Meridian System (Jing-Luo)

To live in a valley is different to living in a wood, by a stream, in a city; the top of a hill is different to the bottom, by nature of its position.

All of these things we know and feel-they are obvious and often form the unconscious basis for our choice of where we live, or where we go on holiday.

The Chinese would say each of those different places has a certain quality of Qi - and they would be talking of more than just fresh air.

The study of Qi in the landscape is called Weng-Shui (literally Wind-Water) and has been used for centuries to determine the best places to build houses for the living as well as temples and tombs for the dead. Acupuncture is the Feng-Shui of the body.

The Chinese word Jing (a different word to Jing- meaning essence) is weakly translated as meridian or channel. An analysis of its written character gives the idea of a flux or a flow - fine, imperceptible, threadlike streams which at a deep level nourish and organize the body.

Just as a dowser is sensitive to streams or currents in the earth so an acupuncturist must have a similar sensitivity to the invisible currents in the body in order to find the 'points'.

Excitement of New York, the clean-cut freshness of the Alps, the dusty poverty of backstreet Delhi, or the fresh seaside air of the Cornish cliffs, all have clearly identifiable qualities.