The Eight Principles
Interior/exterior, cold/heat, deficiency/excess, Yin/Yang: the backbone of every Chinese diagnosis.
How it starts
八纲辨证, "pattern differentiation by the Eight Principles," is the skeleton of all Chinese diagnosis. It doesn't give a fine-grained diagnosis (that's what the Zang-Fu patterns in the third course are for), but it gives something just as valuable: a usable diagnosis in five minutes, from which you can already tell what to do.
The rest of the lesson opens with Acupuntura I.
In this lesson you will learn
- Apply the four questions of the Eight Principles in order.
- Recognize the signs that settle each pair, and the ones that mislead.
- State an Eight Principles diagnosis in a single sentence.
- Handle mixed presentations, which are the majority.
What is inside
- 1Question 1 · Where is it? Exterior or Interior
- 2Question 2 · What is its nature? Cold or Heat
- 3Question 3 · Which side is stronger? Deficiency or Excess
- 4Question 4 · The summary: Yin or Yang
- 5Mixed presentations: real clinical practice
- 6Writing down the diagnosis
One of the 26 lessons in
Acupuntura IFoundations
“Learn the language before the vocabulary.”
The groundwork: how Chinese medicine thinks, Yin-Yang, the Five Phases, the vital substances, the organs, the channel system, diagnosis, and safe needling practice. By the end you will be able to read a case history in the language of Chinese medicine and locate points with anatomical precision.
By the end of the course, you will know how to
- Explain Yin-Yang and Wu Xing without falling back on empty metaphors.
- Distinguish Qi, Blood, Essence (Jing), Shen, and Body Fluids, along with their basic pathologies.
- Describe the functions of the twelve organs according to TCM.
- Locate any point using proportional cun and bony landmarks.
- Build a diagnosis using the Eight Principles.
- Handle the needle safely and recognize De Qi.
What you will study
Module 1 · 4 lessons
Starting point
What acupuncture really is, how Chinese medicine reasons and which tools you have in your hands.
- What acupuncture is (and what it isn't)
- How Chinese medicine thinks
- History and classical texts
- Your toolkit: Atlas, 3D Map, and Ryodoraku
Module 2 · 2 lessons
Yin and Yang
The most powerful and most misused analytical tool in all of Chinese medicine.
- Yin-Yang: the four laws
- Yin-Yang applied to the body and the clinic
Module 3 · 2 lessons
The Five Phases
Wu Xing: correspondences, cycles and the treatment rules that follow from them.
- Wu Xing: the five families
- Sheng, Ke, Cheng, and Wu: the four cycles
Module 4 · 3 lessons
The vital substances
Qi, Blood, Essence, Mind and Body Fluids: the material the body works with.
- Qi: types and functions
- Blood, Essence, Shen, and Fluids
- How they support one another
Module 5 · 4 lessons
The organs (Zang-Fu)
The twelve organs aren't viscera: they're functional systems. Here you learn each one.
- Heart and Lung
- Spleen, Liver, and Kidney
- The six Fu organs
- Zang-Fu relationships and the curious organs
Module 6 · 3 lessons
The channel system
The network everything flows through: architecture, timing and measurement.
- Architecture of the Jing Luo
- Circulation and the organ clock
- The cun and locating points
Module 7 · 4 lessons
Causes and diagnosis
Where illness comes from and how to read it in the patient.
- Causes of disease
- The Eight PrinciplesYou are here
- Observation and tongue diagnosis
- Pulse, inquiry, and palpation
Module 8 · 4 lessons
The needle in hand
Safe practice: technique, risks and the sister techniques.
- Needling technique and De Qi
- Safety, accidents, and contraindications
- Moxibustion, cupping, and bloodletting
- Final exam · Acupuncture I
Requirements
None. You start from zero.
How it works
Acupuncture Pathway
Save with a bundle
Acupuncture Pathway I-III
All three acupuncture courses, saving you €80, plus three years of Atlas Pro.
You save $80 compared with buying the courses separately
3 years of Atlas Pro included
Valued at $237 free
Already have Atlas Pro? Nothing is overwritten: 3 years is added on top of whatever you have left.
Complete Training
All five courses, saving you €180, plus five years of Atlas Pro and the game included.
You save $180 compared with buying the courses separately
5 years of Atlas Pro included
Valued at $395 free
Already have Atlas Pro? Nothing is overwritten: 5 years is added on top of whatever you have left.
Read “The Eight Principles” today
This lesson and the rest of the course: 26 lessons, 7 hours, quizzes and exercises. You pay once and it is yours for life, with one year of Atlas Pro as a gift (if you already have it, it adds to the time you have left).
Acupuntura I
One-time payment