UB-52 Zhishi - Ambition Room

Ambition Room governs the Zhi, the will, which resides in the Kidney; Zhi is associated with Essence, individual intention, ambition and aspiration. It goes straight to the seat where the Kidney governs our inborn Qi, so it is good for someone whose hold on life is weak. We should all have ambitions, fulfilled or not. It helps a person have the will and courage to do what they know they need to do: we know we need to do something but are afraid to let go or afraid of the unknown, and this point helps us a lot. It carries an image of Water as a deep store of ancestral energy. One's spirit can be channeled through the will down into the Jing in an act of introspection, or the Jing can be spent striving for worldly success. The will lies in the deepest recesses of the mind and belongs to the Kidneys, which store both the Jing and the Zhi; this point's other name, Palace of Essence, shows how closely the two are bound. In falling away from our original nature we lose the authentic Heart-mind, but the memory of that nature is stored in the Jing as Heaven's mandate; by directing the mind down into the Jing through the will, a lost person can rediscover Heaven's commands and bring their Heart-mind back into the world.

Deep, quiet and still within us, it holds the absolute and indisputable essence of who we are.

Location: 4½ ACI from the midline of the low back, level with the dip between L2 and L3.
Needle depth: 7-9 fen
Moxa: 7-15 cones

• For a person stuck in a rut, with nothing to aim at and no idea what they want to do
• For lack of ambition, will power or revitalization, with no vital driving energy
• When there is no energy to drive them, so they make excuses and suppress the will
• When someone says of something that matters in life, "I don't even miss it anymore"
• For depression and a feeling of powerlessness
• For Water imbalances caused by fear and anxiety at the mental level
• For an overdriven will, for someone who is depleting themselves by doing too much
• When fear of the unknown keeps someone from going forward
• When nothing excites the person and there is no will or ambition: "What's the use?", "I don't know"
• When a person has lost the innocent excitement of childhood and the world is no longer their oyster
• To soften a will that is too hard and protect depleted Jing, or to strengthen the will so the spirit can focus on unused potential

• DU-14 Great Hammer with UB-52: for loss of will and flatness

• Outer Bladder line point, opposite the Associated Effect Point (AEP) of the Kidney; a point used a lot
• Great for a Water Causative Factor (CF), but can be used for any CF when Water is out of balance
• Lifts the spirit of the will very powerfully and can change a person's outlook
• Harmonizes the relationship between the Kidney Jing, the Heart Shen and the human will
• In relationships, this point can bring hidden fears to the surface