Acupuncture Point of, err, Three Days Ago

Alrighty!

I, uh, will say this in my defense-- the computer totally ate my post for Lung-2 on Friday, and then, you know, Saturday my brother Joe was in town-- weekend's are just gonna be tricky times to blog. In the future, I'll try and prepare these ahead of time. But don't worry about getting behind schedule-- there are gonna be lots of points that are pretty much useless, and we'll do more than one when we come to them. Onward!

Lung-2, or "Yunmen," meaning "Cloud Glate."

Our next acupuncture point is called "Yunmen," and it is the second point on the Hand Tai Yin channel. The Hand Tai Yin channel is associated with and connected to the Lung. This means that a lot (but certainly not all) of its indications and functions will correspond to conditions of the Lung. Channels are often called after their associated organ here in the West; hence, this point is usually called "Lung-2."

This point is located in the superior lateral part of the anterior thoracic wall, superior to the coracoid process of the scapula in the depression of the infraclavicular fossa, 6 cun (a Chinese inch) lateral to the anterior midline. (In layman's terms, it's on your chest, in the pit up by your shoulder, just under your collar bone. )

You can needle it to a depth of about .5-.8 of a cun, but you must needle laterally-- going straight in risks puncturing the Lung.

"What's it do?" I hear you ask. Well let me tell you--

Yunmen does basically the same thing as Lung-1; that is, treating excess conditions of the Lung-- but it's just not as powerful. However, it does seem quite helpful in treating local conditions of the ribs and shoulder-- particularly if you're having trouble lifting your arm. And believe it or not, it's also very good for pain or inflammation of the ankle! That's according to Dr. Tan, a contemporary acupuncturist who believes that you should needle a point opposite and transversely across the affected part of the body for best results. So needle the left elbow if you have problems with your right knee, your right wrist wrist if you have pain in your left ankle, etc., etc. Interestingly, this seems to be supported by an ancient Chinese text called "The Essential Questions," which says that Lung-2 is one of the eight points for draining "heat" from the extremities.

In TCM, problems of the Lung can be caused by grief or sadness, and vice versa. Lung-2 is able to counter this by restoring optimism and letting the sun shine in-- hence its name, "Cloud Door." However, it's not as good at this as Lung-3. Poor Yunmen-- always crowded out by its neighbors!

In terms of its overall importance and value, I give it 2.5 stars out of 10.

And that's Yunmen!