eye there Comes down. We have parts that come down Just along the ear here up into the head Down a few points right around the SEM there and the throat down the chest Lateral alongside the midline Down alongside the leg on the outside portion of the leg and here between the toes Here's a breakdown of the spleen channel so you can see the spleen channel again is on the inside Starting on down on the foot on the big toe comes up the inside of the leg And there are some scattered points on the chest and the abdomen there So the spleen again begins on the inside of the big toe You can see it coming along the inside of the medial portion of the leg And then it comes up along the abdomen and there are some weird kind of scattered looking points there Including up into the ribs up above here Here's a little breakdown of what the heart channel looks like the heart channel runs Really, I mean it connects to the small intestine, but also obviously begins connects in the chest there Some parts even connect to the tissue surrounding the eye and then it comes down along the inside of the arm ending up there Along the pinky so you can see it following this channel down here small intestine channel comes along the outside kind of the lateral side of the pinky and then the Outside the lateral side of the forearm and then kind of zigs and zags up the upper back there So you can see we're following around here Kind of has a very irregular looking pattern this zig and zag up in the trapezius region there And then it comes up even along You can see along the throat the scms up into the face and around the ear The bladder channel is one of the longest channels and one of the most complicated for sure There's also an inner bladder channel and an outer bladder channel. You can see here on the chart So bladder channel these aspects mostly running along the back again There's an inner and an outer portion along the hamstrings the calves and on the outside the lateral portion of the foot So the bladder channel originates right in the eye the inside of the eye comes over the head the first the inner bladder channel the inner points and Come alongside the inside here. So these are the more medial ones They come down they go around the back of the leg and then it comes back up. This is the outer bladder points And again, they come down Down along the leg calf here and on the lateral portion of the foot ending up out of the big toe kidney channel It's pretty straightforward comes up from the inside of the foot from the bottom of the foot Technically up along the leg and then runs up Just adjacent to the midline and then there's some portion of it that runs into the chest here five or six points So you can see the kidney channel The first point Yongchuan is the bottom of the foot comes up along the medial the inside of the leg. There's a Spot just adjacent to the midline and some points there as well Paracardium channel obviously closely associated with the heart also in biomedicine That's true really originates in the chest comes down along the medial portion of the arm ends in The middle of the hand and the middle finger there So you can see it tracing down from the chest down the middle of the hand Lao Gong and then ends of the finger the Sanjiao channel So it's called the triple warmer some people translate it is one of those channels that has Function as it's described function, but no form So it's not necessarily there's a part of your body an organ. That's called the Sanjiao Now the ancient Chinese also knew this but the Sanjiao has a very important function Most likely it's linked to the lymphatic or the adrenals something like that so Sanjiao channel runs along the outside of the ring finger comes along the wrist and Then among the posterior portion the back of the arm up the trapezius Around the ear and just ends there just adjacent to the eye in the eyebrow gallbladder channel again is another very very complicated channel to memorize now the gallbladder channel Begins just outside the eye and it kind of zigs and zags all over the head around the ribs and down the lateral side of the body So you can see it starting here just outside the eye Zigs and zags all over the head the skull Back and then forth and then it comes down You can see it tracing along the rib side of the body in a zigzag formation and then comes through the glutes Lateral side of the leg almost like around the it band area down along the lateral portion of the foot and there Here's the liver channel. So it originates the big toe Comes alongside the inside of the leg up near the genitals and then up and around the rib side area just under the nipples so Coming to the liver channel here. We can see it beginning Down here We come up the middle portion of the leg There's a strong aspect that links the liver to the genitals up into the abdomen And then it kind of ends underneath the hypochondrium there Now we're talking about the Wren channel the conception channel So this one runs really up the midline of the body very simple There's a Wren channel in the front a do channel in the back the Wren channel originates in the perineum Between the genitals and the anus runs up the midline While you also have the do channel This runs up along the posterior of the body again And again the do also you could say originates in the same general area Runs up along the posterior Over the front of the head and then ends just where the filtrum is essentially beneath the nose there So I hope that helps a little bit show you how where the channels and the meridians run now again They're not necessarily all physical and that's something that's I guess hard to grasp for some people that Parts of them in other words there are branches called like the sinew channels Which are more superficial and are associated with the physical muscle and the physical flesh But other parts are maybe more There are more layers to it now that may also encompass the area that people tend to call the energetic for example Now the best way to stay in touch is to grab my free guide on how to add 10 years to your life with traditional or Classical Chinese medicine and again, you can also get my last two videos right here and right here