[TCM] Meridians Help

[vickiconfrey at cox.net]

Hello Al,

Your OD class turned out to be the best vehicle for me to learn Zang Fu Syndromes, which I am taking this quarter. Once you beat into us, over & over & over again to learn the mechanisms, Zang Fu makes sense, and I thank you for that. My problem is Meridians.

I do not have the kind of mind that retains numbers.  Also, when I read a map, I turn the map around as I turn corners in the car in order to understand the map. So, when I hear that CV11 is 3 cun superior to CV8 and you divide 8 cun from CV8 to CV16 in half, and that half into half again, blah, blah, blah, my brain goes blank. Even just remembering that Du9 is in ISS of T7 doesn’t make sense to me because the Du numbers increase in value as you go up, but the vertebra numbers go down! Furthermore, when confronted with a live body, I tend to forget where I am when I palpate. Was the 7 that I just counted a T-7 or a Du-7!??! I don’t relate well to or retain numbers.

So, do you have a recommendation for a numerically & geographically-challenged student? The other students in my class seem to have caught on well.  The teacher is great; in fact, he is brilliant.  It’s me.

Thanks for any help you or others in the group can offer.