DU-4 Mingmen - Gate of Life

Gate of Life is connected to the Fire of the Kidneys. If the pilot light is off, you can't get Fire going; if someone's Fire is off, you need the pilot lit. It relates to the lower Dan Tian, where energy and vitality are held in reserve, and it nourishes the original Qi and the destiny, our medicine at its highest level, helping us fulfill our destiny. As this gate opens and closes it ought to adjust to everything we need; when it jams, life is threatened. It restores the childlike sparkle and the joy of being alive and uplifts the spirit. It holds the power we inherit, rising out of the central void; we spend our lives fulfilling that power and living the full richness of human life. It encourages a person to engage fully in life, strong and powerful, and to step into their destiny, and the Kidney Fire sparks passion for life and for sex. It is a major revitalizing point for people who are merely surviving rather than living. Here the original Yin and Yang endowed by Heaven reside, and pre-Heaven and post-Heaven, Jing and Shen, mix in a crucible of one's authentic Water and Fire; how the will directs that mixing decides how fully a person expresses their authentic self rather than habit. Internal alchemy pictures stoking the Dan Tian's furnace to burn away the refuse of conditioning and return to original nature. Lying between the Kidneys, this gate of destiny lets the left Kidney's primordial Yin and the right Kidney's primordial Yang combine and combust to fuel the ascent of the human spirit.

• Worsley saw this gate as drawing energy from the seas and oceans. It is the power we inherit, rising out of the void at our center, and we spend our whole lives fulfilling that power, living out the richness of being human to its full potential. Good point to warm with moxa, as it stirs the Jing.

Location: On the back midline, in the dip between L2 and L3.
Needle depth: 3 fen
Moxa: 7-15 cones

• When the person is shut down; the nature of this point is to warm things up
• When people are cold, inert and lifeless
• When there is depression, withdrawal and withdrawing from life
• When someone is lacking in strength and vitality
• When a person is not present in life, can't function well in life, and needs an extra push and oomph
• When someone needs to become conscious in a new way of what they feel life is about
• When there is timidity and a lack of courage in life
• As a resurrection point when someone feels as if they are dying
• At a time of great transition, opening or closing the gate to keep body and mind in the right relationship
• When the will to live is gone, with no zest or vitality, only resignation or fear of life
• When the person tries and tries but simply can't manage it, or keeps saying "if only, if only"
• When the person is very anxious, highly tense, distracted, lacking inspiration or will
• When work on the seas brings no joy; this gate may be closed, so oil it open, then go back to the seas
• For deep fears and anxieties rooted in survival; for people who no longer see, hear, smell or taste life and are practically dead in many ways

• REN-4 First Gate with DU-4: often paired; can be done before a Conception/Governor Vessel (CV/GV) block treatment, after one to support it, or instead of one when someone is that way in life

• Very heating: where there are heat signs, this point can aggravate the situation and cause havoc
• Useful for a Water Causative Factor (CF) with a terrible lack of reserves; use with moxa if every pulse is low
• Stabilizing, allowing for movement; brings the person down to earth and helps them move forward in life
• With a person who has gone completely berserk, sedating it might be considered, but that is an extreme step
• Expect a big rise in the pulses after treatment here
• Consider it very early in treatment to bring back vitality and energy
• As long as Jing and Shen, Water and Fire hold these relationships, the person's Qi can be called authentic, supporting the authentic self