A. Energy testing, using the alarm points as I imagine you have been doing, will usually identify the meridians that need attention. But the meridian that is most directly involved with the problem is not always the meridian that first needs to be corrected, so other factors sometimes need to be considered. Much of this is mapped in two charts. Look to the Meridian Flow Chart and the Five Rhythm Chart in Energy Medicine, and the associated text, which explains how you can use each to track what is happening in the body’s energies.

Often the crux of a problem will lie "upstream" in the meridian system. You can see how this works in the Meridian Flow Chart. Bladder meridian, for instance, is upstream from kidney meridian. It "flows" into kidney, and what shows up as a problem in kidney meridian might be caused because bladder meridian is not flowing into it properly, not "feeding" it. Imagine that the meridians are rivers of energy connected to one another as segments, ultimately comprising one long waterway. Low water levels in one segment of the river might be caused by a logjam further upstream, so it’s imperative to break up that blockage in order to alleviate the problem downstream. Looking at the Meridian Flow Chart, each meridian feeds the meridian that follows it (going clockwise around the wheel). Very few problems, actually, are caused solely by an isolated meridian.

The wheel also maps how the energy of opposites can be involved. Look, for instance, to spleen meridian, whose energy comes in strongest between 9 and 11 a.m. Its opposite force is triple warmer, whose energy comes in between 9 and 11 p.m. As with all opposites, there is a dynamic tension between them. One can pull energy from the other. Because triple warmer governs the body’s stress responses, however, it can dominate, pulling energy away from spleen without the normal give and take between opposing forces. When spleen is pulled on too much and for too long, the immune system is affected. Infections, low grade fever, and a loss of vitality can result. In an instance like this, it is better to sedate triple warmer than to strengthen spleen. When triple warmer is sedated, the energy it releases is drawn back into the spleen meridian. While such a lack of balance is most common between the spleen and triple warmer meridians, it can happen between any of the opposing meridian pairs.

The 5 Rhythm Chart maps two other influences on the meridian energies: the "flow cycle" and the "control cycle" (both explained in Chapter 7). Each meridian is an expression of one of 5 rhythms, and the meridian’s rhythm, flow cycle, and control cycle may also need to be understood to grasp the full impact of its role in a problem. The 5 Rhythm Chart also shows whether the meridian is the "yang" or the "yin" expression of its rhythm. Bladder meridian, for instance, is the yang manifestation of winter’s rhythm and kidney meridian is its yin manifestation.

When trying to figure out which meridians need attention in order to correct a specific problem, energy testing the meridian indicator muscles, or using the alarm points, is where I begin. I will treat the meridians that the tests show to be involved with the problem by tracing them, flushing them, sedating and/or strengthening their acupuncture points, or working with their neurovascular or neurolymphatic points. If these do not bring the meridian into balance, or if the balance will not hold, or if the meridian does come into balance but the problem is not corrected, then you look wider, specifically at the 4 possibilities revealed by the charts: the meridian that feeds the meridian that won’t take a correction and the meridian that is opposite it (Meridian Flow Chart) and the meridian involved in it’s "flow cycle" and the meridian involved in its "control cycle."

Another important consideration is that it is easier to solve a problem when you have cleared the debris that surrounds it. So do all you can to get the entire energy system into as strong a balance as you can before doing this detective work. Clear homolateral energies, for instance, and use the techniques presented in the Daily Energy Routine (Chapter 3).

This may seem complicated (I teach an entire advanced class on this single topic –available as the "Energy Tracker" video training program), but this note outlines the basics of a reasonably complete strategy for tracking how meridian energies might play into a specific problem and formulating how to correct them.