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The Triple Warmer/Three Burner System

The Triple Warmer/Triple Burner System

Sometimes you hear this referred to as the triple warmer. Sometimes you hear it as the triple burner, triple heater and also san jiao, which are Chinese words translated into English. San is three and jiao is burner.

It is one of the least understood and most confusing of the East medicine systems because it doesn't have a physical organ like all of the other systems.


When discussing the triple burner, the metaphor of a pot of rice cooking on the fire is often used

The upper burner is the steam, so it's the thoughts, relationships, connection to spirit
The middle burner is the pot of rice, so it's like where the source of the energy is coming from
The lower burner is the fire that provides heat and nourishment for the middle burner to cook and create steam.


The location of the triple burner is just under the surface of the body. So the triple warmer would be under the skin, similarly to the superficial fascia. Its function is communicating from the inside out, and the outside in.

Temperature changes. As people who live in a northern climate (hands up), our triple warmer tends to be more taxed than people who live in warm climates in managing constant temperature regulation. 


Other problems that may be noted
 People who don't sweat often have some kind of issue with water metabolism. This is related to the triple warmer system, the communication system is malfunctioning and we can sometimes see other issues such as urinary, kidney, metabolic, ticklishness, trauma or abuse survivors.

Treating the triple warmer meridian on both forearms using gua sha can help to balance the triple warmer meridian, regulate the water passages and promote an appropriate response to stimulus and water metabolism.

The symptom of not sweating often goes deeper. If you're exercising and not sweating you run the risk of getting overheated, passing out, putting stress on the heart and the kidneys because we're not releasing heat and water. Because you are not releasing water, there is probably tendency to not drink enough water which can again stress the same system.

This simple treatment may have an impact on any of these symptoms, if the triple warmer system is involved. The points on the rest of the meridian are also impactful and it is a great meridian to scrape.

All of the systems also have an emotional aspect to them as well. And so the triple warmer has to do with our relationship with the outside world.

It has been recognized that the triple warmer is really closely related to trauma. People who have experienced trauma have often had their boundaries crossed in a previous period in their life. This energy has not been rebalanced. I use tickling as an example of this, because if the recipient of tickling does not want to be tickled (says no) and they are tickled anyways, an emotional boundary is being crossed. It also lays the framework of indecisions, instead of personal empowerment through implementing boundaries.

This kind of trauma or powerlessness can manifest in the body as tight superficial fascia, or occasionally really open fascia in the body. Neither extreme is beneficial and can lead to other physical and emotional symptoms.

This communication is the function of the triple burner system.

The three burners need to communication between each other, and if they are not we can often see visual cues in the body. If you look at a person and if they're weak in the upper, sometimes their upper body shoulders and head look a little bit constricted.
If there's imbalance in the middle part, they may be thicker through the center of their body. Andyou may see water retention in the lower part of the body. 

 The San Jiao channel starts in the fourth finger, ring finger, interesting ... relationships, and runs up the wrist and up the lateral aspect of the arm.

It runs between the area between the bicep and the tricep, along the lateral aspect of the deltoid, on the lateral side of the acromion, and travels inside and it goes to the thymus. The thymus is related to hormones, and the Endocrine system (lower burner).
Then it travels up the side of the neck and in and around the ears. The eyes and ears are how we receive information. A lot of the time tinnitus is related to the triple warmer.  Next, it goes inside the ear and to the outer and the inner canthus of the eye, which connects to the bladder meridian. 

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