Yaoqi yāo qí · 腰奇

Location. On the sacrum, 2 cun directly above the tip of the coccyx, in the depression between the sacral horns.

The name joins yao, the lumbar region, with qi, which here carries the sense of singular or uncommon. It is a point outside the fourteen channels, at the very base of the spine, over the opening at the lower end of the sacrum. That position is the one thing worth stating plainly: the point is sited over the sacral hiatus, the gap at the bottom of the sacral canal, and it is not a point on the Bladder channel line beside the spine. Classical and later Chinese literature record moxa here more often than needling, and modern Chinese acupuncture literature discusses the point in the context of seizures; this entry reports that only as a matter of what is written. Its reported effects are not established by modern research and this entry makes no claim of benefit.