Neither acupuncture nor acupressure is a specifically religious practice. They are associated with healing, but both draw on ancient Chinese principles that have found their way to the center of Daoist teaching. Illness indicates a lack of qi, the vital force, which courses through the body along an intricate system of meridians. Blockage of vital energy causes an imbalance of Yin and Yang. Traditional Daoist-influenced maps of the body associate particular nodes with specific symptoms and internal organs. The whole system is based on a carefully observed network of correspondences. Not only is every part of the human body connected to every other part and to the spirit, but the human microcosm parallels in every detail the macrocosm of the universe. Proper placement of acupuncture needles, or appropriate application of pressure, to the malfunctioning energy juncture along any of the meridians seeks to restore the flow and balance, and hence promotes the rise of vital energies that are the essence of health and well-being.