ame points. The organs they help connect these points. All the points connected like a dot-to-dot pattern are called a meridian. There are fourteen main meridians, and these are connected by smaller meridians. ( Chaitow 21 ) There are also five main elements and organs that are connected by these meridians. These are fire ( heart ), earth ( spleen ) , metal ( lung ) , water ( kidney ) , wood ( liver). The two cycles of the elements are called Sheng ( creation ) and KO ( control ). These cycles work much like paper, rock , and scissors. In the Sheng cycle wood feeds fire, fire makes ashes, earth makes metal, metal defined as slime, and water , so metal makes water. There is another cycle, but it is not the reverse of the first. Its meaning is opposing, not the order in which it flows. Water puts out fire, metal cuts wood, wood plows earth, earth dams water. The Sheng cycle is circle shaped, and the KO cycle is star shaped. ( Leong 51 ) The traditional Chinese view of acupuncture is based on trial and error over hundreds of years, and a lot of symbolic representation. The meridians ( or channels ) run in regular patterns over the surface of the body. They irrigate and give nourishment to the body. Any obstruction of this flow of Yin and Yang must be unblocked by applying pressure to certain points. ( How ) Some of the different qualities given to Yang are : plus, hot, light, man, and the tendency to grow outward. Some of the symptoms of Yang are : pain, burning, spasms, over activity, excess. Some of the qualities of Yin are minus, cold, dark, women, tendency to shrink inward. The symptoms of Yin are : paralysis, cold, laxity, under activity, and deficiency. The sum of the Yin and Yang are equal to zero or Tao. ( Leong 19 )The Yin and Yang go along with the traditional approach to acupuncture. One of unique ways to diagnoses people is that they use pulse. There are six veins I your wrist and depending on how fast or slow your heart beats...
