EI 10 CIRCULATION/HEART PROTECTOR MERIDIAN

The primary focus for Integrator 10 is the circulatory system and the pericardium, or heart protector, meridian and its associations. It has a close association with Integrator 9 and the heart, cell metabolism and hormonal regulation. The Infoceutical helps to optimise energy flow along this pathway and to all the components that are contained within it, helping to clear and correct any energy blocks and incoherent messages along the way.

Energy Connections - Keynotes

Circulatory system: arterial and venous

Neuroendocrine regulation

Motor, visual and auditory regulation (midbrain)

Anti-inflammatory effects

Emotions – love, joy, trust, doubt, intimacy, thoughtfulness, connection, blocked feelings.

Pericardium. The pericardium is a two-layered tissue that surrounds and protects the heart and its blood vessels. The outer layer is a tough, loose-fitting fibrous tissue that attaches the heart to the surrounding tissues. The inner layer is a lubricating membrane that connects to the heart muscle. Between the two is a layer of slippery fluid that allows the pericardium tissues to slide over one another as the heart beats. The pericardium keeps the heart anchored in the chest and protects it from shocks and infection.

Heart Protector Meridian. The Heart Protector Meridian begins at the pericardium. It descends down through the diaphragm and the three “burners” found in Integrator 9. A branch leaves the chest by the nipple and descends down the front of the arm to the wrist, where it divides again, one branch going to the middle finger and another joining with the Triple Burner Meridian in the ring finger. In addition to the heart, the tissues in this Integrator include the hypothalamus, the midbrain, the pharynx and larynx, the stomach, the adrenal glands and the female sex organs. Its primary role is the protection of the heart and the circulation of energy and hormones through the body (it is also known as the circulation sex meridian).

Circulatory System. This is the largest system in your body with some 60,000 miles plus of blood vessels if they were lined up end to end. All the blood vessels, the arteries, veins, and tiny capillaries, are tubules that can gather and transfer energy. This is a dynamic system, moving the blood through the body not just via the pumping of the heart, but also through its own self-propelling energy vortex, created as blood spirals through the blood vessels. This Integrator has the all-important role of ensuring that oxygen, nutrition and information is carried to the cells. This includes delivering hormones and other messengers to the cells and bringing immune system cells to the site of infection. Circulatory issues may be linked to any number of conditions but some common indications include things like cold hands and feet, pale skin, Raynaud’s Syndrome and varicose veins.

Neuroendocrine Regulation. This Integrator influences aspects of how your nervous and hormonal systems speak to one another. The hypothalamus regulates the autonomic nervous system and endocrine system. It controls the pituitary gland and the pituitary in turn sends out messages that control the production and release of hormones from the endocrine glands. There is a link here with stress and sex hormone balance for instance. In stressful situations hormone production may be diverted away from sex hormones in preference to making more of the stress hormones that are needed in a crisis. There is a special link with female hormone balance here, as the female sex organs are within this Integrator. There is also a strong anti-inflammatory effect from the adrenal steroid hormones that are found here. A deficiency in these hormones can cause pain and inflammation. The midbrain too is here (also in Integrator 4). NES finds an intimate link between the midbrain and the heart with a continual two-way exchange between the head and the heart, thought and feeling.

Emotions. When thinking of emotional issues think of the role of the heart and the circulatory system in spreading love, joy and warmth, and how we need to protect our heart from the blows and knocks of life. In TCM the heart protector meridian is seen as the boundary that prevents the heart from being damaged by excessive emotional energies such as anger, fear and grief. With a broken heart full of sadness and pain, we may construct such an impenetrable wall around the heart that no warmth can come in or go out. Life can become flat, joyless and isolating. A heart protector that is too strong may perhaps cause over-protective, possessive and jealous behaviour. One that is too weak may leave us open and vulnerable to being hurt. As the Circulation Sex Meridian it provides the link between sexuality and love. If the heart is securely looked after it is able to leap with joy, when it is not, it may be skipping a beat in panic. Where there is love, there is trust. Where there is fear, there is doubt.

Neuroendocrine: hypothalamus, midbrain, adrenal cortex (corticosterone), adrenal medulla, ovaries (estradiol, estrone), pregnenolone, GH growth hormone.

Elements: sodium, potassium, silicon, nickel.