玉堂 Yutang
“Jade Hall” · CV18
Conception Vessel · 18 of 24
Where. On the breastbone, level with the third rib space.
For. Chest tightness, cough, sore throat.
Press. Gentle, on the breastbone, about a minute.
在紫宮下一寸六分陷者中按 · Press with me
Six slow breaths
About a minute. Press as you breathe out, ease as you breathe in.
鄰 · Neighbouring leaves
Where Yutang Sits on the Breastbone
The dataset locates Yutang on the chest, on the anterior midline, level with the third intercostal space. Unpacked piece by piece: the anterior midline is the imagined vertical line running down the precise centre of the front of the body, through throat, chest, and navel; level with the third intercostal space means the point rides at the height of the third gap between the ribs, counting the gaps downward from just below the collarbone. One detail sets this address apart from points on either side of the line: the midline of the chest is occupied by the breastbone itself, the flat blade of bone that shields the centre of the torso, so the point does not sit inside a rib gap at all — it lies on smooth bone at the same height as the third gap, which the fingers find by searching just beside the sternum’s edges rather than on its face.
The surrounding map explains the point’s character. The Ren vessel, which owns this midline address, runs up the midline of the front of the body and unites all the yin meridians, and Yutang is its eighteenth point, high on the body of the breastbone. The registry arranges its neighbors as a staircase of rib-spaces: Danzhong (CV17) waits one intercostal space below, recorded at the level between the two nipples; Zigong (CV19) sits one space above, level with the second; Zhongting (CV16) stands farther down still, at the fifth space where the breastbone meets the costal cartilages. Each step up the line climbs one rib-space closer to the throat, and each carries a name from the vocabulary of dwellings — a corridor of rooms the tradition built along the front of the chest.
What rests beneath deserves respect before any pressing begins. Between skin and bone here lie only thin, soft layers; the breastbone is a slender plate compared with the ribs it joins, and behind it lies the central compartment of the chest where the heart and the great vessels ride. That geography is why the licensed record carries a pointed caution for this site, and why home practice treats the area as strictly surface-only territory. For fingertip work, though, the same bone is a friendly landmark: solid, unmistakable ground that cannot be mistaken for anything else. Gentle contact honours the anatomy; force argues with it.
A Self-Palpation Walkthrough
Begin from the anchor the registry itself supplies. Stand or sit comfortably upright with shoulders released, and rest the pads of two fingers on the midline of your chest at the height of a straight line drawn between the two nipples — the registry records Danzhong, the point one space below Yutang, exactly there. From that level, walk your fingertips upward along the midline by one intercostal space. Because the breastbone presents smooth bone with no gaps of its own, gauge the step by touch just to the side of the sternum’s edge, where the ribs step down one by one, then return to the centre. The spot on the midline at that new height — one rib-space above the nipple-line level — is the recorded location of Yutang.
Two confirmations help before any pressing begins. First, cross-check by counting from above: the very first groove the fingertip meets just below the collarbone is the first intercostal space; the second groove is the second; the third is the one whose height the point shares. Counting slowly beats guessing. Second, test the centring: slide half a thumb-width to either side of the midline and the firm breastbone should fall away beneath the pad, replaced by the springier resistance of rib cartilage — proof you began in the true centre. Many people notice a faint, dull awareness right at the point and little sensation a finger-width away, and a slow breath moving under still fingers makes the whole area rise and fall visibly, confirming the height.
Three mistakes account for nearly every lost search. Drifting sideways off the midline lands on the rib cartilages, whose give can be mistaken for the right spot. Miscounting spaces drops the search one level low — usually onto the nipple-line level, a fine neighbor but not the recorded address. And hunting for a gap by pressing hard into the bone finds nothing, because the gaps live beside the sternum, not on it; the search is done by slowing down, never by loading weight onto the fingers. Whenever the trail goes cold, return to the line between the nipples, confirm the starting level once more, and climb a single space, slowly.
Reading the Name: Jade Hall
The characters tell the story in miniature. Yu 玉 means jade — the stone the tradition held dearest, standing for what is pure, precious, and refined. Tang 堂 means hall — the main room of a house, the formal chamber where guests are received and what matters most is kept. Together, Yutang reads as the Jade Hall: a jeweled chamber fit for treasures. Pinyin renders the name Yùtáng: yu falls through the fourth tone, a firm descending note, while tang rises on the second tone, lifting like a question given a gentle answer. The hanzi pair 玉堂 is compact enough to memorise at a glance.
The name earns its place in a larger picture. High on the chest, the Ren vessel carries a run of residence-names, and the registry preserves the whole sequence: Zigong, the Purple Palace, one space above; Yutang, the Jade Hall, at the third; Danzhong below it; and Zhongting, the Central Court, at the breastbone’s foot. Classical texts describe the chest as an inner residence — the tradition pictures the heart as the sovereign of the organs, dwelling behind the midline of the upper chest, and names the surrounding points like the rooms and courtyards of a palace arranged around its throne. Whether read as architecture or as homage, the imagery marks this stretch of midline as honoured interior ground: not a thoroughfare things pass through, but the quarter where something precious is kept.
Among thousands of points named for valleys, pools, streams, and gates, this corridor of house-names does practical work. It tells you how the tradition ranked the territory — chest and upper trunk as the seat of what governs, worthy of jade and palaces — and it quietly instructs the manner of approach: what lives in a hall is attended to with care, not handled roughly. Like many channel points named for buildings, the metaphor is a small set of instructions. Read the name rightly and you already know the etiquette of the place.
Traditional Indications, Explained
The recorded indications read: chest pain and oppression, cough, shortness of breath, vomiting, vexation, intercostal neuralgia, and sore throat. Framed as tradition rather than promise, the first group forms a natural family. Chest oppression is a distinct traditional concept — a subjective weight, tightness, or stuck quality across the chest, understood as qi failing to move freely there — and the chest pain of the old records usually refers to the dull, blocked sensations described alongside such fullness, not to sudden severe pain, which has always belonged to urgent care. Cough and shortness of breath complete the set: breath complaints were the classic reason classical practice reached for the chest’s midline, and this point stands near the top of that stretch of line.
The remaining indications look scattered until the vessel’s course is consulted. Vomiting and sore throat both involve qi moving the wrong way or pooling where it should not — surging upward, in the traditional reading, toward throat and stomach mouth. The ren vessel’s chest segment was treated as a corridor for settling such rebellious movement, and a point halfway between throat above and solar region below stood naturally in its path. Intercostal neuralgia — discomfort tracking along the ribs that flank the breastbone — belongs to the same map read sideways: the midline points sit at the centre of the rib-ring, and classical practice approached flank discomfort at points along the line between the two sides. This is traditional reasoning laid end to end, offered for understanding rather than asserted as effect.
It bears repeating plainly: these are the traditional uses recorded in a licensed dataset and classical literature, presented for cultural and historical understanding. They are not claims that pressing this point treats disease, and nothing here replaces assessment by a qualified clinician. Where modern research touches self-applied pressure at all, reviews suggest effects are modest and context-dependent, and evidence specific to any single point remains thin. Hold the tradition lightly, and hold the safety rules firmly.
Self-Care Acupressure at Home
With the point located by the walkthrough above, settle into position: seated, spine tall but unforced, shoulders heavy. Curl your index and middle fingers together and rest the pads — not the tips — on the spot at the centre of the breastbone. Begin with contact alone for a few slow breaths, then add small, gentle circles, letting the skin glide over the bone beneath rather than grinding against it. Pressure should register as pleasant dullness or mild warmth, never sharpness; the bone under this point makes any excess instantly obvious, which is a quiet advantage. A common home rhythm is one to two minutes at a time, once or twice daily, matched where possible to slow exhales so each circle rides the breath out.
Because the point sits on the midline, the usual left-right swapping of paired points gives way to a single centred session — one steady hand, or the stacked support of both. Quality matters more than duration. Light, patient, regularly repeated contact fits the wellness register this page practises; hard jabbing at a bony surface teaches nothing and bruises quickly. Warm cold hands before starting, since chilled muscle guards. Choose a quiet corner over a screen, and let the practice double as a breathing pause: inhale through the nose, feel the chest expand under still fingers, press gently on the long exhale, release. People who keep a routine often anchor it to an existing habit — morning washing, an evening wind-down — because consistency, not intensity, is what self-care traditions actually ask for.
Treat the exercise as a small ceremony of attention rather than a treatment session. Notice what changes across weeks: perhaps the chest feels less guarded, perhaps breathing feels smoother while you press, perhaps nothing shifts except that you spend ninety seconds attending to your own centre. Every one of those outcomes fits the honest scope of self-acupressure. What does not fit is escalation — pressing harder, longer, or deeper to force a result. Under these fingertips the body has printed its own boundary in bone; when curiosity pulls past gentleness, take the hint, or simply stop for the day.
Cautions and Safe Practice
This point earns more respect than its size suggests, and the reason is written in the licensed record. The dataset cautions that professional needling here should run transversely or obliquely and never deeply. The geography explains the caution plainly: a slender plate of bone with only thin soft coverage, and behind it the central compartment where the heart and great vessels ride. Professional training manages that risk with exact technique; home self-care manages it differently and far more simply — by never leaving the surface at all. Nothing in a fingertip practice needs to reach past skin and superficial tissue, and at this address nothing should try.
For self-acupressure the practical rules follow from that picture. Keep pressure light and purely superficial, delivered through finger pads — never knuckles, elbows, or tools — and never press while holding the breath or through pain. Skip the point entirely during a feverish illness, over broken or irritated skin, and while any acute chest complaint is active; be cautious after recent chest injury or surgery until a clinician clears ordinary activity. Sharp, electric, or radiating sensation means stop at once and do not try again that day. Pregnant readers, and anyone living with heart or lung conditions, should consult a qualified practitioner before adding any new point practice.
And the wider rule stands over everything: this page is educational, and acupressure is self-care, not diagnosis or therapy. Seek prompt medical care — not a pressure routine — for chest pain, breathlessness at rest or on mild exertion, coughing blood, a cough lasting beyond a few weeks, difficulty swallowing, or any symptom that frightens you. Persistent symptoms belong with a licensed practitioner, medical or East Asian medical as suits the complaint. The jade-hall imagery is lovely, but the safest gift Yutang offers most people is a calmer, kinder acquaintance with the centre of their own chest, taken slowly.
Yutang, the Jade Hall, rests on the breastbone at the exact centre of the chest, level with the third intercostal space. Classical practice turned here when chest tightness, cough, or labored breath made the torso feel shut. This guide covers finding it by touch, pressing it gently, and the safety lines a home practice observes.
Cautions from the classical sources
- Angle the needle transversely or obliquely and keep it shallow.
Self-care limits
Frequently asked
- How do I find Yutang if the rib gaps are hard to feel?
- Use the nipple line and count upward instead of hunting for gaps on the bone. Find the level of a straight line between the two nipples on the midline of the chest — the registry places Danzhong there, level with the fourth intercostal space — then step one rib-space higher along the midline. Feel the steps just beside the sternum’s edges, where the ribs actually present themselves, and trust the smooth bone at the centre to mark the height. Counting slowly from the collarbone works as a cross-check.
- Is pressing a point on the breastbone safe?
- Gentle fingertip pressure on solid bone is generally reasonable self-care for healthy adults: the pad rests on a firm, well-padded-by-nothing surface that gives instant feedback, and it stays far short of the structures behind the bone. The recorded caution concerns deep professional techniques at this site — a category home acupressure never approaches. Respect the stop signals: sharp pain, radiating sensation, or discomfort that worsens all mean finish immediately.
- What did classical practice use Yutang for?
- The traditional record lists chest pain and oppression, cough, shortness of breath, vomiting, vexation, intercostal neuralgia, and sore throat. Classical texts describe the chest midline as a corridor for settling qi that moves the wrong way — congested in the chest or surging upward — and this point stands high on that corridor. These are traditional frameworks for understanding the body, documented for context — not evidence-backed treatment claims.
- Why are the chest midline points named like rooms of a palace?
- The naming follows the tradition’s picture of the chest as an inner residence: the heart imagined as the sovereign, dwelling behind the upper midline, with the surrounding points named as its quarters — Purple Palace above, Jade Hall here, the Central Court below. Architecture names mark places the tradition expected things to gather and be governed, the way valley and pool names mark places things flow and pool. It is cultural context, and practical etiquette: halls are entered with care.
- Can acupressure at Yutang replace seeing a doctor about chest symptoms?
- No. Self-acupressure is a comfort practice, not a diagnostic tool, and chest symptoms carry red flags — pain, breathlessness, coughing blood, difficulty swallowing, symptoms that worsen or persist — that need professional assessment promptly. Think of the two as different floors of the same building: daily self-care lives downstairs, and clinical medicine keeps the consulting room upstairs that you visit when symptoms persist or escalate. Neither substitutes for the other.
Sources
- 01WHO Standard Acupuncture Point Locations in the Western Pacific Region (2008), World Health Organization — nomenclature conventions.
- 02A Manual of Acupuncture, Peter Deadman, Mazin Al-Khafaji and Kevin Baker — point-name tradition, palace imagery, and channel context.
- 03aijiu-mpvue (MIT License) licensed dataset, entry for CV18 Yutang — location, point class, actions, and caution record.
Last reviewed
牌記This leaf, for machines
Old books ended with a colophon saying who printed them. Every leaf here carries the same facts as structured data for agents and search, with no layout in the way.
- GET /en/points/cv18/leaf.json
- GET /zh-hant/points/cv18/leaf.json
- GET /zh-cn/points/cv18/leaf.json
- /llms.txt — the index of every leaf
- JSON-LD in the page: MedicalWebPage, MedicalEntity and FAQPage
{
"id": "CV18",
"name": {
"en": "Yutang",
"gloss": "Jade Hall",
"zh-Hant": "玉堂",
"zh-Hans": "玉堂"
},
"channel": {
"id": "CV",
"order": 18,
"of": 24
},
"location": {
"text": "On the breastbone, level with the third rib space."
},
"for": [
"chest tightness",
"cough",
"sore throat"
],
"press": {
"text": "Gentle, on the breastbone, about a minute.",
"seconds": 60
},
"cautions": [],
"source": "Zhenjiu Jiayi Jing, book 3",
"url": "https://acupoints.com/en/points/cv18",
"lastReviewed": "2026-08-24"
}