3

French Acupuncture
Influences

HUMAN ENERGETICS

The primary influence on my style of practice comes from the

various French teachings adopted by the Quebec Institute of
Acupuncture, where I trained, and its main teachers, Drs. Van
Nghi, Schatz, and Wexu. Further reading and translation of
works by the father of French Acupuncture, George Soulie de
Morant, and study and discussions with Dr. Yves Requena
enriched my perspective.
In L'Energetique humaine1 Dr. Chamfrault, a pioneer of French
acupuncture, and Dr. Van Nghi, a French trained physician-
acupuncturist and translator and commentator on Vietnamese
acupuncture works, expanded upon the human energetics of
acupuncture as already described by Soulie de Morant in his
major works on the subject. In this view, acupuncture brought the
realm of energetics so crucial in physics into the practice of med-
icine. The various energetic systems, constituting meridian ener-
getics, were therefore seen as constituting a different framework
by which to understand the body and its functioning as well as its
disorders. These early practitioners strove to explain in great
detail the complex energetics of acupuncture, through careful
reading of major classic and modern texts from China,Japan, and

17
18 Acupuncture Influences and Styles

Vietnam. They saw the need to experiment with the treatment

strategies of classical acupuncture, rather than reinterpret these
strategies into Western medical pathophysiological terms. The
fact that all but Soulie de Morant were medical doctors makes it
all the more impressive that these original French practitioners
respected acupuncture energetics in its own right and sought to
gain as much expertise as possible in its classical application. This
often differs from the approach of many American physician
acupuncturists, who usually train for only a few hundred hours
and learn acupuncture as if it were a simple adjunct to pain con-
trol according to Western physiological parameters.
It was Van N ghi, particularly in the above-mentioned text and
in his seminal Pathogenie et Pathologie en Medecine Traditionelle
Chinoise, who provided the understanding of the surface energet-
ics represented by the tendino-muscular, divergent, and Luo ves-
sels, and the primal energetics of the Eight Extraordinary Vessels.
Most schools of acupuncture in the United States did not teach
this system of surface and deep energetics, relying instead on the
texts being translated by the People's Republic of China (PRC)
such as The Outline of Chinese Acupuncture and The Essentials of
Chinese Acupuncture. In these TCM texts, descriptions of the ener-
getics of the secondary and extraordinary vessels were totally
absent, leading many American-trained practitioners to think that
the meridian system-comprising, as they thought, only fourteen
pathways-was rather simple indeed. As stated in the introduc-
tion, the texts from the PRC over the past two decades have been
conspicuously devoid of meridian energetics, so it is no wonder
that American teachings often followed suit. Couple this with the
fact that the teachings regarding the Five Elements in this coun-
try were derived from English schools, where the only translation
of the Huang-ti-nei-ching was the unacceptable version by Ilza
French Acupuncture Influences 19

Veith, and where this knowledge was sometimes divorced from an

understanding of the meridian-energetic system to which the Five
Element teachings relate, and it is clear that the American knowl-
edge of acupuncture energetics was greatly deficient from the time
of its early development through the seventies. This is beginning
to change with the translation of Japanese and French texts and
owing to the fine summary of meridian energetics by Royston
Low (Secondary Vessels ofAcupuncture).
My own practice was influenced from the start by these
French meridian-energetic teachings. I was taught, almost with-
out realizing it, to appreciate the need to regulate the upper and
lower zones of the body, paying careful attention to front and back
and right and left energetic polarities. For example, if! found con-
striction in the left leg branch of the Liver meridian, I would pal-
pate the body's energetic zones related to Liver: palpating the
right leg branch; palpating all along the pathway on the left to see
if the local constriction in the leg was due to blockage of energy
elsewhere along its path; checking the corresponding upper
branches of Jueyin, namely the Pericardium pathway, first on the
right, as rightlleft-upper/lower imbalances are so common (con-
stituting, in meridian energetics, what body workers term com-
pensation); then on the left (perhaps Jueyin is constricted on the
left and deficient on the right, for example); also paying attention
to the paired meridian, the Gallbladder (perhaps the Gallbladder
pathways are excess, and the Liver deficient, leading to local con-
striction). This attention to the various connections to the left
Liver energetic zone is very similar to the palpation one observes
when watching Japanese teachers, such as Kiiko Matsumoto, as
they conscientiously palpate the body energetic to assess the total
energetic condition of the organism. It is very different from pal-
pating the pulses alone, which, according to the modem TCM
20 Acupuncture Influences and Styles

teachings, correlate with the ZangFu, not the meridians. Also, sig-
nificantly, the secondary vessels (tendino-muscular, divergent,
Luo) and the Eight Extraordinary Vessels do not tend to show up
on the pulses. One must know their general characteristics, symp-
tomatology, energetic zones of influence and convergence, and
modes of treatment, which are totally different in principle from
the treatment of the regular meridians. The Five Element prin-
ciples taught by some schools, for example, do not apply to the use
of the secondary vessels and Eight Extraordinary Meridians, and
since the latter constitute the bulk of the energetic system of
acupuncture, Five Element treatment strategies apply only sel-
dom. The two dominant styles of practice in this country-TCM
and Five Element acupuncture-both emphasize the ZangFu
(called Officials by Five Element practitioners of the Worsley
school) and the regular meridians only and ignore the complex
surface and primal energetic networks, which, taken as a whole
with the regular meridians, constitute human energetics. In this
sense, they are disembodied approaches to acupuncture.

SURFACE ENERGETICS

The reader is referred to The Secondary Vessels of Acupuncture by

Royston Low,2 which describes in detail the internal energetics of
the regular meridians, as well as the secondary vessels and Eight
Extraordinary Vessels, for the basics of the French human-ener-
getic teachings. The appreciation gained for surface energetics, as
a kind of character armoring, in reading the French teachings will
raise many questions for practitioners who have limited their
practice to Five Element strategies. For example, if what they
actually witness in a particular case of excess of the Liver merid-
ian is excess of the tendino-muscular aspect of this meridian sys-
French Acupuncture Influences 21

tern, with a relative deficiency of the deeper, regular meridian,

but they treat it as an excess of the regular meridian by sedating
the Liver meridian, this would allow for a penetration of the dis-
order, hitherto lodged solely in the tendino-muscular zone of the
surface, deep into the regular meridian, now sedated and unable
to withstand such a penetration. To treat virtually every disorder
as if it were a deep energetic imbalance, which many Five Element-
trained as well as TCM-style practitioners often do, presuming
problems to be at the deep ZangFu level (since they have little
concept of the surface energetics under discussion here), bypasses
the surface energetic zones and perhaps allows for a weakening of
this zone by treating too deeply, too often.
Japanese and French-trained practitioners seem to appreciate
these surface energetic systems much more and often treat locally
and superficially (those who have trained in the PRC over the
past decade must wonder whether the Chinese even know how to
needle superficially, given the preponderance of very deep, very
strong needling practiced by TCM practitioners of acupuncture)
to free up energetic obstruction, knowing that in freeing up the
surface they are tonifying deeper energetic pathways and func-
tions. This meridian energetic intention is what constitutes the
singularity of many French and Japanese styles. Practitioners
with such an intention not only have an abstract idea of an organ-
function or Official in which they expect to see change as a result
of the treatment, but are keenly aware, first and foremost, of a
precise, palpable energetic pathway or zone that they expect to
see freed up, strengthened, or brought into harmony with
another zone of the body energetic.
In the French teachings evoked above, the meridian-energetic
system is thought to develop from the moment of conception to
adulthood. First to appear are the three extraordinary meridians,
22 Acupuncture Influences and Styles

Chung Mo, Ren Mo, and Du Mo. These three serve as the body
energetic's chief organizers, 3 and each structures the energetic
zones that it influences-Chung Mo energizing the front of the
body and nourishing the visceral functions (it is the potential for
ZangFu functions, the energetic basis upon which the Zang and
Fu later develop); Ren Mo in relationship with Du Mo, the for-
mer constituting Yin energies and forming the ventral surface,
and the latter constituting Yang energies and forming the dorsal
surface. To this longitudinal energetic flow there comes a fourth
meridian, Daimo, which encircles the other three, directing the
activities of upper/lower parts of the body energetic. Together,
these constitute the front/back and upper/lower energetic zones.
The other four extraordinary meridians-Yinchiaomo,
Yangchiaomo, Yinweimo, and Yangweimo-organize the particu-
lar Yin and Yang energetics of the four quadrants, connecting
upper left with lower right, and vice versa.
The second set of meridians to develop is the tendino-
muscular meridians, in close relationship with the Liver, which
controls the free flow of musculature, connective tissue, the
diaphragm (under the control of the Liver), and the serous mem-
branes of the abdominal and thoracic regions of the body. Their
function is to bar access of perverse energies to the deeper, regu-
lar meridians and ZangFu functions, and they also serve as a kind
of character armoring, according to several French writers.
Next to develop are the regular meridians, followed by the
Luo and divergent pathways.
While nourishing and ancestral energy travel in the extraor-
dinary vessels, Wei defensive energy circulates in the tendino-
muscular and divergent pathways, and Ying nourishing energy
flows in the regular meridians and their Luo vessels.
The key, in the French meridian energetic approach (Van
French Acupuncture Influences 23

N ghi especially), is to know which energetic level-defensive,

nourishing, ancestral-is affected and to treat the corresponding
energetic network.
In Terrains and Pathology in Acupuncture, Dr. Yves Requena, a
physician and student of Van N ghi, expands upon the Great
Meridian Units (Taiyang, Shaoyin, etc.) to develop a concept of
temperaments that I have reviewed in detail in Bodymind
Energetics. While I do not feel that it is valid to postulate strict
one-to-one relationships between the scanty descriptions of those
Great Units as personality types in the Nei-Ching and correspon-
ding temperaments in French morphological systems, I do find it
fascinating to think about the predispositions of someone with a
Taiyang energetic configuration, or of someone with a Jueyin
configuration, etc. American practitioners tend to develop a sense
of the psychology (in the Western sense) of the acupuncture sys-
tem, which needs to be further developed, and Requena's work in
this direction is exemplary.
Since I find that the majority of a person's disorders develop
along the pathways energized by the Great Units, Requena's cat-
egorization of pathology in terms of Taiyang, Shaoyang,
Yangming, Taiyin, Jueyin, and Shaoyin is extremely useful and
accurate. Someone with a predisposition to dysfunction along the
Shaoyang zones of Gallbladder and Triple Warmer pathways will
develop characteristic disorders in each of the systems of the
body different from those of someone who is predisposed to dys-
function along the Taiyin pathways of Lung and Spleen. I take
these in a behavioral way, as somatic energetic reactivity zones.
Hence, Taiyin is a zone of reactivity entailing all of the various
Spleen and Lung pathways (from tendino-muscular to regular
and Luo) that can be brought into play because one has an ener-
getic imbalance either due to heredity or early childhood events
24 Acupuncture Influences and Styles

in Lung or Spleen, or due to later trauma to either of these ener-

getic zones. In other words, as soon as Lung or Spleen are dis-
turbed, the whole of Taiyin is predisposed to dysfunction. This
type of somatic energetic reactivity is frequendy what we face in
acupuncture therapy, and I shall discuss one view of how to treat
it presendy. Whether as a constitutional factor or as a privileged
zone of coping mechanisms, Taiyin would thus constitute, in this
instance, a target zone whose vulnerability would recur as a major
factor in all complaints experienced by this individual.
Taken as a whole, the French meridian-energetic teachings
allow us to undertake more finely tuned energetic interventions
to prod accurately the bodymind of our clients. If the goal of
acupuncture therapy is, indeed, to guide the client to a recollec-
tion of his bodymind-energetic functioning, then the better our
knowledge of energetics, the more precisely we will be able to
prod our client's recollection.

MEETING ZONES
Below is a list of key meeting zones and zones of confluence of
energies according to the French meridian teachings. Royston
Low's excellent text contains more details.

The Three Powers (Heaven-Earth-Man)4

Governing Vessel (G.v.) 20 corresponds to Heaven.
Conception Vessel (C.v.) 17 corresponds to Man.
Kidney 1 corresponds to Earth.

The Three Levels of the Bodys

Spleen 21 corresponds to chest level.
Stomach 25 corresponds to middle level.
Spleen 8 corresponds to lower level.
French Acupuncture Influences 25

ROOTS AND NODES OF THE SIX MERIDIANS

The root is the point of polarization, where transformation from

yin to yang and vice versa occurs. The node is the point where the
great unit's energy is most concentrated.

Taiyang
Root = Bladder 67.
Node = Bladder 1.

Yangming
Root = Stomach 45.
Node = Stomach and Large Intestine meeting zone (L.I.
19-20; St. 3-4).

Shaoyang
Root = Gallbladder 44.
Node = area in front of ear (G.B. 1 and 3; T.H. 22 and 23).

Taiyin
Root = Spleen 1.
Node = c.v. 12.

Jueyin
Root = Liver 1.
Node = c.v. 18.

Shaoyin
Root = Kidney 1.
Node = c.v. 23.
26 Acupuncture Influences and Styles

TENDINO-MUSCULAR MEETING ZONES

Three Yang tendino-muscular meridians of the Foot (St.,

Bl., G.B.) = area from S.l. 18-St. 5.
Three Yang tendino-muscular meridians of the Hand (L.l.,
T.H., S.1.) = Gallbladder 13.
Three Yin tendino-muscular meridians of the Foot (Sp.,
Liv., Kid.) = Conception Vessel 3.
Three Yin tendino-muscular meridians of the Hand (Ht.,
Per., Lu.) = Gallbladder 22.

UNION POINTS

Stomach 12 = union of L.l., T.H., G.B., Lu., St., S.l.

Governing Vessel 14 = union of all Yang meridians.
Bladder 1 = union with St., T.H., Bl., Yinchiaomo, and
Yangchiaomo.
S.l. 10 = union with Yangweimo and Yangchiaomo.
S.l. 12 = union with S.l., L.l., T.H., G.B.
c.v. 17 = union with T.H., Sp., Ht., Liv., Per.
Bl. 11 = union with S.l. and T.R.

DIVERGENT MERIDIAN UNIONS

Bladder 54 (40) = Kidney and Bladder divergent meridians

meet (Shaoyin/Taiyang).
Conception Vessel 2 = Liver and Gallbladder divergent
meridians meet GueyiniShaoyang).
Stomach 30 = Stomach and Spleen divergent meridians
meet (Yangmingrraiyin).
Gallbladder 22 = Small Intestine and Heart divergent
meridians meet (Taiyang /Shaoyin).