Tune Your Meridian Channels via Barefoot Forest Bathing

Michael Dally
forest bathing meridian channels flow


The Traditional Chinese Medicine practice (TCM), over 2000 years old, outlines twelve primary channels called meridians, which run through the body and serve as energy highways between all the vital organs of the body and its environment. One must tune and maintain these energetic pathways to avoid energy stagnation in the body, improper function, and disease. By doing so, one can create harmony in the body and fully express optimal health. Harmony in the body is strongly influenced by one’s environment. Bathing in the natural rhythms of Nature, free from the high frequency interference of modern society, the body is able to recalibrate.

Music is essentially any of twelve tones within an octave. Twelve notes and the octave repeats. It’s the same pattern over and over. All that an artist can offer the world is how they play those twelve notes. The 12 meridians and their characteristics make the human body similar to that of a musical instrument, making us the musician. As the creators of our own reality, the ways we decide how to maintain, tune and utilize the twelve meridian channels in our bodies will largely affect the musical score of our life. Combining nature with movement, the mind and body are able to re-synchronize their energetics to their natural set point, allowing for flow with our surroundings which create the music.


tuning 12 meridians channels through forest bathing


The body is the instrument and the foot is the tuning fork. The master Kidney meridian channel exits the body through the soles of the feet and holds the most influence over the meridian channel network. To create harmony we must nourish our twelve meridian channels by leveraging our feet. The power of this meridian to influence the entire body stems from our connection with the earth. If we remain rooted in the natural world, both literally and figuratively, the harmonies we create with our body instrument are sure to attune us to the rhythm of a contented heart.

We are electrical beings, this is something that both traditional eastern medicine and modern allopathic western medicine agree upon. Whether we are talking about qi and meridians, or the sinoatrial and atrioventricular nodes in our hearts, we are bioelectric.

Earthing and grounding barefoot k1 acupuncture point


One of the best ways to fortify the kidney meridian channel of the body is by walking barefoot in nature. The kidney 1 point on the sole efficiently grounds (connects electrically) the body to the natural Schumann Resonance and physically activates this channel through pressure. Being connected to Earth underfoot and at the same time forest bathing, we fuel our liver, responsible for governing the smooth flow of energy along all meridian channels. By barefooting in nature we maintain a dynamic energetic network in the body while keeping in tune with the rhythm of harmonious health. Unified with the information rich environment we are native to, we flow with the natural tempo of our rightful place in space and time.

12 meridians body tuning channels through forest bathing