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Hey there, everyone! It's Dr. Richard Lai DPT LAc here, hope you're doing amazing and happy and healthy!
So in this blog post we're going to go into the clinical applications of the DAI MAI which is one of the extraordinary vessels... the Dai Mai is also popularly known as the girdling vessel.
So let's break down the essential functions and clinical applications of the Dai Mai. Life hack is to read this blog post, and then watch the video or podcast WHILE you're reading the TRANSCRIPT! when you listen and watch you retain more!
What is the Dai Mai?
To kick things off, let's get acquainted with the basics. The Dai Mai, or girdling vessel, derives its name from the word "girdle." Imagine a belt that wraps around your waist—this is exactly how the Dai Mai behaves. It encircles your abdomen and back, creating a horizontal band that influences the channels running up and down your torso. Think of it as the boundary that separates the upper and lower halves of your body. In my practice, I've found that understanding the Dai Mai is essential for treating a wide range of health issues effectively.
The Energetic Vortex
One fascinating aspect of the Dai Mai is its role in forming an energetic vortex within your body. As I've discussed before, extraordinary vessels can pair up to create these energetic vortices that divide your body into different sections. The Ren Mai and Du Mai split your body into front and back halves, while the Yin Qiao divides you into left and right halves. The Chong Mai deals with the inner core and outer shell of your body. The Dai Mai, on the other hand, is responsible for creating an above-and-below division.
These divisions are not just theoretical; they serve practical functions by helping balance and harmonize corresponding sections of the body. For instance, the Dai Mai harmonizes your upper and lower halves, which is vital for overall well-being.
Locating the Dai Mai Points
Now, let's zoom in on the specific acupuncture points that make up the Dai Mai. The pathway of the Dai Mai starts at Liver 13, wraps around your waist, and intersects with Gallbladder 26, 27, and 28. These points are relatively easy to locate once you understand their positions on the body. Each extraordinary vessel, including the Dai Mai, has an opening point and a coupled point that allow you to access and regulate the vessel. For the Dai Mai, the opening point is Gallbladder 41, while the coupled point is Sanjiao 5.
Clinical Applications of the Dai Mai
The Dai Mai offers a range of clinical applications, and understanding these can significantly enhance your acupuncture practice. Let's dive into how you can harness the power of the Dai Mai to address various health issues.
1. Harmonizing the Liver and Gallbladder
One of the primary applications of the Dai Mai is to harmonize the liver and gallbladder. Given that the Dai Mai includes points like Liver 13 and multiple gallbladder points, it naturally influences these organs. Suppose a patient comes in with temporal headaches, often associated with gallbladder heat. By activating Gallbladder 41 and Sanjiao 5, you can regulate the Dai Mai and thus harmonize the liver and gallbladder channels, alleviating the headache.
2. Resolving Dampness in the Lower Jiao
Another fascinating aspect of the Dai Mai is its ability to resolve dampness in the lower jiao. Dampness is characterized by its heaviness, dirtiness, and stickiness, often settling downwards in the body. The Dai Mai can either tighten or loosen around the channels in the abdomen and back, allowing it to regulate the flow of Qi. This ability makes the Dai Mai effective in addressing dampness-related issues in the lower jiao or legs.
3. Regulating Circulation to and from the Legs
If a patient complains of weak, numb, or cold legs, the Dai Mai can be instrumental in improving circulation. The vessel's tightening and loosening capability allows it to regulate the flow of Qi and blood to the legs. By activating the Dai Mai points, you can enhance the circulation, providing relief for your patient.
4. Affecting the Qi of the Stomach Channel in the Legs
The relationship between the Dai Mai and the stomach channel is intriguing. According to Simple Questions chapter 44, the Chong Mai, considered the sea of the 12 channels, connects with the Yangming (stomach channel) through certain points. One such point is Stomach 30, which has a direct connection to the Dai Mai. By understanding this connection, you can address issues like weak or atrophied leg muscles, which may be a result of an imbalanced Dai Mai.
5. Treating Abdominal Pain
Abdominal pain that radiates to the front and back or moves along the pathway of the Dai Mai can be effectively treated by this vessel. Given its horizontal orientation, the Dai Mai is well-suited for addressing pain that follows such a trajectory.
6. Addressing Gynecological Issues
Gynecological conditions like leukorrhea are also within the purview of the Dai Mai. The vessel's ability to tighten or loosen around the channels makes it effective in regulating excess discharge. Whether there's an imbalance causing too much or too little discharge, the Dai Mai can help restore equilibrium. Moreover, the Dai Mai plays a role in supporting pregnancy by stabilizing and lifting the growing fetus.
7. Relieving Hip Pain
Considering the Dai Mai's anatomical pathway, which runs near points like Gallbladder 27 and 28, it is well-positioned to address hip pain. If a patient reports pain in this region, activating the Dai Mai points can offer significant relief.
Full vs. Empty Conditions in the Dai Mai
One important aspect to remember is that the Dai Mai can be either too tight (full condition) or too loose (empty condition). Each condition presents unique symptoms and requires different approaches for treatment.
Full Condition: When the Dai Mai is too tight, the patient may experience a feeling of fullness in the abdomen, back pain radiating to the front, and a sensation of heaviness as if they're carrying 5,000 coins. These symptoms indicate a full condition, requiring techniques to loosen the vessel.
Empty Condition: Conversely, a loose Dai Mai (empty condition) can lead to issues like hernias, miscarriages, and prolapses. In such cases, the goal is to tighten the vessel and restore its supportive function.
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TRANSCRIPT
Dr. Richard Lai DPT LAc [00:00:16]:
So in this video, we are gonna go over, you probably guessed it, the Dai Mai. Now the Dai Mai is one of the extraordinary vessels. It's probably more popularly known as the girdling vessel. Now that word girdling comes from the word girdle, obviously, which basically is just like a strap that goes around your waist, kind of like a belt, and that's exactly what the girdling vessel really is. It's basically a horizontal belt or a horizontal vessel that goes around your waist, around your abdomen, and around your back. And then so there's this connection then with the channels that go up and down your abdomen and the channels that go up and down your back. And because the daimai, it basically encircles your abdomen and encircles your back, goes all the way around your waist, like a belt, the daimai can basically either tighten or it can loosen itself around all of those channels. And then in terms of the daimai, it can actually also split your body, and this has to do with the energetic vortex.
Dr. Richard Lai DPT LAc [00:01:21]:
We've talked about this before. Basically, the daimai, it splits your body into an upper half and a lower half. And I'll put on the screen this picture of this energetic vortex. This picture basically represents all of the extraordinary vessels in your body and how together they pair up and they create this vortex. Whether it's like a vortex that goes up and down and around or around the side or in and out. Now there's pairs that you could see there, and, basically, the pairs divide your body into halves. And so, for example, there's, like, the front half and the back half, which is the renmai and the dumai, and they divide your body in front and back. We also have the yin chao.
Dr. Richard Lai DPT LAc [00:02:01]:
The yin chao, it divides the body into, like, a left and the right. And then we also have the chongmai. The chongmai is basically what creates, like, an inner core of your body, and, of course, you have your outer shell as well. And then what we're talking about today is the daimai. So the daimai basically creates this above and below. So you can see from the picture, it's literally encircling this sphere like a belt, and so it creates this upper half and the lower half. And now, functionally, what these vortexes do is that they harmonize these two halves. So, for example, the daimai, it will harmonize the above and the below.
Dr. Richard Lai DPT LAc [00:02:38]:
The renmai and the dumai, they harmonize front and back. Alright. So now if we zoom in on the daimai itself, we can look at the points that make up the daimai. And so it starts at liver 13, and then it goes around your waist like a belt, and it crosses over gallbladder 26, 27, and 28. So really easy, liver 13, and then gallbladder 26 to 28. And so each extraordinary vessel has an opening point and a couple point. Now these two points together, they allow you to access the vessel and allows you to regulate the vessel as well. So the opening point for the Diamite is gallbladder 41, and the coupled point for the Daimai is Sanjiao 5.
Dr. Richard Lai DPT LAc [00:03:19]:
So the question is what happens when you access Daimai? Well, there are clinical applications for the usage of the Daimai and that's what this video is about. So here, I'm gonna put up on the screen just a list of all the clinical applications. So as you can see, number 1, you can harmonize the liver and gallbladder with the Dai Mai. And this clinical application makes complete sense because when you look at the points on the dimai that we just went over, they're made up of liver 13 and 3 gallbladder points. So if there's an excess condition in the gallbladder, for example, or even the liver, like, for example, let's say you have unilateral headaches, like a very gallbladder heat type issue, which your patient might say, my temporal my temples hurt. I have temporal headaches. These are headaches on the side of your head. You can use the Dai Mai to regulate the gallbladder channel.
Dr. Richard Lai DPT LAc [00:04:10]:
You can use the Dai Mai to regulate and harmonize the liver gallbladder relationship and therefore treat the temporal headache. All you simply have to do is activate the opening and couple point, which is gallbladder 41 and Zhengzhou 5. Clinical application number 2 is that the Dai Mai can resolve dampness in the lower jiao. Now this has to do with the channel's ability to loosen or tighten around the channels of the abdomen and back, which just means that the Diamai can either allow more flow up and down or it can restrain flow up and down. Now what does that have to do with dampness? Dampness, we already know. Dampness is 3 things. Dampness is dirtiness, it's heaviness, and it's stickiness. Now in terms of heaviness, heaviness, we know that it likes to go down.
Dr. Richard Lai DPT LAc [00:05:00]:
It likes to settle down. Some sources will say that it likes to infuse down. Now this can be treated also by the daimai Because the daimai, it regulates this flow from up and down. So it can regulate chi from up and down. It can regulate flow going to and from the bottom half of the body. And so that's how it can regulate dampness and resolve dampness in the lower jiao or in the legs. Alright. So next up, we have clinical application number 3, which is basically that the daimai can regulate the circulation of chi that's going to and from the legs.
Dr. Richard Lai DPT LAc [00:05:32]:
This again has to do with that tightening and that loosening because the daimai is like a belt. So it's gonna loosen or tighten around the channels in the abdomen and in the back. And so by tightening or loosening, the daimai can actually regulate that circulation of chi that's going to your legs. So if your patient is coming to you and saying, my legs feel weak, my legs feel numb, my legs feel cold, you should consider using the daimai to regulate that circulation that's going to their legs. Alright. Now clinical application number 4 is that the daimai can affect the chi of the stomach channel, especially in the legs. Now to understand this, we have to do some light reading, which I don't have memorized. So I'm gonna take out my phone, and I'm gonna read it to you.
Dr. Richard Lai DPT LAc [00:06:14]:
So, basically, from Simple Questions chapter 44, it says that the chongmai is the sea of the 12 channels, and it connects with the bright yang, the yangming, which we know that has to do with the stomach channel. It connects with the yangming in the ancestral vessels. And they are all, meaning everything that we just talked about, the Zhongmai, the bright yang, the ancestral vessel the ancestral muscles, they are all restrained by the daimai. So when the bright yang is empty, the ancestral muscles become slack as the daimai fails to tighten them. The leg muscles can become weak and atrophied. And so what does all of that mean? So what that means is basically that there's this connection between our chongmai, our stomach channel, and our daimai. And to understand that, we have to look at our point location book because when we look at chongmai, we see that one of the branches there includes a point called stomach 30. And stomach 30 is the beginning of one of the branches that actually goes down to the foot.
Dr. Richard Lai DPT LAc [00:07:16]:
So I'll make a picture, and I'll put it on the screen for you so you see what I'm talking about. But basically, there's this connection between the daimai and the chongmai by way of stomach 30. So according to simple questions, it's telling us that there's this connection between our chongmai and our stomach channel and also the daimai, and that's through stomach 30. Alright. So now next up, we have clinical application number 5, number 6, and number 7, which number 5 is abdominal pain, number 6 is gynecology, and number 7 is the hips. So now let's go into each one. So first one, we have abdominal pain. So in terms of the Dai Mai, if your patient has abdominal pain and they say that it's radiating to the front or it's radiating to the back or basically that it's moving from the front to the back, basically along the pathway of the Dai Mai channel, You can use the Dai Mai to treat that abdominal pain, and this is because the Dai Mai itself is a horizontal vessel, so it can treat pain that's radiating to the front and radiating to the back.
Dr. Richard Lai DPT LAc [00:08:15]:
Now the next clinical application is gynecology. Now, the diamide, it does have a huge influence on gynecological issues like for example, leukorrhea. Now leukorrhea, what is that? Leukorrhea is basically when there's this discharge coming from the vagina. Now, this can be normal or it could be abnormal. It all depends on the color of that discharge. Basically, if it's normal, it's white. And if it's odorless, it's normal as well. But if it's yellow, if it's green, if it's smelling bad, So that color change or that odor change, it could be a sign that there's something pathological brewing.
Dr. Richard Lai DPT LAc [00:08:51]:
So then how does the daimai fit into all of this? So this basically goes back to the mechanism of the loosening and tightening of the daimai. So if your patient, for example, presents with excess leukorrhea, they have a lot of discharge. So we can use the daimai with that tightening and that loosening to tighten the flow and reduce the amount of excess discharge. On the other hand, if daimai is diseased and it's too loose, it can also cause the body to produce excess discharge because the daimai being loose is gonna allow things to flow excessively. So now pregnancy is also something that's affected by the daimai. Because the daimai is one of the major contributors actually to the health of a growing fetus. Now the renmai obviously also has a lot of contributing factors. The kidney also has a lot of contributing factors and also I mean, a lot of things, chi, blood, everything.
Dr. Richard Lai DPT LAc [00:09:43]:
Now this episode is talking about the daimai. So let's talk about how the daimai contributes to the health of the fetus. And, basically, it goes back to how the daimai is like a belt or like a girdle. And so what a belt and girdle does is that it supports. It keeps things up. It keeps things stabilized. So it's gonna keep the fetus up. It's gonna keep the fetus stabilized.
Dr. Richard Lai DPT LAc [00:10:04]:
It's gonna support the fetus. If the daimai is unfortunately too loose, then what happened is that chi could not be intact or chi may not be holding up the fetus, and that can affect the fetus negatively and be a potential cause for miscarriage. Alright. So now clinical application number 7 has to do with the hips. Now this one's a very simple one, and it's basically just the location of the points of the daimai. Now you can see, daimai sits where? It sits along the abdomen, along the back. It also goes specifically by gallbladder 27 and 28, which is very near your As is. And so if there's hip pain, if there's back pain, if there's lower abdominal pain, these are all related to the horizontal pathway of the Dai Mai.
Dr. Richard Lai DPT LAc [00:10:49]:
Alright. And now the last clinical application has to do with whether there's a fullness in the Dai Mai or if there's emptiness in the Dai Mai. And so for that, I'll put on the screen two lists that we're gonna talk about, which is a full condition in the daimai and an empty condition in the daimai. So first, let's talk about the full condition, which a full condition is basically when the daimai is diseased in that it's too tight. So that tightness is a restraining type, so that means it's classified as a full condition. And so this is when your patient's gonna tell you, I feel fullness in my abdomen. I feel like my back is sitting in water. They could also say that they have this backache that radiates from their lower abdomen to their front or vice versa.
Dr. Richard Lai DPT LAc [00:11:35]:
They might even say, and you will see this on the board exam, that they have this feeling of heaviness in the body and coldness in the back as if they're sitting in water. Or the board exam loves to reference this one, which is heaviness in the abdomen as if they're carrying 5,000 coins. So that's a very specific manifestation that has directly to do with the diamai. Now all that has to do with the diamai being too tight, in other words, a full condition. Now, the other half of all this is the empty half, which is the empty condition. So this is when the diamide is too slack, so it's too loose. So what happens then is that your patient has a higher chance of having hernias, miscarriages, and even prolapses. Alright.
Dr. Richard Lai DPT LAc [00:12:16]:
So I hope you like that episode. I'm trying to change up the format of the episodes to make them a little more creative, to try to scratch my creative itch. So I hope you've been enjoying that part of it. Right now, I'm still creating that course and thank you to everyone who's an insider, who's providing amazing feedback. So this course is really turning out to be exactly what an acupuncture student needs to help them get all the information they need, have all the resources they need, all the confidence that they need to pass the board exam. If you wanna be an insider, make sure you go to my website www.studyacu with me.comforward/insiders, and you can sign up for the chance to be one as well. Alright, everyone. Hope you enjoyed this video.
Dr. Richard Lai DPT LAc [00:12:55]:
Until next time. God bless, and happy studying.