5 Level Pulse

December 14, 2018
Mai Jing Pulse

Exploring the 5 levels of the pulse opens up a new method of pulse diagnosis with the emphasis on the question; "where is the pulse". The theory goes that when the pulse is healthy, the pulse positions are found at a certain set depth, as in this diagram. This method may uncover CF and Kyo and Jitsu diagnosis.

The core method of Mai Jing pulse diagnosis is looking at the relative depth of the pulse in a process called "5 level pulse diagnosis."

This method has the possibility of showing the most like elemental candidate for the CF (Constitutional Factor). For shiatsu practitioners it points strongly toward the Kyo and Jitsu organs.

The theory goes that when the pulse is healthy, the pulse positions that we commonly use, like Ht being on the left cun position should also show the beating of the artery at a certain depth.

Dividing the space between just below outside skin level to just above the bone we find 5 levels. The first correlates with Metal and Lung, second with Fire and Heart, third with Earth and Spleen, fourth with Wood and Metal and the fifth with Water and Kidney.

So for the Heart pulse to be healthy, we should see it beating strongest at the second level. if it is not there, but let's say deeper at the 5th (water) level, then there is something that we need to attend to with that organ/ official.

So going further with this method, we look at all the pulse positions: and usually we find that just one or two organs are found at the wrong place.

If there is one organ out of place, then this is the likely organ for being the CF… confirmed after cross checking with other signs (CSOE).

When there are two organs out of place, then we have two candidates for the CF. But only one is likely to match the other signs. So that one will be the CF.

Furthermore if there are two organs out of line, we find that they mirror each other in the way that they are out of place.

When this happens, as it does about 60% of the time, I call it a situation of "flipped" pulses

If one organ, let’s call it “A”, is found at another organ’s level (let’s call that one “B”), then that other organ (B) will be found out of place at the level of the original organ A. For instance, returning to our previous example we may find Heart has sunk down to the Kidney (5th) level. (otherwise known as “deep”). Then if we look at the Kidney pulse, we may well find that it has “floated” up to the Heart level.

But usually only one of these imbalanced organs match the other signs of Colour, Sound, Odour and Emotion… and that one will be likely to be the CF.

For shiatsu practitioners, these two "flipped" organs usually correlate with Kyo and Jitsu, when we think of the more deficient feeling pulse of the two being the Kyo and more excess felling pulse being the Jitsu. This I find correlates quite well with traditional Hara diagnosis and is perhaps easier to perform (and gives more reliable results).

This all sounds, perhaps, too simple to be true, but this method is relatively easy to learn and it really does work!

That is the key point in this method. There's a bit more to it than this, but if we start thinking about pulses needing to be found at their correct level, it opens the door to a really profound new pulse diagnosis method.

Jamie Hamilton

Jamie is Co-Principal of East West College

Always interested in learning and sharing the wonderful world of Chinese Medicine, Acupuncture and Shiatsu

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