Du Mai (Governing Vessel) Channel
Spirit Tower
灵台Líng TáiAnatomical location
Below the spinous process of T6.
Main function
Strengthens the Heart, relieves chest pain, calms the Shen.
Therapeutic indications
- Chest pain
- cough
- asthma
- back pain
- Boils
- Fever
Name and classical tradition
Lingtai, 灵台, is the “terrace of the spirit,” and its name has a history outside medicine. 灵 (靈) is the spirit; 台 is the terrace, the platform, the dwelling. In ancient Chinese philosophy, 靈臺 designated the heart as the seat of the spirit. The Zhuangzi, in the chapter Gengsang Chu, says that certain things must not enter the lingtai, the mind. The point's name probably inherits that literary and philosophical usage rather than a physiological gloss.
The point lies below the sixth thoracic vertebra, near the levels of the Heart Shu points. Its medical origin, according to the sources, is in Wang Bing's annotation to the chapter Qi Fu Lun (氣府論) of the Suwen (Basic Questions), and not in the original text, the same case as GV7. It could therefore be a late addition.
The reference works give it the alternative names 靈陽 and 肺底, the latter being the same name given to its neighbor GV9.
