Acupuncture for relationships, addiction, eating disorders, and lack of self-love.
The Ren mai is the channel that embodies the mother archetype. It is the “sea of yin,” which is fed by the reservoir of resources in the Chong mai. When this channel is fully functional, there is a feeling of being complete in yourself. When it is dysfunctional, there is a strong desire to make yourself complete, usually by searching externally for a partner, power, money, or material possessions.
An alternative name for the channel is the “conception vessel,” which highlights the important role it plays in creating new life. The Ren mai plays a major role in not only conception but with helping the fetus grow, birthing the baby, and nourishing the newborn through breast milk.
Breastfeeding is a Ren mai activity. It places mother and baby’s Ren channels together (along the front midline of the body), creates bonding, and nourishes the baby. All of these help the baby to feel secure in a world that feels more overwhelming than the safety of the womb. This is essential for helping the baby to heal from birth trauma. The motherly nourishment and love will give closure to the trauma experience.
Bonding & Relationships
A baby’s first bond is with the mother. For this reason, it is the mother that teaches us how to bond and form healthy relationships. The Ren mai is known as the channel of bonding. If the mother nurtures the baby well, the Ren mai will develop and function well; it will then promote healthy bonds with romantic partners, friends, workmates, etc.
Poor Ren mai development in the first stages of life may result in problems as an adult. If the mother is overwhelmed, depressed, or anxious to the point of diminished bonding with the baby, this can and often does affect the baby’s ability to attach securely, which will continue into adulthood.
Although the umbilical cord has been severed, a baby will continue to see no separation between its own body and its mother’s. This keeps the baby finely tuned to the mother’s feelings, as if they were their own. When the mother often feels anxiety or depression during nursing (bonding), the baby starts to associate anxiety or depression with love. If this association isn’t changed through healing work, as the child grows into an adult they may seek out relationships that make them feel anxiety or depression as this is seen as a part of a loving relationship.
Addiction Treatment with Acupuncture and the Ren Mai Channel
A nurturing caregiver teaches the Ren mai to fill up with love. Without this experience, the Ren mai closes, and it becomes impossible to feel self-love. One adaptation of this lack of self-love is to replace it through various substances or behaviors, which only provide a temporary feeling of euphoria through endogenous opioids or dopamine.
There are many layers to an addiction problem. However, the common foundation is a lack of self-love. This can be addressed by activating the Ren mai channel. With consistent treatment the Ren mai will begin to come on-line, especially if the individual is committed to transitioning into a state of self-love.
Ren Mai and the Chakras
In the traditional chakra system there are seven chakras that are located on the midline of the body. These swirling energy centers help receive and transmit energy information with the external world. They are the interface between the self and other individuals.
I would suggest that the main function of the chakras is to bond us to others, something they share with the Ren mai. Of course, this is no big surprise, as the five lower chakras are points on the Ren mai (the upper two are technically on the Du mai). Here’s a summary of how those first five chakras help us to bond with others.
First Chakra: The survival chakra. Initially connects to caregivers for physical security. Also connects to Mother Earth herself on into adulthood after the survival bonding stops with caregivers.
Second Chakra: The emotions and feelings chakra. Bonds us to others through emotions. When dysfunctional we may feel other’s emotions too strongly. When healthy, it maintains emotional boundaries.
Third Chakra: The power chakra. Supports assertive relationships. If in dysfunction it causes us to seek power over others.
Fourth Chakra: Compassion and love chakra. Harmonious relationships through unconditional love.
Fifth Chakra: Expression and creativity. Helps us to bond through self expression and receiving how others are expressing themselves.
Culture and Ren Mai Dysfunction
The culture here in the United States does not promote a healthy Ren mai. When this channel is fully functional it will give the person a sense of completeness, a feeling of being loved and taken care of fully. There is no need to prove that you deserve to exist, that you deserve your own space and nourishment.
The culture in the United States is the opposite of this. It proclaims that you are not enough until you prove it. You must prove that you deserve space. You must prove that you deserve nourishing foods. This is an extreme position to take, and if a child’s Ren mai is not robust when these cultural forces present themselves, they will invade and weaken the Ren mai further. This is a cultural onslaught that has broadly caused a detrioration in mental and physical health.
I’m reminded of the words of the great orator Terence McKenna.
“Culture is not your friend. Culture is for other people’s convenience and the convenience of various institutions, churches, companies, tax collection schemes … It insults you. It disempowers you. It uses and abuses you. None of us are well treated by culture.”
Healing the Ren mai is a revolutionary act in a culture that has been manipulated to dehumanize you.
Civilized Culture
I would take this one step further and say that even outside of the United States, cultures that tend toward creating distance between humans and Mother Earth have a systemic problem with Ren mai function.
Mother Earth is our macrocosmic mother. She births the plants and animals into existence. She supports them unconditionally. She provides food and water. And she does all of this out of love. The greatest healer of the Ren mai channel is Mother Earth.
When a child grows into adulthood, there is a natural loosening of the bond to caregivers, through the survival chakra, on the Ren mai. The most ideal situation is one in which the bond has been secured to Mother Earth by the time of adulthood. However, this doesn’t happen in the broader culture of civilization (for the most part). Instead, we have people just floating around without a deep connection to our macrocosmic mother, seeking security. Often people seek earthly things like money and material possessions, which give a false sense of security.
For this reason, I believe the Ren mai is the channel that provides the deepest sense of grounding. The Chong mai is often thought of as the grounding channel. However, since bonding with the macrocosmic mother provides the deepest level of grounding, it is the Ren mai which should be developed for improved grounding.
What does acupuncture on ren mai treat?
- Relationship problems: Difficulty with commitment, habitual inappropriate relationships, over-dependence issues, being controlling in relationships
- Feeling incomplete
- Feeling disconnected
- Neediness
- Traumas
- Addiction (Nourishment and Love)
- Lack of self love
- Eating Disorders
- Reproductive health: menstruation, fertility, sexual desire, impotence