Editor’s Note: In prior issues, Neil discussed the Three Heater Official (aka Sanjiao) as a whole and points 5 and 7 (July 2015), and points 1-3 (May 2022). This article discusses points 4, 8-11 and 12.
SJ 4: Yang Pond (Source Point)
The Chinese character for yang refers to the sunny side of a hill – warm and bright. A pond is a body of still water: calm, restorative, cleansing, refreshing. From its depths, this point spreads just the correct amount of warmth, love, connection, and joy to every official and every level – harmonizing, adjusting and balancing.
This is a precious reserve from which fire-imbalanced patients can safely draw in times of uncertainty, social anxiety, or when feeling isolated, disconnected, and alone.
As the source point, it is the safest point of the meridian to use, as source points cannot be overtonified or oversedated. They have a built-in safety mechanism that switches off when the correct balance is achieved, providing from a deep level – the source – the correct amount of available energy needed for the body, mind and spirit.
Source points are often the first points used on new patients, as they give an idea of how the patient’s energy will respond: how much they have and how much they need. This is largely determined by the pulse change. Some patients will respond readily to source points alone. Others may need more powerful points to get the necessary change.
Sources are very grounding and reinforcing, and are often used to conclude and anchor a treatment which required the clearing of a block or other stronger points first.
SJ 8: Three Yang Junction
This is a reunion, or meeting point, of the three upper yang meridians: SI, SJ and LI. As treating this point influences them all, we tend to use it when all three are in relatively the same level of need, as determined by the pulses. “Yang” in the point name suggests the qualities of upward direction, forward movement, brightness, and activity.
We would consider this point for fire-imbalanced patients who are physically cold, lethargic, sleepy, and unmotivated. Mentally, they may be slow, uninterested, dull, and forgetful. Spiritually, they may lack passion and enthusiasm, unable to express warmth outwardly.
SJ 9: Fourth Gutter
The Three Heater’s role in regulating the proper dissemination of warmth throughout the body, mind, and spirit includes the movement of fluids and energy. This intricate process involves traversing a vast network of channels akin to ditches, gutters and sluices, which serve as gateways for managing the flow.
When any of these channels becomes obstructed, the communication network falters. Imbalances arise, with excessive heat directed to some areas while others are deprived, leading to the accumulation of toxicity and the stagnation of waste.
Physical manifestations range from inflammatory conditions due to heat excess to sensations of coldness and numbness resulting from insufficient warmth circulation. Any organ or bodily function may suffer breakdown when this natural flow is disrupted. Similarly, the mind may become burdened with unresolved resentments, lingering grudges and unhealed heartaches, unable to cleanse itself if the gutter is blocked.
Spiritually, the ability to connect authentically with others and share warmth and love is compromised. Toxic expressions of love emerge, marked by selfishness, manipulation, and conditions that can deteriorate into hatred – overwhelming with hot intensity or withdrawal into coldness, rigidity, and disinterest. This point serves to cleanse accumulated waste, restoring the flow of love, compassion, vitality, and harmony.
SJ 10: Heavenly Well (Earth, Sedation Point)
Wells have been used to provide access to water for thousands of years. As indicated in previous point descriptions, fluidity is essential to this official’s functioning. There can only be flow if there is access to a source of fluid.
This well draws water from within the earth, but not ordinary water. With the word Heavenly in its name, we know that this a well of spiritual sustenance, likened to holy water.
This official is on task 24 hours a day, every day. From this well can be found the fuel to sustain us in our relationships, cleanse us of the residue of past hurts, restore our love and compassion, and attend to all the adjustments we must continually make to adapt perfectly to our surroundings.
As a sedation point, SJ 10 can drain excess energy from this official into its “child” if we find, by pulse diagnosis, that there is a relative excess in SJ and a relative deficiency in ST, thereby balancing “mother” and “child.”
SJ 11: Pure Cold Abyss
Purity implies that which is of the spirit, devoid of attachments and distractions. Cold preserves and stores. An “abyss” is a deep chasm. The depth of this “Cold Abyss” can refill and restore calm and quietude in the fire-imbalanced patient who is overextended, overworked, and “burnt out,” depleted in body, mind, and spirit.
This point provides a quick and needed change of orientation – a relief, a stop, a rest, a “chill out”; a plunge, metaphorically, into deep, refreshing, cold water.
SJ 12: Relax and Joy
During times of anxiety and uncertainty, this point can be crucial in aiding a saddened and tense fire-imbalanced patient to ease into happiness, to pause, to appreciate the beauty around them. Despite the genuine global concerns at present, our planet remains our loving and beautiful home.
In the heart of Los Angeles, amidst the height of the COVID crisis, with significantly fewer vehicles crowding the streets, the skies turned bluer, the air fresher, the ocean more enchanting, the foliage lusher, and the birdsong sweeter than I can recall in over four decades there.
This point is for the fire-imbalanced patient who has lost joy, humor, enthusiasm, and the ability to relax and trust that, in spite of challenges and obstacles, real and imagined, all is well. That which created and sustains us is ever-present.
Author’s Note: There are many interpretations and uses of these points in various traditions; the preceding is not intended to encompass all possibilities. English translations of point names are those taught by Professor J.R. Worsley and appear in Traditional Chinese Acupuncture, Volume 1: Meridians and Points by J.R. Worsley; Element Books, 1982.
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