Name

手少阴心经穴

The Heart meridian is the Shao Yin of the hand. It has only 9 acupuncture points.

Pathway

Internal pathway

The meridian originates in the Heart.

• One branch traverses the diaphragm and branches into the Small Intestine establishing an Interior-Exterior relationship.
• Another branch ascends from the heart to the throat and connects with the eye structure.
• The branch that emerges externally goes from Heart to Lung and to the axillary hollow.

External pathway

The meridian emerges in the axilla at the point Ji Quan HT-1. It follows the posteromedial border of the arm, behind the Hand Jue Yin (Pericardium Channel) and Hand Tai Yin (Lung Channel). It reaches the medial end of the elbow crease at the point Shao Hai HT-3 and continues descending along the posteromedial border of the forearm. It crosses the pisiform bone, the hypothenar eminence at Shao Fu HT-8, follows the radial border of the little finger ending at its radial nail angle, at the point HT-9.

Points

• HT-1. Ji Quan.
• HT-2. Qing Ling.
• HT-3. Shao Hai. He-Sea Point.
• HT-4. Ling Dao. Jing-River Point.
• HT-5. Tong Li. Connecting (Luo) Point.
• HT-6. Yin Xi. Xi-Cleft Point.
• HT-7. Shen Men. Shu-Stream Point, Yuan-Source Point.
• HT-8. Shao Fu. Ying-Spring Point.
• HT-9. Shao Chong. Jing-Well Point.

Heart Muscle Channel

What is a muscle channel?

See Heart Muscle Channel.

Heart Connecting Channel

What is a Connecting (Luo) vessel?

See Heart Connecting Channel.

Heart Divergent Channel

What is a divergent or distinct channel?

See Heart Divergent Channel.