Kyo and Jitsu

When you locate a point, or Tsubo, and press into it, contacting the energy that lies under the surface, you will be aware of its particular quality. The terms Kyo and Jitsu are used to describe or classify the two extremes of qualities. Kyo is the quality of emptiness, indicating depletion, under activity or lack of local energy, and Jitsu describes a sense of fullness, excess, over activity or over sufficiency of Ki. They are relative rather than absolute values, used for comparison; and the conditions they describe are also dynamic, and always in a state of some degree of fluctuation, though some conditions can be very long-term. Distinguishing between whether energy is Kyo or Jitsu is very helpful, for it will help you to determine, first of all, what the existing situation is (diagnosis) and then what steps to take to remedy it (treatment). Pain or other evidence of disorder is often directly linked to the spot where imbalanced energy is detected in terms of Kyo or Jitsu, and can be directly treated there.

Kyo and Jitsu, as expressions of relative energy 'content', do not apply only between individual points, but also between different channels and the organ systems that go with them, as well as between different parts or zones of the body, and even between one whole person and another. Thus, in a particular person, the kidney meridian may be found to be the most Kyo; the lower body might be more Jitsu than the upper body; and the whole person could be judged to be relatively Kyo compared to most people - all these factors will influence the form of treatment you choose. Examples of the recognition and approach to such situations are given later, when we look at individual treatment.

The vital organs