How to use Acupressure to ease the symptoms of anxiety, depression, and bipolar disorder

Acupressure may help control mental disorders better than pharmaceuticals.

Acupressure is an ancient Chinese form of both massage and healing predating Acupuncture by many years. This modality is based on Traditional Chinese Medicine's (TCM) perspective of the way the body works, and this perspective has changed very little over its many centuries of use. TCM does not necessarily recognize brain as the organizer of the body, but rather perceives specific meridians within the body as having direct and potent effects on the body, mind, and soul. Acupressure incorporates the notions of Yin and Yang, and I believe that Acupressure works more successfully than does Acupuncture because Acupressure also incorporates the notion of "the healing touch", the use of the practioners' hands to transfer energy (chi) from the ether through their bodies and into the bodies of their clients. This process stimulates clients' own healing powers, and clients slowly come into Yin/Yang balance.

The basic notion explaining Acupressure is that there are 12 essential meridians that circumnavigate the interior environment of the body. For the most part each meridian is connected to a particular organ in the body; for example, the liver, gall bladder, heart, small intestine, stomach, spleen, lungs, large intestine, bladder, and kidney. Then there are 2 more meridians, the pericardium and the triple warmer, which are partners to the heart, but do not necessarily describe a body organ.

Like Acupuncture, Acupressure works by stimulating specific points along certain meridians in order to balance the energy (chi) within the body.

When someone suffers from depression, anxiety, melancholy, or a bipolar disorder, their chi is often said to be weak in certain areas and too strong in others, so people who suffer from the symptoms of these mental states can use specific Acupressure points to ease their symptoms.

Here is a list of some of the points you can use and where to find them on your body. You don't have to use each point every time you feel your symptoms coming on, but experiment with them to determine which ones work best for you.

* K4 (kidney point #4) This point can be found on the inside of your both legs, two finger widths above the top of your ankle bone. Press this point on both legs for 2 minutes, close your eyes, and breathe deeply. This area helps with anxiety and panic attacks.

* K27. This point can be found on your collar bone. Feel along your collar bone to the very center of your throat. Here you will feel two bony protrusions, one on either side. Put your fingers on each protrusion and move away from center 1/2 finger's width. There you will find a small valley just big enough for the tip of your index finger. Press there for 2 minutes, close your eyes and breathe deeply. This area is called the "storehouse of chi" and pressing here will ease symptoms of depression, and increase energy.

* St 13 (stomach 13). Move your fingers along your collar bone toward your shoulders about a 1/4 of the way. There you will find 2 more bony protrusions (one on each side). Use these bony landmarks and then drag your finger down your chest until they find the space between your 1st and 2nd ribs. Hold these points for 2 minutes, close your eyes, and breathe deeply. This point is called the "Chi Door" and it helps relieve tension

* St 16. Move your hands down to the space between your ribs just above your nipples, or just above where your nipples should be; hold here for 2 minutes, eyes closed, breathing deeply. This is called the "Breast Window" and it helps ease emotional distress.

* CV22 (Conception Vessel 22). Move your fingers back up to your collar bone finding the valley between the two bony protrusions. Press down with your index and forefinger and you will feel the top of your breast bone. This point is called the "Yin Regulator". Press here for 2 minutes, eyes closed, breathing deeply.

* CV19. Move down your breast bone until you find a small valley in the bone. Hold here with your forefinger and index finger. Same routine: 2 minutes, eyes closed, breathing deeply. This point helps to relieve anxiety, panic attacks, and symptoms of depression.

* Heart Meridian. This meridian is helpful in controlling hysteria, anxity, fear, and melancholy. You can "run" this meridian by beginning under your arm and kneading the underside of your arm all the way down to your pinky finger, ending at your pinky finger nail bed. Do this on both arms.

* SI 7 (Small intestine 7). Move along the pinky side of each forearm until you have gone 1/2 way up the forearm towards the elbow. As you move your fingers, press lightly on the skin just under the ulna bone. As you move along, you will come upon a tender spot; this will be SI 7. Rub this point with eyes closed for as long as it remains tender. This point helps with all mental disorders. Don't forget to breathe deeply.

* The Liver Meridian. This meridian helps with depression. Begin at Lv1 which you can find on the inside corner of the base of your big toe. Then slowly and consciously move up between the big and second toe, along that path on the top of your foot, then to the inside of your ankle bone, and then massage up along the inside of your leg until you arrive at your hips. Here you will use your pubic bone as a landmark and then move both hands out and slightly up so that your fingers are equally placed between your pubic bone and your hip bones.

You should feel a long, thick tendon. Press your fingers under the tendon and gently pull and push this area. Remain here for about a minute and then continue along the meridian following the curve of your hip bones out to the sides of your abdomen. Eventually you will come to the tips of your 12th ribs. Remain here for about a minute massaging gently. Then move at an angle toward the center of the body and up to Lv14. This point is found between the ribs just below the nipple, and it is called the "Gate of Hope"; you will know you've found the correct spot if you feel a bit of tenderness here. Massage for a minute or two. Breathe deeply.

* Breathing deeply. This you can and should practice as often as possible. This type of breathing begins in your lower belly filling it fully with your breath. Then fill your middle abdomen, and then fill your lungs. As you exhale, release the breath from your lungs first, then your middle abdomen, and then your lower belly. Continue breathing this way with complete consciousness.

These are just a sampling of Acupressure points that can help stabilize your emotional reactions to your world both inside and out; however, if you do suffer from chronic anxiety attacks, depression, panic attacks, or bipolar disorde