Keep off any pulse; never press both sides at once.
氣舍 Qishe
“Abode of Qi” · ST11
Foot Yangming · 11 of 45
Where. Just above the inner end of the collarbone, in the small dip between the two heads of the long neck muscle.
For. Sore throat, hiccups, a stiff neck.
Press. Light touch, one side at a time, about a minute.
Caution. Keep off any pulse; never press both sides at once.
氣舍，在頸，直人迎下，俠天突陷者中按 · Press with me
Six slow breaths
About a minute. Press as you breathe out, ease as you breathe in.
鄰 · Neighbouring leaves
Where Qishe Sits at the Root of the Neck
The licensed dataset places Qishe on the neck, on the upper border of the medial end of the clavicle, between the sternal and clavicular heads of the sternocleidomastoid muscle. Unpacked for hands rather than textbooks: below the throat, the collarbone runs outward from the breastbone toward the shoulder, and its innermost stretch — the part beside the soft notch at the top of the breastbone — carries this point along its top edge. The sternocleidomastoid, the strap-like muscle that turns the head, arrives at this corner by two routes: one head rises from the front of the breastbone, the other from the collarbone itself. Where the two heads part company they leave a narrow triangular gap, and the point rests inside that gap, just above the bone.
What lies beneath this little crossroads deserves genuine respect, and the licensed record says so plainly: practitioners are warned never to work deeply here, because large arteries, the lungs, and other important structures lie beneath. The geography explains the warning. The root of the neck is the corridor between chest and head, where great vessels climb and descend, and where the highest domes of the lungs rise behind and slightly above the inner half of the collarbones. Professional training manages that crowding with anatomy and technique; home self-care manages it differently, and far more simply — by never leaving the surface at all. Nothing suggested on this page asks your fingers to do more than rest on skin and the most superficial layer of muscle.
The neighbours confirm the address. The stomach channel runs down the front of the body from face to second toe, and its stations along the neck step downward like a staircase: Renying (ST9) stands beside the Adam’s apple; Shuitu (ST10) holds the midpoint between Renying and this point, on the muscle’s front border; Qishe arrives at the collarbone’s inner upper edge. Just beyond it, nearer the shoulder, Quepen (ST12) occupies the centre of the hollow above the collarbone. Reading the sequence outward from the Adam’s apple gives you a built-in sanity check: each station sits lower than the last, and Qishe is the step where the channel finally meets the bone.
A Gentle Self-Palpation Walkthrough
Sit upright on a firm chair with both feet down and shoulders released, so the neck softens before anything else happens. First let the muscle introduce itself: turn your head slowly to one side and watch the sternocleidomastoid ridge stand out along the opposite side of the neck; trace its course mentally from behind the ear down to the breastbone and collarbone, then bring the head back to neutral and let everything soften again. Now slide your fingertip from the soft notch at the top of the breastbone onto the upper border of the collarbone right beside it, and settle the pads of your index and middle fingers into the small gap between the two muscle bands just above the bone. The whole search takes a few unhurried seconds and asks for attention, never force.
A few small confirmations settle the placement before any pressing begins. Compare sides with feather-light touch, noticing how the gap sits symmetrically on either side of the throat. Swallow once and watch your fingers hold steady while the larynx glides upward beneath them — if something slides directly under the pads, you have drifted inward toward the windpipe, so ease back out toward the muscle. Feel for the pulse: if a soft beat arrives under your fingertips, move them aside onto muscle rather than leaving them on the moving vessel, a habit that matters more than any other on this page. Throughout, nothing should ache; hunting for tender spots is not part of this practice.
Three mistakes account for nearly every misplacement. The first is lateral drift: sliding outward along the collarbone toward the shoulder, away from the inner end — that outer territory belongs to Quepen’s hollow, so whenever doubt arises, return to the breastbone notch and restart the short journey. The second is pressing harder and harder hoping a satisfying spot will announce itself; the neck does not reward that instinct, and depth is precisely what the caution record warns against. The third is working both sides of the neck at once with two hands, which this guide rules out altogether: one side at a time, always. Whenever uncertainty creeps in, go back to the first step and walk from notch to muscle a single slow time.
Reading the Name: Abode of Qi
The two characters read like an address plate. Qi 氣 names the breath and the vital energy that classical Chinese medicine places at the centre of life — the same character that appears in everyday words for air, weather, and temperament. She 舍 means house, dwelling, residence: the character survives today in words for dormitory and guesthouse. Together, Qishe reads as the abode of qi, the lodging where qi takes up residence. Commentators across the centuries have connected the name to the point’s situation below the throat — the doorway every breath passes — imagining the spot as a dwelling prepared for the qi that moves through it. However the image is unpacked, the name does what the best point names do: it fixes the location and its character in the mind at once.
The channel map frames the same idea from another direction. Classical teaching assigns the stomach channel to the earth phase among the five phases, and draws its route beginning at the face and descending the whole front of the body to reach the second toe. On that long descending road, the neck stations form a short, steep flight of steps, and Qishe stands on the lowest one, where the route crosses the collarbone on its way toward the chest. Throat-level points gathered along this stretch were natural anchors for classical discussions of the throat and breath, and this point, sitting where the stairs meet the bone, belonged to that conversation by simple geography.
Pinyin renders the name Qìshè: qì falls on the fourth tone, the sharp falling tone; shè also falls on the fourth tone here, taking the house sense of the character. Dictionary readers will meet a second face of she — a dipping third tone, reserved for meanings around giving something up, as in the everyday word for being reluctant to part. Same character, two readings, and the acupoint uses the house one. There is a pleasing continuation in the neighbourhood, too: farther down the chest, the channel carries another point named Qihu, whose characters spell Door of Qi — the tradition’s architectural habit of naming gates, halls, courtyards, and dwellings running straight through the region. A house beside a door makes the map easier to remember.
Traditional Indications, Explained
The recorded indications read: sore swollen throat, goitre, cervical scrofula, shortness of breath, hiccups, cough, and stiff painful neck. Framed as tradition rather than promise, the first three belong together. Classical practice traditionally reached for the neck’s point-cluster when swallowing burned and the throat felt hot and swollen. Goitre named the visible swelling at the base of the neck, described by generations of physicians long before modern explanations emerged. Cervical scrofula referred to chains of bead-like nodules along the sides of the neck — a picture modern readers connect with lymph nodes. These terms record what classical doctors observed and how they categorised it; they are history, not a home programme, and anyone who notices a new lump, growing swelling, or persistent fullness in the neck today belongs first in a clinic.
Shortness of breath, cough, and hiccups show the era’s wider reasoning about the region. Throat-level stations sat on the road breath travelled, so laboured breathing and cough appear naturally in the record. The hiccups of the old books meant relentless hiccupping — far beyond a single after-dinner hiccup — understood as stomach qi rebelling upward, and points along the lower neck and chest joined those discussions. All of this is framework, documented for cultural understanding: where modern research touches self-applied pressure at all, reviews suggest effects are modest and context-dependent, and evidence attached to any single point remains thin.
The last indication, stiff painful neck, follows the oldest logic of all — treating locally. The point sits between the two heads of the very muscle that desk work, screen posture, and restless sleep load the most, and classical practice commonly approached discomfort where it lived, at points among the structures involved. That is local reasoning, not a claim: this page offers the traditional portfolio as heritage and context. Hold it lightly alongside the firmer sentence that matters more — persistent or unexplained symptoms belong with a qualified practitioner, and pressing a point is never their substitute.
Self-Care Acupressure at Home
With the point found by the walkthrough above, settle in: seated, shoulders heavy, jaw loose. Work one side at a time, starting wherever feels more natural today. Rest the pads of two fingers on the spot and give yourself a few breaths of simple contact before adding anything — the skin learns a visitor before it accepts a conversation. Then add the smallest possible movement: slow circles the size of a lentil, letting the skin glide over the tissue beneath, or a still light hold that barely indents the surface. Sensation should read as faint warmth or the mildest dull awareness, and one to three unhurried minutes per side is plenty. Finish one side completely before considering the other.
The base of the neck pays dividends to patience and charges heavily for force. No digging, no knuckles, no tools or devices, no dragging the skin across the collarbone; warm cold hands first, because chilled muscle guards. Choose a quiet corner over a screen and let the session double as a breathing pause — inhale through the nose, soften on the exhale, and let each small circle ride the breath out. People who keep a routine often anchor it to an existing habit, morning wash-up or evening wind-down, because what self-care traditions actually reward is repetition measured in weeks, not intensity measured in minutes.
Keep the honest scope in view. This is a few minutes of attending to your own body — a ceremony of attention, not a treatment course. Across a fortnight of gentle practice you may notice the area feels less guarded, or that pausing to breathe comes more easily, or nothing measurable at all; every one of those outcomes fits what self-acupressure honestly offers. What does not fit is escalation — harder, longer, deeper in pursuit of a result. The moment curiosity pulls that way, remember the name: this is a dwelling for qi, and guests who linger at the threshold pressing ever harder on the door have misread the invitation entirely.
Cautions and Safe Practice
This point earns its caution more plainly than most. The licensed dataset instructs practitioners never to needle deeply here, because large arteries, the lungs, and other important structures lie directly beneath — the record says exactly this, and it is the reason the safety framing on this page runs stricter than usual. Plain geography explains it: the root of the neck concentrates the traffic between chest and head into a space a couple of fingers wide, with the uppermost reaches of the lungs close behind the collarbones. Professional training manages that density with technique; home self-care manages it differently and far more reliably, by never leaving the surface.
Translated into household rules, the discipline is short. Use finger pads only, with pressure no heavier than a coin resting on the skin. Work one side at a time and never squeeze both sides of the neck together. Never rest pressure on a felt pulse — if the beat arrives, slide aside onto muscle. Skip the point entirely during any feverish illness, on any day dizziness visits, over broken or irritated skin, and after recent neck injury or surgery until a clinician clears ordinary activity. Sharp, electric, or radiating sensation, palpitations, or lightheadedness mean stop immediately and do not try again that day. Pregnant readers, and anyone living with heart, vascular, or lung conditions, should consult a qualified practitioner before adding any practice at the base of the neck.
And the wider rule stands over everything on this page: this is educational material, and acupressure is self-comfort, not diagnosis or therapy. Some symptoms belong with a clinician promptly, not with a pressure routine — a new lump or swelling in the neck or above the collarbone, hoarseness persisting beyond two or three weeks, difficulty swallowing or breathing, a severe sore throat with high fever, coughing blood, breathlessness at rest, or any sudden one-sided weakness or slurred speech, which is an emergency needing urgent care without delay. Persistent symptoms belong with a licensed practitioner, Western medical or East Asian as suits the complaint. The safest thing this small abode offers most people is better acquaintance with their own neck — treated kindly, and from the surface only.
Qishe — the Abode of Qi — sits at the root of the neck, atop the inner end of the collarbone, between the two heads of the sternocleidomastoid muscle. Classical practice reached for it when the throat burned or breath ran short. This guide finds the spot by touch and keeps every contact safely superficial.
Cautions from the classical sources
- Keep insertion shallow; large arteries, the lungs, and other vital structures lie beneath.
Self-care limits
Frequently asked
- How do I find Qishe without studying anatomy?
- Use the collarbone as the whole map. Find the soft notch at the top of the breastbone, then rest your fingertip on the upper edge of the collarbone right beside it. Settle your pads into the small gap between the two bands of the strap muscle, just above the bone’s edge. That gap, on the upper border of the bone’s inner end, is the address the dataset describes — no measurements required.
- Is pressing this point myself actually safe?
- Feather-light fingertip contact on one side at a time is reasonable self-care for healthy adults, because it engages skin and the most superficial layer of muscle and never approaches the structures the caution record names. The documented dangers concern deep professional techniques at this crowded corner of the neck — a category home practice never enters. Keep the habits that matter: stay off any felt pulse, never work both sides together, and stop at once on sharp pain, dizziness, or palpitations.
- What did classical practice use Qishe for?
- The traditional record lists sore swollen throat, goitre, cervical scrofula, shortness of breath, hiccups, cough, and stiff painful neck. Throat complaints anchor the list, matching a point that stands where the channel meets the collarbone below the throat. Those are traditional frameworks for understanding the body, preserved for cultural context — not evidence-backed treatment claims — and goitre or scrofula in particular describe conditions that today begin with a doctor’s examination.
- Why does a stomach-channel point sit up on the neck?
- Classical teaching draws the stomach pathway descending the front of the body from the face all the way to the second toe, and the throat region is early on that road. Its neck stations step downward — Renying beside the Adam’s apple, Shuitu midway between, then Qishe at the collarbone’s inner upper edge — before the route continues over the chest. A channel bound down the front of the body naturally passes this way, and the tradition filed its throat-related discussions under the points along the passage.
- I can feel a small lump near my collarbone — should I press Qishe?
- No. Any new lump or swelling in the neck or above the collarbones deserves a clinician’s examination promptly, because proper assessment — not self-care — is what can say what it is. Self-acupressure neither diagnoses nor replaces that process; it is a comfort practice that lives alongside medicine, never instead of it. Pressing the area while an unexplained finding continues would only delay the visit that matters.
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 and channel context.
- 03aijiu-mpvue (MIT License) licensed dataset, entry for ST11 Qishe — 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/st11/leaf.json
- GET /zh-hant/points/st11/leaf.json
- GET /zh-cn/points/st11/leaf.json
- /llms.txt — the index of every leaf
- JSON-LD in the page: MedicalWebPage, MedicalEntity and FAQPage
{
"id": "ST11",
"name": {
"en": "Qishe",
"gloss": "Abode of Qi",
"zh-Hant": "氣舍",
"zh-Hans": "气舍"
},
"channel": {
"id": "ST",
"order": 11,
"of": 45
},
"location": {
"text": "Just above the inner end of the collarbone, in the small dip between the two heads of the long neck muscle."
},
"for": [
"sore throat",
"hiccups",
"a stiff neck"
],
"press": {
"text": "Light touch, one side at a time, about a minute.",
"seconds": 60
},
"cautions": [
"Keep off any pulse; never press both sides at once."
],
"source": "Zhenjiu Jiayi Jing, book 3",
"url": "https://acupoints.com/en/points/st11",
"lastReviewed": "2026-08-24"
}