All lessons Module 2: Pulse Lesson 2
Describe before you name
How do you describe a pulse in eight features, so that someone else recognises it?
After this lesson you can describe a pulse in eight features with one fixed question per feature, you know for each feature what you confuse it with, you count the rate per breath and per minute, you write a pulse report a colleague can check, you calibrate with a colleague, and you read the 28 qualities as formulas of features.
Know by heart
- Eight features, four pairs. Place: depth and length. Pace: rate and rhythm. Size: width and strength. Flow: smoothness and tension; mnemonic: place, pace, size, flow.
- Eight questions. Strongest where? How many per minute? Does a beat drop out? How broad? Over how many positions? Does it push back when you press? Does it roll or halt? Taut or supple?
- Five confusions. Weak with deep (press down); broad with strong (broad can be soft); taut with strong (wiry can be weak); a slow pulse with your own fast breathing (count by the clock); breathing with an irregular pulse (slightly faster on the in-breath is normal).
- Rate. Per breath: 4 to 5 normal, 3 or fewer slow, 6 or more rapid, 7 to 8 hurried. By the clock a full minute, and always with an irregular pulse; write down both; mnemonic: the breath for tradition, the clock for your colleague.
- The report. Per side and per position, in the eight features; first what you feel, then a name, with your certainty and the circumstances (time, rest, food, coffee, medication).
- Qualities are formulas. Soggy: on top, thin, soft. Weak: deep, thin, soft. Thin: thin but distinct. Minute: extremely thin, there and not there. Wiry: long and taut like a string. Slippery: smooth and rolling.
- Calibrating. Feel the same pulse, each write your own report, compare feature by feature and not name by name. With fixed definitions, two assessors agreed in around 80 per cent (King 2002).
The rest of this lesson is reference.
Three practice questions from this lesson
Which question belongs to the feature length?
- Over how many positions do you feel it?
- How broad is it under the finger?
- How many beats per minute?
Answer: Over how many positions do you feel it?. Length: beyond cun or chi (long), or at one position only (short).
Case. With light pressure you feel little and you immediately think: deep. What do you do first?
- Press down and see whether it is distinct in the depth
- Write deep: little felt with light pressure means a deep pulse
- Count the rate and leave the depth open
Answer: Press down and see whether it is distinct in the depth. Strength and depth are often confused. Deep means clearly palpable at the deep level; if it is distinct nowhere, it is weak and not deep.
A broad pulse: is it always strong?
- No: empty is broad and soft, and gives way under pressure
- Yes: broad means plenty of Qi, so it pushes back
- Yes, if it is also rapid: then it is full
Answer: No: empty is broad and soft, and gives way under pressure. Width and strength are two features. Broad and forceful is full; broad and yielding is empty.
The rest of this lesson
In the course you get the step-by-step explanation with illustrated tongues and animated pulse models, 17 case-based practice questions, 18 spaced-repetition flashcards, the pitfalls, the bridge to physiology and the visual trainer. This lesson belongs to module 2: Pulse.