The channel network and Qi clock 經絡

One circuit

The twelve main channels join end to end into a single loop. Qi passes from the Lung to the Large Intestine, Stomach, Spleen, Heart, Small Intestine, Bladder, Kidney, Pericardium, Triple Energizer, Gallbladder and Liver, and from the Liver back to the Lung.

The loop runs in three rounds of four channels, each round going arm Yin, arm Yang, leg Yang, leg Yin: Lung, Large Intestine, Stomach, Spleen; then Heart, Small Intestine, Bladder, Kidney; then Pericardium, Triple Energizer, Gallbladder, Liver. Each channel hands on to the next at or near its end, often by a short branch, so the app shows where Qi arrives and where it passes on.

The Qi clock

The tradition gives each channel a two-hour peak in the day, when its Qi is said to be strongest, starting with the Lung at 3 to 5 in the morning and going round the circuit. Twelve hours later, when the channel opposite it on the clock is at its peak, it is said to be at its lowest.

It is a traditional model, used in timing treatments and in thinking about why some problems come at the same hour each day.

The two vessels

Besides the twelve channels there are eight extraordinary vessels, reservoirs that link and support the channels. Only two have points of their own: the Conception Vessel up the front midline of the body, which gathers the Yin channels, and the Governing Vessel up the back midline and over the head, which governs the Yang channels. The other six run on points of the main channels. Each of the eight is opened by one of the Confluent points.