The Coiled Spring
the stuck (liver-qi stagnation) type
All that power, wound tight — the sighing is your body asking to uncoil.
Flames shift with seasons and life — re-read yours when the weather turns.
Tight chest, clenched jaw, a sigh that sneaks out at the end of every breath. Nothing is wrong with your energy — something is stuck in your flow. The tradition gives the job of keeping everything moving to the Liver system (a function, not the organ), and the fix isn't force: it's settling, downward warmth that lets a clenched system release.
Sounds like you?
- Tight chest, clenched jaw, frequent sighing?
- Symptoms ease with movement or venting?
Your Three Lines
Your points · your rhythm · your don’ts. Print this; it’s yours.
Sanyinjiao · SP6
Spleen channel
Find it: 4 finger-widths above the tip of the inner anklebone, just behind the shinbone's inner edge.
Dose: 1 unit per leg
Qihai · REN6
Conception Vessel (Rèn Mài)
Find it: 2 finger-widths straight below the navel, midline.
Dose: 1–2 units
Your rhythm: Evenings after compressed days.
Your don’ts: Skip SP6 entirely if there is any chance you are pregnant — warm Qihai (REN6) only. If you're running hot with it (flushed face, boiling irritability), moxa waits. Pregnant? No moxa at all for now.
Why these points, together
Soften, then let it move. Sanyinjiao (SP6) sits where the Spleen, Liver and Kidney channels cross — warming it eases a system wound tight and quiets the mind that rides on top of the tension. Qihai (REN6), the “Sea of Qi”, keeps qi moving in the lower belly so it stops jamming behind a tight chest. Warmth here works with movement — a walk before the session doubles it.
Before any session — skip moxa today if 2 or more are yes:
- Do you currently have a fever or feel feverish?
- Do you crave cold drinks and feel hot most of the day?
- Do you get night sweats or wake feeling hot?
- Is the painful area red, hot, or swollen to the touch?
And always: pregnant means no moxa at all for now.
What the tradition says
The tradition would read this as liver-qi stagnation — and it's worth knowing that in this framework, "Liver" names a function, not the organ in your ribcage. Its job is to keep everything flowing, and under sustained pressure the flow jams: hence the sighing, the tight chest, the short fuse that isn't really you. When the qi flows freely like a river, the limbs find their warmth.
The fix isn't force — it's settling, downward warmth that lets a clenched system release, paired with the thing your body has been asking for all along: movement. A walk before the warmth doubles it. If the tension ever turns hot — flushed face, boiling irritability, bitter taste — that session is not a moxa night; let it cool first.
Point selections and channel logic here follow classical moxibustion literature — chiefly Illustrated Chinese Moxibustion: Techniques and Methods (Singing Dragon) — with the safety spine informed by Xu, Deng & Shen (2014), Safety of Moxibustion: A Systematic Review of Case Reports.
Your first 7 warm nights, guided
The reading is free — the practice is the product. The Flow Temple kit + 7-day guided course walks you through your points, on your body, five minutes a night.
The 7-Day Flow Reset →TCM concepts are presented as a traditional wellness framework, not as biomedical fact. If symptoms are new, severe, or persistent, see a doctor.