Stomach 12 - Broken Bowl - embodying nourishment

Earth Element
Written By Lance Isakov

We join spokes together in a wheel, but it is the center hole that makes the wagon move. We shape clay into a pot, but it is the emptiness inside that holds whatever we want.
- Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching

Spirit of the Acupuncture Points


Broken Bowl - ST 12 缺盆

Physical Level

  • Helps with coughing,

  • relieves fullness of the chest

  • support after miscarriage or abortion

Emotional/Mental

  • supports feelings of deep neediness

  • eases obsessive/compulsive issues

  • eases worry

Spirit Level:

Have you ever felt like a broken bowl, unable to fully contain or hold onto its contents, leaving you with a constant sense of "never enough"? The acupuncture point known as Broken Bowl helps address this feeling of inner emptiness and dissatisfaction. It allows us to come into a different relationship with longing, and ultimately receive and embody nourishment from all sources - physical, emotional, and spiritual.

This powerful point can gently soothe the insatiable hunger, unquenchable thirst, and lingering longing that so often remain unsatisfied within. Like delicately mending the cracks of a shattered vessel, Broken Bowl helps make you feel repaired and whole. It instills a deep sense of fulfillment, contentment, and being at peace with simply being.

When stimulated, Broken Bowl facilitates your ability to fully take in and integrate every form of sustenance life provides. It fills the void that no amount of consumption can placate. This allows you to embrace the profound nourishment available by simply opening yourself to receive what is already within and around you.

Location:

In the supraclavicular area, posterior to the superior border of the clavicle and at its midpoint, 4 cun lateral to the midline, on the mamillary line.
(cun is a “Chinese anatomical inch.” Its traditional measure is the width of a person's thumb at the knuckle.)

How to activate this point:

To activate the Broken Bowl point, begin by focusing your attention fully on the area. Use your fingertip to locate the precise point, then apply a gentle pressure. Slowly increase the pressure in a smooth, circular motion as you stimulate the point. Continue this massaging movement for anywhere from 30 seconds to 3 minutes, or until you feel inspired to take a deep, cleansing breath.

This simple self-acupressure technique can be performed as needed whenever you sense that persistent feeling of emptiness arising within. Alternatively, you could try stimulating Broken Bowl daily for one week as an experiment in satiety and self-nourishment.

As you apply rhythmic pressure to this powerful point, breathe deeply and imagine you are mending the cracks and fortifying the walls of your inner vessel. With practice, you'll feel more able to fully take in and integrate all the precious nourishment life has to offer - leaving no lingering sense of lack or longing.

Feel Amazing!

Love, Lance

Lance Isakov
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