ELIZABETH AND HAMILTON BARHYDT
We first learned about balancing meridians from Richard Utt. As explained in his book, Applied Physiology II, a meridian is in balance only when all of the acupuncture points on the meridian are in balance. A meridian can be brought into a state of balance by individually testing each acupuncture point and balancing those points that are found to be out of balance or lost. (Note: Utt has shown that it is possible for an acupuncture point to disappear from its normal location and thus in effect become temporarily lost.) A simple way to test meridian balance is to use a balanced indicator muscle (see Note 1). Run your hand over the length of the meridian in the forward direction (i.e., from beginning to end); then test the indicator muscle and note the result. Repeat the test after running your hand over the meridian in the reverse direction (i.e., from end to beginning). There can be three possible outcomes as shown in the table below…