Summary

The meridians always join together to form Yin / Yang pairs. On the outside of the extremities (arms and legs) run the yang meridians, which are connected to the corresponding hollow organs. On the inner side of the extremities run the Yin meridians, which are connected to the corresponding storage organs.

In the case of the meridian partnership according to the above/below rule, one speaks of corresponding meridians and means meridians that run along the arm and leg at anatomically corresponding points. For example, the heart meridian on the arm runs along the inside. The corresponding meridian should therefore run along the inner side of the leg: this is the kidney meridian.

The Qi (life energy) circles in the meridians three times through the whole body in one day. It always takes the following path: from the chest to the hand, from the hand to the head, from the head to the foot and from the foot to the chest. The following descriptions and explanations are intended to give an overview of the topic and are only summaries.

They are not intended for use or therapy. For more detailed information, we recommend a more in-depth reading. There are main meridians in TCM 12.

They run in pairs on each side of the body, mirrored on the left and right as longitudinal lines on the body. An organ is assigned to each meridian. The meridians with their common abbreviations are as follows: In Chinese medicine, the organs are divided into so-called zang (“storage”) organs (pericardium, heart, lung, liver, spleen, kidney) and fu (“hollow”) organs (stomach, small intestine, large intestine, gall bladder, bladder, 3-fold warmer).

In addition, the respective meridians are divided into Yin and Yang meridians, as already mentioned. All storage organs are assigned to yin-meridians and for each yang-meridian there is a hollow organ. One now assigns a natural element to the different organs and their meridians.

In the Chinese view these are the 5 elements earth, water, fire, wood and metal: earth: stomach, spleen water: kidney, bladder fire: heart, pericardium, small intestine, 3 times warmer wood: liver, gall bladder metal: lung, large intestine

Stomach (Ma)
Spleen (Mi)
Large intestine (Di)
Small intestine ()
Heart (Hey)
Liver (Le)
Gall Bladder (Gb)
Lung (Lu)
Kidney (Ni)
Bladder (Bl)
Pericardium (Pe)
3-fold heater or 3-heater (3E)

The attentive reader will recognize that each element has always been assigned a zang and a fu organ (or a yin and a yang organ). To complete the system, the different meridians can be classified according to their course inside the extremities (all Yin-meridians; they lie front/ventral on the trunk) and outside on the extremities (all Yang-meridians; different course on the trunk) according to the Yin/Yang-polarity. The following table hopefully brings some order to the thinking: Course on the trunk | YIN/storage organs/course inside on the extremities | YANG/cavity organs/course outside on the extremities Front | lung/spleen | colon/stomach middle/side | liver/pericard | 3heater/gall bladder Back | heart/kidney | small intestine/bladder