Within each acupuncture point there exists a dynamic, poetic, living mystery of potential. The potency within each point is enlivened and activated through intention and the meditative openness of the moment. While each point has a known function and meaning, the deeper meaning and possibility contained within the points come fully alive through presence and surrender.

Evocative names combined with the physical location of the acupuncture points give us clues about the mythology and function inherent to a particular point. For instance, some of the acupuncture points have the word ‘gate’ in their name like Dark Gate, Chapter Gate, Gate of Hope, Wind Gate, Golden Gate, and many more.

Gate points offer ways to bridge the inner and outer, above and below, heaven and earth. They can also enter and exit and access a particular state or quality of being- setting into motion a full spectrum of energetic and physical possibilities. The use of an acupuncture point as a prescribed gate is incredibly useful when one’s natural integrity has become stuck or fractured at some level, and cannot find a way to return to health- to wholeness.

Points like Inner Frontier Gate and Outer Frontier Gate, on the pericardium and triple warmer meridians respectively, work together as part of the fire element. The pericardium buffers the heart and allows intimacy and connection in relationships and in the body, carrying messages from the heart like a loving embrace reaching through the connective tissue of blood vessels to the body tissues and organs. The triple warmer, being less of a physical structure, is known to connect upper, middle and lower areas of the body through the interstitial spaces, regulating waterways and temperature. Here, in these spaces, the triple warmer is able to help metabolize and circulate passion, warmth, and joy out into the world, like warming flames reaching out to warm and enliven all within reach. Together these two gate points offer a way to harmonize and move fluidly between the vast pristine inner wilderness of the heart and soul, and the external wilderness of the physical world and cosmos.

Another gate, Gateway of Origin, is a point on the conception vessel 4 cun (a Chinese unit of measurement) below the navel on the center line of the body. It is associated with origin- source- emptiness- from which all life originates and to which all life returns. It may pertain to actual physical life, or metaphorically to new life emerging from the ashes after an old way of being has been burned up in the transformational fires and completed itself.

In a state of separation, a bridge may be needed to help restore unity (the Tao). Yet beyond the level of thought and form, my experiences show me that gateways can be found everywhere and are forever present. A gate may appear during a time of surrender and openness, or during a time of tremendous emotion, pain, or surprise, or for no apparent reason. Sometimes, one sees a gateway only from the other side after the threshold has already been crossed- finding that something profound and essential has changed within one’s own being so completely that life no longer looks the same.