What Does Your Triple Heater Do?

Your body has three burners or heaters – and they are managed by a meridian called the Triple Burner or Triple Heater. The lower burner is in your lower abdomen, between the pubic bone and navel. The middle burner refers to the area between the navel and sternum, and the upper burner refers to the area between the collar bones and bottom of the sternum.

The Triple Heaters’ function includes keeping the the temperature even among the three heaters. Checking the relative temperatures of the heaters is an important part of my job when planning a patients’ treatment. Irregularity in the temperatures of the burners is quite common and is often improved during the course of a single acupuncture treatment. Still, a patient may require several treatments to improve the heaters in a way that optimizes the patient’s health.

On the physical level, the Triple Heater serves to regulate the body’s comfortable adaptation to changes in temperature. It is also important to the mobility of the neck, shoulders, elbows and wrists.

Mentally, the Triple Heater supports our skill and comfort in social situations, helping us manage the boundary between the social and the intimate dimensions of our relationships. Our capacity to help others feel at ease by attuning to their comfort in a social situation reflects the health of our own Triple Heater functioning. Our sense of humor can “break the ice” when the Triple Heater is working well. Jokes that are received as embarrassing, inappropriate or offensive may indicate poor Triple Heater function.

On the spiritual level, the Triple Heater helps us choose people, places and things that make our environments healthy for our overall well-being. The capacity to create a healthy living environment, to nourish ourselves with healthy lifestyle habits, and to enjoy healthy friendships are expressions of thriving energy or qi in the Triple Heater.