In a Shiatsu session I was asked, “So what you are saying is that the Bladder Meridian* controls all the other Meridians?” Hmm. Was that what I was saying? “Let me think about that for a moment,” I replied. This was an interesting question because, as those of you who receive my Shiatsu Sessions regularly know, nary a Shiatsu goes by that we do not work on the all-mighty Bladder Meridian. Why is that?
Here I was with twenty years of doing Shiatsu and I had just been presented with a distillation of my own thoughts that was about to teach me something about Shiatsu that I did not yet understand.
My first response in exploring this question/statement was that the Bladder Meridian most certainly does not control all the other Meridians. “Control” was not the precise word. But what was the precise word? Hmm again.
Then I had this realization:
Because the Bladder Meridian is primarily associated with water and thus fluidity and flow (or the absence of them) I have come to call the Bladder Meridian the “Golden Energy River of Your Life*”. Suddenly I realized that this could mean that the other Meridians are like the tributaries of a river that feed the parent river. The eleven other Acupuncture Meridians feed into the Bladder Meridian. Perhaps, I further pondered, the other Meridians actually energize the Bladder Meridian and allow our energies to flow freely in your boat* as we move down the Golden Energy River of Your Life.
This perspective represents a powerful shift in my previous vision/version of the overall dynamic relationships inherent the between the eleven Acupuncture Meridians. It also is giving me a new window from which to view Shiatsu.
If this material is a little confusing, please look to future postings for further explanations and continued exploration of this particular topic and others relating to the Acupuncture (Shiatsu, too) Meridians identified by Traditional Chinese Medicine ( TCM ).
Thank you for your time with me. I value your presence here and look forward to your feedback and comments.
* The Bladder Meridian is one of twelve primary meridians, mostly related to organs in the Human body. The Bladder Meridian is an indicator of the dynamics of flow, fluidity, fear and faith in our lives. The “Golden Energy River of Your Life” reflects the degree of flow in your life towards the destination of full-self expression. When I look at a person’s Energy River, I also look to see what kind of boat they are on as they move down their Energy River. It could be anything from a raft (a la Tom Sawyer and Jim) to a large power boat with hands on deck! The flow of the river and the nature of their conveyance down the river tell a story about where someone is in their life as relates to moving their life forward.
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