Just like your veins and arteries circulate blood, your meridians are crucial for channeling energy throughout your body. In fact, according to Traditional Chinese Medicine, your meridians are essential for life to exist.
Despite their importance, your meridians aren’t something that can be seen or measured using modern technology. So, what exactly are they, and what do they do?
In this blog, you’ll learn what meridians are and why they’re such an important part of your health and well-being. You’ll also discover a simple yet powerful way you can strengthen these channels to experience more health and vitality in everyday life.
Meridians are energy channels that run throughout your body to deliver Qi to every cell within you. You can think of them as rivers and streams flowing through a forest landscape.
Meridians lie along your body’s fascia, which is the connective tissue that holds your organs, bones, blood vessels, and nerves in place. Although fascia is thin, it’s full of sensitive nerves that span your entire body.
Both your fascia nerves as well as meridians are sensitive to stress. When you experience stress, the nerves in your fascia tighten up, and your meridians become constricted. When this happens, it can be more difficult for energy (Qi) to circulate throughout your body. Relaxed states, on the other hand, can dramatically help your these pathways stay open and flowing.
Within your body, are twelve primary meridians which are known as… well, the Twelve Primary Meridians. Each of these corresponds to a specific organ. These include the Lung Meridian, Stomach Meridian, Large Intestine Meridian, Small Intestine Meridian, Bladder Meridian, Heart Meridian, Kidney Meridian, Triple Warmer Meridian, Pericardium Meridian, Gall Bladder Meridian, Liver Meridian.
There are also eight additional meridians known as the Eight Extraordinary Meridians. These include Du Mai, Chong Mai, Ren Mai, Yang Mai, Dai Mai, Yang Mai, Yin Mai, and Yin Chiao. Together, each meridian helps ensure that energy flows throughout your body.
To understand why your meridians are important, you need to understand Qi. In Chinese Medicine and Qi Gong, Qi refers to your life-force energy. Every living organism requires Qi in order to live.
There are many different ways Qi can manifest within you. Every breath, movement, emotion, and thought reflects the state and quality of your Qi. Additionally, your Qi is directly connected to how healthy or unhealthy you are.
Meridians are important because they allow Qi to move throughout your body. When your Qi circulates through these channels, your body’s organs and other tissues receive the nourishment they need. However, if your meridians become blocked, your Qi can’t circulate. When this happens, your energy can become stagnant and unhealthy. Just think about what happens to a stream that stops flowing; the water becomes dirty and polluted. Based on this, it’s easy to recognize why meridians are so important to your health and well-being.
Fortunately, Qi Gong can help you keep your these channels strong so energy can continue flowing smoothly throughout your body.
Qi Gong helps strengthen your meridians by working with your energy in several important ways.
First, Qi Gong seeks to activate your energy, which naturally increases its flow throughout your body. Many activation practices use tapping, breathing, or other engaging exercises to awaken and enliven your life-force energy.
In addition to activating your energy, many Qi Gong routines focus on purging old Qi from your energy system. This helps remove blockages in your meridians to restore the flow of energy. Once your energy has been cleansed, you can use other Qi Gong exercises to tonify, which essentially means strengthening your Qi so that it can flow with greater vitality. You can think of this process as turning a trickling stream into a gushing river.
Many Qi Gong exercises specifically focus on moving energy throughout your body with intention and focus. When this happens, you experience Qi flowing within you. This results in a serene feeling of being calm and relaxed yet clear and energized.
If you want to give Qi Gong a try and experience the meridian-strengthening benefits for yourself, be sure to check out our Free Two-Week Qi Gong Trial.
The Free Two-Week Qi Gong Trial is the perfect way to try the practice from the comfort of your home. All of the Qi Gong routines are led by master teacher Lee Holden.
One of the wonderful things about Qi Gong is that you can experience its benefits almost immediately. In fact, many students start feeling its profound, transformative effects within the first half of their first class. Click on the banner below to experience how the Two-Week Trial can help you strengthen your meridians, reduce stress, and increase energy in everyday life.
