PC-8 Laogong - Palace of Weariness

The Palace is the Divine's house, and more than anything it holds love, caring, warmth and affection. It gives the person the strength to carry on with fresh vigor. It is a resting place for weary hearts, a place to warm the Official and reawaken him, and where love is found at its highest level. Without love, the journey through life is very weary and tiring, without joy. Among the body's most powerful points: it brings hope eternal and causes the energy of the Heart to leap up. A person leaves the palace invigorated and ready to go, saying 'this won't get me down.' As Fire within Fire it is for someone who cannot take in love, warmth and affection and has grown sad, miserable, rigid and alone; it gives them a holiday and lets them recover a joy they have not felt for a long time. When the Emperor led his troops on long campaigns, he needed a break from the hard roads, sleepless nights and hostile places: an outpost where he could be refreshed and pampered, or where he could appear to encourage his weary troops. Like a long weekend at a spa, it is a refuge that replenishes and regenerates, and a gate of hope and renewal that everything will be okay, restoring the confidence to move forward.

When we are exhausted, the Palace of Weariness meets our need for ultimate protection and sanctuary, wrapping us in safety like a cocoon and caressing us with kindness. In this way our precious love is rekindled and our essential passion for living recharged.

• In passing, while discussing the Heart points, Worsley recalls what he taught about Palace of Weariness: a palace is a haven, and a source of riches for those who come to it.
• Not to be needled from the 3rd month of pregnancy onward

Location: In the palm, between the 3rd and 4th metacarpals, on the proximal transverse palmar crease (the palm's 'head line').
Needle depth: 2-3 fen
Moxa: 3 cones

• For people who are over-fiery and do not know how to stop, lost where Fire is always moving: introduce them to a palace where they can be weary, quiet and rest
• When a relationship is exhausting: here they can find all that is lacking, peace and love; sit and rest until joy comes back
• For a person with a lot of flatness who feels empty, looking for love in all the wrong places
• When the patient is tired of struggling and stuck in a rut: bring them to the Palace, which is filled with abundance, warmth and love
• When their Fire has gone out: weariness, flatness, coldness, no energy
• When the person feels rejected, isolated and cut off, feels rock bottom and cannot share
• When a chronic illness has a grip on the person and is smothering them; it brings hope and a sense that all will be well
• For someone who is flat and lacking joy and needs a bit of happiness; people get jolly after this point
• When a person seeks love through sexual promiscuity or sexual intimacy, or has intimacy without affection
• For a patient in a fragile, sensitive place who needs a safe retreat
• To ease compulsive connecting
• When the Heart's fire and its joy need reawakening: it can bring a state of bliss that restores the buried memory of safety and joy

• Fire point, Horary point and Exit point of the Pericardium: most powerful at its Horary time, 7 to 9 pm, and in Summer, the Fire season
• This point hurts: do it delicately and carefully, as there are a lot of nerve endings in the palm
• Moxa works very well here, but avoid overheating; with a volatile Fire it can worsen things
• We want our treatment room to be the palace of weariness, where they can be tired and okay with it, vulnerable enough to see something they need to see
• One of the Ghost points
• The name hints at manual labor and at this point's part in reviving body, mind and spirit; 'Toil' also recalls the work the Heart Protector does in guarding the Heart, and 'Palace' its close bond with the Heart, the Emperor who lives within the palace
• A prayer point: it helps a person pray from the Heart's desire and passion