Meridian clock

The circle begins in the dark. These two hours belong to the gall bladder — in the tradition, the organ of decision — and the one thing worth doing with them is sleeping. Choices made after eleven at night tend to be reversed by morning; food and screens here cost the whole next day.

GB41 Zulinqi — GB41 Zulinqi, on the foot, is the wood point of a wood meridian — its own phase. By the Na Zi method it is open through these hours, when practitioners use it to even out gall-bladder energy.

The liver's hours are the deepest of the night, when the body is meant to be lying still and the blood is said to return to store. Nothing here is done by effort: the work is being asleep. Regular waking in this window is a signal about the evening before — alcohol, a late meal, unfinished tension.

LR1 Dadun — LR1 Dadun, at the corner of the big toe's nail, is the liver's well point and its own wood phase. In Na Zi practice it is the point of these hours, used to move what has settled.

The breath turns over between three and five. The lungs open the circle of the twelve, and people who wake easily at this hour often find it the clearest of the day for silence, breathing or writing. For everyone else it is deep sleep, and cold air in the room helps more than heat.

LU8 Jingqu — LU8 Jingqu, on the wrist above the radial pulse, is the lung's river point and its own metal phase — the Na Zi point of these hours, worked to settle the breath rather than force it.

Dawn belongs to the large intestine, and the tradition's advice is plain: get up, drink warm water, empty the bowel, move a little before eating. A day that starts inside this window rather than after it tends to keep its rhythm until evening.

LI1 Shangyang — LI1 Shangyang, at the nail corner of the index finger, is the well point of the large intestine and its own metal phase — easy to reach and, in these hours, the open point of the Na Zi method.

Breakfast has its own two hours. The stomach is at its strongest here, so a warm, substantial meal is digested with the least effort; the same food at midnight is not. Eating at speed or standing is what the old texts warn against, more than any particular dish.

ST36 Zusanli — ST36 Zusanli, a hand's width below the knee, is the stomach's sea point and its own earth phase — the best known point in the whole system, and the Na Zi point of the breakfast hours.

Mid-morning is the spleen's, and the head is at its clearest: this is the window for the work that actually needs thinking. Keep it free of snacks and of other people's small requests — the energy that would go to digestion is the same energy holding your attention.

SP3 Taibai — SP3 Taibai, on the inner edge of the foot behind the big toe joint, is the spleen's stream point and its own earth phase — the Na Zi point of these hours, used against heaviness.

Noon is the heart's hour and the top of the day's arc. Yang is at its fullest and starts to turn, which is why a short rest here — twenty minutes, not two hours — carries further than caffeine. Heavy exertion in full heat is the thing to avoid.

HT8 Shaofu — HT8 Shaofu, in the palm where the little finger rests when the hand closes, is the heart's spring point and its own fire phase — the Na Zi point of the noon hours.

The small intestine sorts: what was eaten at midday is separated now into what is kept and what goes. The hours suit routine work, filing, tidying, anything that needs order rather than invention. Difficult conversations do badly here — the attention is downstairs, not in the head.

SI5 Yanggu — SI5 Yanggu, in the hollow at the little-finger side of the wrist, is the small intestine's river point and its own fire phase — the Na Zi point of the early afternoon.

The longest meridian of the twelve peaks in mid-afternoon, and it likes water and movement: drink, walk, stretch the back. Many people get their second clear window here — good hours for study, for exams, for the conversation that was too hard at two o'clock.

BL66 Zutonggu — BL66 Zutonggu, on the outer edge of the foot below the little toe, is the bladder's spring point and its own water phase — the Na Zi point of these hours.

The kidneys hold the reserves, and their hours are for gathering, not spending. Eat early and lightly, stop taking on new tasks, keep the lower back warm. What is forced through this window is usually borrowed from tomorrow — the classic shape of an evening that will not end.

KI10 Yingu — KI10 Yingu, at the inner end of the knee crease, is the kidney's sea point and its own water phase — the Na Zi point of these hours, worked slowly and warmly.

The pericardium is the heart's guard, and its hours are social ones: dinner with people, a walk, music, anything that lets the day close. This is the window where the body will accept comfort; work pushed into it is paid for at midnight, when the gall bladder wants sleep instead.

PC8 Laogong — PC8 Laogong, in the centre of the palm where the middle finger touches, is the pericardium's spring point and its own fire phase — the Na Zi point of the evening, and the easiest of all to find.

The triple energiser has no organ of its own — it shares warmth between the body's three floors, chest, middle and lower. Its hours are the last before the circle starts again: lights down, screens away, a warm shower. Sleep begun here is the cheapest of the night; sleep begun after it costs more.

TE6 Zhigou — TE6 Zhigou, three finger-widths above the wrist on the back of the forearm, is the triple energiser's river point and its own fire phase — the Na Zi point of the last hours before midnight.