fire · yin
Heart HT
手少阴心经
Shou Shaoyin Xin Jing
From the heart region it is drawn to the armpit, down the inner arm, and to the little finger. It is a short channel with a long symbolic role.
Yin fire channel, paired with Small Intestine. Pericardium is the other yin fire channel.
- Shen, the spirit in classical language
- Sleep and restlessness
- The tongue and speech in five-element notes
- The inner little-finger side of the arm
- Organ system
- Heart
- Teaching clock
- 11 a.m.–1 p.m.
Paired with Small Intestine.
Points in this atlas
4 of 9 classical numbers. Add the missing ones in order beside their neighbors.
Lesser Sea
Inner elbow point on the Heart channel.
Use caution
Penetrating the Interior
Forearm luo point taught for spirit and speech patterns.
Use caution
Yin Cleft
Wrist cleft point, taught for acute heart-channel patterns.
Use caution
Spirit Gate
The wrist point people learn for worry and sleep.
Use caution
Herbs that enter Heart
Salvia root
Moves blood and cools, with a special relationship to the heart in texts.
Chinese angelica root
Nourishes and gently moves blood. The women’s-health herb everyone has heard of.
Poria
A mild fungus that leaches damp and quiets the heart in textbooks.
Licorice root
Harmonizes formulas. Also the herb most likely to cause trouble if eaten daily in quantity.
Cinnamon twig
Warms the channels and helps a mild surface pattern.
Safflower
A strong blood mover. Small amounts in formulas, not a casual tea.
Coptis rhizome
Very bitter, very cold. Clears heat in the heart and stomach in textbooks.
Forsythia fruit
Clears heat-toxin and is usually written with honeysuckle.
Dragon bone
A heavy mineral substance used to settle the spirit.
Ophiopogon tuber
Moistens the lung and stomach and quiets irritability from dryness.
Ginseng root
Strongly tonifies source qi. Easy to misuse, and not a stimulant.
Cinnamon bark
Hot bark that returns fire to the source, in the classical phrase.
Spiny jujube seed
The seed students learn first for sleep.
Peach kernel
Breaks blood stasis and also moistens the intestines in textbooks.
Schisandra fruit
Astringes the lung and is said to hold leaking qi.
Corydalis rhizome
The pain herb. Moves qi and blood. Not a home analgesic.
Polygala root
Connects the heart and kidney, in the phrase, and transforms phlegm that clouds the spirit.
Gardenia fruit
Drains heat and irritability through the three burners, in the usual phrase.