The Conception Vessel
“Conception is not religion. Conception is not divine. Conception is not God. Conception is God in human. Conception is what makes us holy; conception, it will make us powerful; conception, it will make us truthful. Conception does so many things for us, but what is conception? Conception is a state of mind of an individual where one believes this is one to be, and after that, he or she expands herself to that goal.”©The Teachings of Yogi Bhajan, February 18, 1997, Española, New Mexico
The Conception Vessel is one of the most significant vessels in the body for supporting creative endeavors, development and fulfillment of goals, and childbirth. As a yogi, the Conception Vessel gives us clear messages it is the "yes" or "no" that we feel in our body as we make a decision for ourselves. It is the source of our righteous energy that guides us in life in right and wrong. It is a large part of our posture and our ability to stand up straight as a courageous being. It originates at the navel point, drops down and emerges at the perineum, which is the same spot that is stimulated when you sit on your heel in postures such as Maha Mudra. The vessel then runs up the midline of the body, just like the Sushmana,and then ends underneath the lips at the center of the chin. Called the Conception or Ren Mail (Sea of Qi), it is one of the most important rivers in the body, carrying all the yin fluids and forming a circular loop with the Governing Vessel. There are interception points along this loop that are tributaries or smaller rivers of meridian flow. The 12 major meridians often flow into and back out of the Conception and Governing Vessels because this is where a lot of energy exchange takes place.
The Conception and Governing Vessel are two of the 8 Extraordinary Meridians that act as tributaries to the 12 main meridians and share points with the organ meridians. The Extraordinary Meridians carry ancestral Qi and affect consciousness and the spiral of our genetic code. This is a direct parallel to the complexity of the Nadi system. Both systems have different ways or structures to explain similar concepts of energy flow and movement. The Conception Vessel has a constant interplay with all aspects of the body, similar to how the nadis flow into and out of the Sushmana.
There are specific intersection points that are famous in Chinese medicine such as Conception Vessel 4, which parallels the navel point of Ayurveda and is the meeting place of the Spleen, Liver, Kidney and Penetrating Vessel (one of the 8 Extraordinary Meridians).
“The Conception Vessel and the Governing Vessel are like midnight and mid-day, they are the polar axis of the body ... there is one source and two branches, one goes to the front and the other to the back of the body ... When we try to divide these, we see that yin and yang are inseparable. When we try to see them as one, we see that it is an indivisible whole.”
Li-Shi Zen
