How do we locate points in Colourpuncture correctly? How do we make sure that we are treating them well? We take an Acupuncture point LI2 as an example as it’s 1) reasonably good challenge to locate, 2) rarely used in Colorpuncture or even in Acupuncture and 3) easy to demonstrate. A subject of locating the points in Colourpuncture is close to my heart as it was such a struggle for me in earlier years when I was determined to get the location ‘right’ (read: perfect). What I know for sure though – based on what many Colorpuncture users share – is that when we lack confidence in locating Acupuncture points, we can just stop using most treatment protocols, choosing to stick to a couple where all the points are very easy to find.

Also, apart from classic Colorpuncture specific protocols, we can do Acupuncture-translated-into-Colorpuncture. Acupuncture translated into Colourpunture offers us creative freedom – when you know the basics, you can research the points needed to address the problem, choose the colours according to colour indications in Colourpuncture and your simple, personalised protocol (even if this is just a pair of points you need at the moment) is here. Sure, you need some initial Colourpuncture training and some basic knowledge of Acupuncture principles – both I’m happy to support you with. However, Acupuncture translated into Colourpuncture offers such endless opportunities and ease of use that it totally worth the initial effort. 

 

Locating the points, Acupuncture vs Colourpuncture: a question of precision

Nearly everybody assumes that in Acupuncture we locate the points better, more precise. I’d question this. I do both Acupuncture and Colourpuncture. I had very good teachers of both therapies so my opinion is that it’s a matter of commonly accepted practices in each therapy. In Acupuncture we go either by some anatomical markers or measurements. And! We treat both sides of a bilateral meridian the same – we either ‘reduce’ both points or we ‘enhance’ both points. Colourpuncture – done properly – offers a finer point locating technique: the point in question (located first by anatomical markers or  measurements) is always more tender than its immediate surroundings. This is easy to find with a point locator included into Colourpunture set and makes a big difference for therapy – the point we are treating is most tender and so most receptive. Also with complementary colours (see below) we can fine tune treatment of bilateral meridians: we can ‘reduce’ first with a cooler colour of the pair and then ‘enhance’ with a warmer colour of the pair.

 

Some comments on the video:

Fine tuning locating the points by closing your eyes: when you locate Acupuncture points treating yourself, closing your eyes will help you to tune into sensations in the point much better; when you locate the points on your patient, closing your eyes will help you feel better for anatomical reference points such as dips or flat parts in the bones, bones/joints connection, muscle insertion points etc. This is an excellent tip I got from one of our Colorpuncture students who also practices Acupuncture.

Giving Colourpuncture treatment: you can stand or you can sit. I stand for most of the treatment as I usually do a lot of ‘body’ points, but if I treat a lot of Auricular Colourpuncture points, points on the top of the head (such as Transmitter Relays) or Foot Reflexology points/zones/lines I would sit down and in case of Auricular Acupuncture points support the elbow of the hand I’m holding the Perlux with.

Complementary colours in Colourpuncture:

 

Here is the video transcript 🙂

“How to find the (Acupuncture) points in Colourpuncture – so we know that we are ‘on the point’ and we know that we are treating it well? There is a very simple answer to this question and I’ll just try to demonstrate it and if there are any questions then please ask – it’s very easy for me to find ‘the point’ now but when I was starting in Colourpuncture it was massive, massive difficulty and I was very, very afraid that I’m getting my points wrong. But guess what – there’s no such a thing because as long as you are in a proximity to the point and you do your best to go with point sensitivity – which is the greatest strength of Colorpuncture, this is how we look for the point -you’re going to be totally fine. So let’s take a point which we don’t use a lot in Colorpuncture; in Acupuncture we use it in a very specific situation. This is just very easy for me to demonstrate, this is why I chose this point. So this point is called Large Intestine 2 (LI2). This is the second point on the Large Intestine meridian will start here at the Large Intestine 1 (LI1), and this is Large Intestine 2 (LI2). This is Large Intestine 3 (LI3) and this is Large Intestine 4 (LI4), which we use in Colourpuncture – and in Acupuncture – a lot. So Large Intestine 4 (LI4) gets all the glory of Large Intestine Meridian pretty much – it has such a wide range of indications and we basically rely on it when we want to address the (Large Intestine) Meridian. But let’s look at this point: Large Intestine 2 is a ‘Water’ point on a ‘Metal’ Meridian from the point of view of Acupuncture. In a practical terms it means that it reduces Heat. This is the very beginning of Large Intestine meridian and at the very beginning of any meridian the Qi – the Energy – is very very shallow. It’s very accessible, it’s straight under the surface, straight under the skin. So when we needle this point (in Acupuncture), we don’t needle deep obviously because there is nowhere to needle, there is not so much substance. In Colourpuncture obviously this doesn’t matter at all because we are not puncturing the skin – but it’s important to know. So the Qi (energy) here is very shallow; it just starts to flow along the Meridian; it’s sort of not very mature even. How do we look for the point? We know that the point is right next to this joint in a direction of the tip of the finger on the change of a skin color. There is a joint here; there is a bone here; and this is where the point should be. Now why I’m saying ‘the point should be’ and not ‘the point is’? This is where the point is – but if you are in any doubt about how to find the point, what you need to know is this is where your point should be. And then you take your ‘palpator’ – and this is why you have it in your Colorpuncture set – and you start testing. And you can do it right now while I’m demonstrating it so you can see on a practical level how it is done. Then you can test in this proximity. So, see my movements? They’re very very very small. They’re very tiny. So I found the point which is more sensitive than an immediate environment and this is my point. We need to stimulate the point before we do the Colour. I would always massage the point – we need to get the energy (Qi) moving along the meridian, and then we need to address the informational flow with Colorpuncture. We found the point; we are massaging the point; and then obviously because this is a bilateral Meridian, we need to find the same point on the other hand. Very often when you can’t find the point, you can close your eyes. And it seems strange but it does help because when we keep our eyes open, most of our input – sensory input – goes through the eyes because visual field has a priority. But as soon as you close your eyes you will feel more sensitivity in the point. For a patient: don’t close your eyes when you do it with a stick (‘palpator’) – with your fingertips you can palpate, you can close your eyes and you can feel deeper. So I try this point and I try the same point and for me on the right hand today this point feels slightly more tender. When one of the bilateral points is slightly more tender than the other, we start with this point and we treat it in a cooler colour. There are two options to treat Large Intestine meridian (with Colorpuncture). One: we would treat with Red and Green. So I would treat this point in Green and this point in Red. Another option to treat Large Intestine meridian is with colours Yellow and Violet, this complementary pair. So I’m taking my color Violet and I’m treating this point with Violet first – and I’m going to do just five seconds for demonstration but in usual conditions you do it from 20, 30 seconds up to one minute – the other side I’m treating in Yellow. Now, because I’m standing and I’m doing it for demonstration – I’m not very relaxed. But when you’re doing it for yourself what you need to do – you need to create some support to this hand and you need to create some support for this hand. And then you need to be very very relaxed if you’re doing it for yourself. When you’re doing it for somebody, obviously you also need to be more relaxed because when a therapist is tense, this tension you convey to your patient. When for example you’re working for a long time on one particular part of the body – so classic example would be you’re doing a lot of auricular (ear) points, what you can do – you can really support your elbow. If you have a wide couch then you can support it by the end of the couch; if you have a very narrow couch you can put it on your knees on some pillow which you put on your knees. So bottom line is you need to be relaxed when you’re doing it for yourself and when you’re doing it for a patient. When you’re doing it for yourself, you need to keep the part of the body which is being treated relaxed – but also your hand which is holding a Perlux (Colorpuncture tool) relaxed. The same goes when you treat a patient: you need to stand in a good position and you need to be fairly relaxed – this is the best way to give a session, because your calm, your centeredness, your balance -you will share it with your patient. I’ll give you another example how you can treat this point (Acupuncture point Large Intestine 2 or LI2). So in Colourpuncture we do actually treat this point – very very briefly – when we do a treatment for colds and flus. Here we’re going into our Red and Green combination because Red is the colour which affects temperature. So Red increases circulation; increases the warmth in the body – so Red is not something that you use when a person has fever. But if a person is really really weak and they have cold symptoms, what they need to do – they need some blood circulation, they need some peripheral blood circulation going in the Meridian. So you need to warm it up and so for the body to respond. So what we do is – this is a part of our (Colorpuncture) treatment for cold. In Colourpuncture we stroke the line actually – from Large Intestine 1 (LI1) through the Large Intestine 2 (LI2) through the Large Intestine 3 (LI3) and to the Large Intestine 4 (LI4) – and back. So: point 1 (LI1); along the bone – point 2 (LI2); point 3 (LI3) and point 4 (LI4). We do it several times. As we are doing this, what we can do – again you need to keep (support) your hand on a surface when you do that so you’re very very relaxed; so imagine I’m relaxed; imagine you’re relaxed when you are doing it – as you are treating the line (this is true with any line you treat, anywhere on the body), as you are treating the line, you’re doing it slowly enough for the skin to absorb the light but obviously you’re not stopping as such at any given point. As you are stroking the line, you may come across some sensitive points. So for example, your stroke the line and you find a point here which is not an Acupuncture point but it is on the Meridian you’re stroking – you can stop on it for five seconds. This point needs more attention – it’s tender. And then you carry on, coming across another sensitive point – and you can stop on this point for five seconds. You can stop for 10 seconds but more practical is 5 – especially if there are several lines or it’s a long line. You need to always stop where you started. So for example: when we treat this line and we start on Large Intestine 1 (LI1) – don’t stop here, come back to this point. And obviously don’t forget to treat the other hand. So just to recap. So first you need to know where the point should be ‘in theory’. So in theory our point should be somewhere here. There is another way to find this particular point actually – these are obviously there are tricks on how to find individual Acupuncture points – but this particular point, it’s at the end of the crease and so you can go with this. You know where the point should be – the point should be somewhere here and then you start with a very tiny tiny little movements and then you find the point. Very often it’s not even a matter of movement – especially for this tiny sport – it’s a matter of an angle that you choose. This is your point – the point that you are going to treat is more sensitive that its immediate environment. And then again if this is a bilateral point, don’t forget to check this side and this side to find a more sensitive side; treat it first with the cooler colour or the pair and obviously be aware of color indications (in Colourpuncture) because with colour indications you can choose depending on what you want to achieve. Large Intestine 2 (LI2) point ‘reduces the Heat’ in the Meridian. Large Intestine meridian starts here with Large Intestine 1 (LI1) and it goes up the arm and then it crosses and it ends on the other side here with the Large Intestine 20 (LI20) just next to our nostrils, both sides obviously. So the Meridians run up both arms they cross over and they end up here; if there is anything at the very top of the Meridian, the very end – so something with the nose; something with the throat or something with the teeth: sore throat, dry mouth, toothache -this point will help. Also because this is Large Intestine meridian and this is a point (LI2) to relieve Heat and so to reduce heat in the meridian it can help with things like constipation or lack of fluids in the gut, in the large intestine. So those are indications; so go with the sensitivity – the point you’re looking for is where it should be and with your palpation you will feel that this is most sensitive than its immediate environment. And this is how you know that you’re ‘on the point’!”

This video is a fragment from our March 2023 Cafe Self Colourpuncture Q&A – thank you for your great questions and discussion! Any further questions – please get in touch using the form below, I’m happy to help 🙂

 

Related Reading:

 

 

Colourpuncture, locating points: LI2

 

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