Dim Mak and Acupuncture

By Paul Brecher
PUBLISHED IN COMBAT MAGAZINE
January 2003
Part 1
Paul Brecher is the Senior London Instructor for Erle Montaigues World Tai Chi B
oxing Association. He is also a Lecturer at The College of Chinese Medicine in N
orth London, his training as an acupuncturist and as a martial artist means that
he is able to explain the medical reasons behind the apparently mystical art of
Dim Mak.
Dim mak has many useful benefits, it makes our martial arts training more intere
sting, it can be an extra tool we can use to defeat an attacker and I believe mo
st importantly it can lead martial artists to become acupuncturists. The dim mak
points are some times called pressure points or nerve points but they are in fa
ct all acupuncture points.
When I teach The Old Yang Style of Tai Chi to my students I explain to them how
every move we make is a Fa jin explosive energy strike to an acupuncture point.
This way of doing things is known as Dim Mak and is a part of many martial arts
systems not just Tai Chi.
Some martial arts systems like Tai chi always had dim mak in them and others add
dim mak to their style to make it more effective. Some martial arts instructors
of other styles who I teach Tai chi to stopped practising their previous martia
l art and dedicate themselves to mastering the whole Tai chi system. Others just
take the basic dim mak and basic fa jin information that I have taught them and
put it into their previous style.
To be able to use dim mak on a basic level one only needs to know the location o
f a handful of easily accessible points and to use ones martial arts skill to av
oid being hit and to put oneself in a position where one can hit the opponent.
Many of the points work when just hit with normal external power, one does not n
eed to spend years learning fa jin (striking with explosive energy). However by
knowing true fa jin it makes it possible to generate massive force from no dista
nce so we can deliver knock out strikes even if for example a grappler has alrea
dy grabbed our body.
Many people still ask me does dim mak really work ? Well yes it really does work
because if you hit a person with the extreme force of fa jin on the acupuncture
points that are on the most weak and vulnerable areas of the body it is going t
o get a big effect. The acupuncture points that we use for dim mak are over majo
r nerves and blood vessels and the most vulnerable parts of the neck and skull.
Many of them are also right over major internal organs like the heart, liver, lu
ngs or kidneys, even if you do not hit the point exactly but are in roughly the
right area it will still work.
Lets say the opponent throws a right hook punch to your head, you turn your hips
to the left which will throw your arms and hands up and outwards towards them.
Your left hand hits the acupuncture point known as Pericarium 6 (P-6) on the ins
ide of their wrist and a fraction of a second later your right hand hits an acup
uncture point called Stomach 9 (St-9) on their neck. (This is actualy the first
move of The Old Yang Style Small San Sau Fighting Form)
.
If we hit P-6 first as a set up point it makes St-9 which is the the main strike
have an even more deadly effect. However Stomach 9 works by itself whether we u
se a set up point first or not. A strike to P-6 will be hitting the medial nerve
which will cause the arm to go numb and weak, a nauseas feeling in the gut and
a shock to the bodies whole nervous system causing the heart to beat erratically

and the person to become mentally and physically weak and unstable.
The strike to St-9 will have an even more serious effect and its use is only for
when your life is in danger. This point is right on top of the vegas nerve, the
cartoid artery and the carotid sinus. Even a light strike in this area will cau
se knock out straight away because the carotid sinus reflex controls the blood p
ressure to the head. Striking the carotid sinus sends a signal to the heart via
the vegas nerve to slow down, blood pressure drops and the opponent faints. If t
his point is hit to hard the heart will stop and the opponent will die.
So we can see that there is no mystery to dim mak this information is correct ac
cording to western anatomical science. Western accident and emergency doctors ar
e actually taught to use a very slight finger pressure on the carotid sinus to t
reat patients suffering from life threatening high blood pressure.
Unfortunately there are still some martial arts teachers who are not trained in
acupuncture or western medicine and use the Stomach 9 point to demonstrate how w
ith only a small amount of power they can knock someone out. This is reckless in
the extreme not only because these people often don't know the antidote or revi
val points but also because this is one of the dim mak delayed death points.
Again the reason why this occurs is all medical not mystical. When struck on St9 the traumatic injury will cause a small section of the interior wall of the ca
rtoid artery to eventually detach itself and get carried to the brain where it w
ill cause a clot resulting in a stroke and death. This can happen a few weeks, m
onths or years after the original strike hence the delayed death aspect of this
dim mak attack.
Acupuncturists use Pericardium 6 to treat nausea, travel sickness, food poisonin
g and irregular heart activity. Stomach 9 is used to treat high blood pressure a
nd neck problems like tonsillitis and goitre. So if we train to be effective acu
puncturists as well as effective martial artists then we have a yin yang balance
in our lives. We can be healers as well as fighters by using the same knowledge
of acupuncture points for both combat and healing.
I explain to martial artists about the interesting art of dim mak and why it wor
ks to encourage them to use their enthusiasm for dim mak as an open door into th
e very rewarding study of the healing art of acupuncture. We must always remembe
r that dim mak points are acupuncture points and the reason why dim mak works is
because it is using the treatment methods of acupuncture in an adverse way.
The way that acupuncture works is to insert the needles into acupuncture points
on the acupuncture meridians in the direction that the qi (energy) flows to rein
force a weak part of the body. Or to insert the needles into acu-points against
the direction that the qi flows to calm an overactive part of the body. The need
les are also manipulated up and down whilst being rotated clock wise or anti clo
ckwise to reinforce or reduce the qi flow. The direction depends on which hand y
ou are using on which side of the patients body.
All the bodies muscles, bones and internal organs, the brain and nervous system
can be healed by acupuncturing specific acupuncture points. This same knowledge
can be used to adversely affect the opponents organs, brain and nerve system in
combat.
For example acupuncturists use Conception Meridian point 17 (CV-17) needled in t
he reducing direction to calm the heart and lungs by reducing excessive heart an
d lung activity. So it is very useful in the treatment of asthma, bronchitis, pa
lpitations and angina. If a person were struck in the reducing direction with su
fficient force on this point it could cause the opponent to have reduced functio
nal power of the heart and lungs, difficulty breathing and a blood pressure drop

. They would feel weak and faint and collapse.

Acupuncturists send qi energy through the needles to heal the patient with thoug
hts of compassion and a healing intention. When we use the points in combat he
needed to put a destructive intention into the qi to be able to affect the energ
y flow in his opponents bodies in an adverse way. ( Of course with dim mak some
points work for purely anatomical reasons and no qi is needed but many of the po
ints only work, or work with less effort, if qi is used in the strikes.)
Dim mak means hitting the acupuncture points with fa jin explosive energy strike
s, to cause disorientation, weakness and collapse, temporary or permanent paraly
sis, unconsciousness or death. Different results are possible depending on which
point or combination of points are hit and how they are hit. The results are du
e to understanding Traditional Chinese Medicine it has nothing to do with mystic
al powers.
It is clear that in ancient times martial artists new acupuncture and used this
knowledge to make their fighting systems more effective. It is a great skill to
be able to use dim mak to defeat an opponent if we are attacked. However if we t
ake a deep look into our selves we realise that just cultivating the skill of be
ing able to destroy people is very unbalanced. If we study acupuncture then we c
an not only heal injuries to ourselves and others that occur during our martial
arts training but also help members of the public to recover from illness and in
jury.
If you would like to be sent a free prospectus for the evening acupuncture cours
e starting on 27 January given by Paul Brecher at The College of Chinese Medicin
e in London please call 020 8264 8074 or click here Acupuncture Course
Dim Mak and Acupuncture
PUBLISHED IN COMBAT MAGAZINE
Febuary 2003
Part 2
Paul Brecher is the Senior London Instructor for Erle Montaigues World Tai Chi B
oxing Association. He is also a Lecturer at The College of Chinese Medicine in N
orth London, his training as an acupuncturist and as a martial artist means that
he is able to explain the medical reasons behind the apparently mystical art of
Dim Mak.
Continuing on from last months article I will explain more about the interesting
art of dim mak and why it works. And I will further encourage martial artists t
o use their enthusiasm for dim mak as a gateway into the very rewarding study of
the healing art of acupuncture.
There are actually a few misunderstandings about dim mak that need to be clarifi
ed, for example some people still think that we have to hit certain points at ce
rtain times of day for the dim mak effect to work. This is incorrect, acupunctur
e points whether they are used for dim mak or acupuncture work all the time.
Many people also believe that one needs to know about the creative and destructi
ve cycle of the five elements theory of Traditional Chinese Medicine to be able
to use dim mak correctly. Again this is not the case, all one needs to know is t
he location of the point and the direction of the strike (up, down, left or righ
t ) and whether to rotate the strike clockwise or anti clockwise to cause an ene
rgy drainage effect, also of course one needs to have fa jin. These things are l
earnt as a subconscious reflex by the body through training The Old Yang Style T
ai Chi System.

Fa jin has many levels and so does dim mak, the higher the level of fa jin one i
s at, the higher level of dim mak one can apply. It is possible on many of the
dim mak points to get them to work even without fa jin, just with a normal exter
nal strike, others need to be hit with the great penetrating power that can only
come from the fa jin explosive energy strikes.
One of the biggest misunderstandings about dim mak is because it is sometimes ca
lled the death touch. It is not a touch it is a fa jin strike delivered with gre
at force, you cannot kill someone with a touch, the reason that this misundersta
nding has grown is that to an onlooker the strike was so small and quick that it
just looked like a touch.
At the high level of fa jin we can deliver the blow from touch contact with the
opponent, we don't have to draw back our arm to hit them but because this is not
understood, it is inevitable that the incorrect conclusion has been drawn and i
t is thought that there was just a touch not a strike. So dim mak should really
be translated as death strikes not the death touch.
One common myth which has crept into the dim mak ( acupuncture point striking )
story is that people say that they were knocked out and the taiji fighter never
touched them. What really happened was the fa jin ( explosive energy strike ) wa
s to fast to see and with a knock out the person who has been hit, upon recoveri
ng consciousness has lost the memory of the second just before he went into knoc
k out.
So of course they did not see the strike land or recall the feeling of the blow
so they inevitably jump to the conclusion that it never landed and then they say
that they were knocked out without being touched and so another myth is created
.
One of the points that we use to cause knock out is on the Governing Vessel, it
is called a vessel rather than just a meridian because it holds a great deal of
the bodies energy. The Governing Vessel runs up through the middle of the spine
over the top of the head and down to the upper gum. The knock out point is calle
d Governing Vessel point 26 (GV- 26) and it is located just under the nose, abov
e the middle of the top lip.
If we hit GV- 26 lightly in the reducing direction against the energy flow in th
is meridian/vessel it causes knock out because it connects directly with the Cen
tral Nervous System in the spine. The shock wave through the CNS causes it to te
mporarily shut down making the opponent go into knock out. However this point sh
ould never be used to demonstrate that dim mak works because if it is hit too ha
rd it causes all the yang energy to be drained from the Governing Vessel and the
CNS shuts down permanently causing death.
Unfortunately there are still some martial arts teachers who are not trained in
acupuncture or western medicine and use GV- 26 to demonstrate how with only a sm
all amount of power they can knock someone out. This is reckless in the extreme
not only because these people often don't know the antidote or revival points bu
t also because this is not only a dim mak knock out point but also a death point
.
Dim mak should never be used for demonstrations only for defeating opponents. Th
ere is short and long term damage from any type of knock out, so it would not be
sensible for a person to volunteer themselves to be hit at a seminar where dim
mak is being demonstrated.
Acupuncturists use Governing Vessel point 26 to revive an unconscious person or
to awaken coma patients. We also use this point to clear inflammation from the s
pine before we start acupuncturing the the specific vertebrae and discs that hav

e been been damaged and need healing.

The Old Yang Style system has been very cleverly designed so that it is possible
to practice fa jin and dim mak in such a way that one can become effective in i
ts use but not damaged in the training.
We train so that if we encounter the worst situation we have something to call u
pon, we hope for the best but prepare for the worst. A person who chooses to tra
in the whole of the Old Yang Style Taiji System will eventually get to the very
high levels which are more to do with energy rather than just physical force.
At the highest level we still hit the opponent but we are able to actually deliv
er into them a shockwave of adverse energy which we can guide with our intention
along their acupuncture meridian channels deep into the most vulnerable parts o
f their body like their heart and brain causing instant death. This is extreme b
ut better to have it and not need it, than not have it when you need it.
( Occassionaly a low level student will say with exasperation to me 'You havent
killed anyone have you so this cannot be true'. When I was much younger and thou
ght I had something to prove I used to hit these people with enough force for th
em to feel the fa jin shockwave penetrate deep into their bodies and cause a lit
tle damage and then I would heal the internal injury with acupucture and Chinese
Herbal Medicine. Now I am a little bit older and more sensible and go to great
lengths not to hurt anyone.)
From a healing perspective the ability to transfer our energy through the acupun
cture needles into a specific part of another persons body is a great skill. We
would of course use positive healing energy not adverse destructive energy. Ther
e are not two types of qi energy, good and bad, it is the same energy we just g
ive it an adverse or healing intention depending on the circumstances.
The ancient Chinese healing art of acupuncture can cure not only physical injuri
es but also many illnesses, diseases and general health problems. It was the med
ical understanding of acupuncture which lead to the development of dim mak.
So if we train to be effective acupuncturists as well as effective martial artis
ts then we have a yin yang balance in our training and our lives. We can be heal
ers as well as fighters by using the same knowledge of acupuncture points for bo
th combat and healing. For healing we would be tapping into our higher spiritual
nature for fighting we tap into our base animal nature.
It is clear that in ancient times martial artists new acupuncture and used this
knowledge to make their fighting systems more effective. It is a great skill to
be able to use dim mak to cause sudden weakness, knock out or death to an oppone
nt if we are attacked. However if we take a deep look into our selves we realise
that just cultivating the skill of being able to damage peoples health is very
unbalanced.
In our modern lives here in the UK we to can have the the ability be both fighte
rs and healers and have a greater degree of balance in our lives. If we study ac
upuncture then we can not only heal injuries to ourselves and others that occur
during our martial arts training but also help members of the public to recover
from illness and injury. If you would like to be sent a free prospectus for the
evening acupuncture course starting on 27 January given by Paul Brecher at at Th
e College of Chinese Medicine in London please call 020 8264 8074 or click here
Acupuncture Course