At the center of the theory of acupuncture is the ancient Chinese idea of Qi, which is pronounced "chee" (sometimes spelled "chi"). Definitions of this term vary, but all have something to do with "energy" or "life force" or "flow." It's an elusive concept, one that I'm just beginning to make sense of. Here's a stab at it:
According to ACM (ancient Chinese medicine), Qi, this force, flows through the body through a series of channels that are called "meridians." The image I included on the last post has some of these meridian lines drawn in. These lines run all throughout the body, connecting part to part, in ways that sort of resemble the nervous system to me. The meridians ARE a system--a system of channels that carry the Qi through the body.
But this metaphor isn't really exact. The meridians are really tunnel-like tubes. Instead, as I understand it, they are pathways, sort of like a roadmap, of how the Qi flows.
When the body is healthy, the Qi flows along the meridian lines at a nice, even pace; when the body is suffering in some way, this is due to the fact that the Qi is obstructed or not flowing at the correct pace. Does the obstructed Qi cause the body's problems or does the body's problems cause the obstruction of Qi? I'm not totally sure. However, restoring the correct flow of Qi is the goal and focus of acupuncture.
[There's a lot more to Qi. I'll come back to this.]
At the beginning of an acupuncture session, the doctor takes several pulses--pulses in several places. She's checking how the Qi is flowing (I think) along various meridians, just as someone might check how the blood is flowing--the traditional pulse--at the beginning of a check up.
Modern medical science has long debated the validity of Qi, and the results are fairly inconclusive. It's a spiritual concept, so I'm not sure that science could measure it, though some scientists connect it to certain electro-magnetic pulses that CAN be tracked by instrumentation. This, too, I will explore further.
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