Gallbladder Meridian
The Gallbladder meridian has many points for relieving pain.
“The Gallbladder is like a judge for its power of discernment.”
– Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Medicine
The Gallbladder meridian begins at GB 1 (Gallbladder 1), located at the outer corner of the eye. The Gallbladder meridian is famous for the way it zigzags along the side of the head and torso. The GB meridian passes over the side of the entire leg, and ends at GB 44 – located on the 4th toe.
Internally, the Gallbladder meridian connects with the liver and gallbladder organs.
The Gallbladder meridian is a very long meridian covering the side of the body. For this reason, the Gallbladder meridian is used to alleviate one sided complaints, such as a one sided headache or sciatica.
Gallbladder Meridian
The zigzag pathway of the Gallbladder meridian reflects the Gallbladder’s job of decision making or discernment. “Should I go left or right? Should I follow this path or that path?” Because of this, the Gallbladder is sometimes known as the source of decision making (or indecision!).
I use the Gallbladder to relieve one sided headaches, hip pain (sciatica), and over thinking.
Famous Gallbladder Point
GB 21* Jian Jing, “Shoulder Well”
Locate GB 21 – as you can see in the image below, GB 21 is on top of the big shoulder muscles (trapezius). You have probably massaged this point many times, as it is often sore and tight.
I use GB 21 to relieve headaches, neck pain and stiffness, and to support overall relaxation. GB 21 is a very powerful point to send the Qi downward, toward the feet – perfect for calming an over active mind stuck in decision making!
*Never use this point on pregnant women.
GB 21 Jian Jing “Shoulder Well”
Get the Qi Flowing in the Gallbladder Meridian
Keeping the Qi moving in the Gallbladder Meridian helps to relieve and prevent many aches pains – click here for a blog post all about moving Qi in the Gallbladder Meridian.
To continue learning, check out the “All About the Gallbladder Meridian” video on demand.
Hello Cindy: I did not see any material relating to gallbladder on the Vimeo site. There are eight topics listed but none is titled about gallbladder.
Hi,
There is a video All About the Gallbladder Meridian Here is the link to the Gallbladder Meridian Video
Hello Cindy: This link is broken
Hi Paramjit,
So sorry for the trouble – must be that Gallbladder Qi! Let’s try this one more time 🙂
All About the Gallbladder Meridian video on demand
Thanks for all the good and informative information you share of FB. 🙂
[…] head. Massaging GB 21 releases Qi from the head area and encourages it to flow downward along the Gallbladder meridian. Once the stuck Qi is released from the head, the pain […]
[…] first step is to differentiate the path of the pain. Is the pain traveling along the Gallbladder meridian or the Urinary Bladder […]
Thank you Cindy,I really appreciate the esoteric side of TCM and how your explanations while simple really help us invoke the power of attention and awareness to the complex organism that is the human body.
The nugget here for me was how the zigzag pattern of seemingly apparent indecisiveness forces one to exercise the right decision at the right time. External reality mirroring internal reality. We must exercise Discernment indeed. how awesome is that! Thanks for the quote from the Yellow Emperor’s classic text. This is very important as it prevents misinterpreted translations as well as with most traditional systems of medicine and it’s embedded wisdom. With gratitude!
[…] Click here for a close up image of Gallbladder 21 […]
Do I massage the shoulder points to get rid of neck pain just above the GB21 point.
Elsie,
GB 21 is a great point for relieving neck pain. Experiment and explore massaging the affected area and add in extra attention to GB 21 (do not massage GB 21 during pregnancy).
[…] Gallbladder meridian travels from the outside corner of the eye, down the side of the neck, trunk, hips, outer legs to […]
Love your site. Could you please add a “Share” button to your posts so that I can post them on Facebook? Thanks. Can’t wait to listen to your Feb 11 webinar.
Hi Kristie,
Thanks for the tip! I’ll get right on it 🙂
I love the GB meridian! I have had fantastic results relieving headaches for my clients during Meridian Massage sessions.
Woo Hoo!
🙂