A Point for Shoulder Tension, Headaches and Feeling Pressured: Landscape of Your Body #13

"Storing stress" in your shoulders? Ever have tension headaches? Feeling pressured by too many responsibilities?

For all those reasons, I love massaging this point with a massage cane until it softens up, sometimes giving a twitch or two on its way to release.

I talked about Gall Bladder 21, called Jian Jing (Shoulder Well) in the live video I shared in early November, which was all about the different varieties of "anger" that ca

• demand a lot of the Wood network (Liver and Gall Bladder)
• or reflect a Wood network that's already out of balance.

Along that Wood-y anger spectrum is everything from assertiveness to irritability, through frustration and resentment, and all the way to rage. 

I especially notice Jian Jing / Gall Bladder 21 being tight when there's a sense of "pressure" to keep up with responsibilities. We only feel "pressure" (rather than, say, inspiration or motivation) because some part of us doesn't want to do the thing, which generates anger. (And this anger might go unrecognized.)

This point also gets tense due to issues with posture (standing or sitting), and neck trouble. Sometimes, acupressure on this point totally relieves neck pain, especially along the outer line of the back of the neck.

We also use it to support breast health. It helps Qi descend, and is used during childbirth to support smoother labor, and delivery of the placenta.

Can you find it? Post your questions below! Check out all the other Landscape of Your Body videos by clicking here.

Drawn to get to know the landscape of your body better, and the wisdom of Chinese Medicine around emotions and health? As of this posting, I have *3 spots left* in Healing Season: Emotions & Elements, a 6-week group journey that begins January 19. Click here to check it out.