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GV-4 Life Gate
命门 〔命門〕 mìng mén
Alternate names: 精宫 jīng gōng, Palace of Essence; 属累 shǔ lèi, Connected; 竹杖 zhú zhàng, Bamboo Stick
Channel: GV, governing (dū) vessel
Modern location: An acupoint located on the lower back, inferior to the spinous process of the second lumbar vertebra.
Classical location: Below the fourteenth vertebra. From
Local anatomy: See GV-3.
Action: Banks the origin and supplements the kidney; secures essence and checks vaginal discharge; soothes the sinews and harmonizes the blood; courses the channels and regulates qì.
Modern indications: Impotence; seminal emission; vaginal discharge; menstrual irregularities; diarrhea;
Classical indications: Headache; tinnitus; heat effusion with aversion to cold with absence of sweating; lumbar and abdominal pain; malarial disease; epilepsy in children; tugging and slackening; intestinal mounting (shàn) pain; red and white vaginal discharge; profuse flooding and spotting; white turbidity; intestinal wind bleeding; inhibited urination; bleeding
Needle stimulus: Needling: 0.5‒0.8 cùn sideways and upward oblique insertion. Moxa: 3‒15 cones; pole 20‒30 min.
Warning: Moxa contraindicated for patients less than 20 years of age.
Point name meaning:
A long-standing belief amongst the Chinese is that the life essence is located in the area below the navel, which is called the life gate. Nàn Jīng calls this location the area between the two kidneys.
It is also known as the Cinnabar Field (丹田 dān tián) and the Jade Capital (玉都 yù dū). The life gate is sometimes equated with the uterus in females and the palace of essence in males. It is the sea of blood and essence.