GB-13 - Spirit Root
本神 - Běn shén
Point Region: Head
Location & How to Find
Anatomical Location: On the head, 0.5 cun behind the front hairline, 3 cun out from the midline. It is two thirds of the way along the curved line from GV-24 to ST-8.
Distances are in cun, a unit that scales with each person's body. As a guide, the width of your thumb at its joint is 1 cun, and your four fingers held together, measured across the middle joints, are 3 cun.
How to Locate:
- Find the middle of your front hairline (GV-24 is half a thumb-width behind it)
- Move four finger-widths out to the side, staying half a thumb-width inside the hairline
- The point is there
How to Apply Pressure
From the middle of your front hairline, move half a thumb-width back and four finger-widths to the side. Apply gentle, steady pressure there with a fingertip. Keep it comfortable: firm but never painful, and never deep or unrelenting. Stop if it hurts. Avoid this point if you have severe mental illness, acute psychiatric episodes, head trauma.
Traditional Indications
In TCM, this point is traditionally used for:
- Headache
- Dizziness
- Agitation
- Anxiety
- Mental restlessness
- Frontal headache
- Emotional instability
Related Health Concerns
Related Acupoints
Select a point to see its location, how to find it, and its traditional uses.
Important Precautions
Avoid this point with:
- Severe mental illness
- Acute psychiatric episodes
- Head trauma
Take care:
- Use gentle pressure on forehead
- Avoid during acute anxiety episodes
- Monitor for changes in mental state
- Discontinue if agitation increases