Balance Method — System 4: Midnight–Midday Clock
Star子午流注 (Zǐ Wǔ Liú Zhù)
Dr. Richard Tan, Balance Method, applying the classical Zi Wu Liu Zhu horary cycle.
Treatment Principle
Needle the channel that sits opposite the affected one on the twelve-hour organ clock.
Indications
Method
Pairings: Lung (3–5am) with Bladder (3–5pm); Large Intestine (5–7am) with Kidney (5–7pm); Stomach (7–9am) with Pericardium (7–9pm); Spleen (9–11am) with Triple Energiser (9–11pm); Heart (11am–1pm) with Gallbladder (11pm–1am); Small Intestine (1–3pm) with Liver (1–3am).
⚠ Cautions
Selects points; does not replace diagnosis.
About
The fourth correspondence system, taking the classical horary cycle — in which qi passes through each of the twelve channels in a two-hour period across the day — and pairing each channel with the one twelve hours opposite.
Rationale
Two channels twelve hours apart stand at opposite poles of the same daily cycle, and the classical literature already treats that opposition as a functional relationship. Tan's use of it adds a diagnostic hook: when a complaint reliably worsens at a particular time of day, the clock identifies both the channel involved and its balancing partner.
Clinical Notes
The time-of-day pattern is the most useful thing this system offers. A patient who wakes at the same hour every night, or whose pain is predictably worse in a given two-hour window, is telling you which channel to work with.
Sources
- Tan, Richard Teh-Fu. Acupuncture 1, 2, 3. San Diego, 2007.
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