3 Acupressure Points to Release Tension and Reset Your Nervous System This Spring

You don't need an appointment to start feeling better. These three acupressure points — chosen specifically for spring's Wood element energy — can help relieve tension, calm anxiety, and reset your nervous system in just a few minutes a day, using nothing but your own hands.

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4/26/20263 min read

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One of the things I love most about Chinese medicine is that it doesn't require a clinic visit to be useful. Some of the most powerful tools in this medicine are available to you right now, in your own home, with just your hands.

Acupressure — the practice of applying firm pressure to specific points on the body — is based on the same principles as acupuncture. The same channels, the same points, the same goal: to move stuck energy, calm the nervous system, and support the body's natural ability to regulate and heal.

This spring, with Wood energy building and many of us feeling the tension that comes with seasonal transitions, I want to share three points that I return to again and again — for myself, and for the patients I'll be welcoming into my practice at Well Within in St. Helens, OR.

You don't need any special equipment. Just a few minutes and your own hands.

A Quick Note on Technique

Apply firm, steady pressure to each point for 30–60 seconds. You're looking for a sensation that's somewhere between pleasantly tender and a dull ache — what we call 'De Qi' in Chinese medicine. If you feel nothing, press a little harder or move slightly to find the exact location. If you feel sharp pain, lighten up.

Breathe slowly and deeply while you hold each point. The breath is part of the medicine.

Point 1: Liver 3 (Tai Chong) — The Great Rushing

Location: Top of the foot, in the webbing between the big toe and second toe, about one thumb-width back from the web.

This is arguably the most important point for spring, and for the Wood element in general. Liver 3 is the primary point for moving stuck Liver Qi — which means it's your go-to for irritability, tension headaches, emotional frustration, PMS, and that tight, contracted feeling that builds up when life feels like too much.

It can be quite tender, especially if your Liver Qi is significantly stagnated. That tenderness is information. Hold the point gently at first, then increase pressure as it softens.

Best for: Irritability, headaches, stress, menstrual tension, feeling emotionally stuck.

Point 2: Pericardium 6 (Nei Guan) — Inner Gate

Location: Inner wrist, three finger-widths up from the wrist crease, between the two tendons.

Pericardium 6 is one of the most versatile and beloved points in Chinese medicine. It calms the Heart, settles anxiety, relieves nausea, and opens what we call the 'chest' — that feeling of tightness, constriction, or emotional weight sitting in your sternum.

If you've ever used acupressure wristbands for motion sickness or morning sickness, this is the point they work on. But its benefits go far beyond nausea. This point is deeply calming to the nervous system, making it ideal for anxiety, insomnia, palpitations, or moments when you feel emotionally overwhelmed.

I use this point on myself regularly — especially in the middle of the night when my mind won't quiet down.

Best for: Anxiety, insomnia, nausea, emotional overwhelm, tight chest.

Point 3: Gallbladder 21 (Jian Jing) — Shoulder Well

Location: The highest point of the shoulder, midway between the neck and the tip of the shoulder. Press down firmly.

This is the point I think every mother — every person who carries stress in their shoulders — should know. Gallbladder 21 releases tension in the neck and shoulders, relieves headaches at the back of the head, and has a powerful descending quality: it helps bring excess energy down from your head and upper body, leaving you feeling grounded and less scattered.

It's also used in Chinese medicine to 'descend rebellion' — which is a beautiful way of describing that rising, escalating feeling of overwhelm where everything feels like too much and you're about to boil over.

Important note: This point is contraindicated in pregnancy, as it has a downward-moving quality. If you are pregnant, skip this one.

Best for: Shoulder and neck tension, headaches, feeling overwhelmed, scattered energy, stress.

How to Build This Into Your Day

You don't need a dedicated 'acupressure session' to benefit from these points. Here are a few ways to weave them into real life:

Press Liver 3 while waiting for your coffee to brew in the morning.
Use Pericardium 6 during a stressful moment at work, or in the car before you go inside.
Ask your partner to press Gallbladder 21 for you in the evenings — it's the best kind of shoulder rub.
Hold all three in sequence for a 5-minute reset during a child's nap.

Consistency matters more than duration. A minute on each point, three or four times a week, will produce noticeably different results over time.

These points are a starting place — a way to bring Chinese medicine into your daily life without needing an appointment. But if you find yourself wanting more support, more depth, or help understanding what your body is telling you, that's what acupuncture is for.

Ready to feel like yourself again?

I'll be opening my practice at Well Within: Acupuncture & Chinese Medicine in St. Helens, OR soon. Join my waitlist at sashadewsnup.com to be the first to know when appointments are available — and to receive monthly seasonal wellness tips in your inbox.

You deserve care too. Let's make that happen.