Baihui (GV20): The Crown Point for a Heavy Head and Light-Headedness

Where Baihui Sits

The point sits on the top of the head, on the midline, at the level of the tips of your ears. To place it, fold the tops of both ears forward and feel where the tips touch the sides of your head. Picture a line running from one of those spots over the top of the head to the other. Where that line crosses the midline of the scalp is the area. The old instruction is the same one the World Health Organization's location manual uses today, and it is one of the easiest landmarks on the body.

This is the twentieth stop on the channel that runs up the middle of the back, over the crown and down the forehead, which this tradition calls the Governing Vessel. Measured another way, it sits five proportional units above the front hairline. It is also one unit in front of the midpoint between the front and back hairlines. When the hairline has moved back over the years, use the ear tips instead; they do not move.

Under the skin is the scalp, which is built in layers. Below the skin lies a dense layer full of small blood vessels and nerves. Below that is a tough, flat sheet (the galea) that joins the forehead muscle at the front to the muscle at the back of the head. A loose, sliding layer lets the whole scalp move over the bone. Under all of this is the vault of the skull, near the seam where the two side bones of the skull meet along the midline. Many people feel a slight dip here.

The nerves of the scalp meet on the crown. Branches come up from the front of the face, along the sides from in front of the ears, and from the back of the neck through the greater occipital nerve, which rises from the second nerve root of the neck. Their territories overlap at the top of the head. The arteries of the scalp do the same, joining from front, sides and back. That is why the scalp bleeds freely when cut, and why the crown can be surprisingly tender to press.

Why This Spot

The anatomy explains part of the sensation. Nerves from the face, the sides of the head and the neck all reach the crown, so this one spot sits where several territories meet. When the neck is tight and the head feels heavy, the crown often turns tender, and pressing it is felt clearly through the whole scalp. The point is also very easy to find again: the ear tips do not move, and the midline is the midline.

There is a practical reason too. The crown is one of the few places on the head that is far from the eyes, the ears and the large vessels of the neck. Firm, steady pressure is possible here without the cautions that come with the face or the base of the skull.

In this tradition the crown is the highest point of the body, where the yang channels are said to meet, and the name says so. The name means a hundred meetings. In Vietnamese it is Bách Hội, the same characters. It is described as a place to clear and lift the head when it feels heavy, dull or crowded, and to settle a mind that will not stop. In the same tradition the crown is said to lift what sinks. That is why the old lists include complaints of things dragging downward, which today belong with a doctor. Those are traditional descriptions, offered as such.

What the Old Texts Say About Baihui

This is one of the oldest and best-known points on the map. It belongs to the channel points set down in the great early catalogues. The oldest that survives is the Systematic Classic of Acupuncture and Moxibustion, compiled by Huangfu Mi in the third century. Its address on the crown has stayed the same for well over a thousand years.

The Vietnamese reference we work from is Ngô Trung Triều's Huyệt vị kinh lạc cơ thể người (Points and Channels of the Human Body). It gives two ways to find the point. The first is the one this page uses: fold the ears forward and find where the line across the top of the head between their tips meets the midline, in a small dip in the bone. The second measures front to back. Start one unit above the midpoint between the eyebrows, run a line over the head to the back hairline, and take the middle of that line.

The same book lists a long range of uses. Among them are headache, painful eyes, a blocked nose, light-headedness and a stiff neck. It also includes a group of serious conditions that no one should try to manage with a thumb, from fits to complaints after childbirth. The length of that list says more about how central the crown was in the tradition than about what pressing it can do. On this page we keep to the everyday ones: a heavy, aching head and a light-headed, foggy feeling.

The World Health Organization's location manual of 2008 gives the modern version of the same address and keeps the ear-folding method as a note. Ancient catalogue, Vietnamese handbook and modern standard all put the thumb in the same place.

We have not found a classical passage for this point that we can quote with confidence, so we will not invent one.

Points That Work With Baihui

The first partner is between the eyebrows, on the midline above the bridge of the nose. In this tradition it lies on the same midline channel as the crown, and the two are often pressed one after the other for a heavy, foggy head that sits behind the forehead as well.

The second is at the base of the skull. Run your fingers up the back of the neck until they meet bone, then move out to each side into the hollows between the two big neck muscles. A heavy head often starts as a tight neck; working these hollows first, then the crown, follows the strain upward.

The third is on the sole of the foot. Curl your toes and a dip forms in the front third of the sole, between the pads below the second and third toes. In this tradition the crown and the sole are the top and the bottom of the body, and the old pairing is to press the crown to lift and clear the head and the sole to bring the weight back down. Many people do the sole in the evening, before bed.

How to Find and Press Baihui

Getting Into Position

Sit upright in a chair with your back supported and both feet flat on the floor. Rest the elbow of the working arm on a table or on the arm of a high-backed chair, so you do not have to hold the arm in the air. If raising the arm hurts your shoulder, use a pressing tool with a longer handle.

How to Find It

Fold the tops of both ears forward and feel where the tips land on the sides of your head. Picture a line from one of those spots over the top of your head to the other. Run a fingertip along the midline of the scalp, front to back, until it meets that line. That is the area.

Now probe with the tip of your thumb or a rounded-tip tool. Press, move a few millimetres forward, back and to each side, and press again. Most of the crown feels like ordinary pressure on the scalp. One spot will sting, a sharp, pinpoint tenderness clearly different from the area around it. Many people also feel a small dip in the bone. That is the point. If nothing stings, search a little further forward or back along the midline; on some heads it sits a few millimetres from the line.

How to Press It

Use the tip of the thumb with the nail cut short, or a pressing tool with a smooth, rounded tip. A tool is easier through thick hair and kinder to a stiff thumb. Hold it upright, pointing straight down toward the centre of the head.

Once you have the stinging spot, stay on it and rub in small circles, no wider than a grain of rice. Keep the tip in contact so the scalp moves with it over the bone, rather than rubbing the hair. Keep the pressure steady and even. Breathe out slowly as you rub, and keep your neck straight rather than tipping the head down to meet the hand.

How Much Pressure

A sharp sting under the tip is what you are looking for, and it is right. When you lift off, the sting should fade within a few seconds, leaving the crown warm and the head a little clearer. If the pain stays after you lift off, spreads, or the scalp turns swollen, hot or red, stop for the day. Watch the rest of the body too. If you are holding your breath, clenching your jaw or hunching your shoulders, you are pressing harder than you need. If you feel dizzy, stop at once.

How Long

Rub the spot for one to three minutes. In the first sessions stay near one minute; build toward three as the days go on and the scalp gets used to it. There is only one point here, so there is no second side. Once or twice a day is plenty. If you add the hollows at the base of the skull, give each side the same time.

When to Do It

Daytime suits it well. A round in the morning helps when the head feels thick and slow to clear. Another in the afternoon helps when a headache begins to build at the top of the head after a long stretch of concentration. A short round before bed, sitting on the edge of the bed with the light on, is a calm way to close the day. Do not press in the middle of the night. If pain wakes you in the small hours, change position, have a sip of water and let the point wait until morning.

What This Won't Do

It will not remove the reason the head feels heavy. For people in their fifties, sixties and seventies the reasons are often ordinary. Broken sleep, too little water, long hours sitting still, a neck held forward and medicines that cause drowsiness all play a part. So do eyes that need new glasses. A point on the crown sits downstream of all of that. Look at the sleep, the water, the movement and the medicines with your doctor or pharmacist, and then this point has something to add. On its own it is a comfort measure, and a worthwhile one.

It will not replace a diagnosis either. Dizziness and headache can be warnings. A sudden, severe headache unlike any before is an emergency. So is dizziness or headache with confusion, slurred speech, double vision, weakness or numbness down one side, or a face that droops. Call for help at once; do not sit pressing the crown. Fainting, or feeling faint every time you stand, needs a doctor soon. So does a spinning dizziness that keeps coming back, a headache after a fall, or a headache that wakes you every night and keeps getting worse.

Safety First

Do not press on a cut, scab, infection, rash or bruise on the scalp, and leave the crown alone after a recent blow to the head. If you have had surgery on the skull or a shunt or other device placed under the scalp, do not press here without your surgeon's approval. If you take blood thinners, bruise easily or have a bleeding disorder, use lighter pressure and keep sessions short. If lifting your arm overhead hurts your shoulder, use a tool with a handle rather than forcing the arm up.

Stop at once if you feel dizzy, if the pain stays after you lift off or spreads, if the area turns swollen, hot or red, or if you feel an electric or numb sensation. Nothing here requires you to push through pain. For the full list of cautions and situations where self-applied pressure is not appropriate, read the full safety guide before you begin.

Questions People Ask

Where is the Baihui (GV20) pressure point? Baihui (GV20) sits on the top of your head, on the midline. Fold the tops of both ears forward and picture a line over your head joining their tips. Where it crosses the midline is the area. Probe there for the one spot that stings; many people also feel a slight dip in the bone.

How long should I press Baihui? One to three minutes. Stay near one minute in the first sessions and build toward three as the days go on. There is only one point, on the midline, so there is no second side to do. Once or twice a day is plenty.

Can I press it through my hair? Yes. Hair makes no real difference to the pressure. A pressing tool with a rounded tip goes through thick hair more easily than a thumb. If you prefer, part the hair along the midline so you can feel the scalp directly. Avoid working over a cut, a scab or a sore patch of scalp.

Is Baihui good for dizziness? It is commonly used in this tradition for a heavy, light-headed feeling. But dizziness has many causes, and some need a doctor. If the room spins, you feel faint when you stand, or dizziness comes with a new headache, weakness, slurred speech or double vision, get help at once. Do not press any point if you feel dizzy while pressing.

Can I press Baihui if pain wakes me in the night? In this method, no. Pressing is done by day or before bed, not in the middle of the night. If pain wakes you, change position, have a sip of water and wait for the morning. A short round before bed, sitting on the edge of the bed, is the time for this point.

Does it matter which hand I use? No. Use whichever hand reaches the crown most comfortably, and support that elbow on a table if your shoulder is stiff. If lifting the arm overhead hurts your shoulder, use a pressing tool with a longer handle, or press the point while resting your elbow on a high-backed chair.

Other Points in This Library

Each of these sits within reach of the same hand. They are often worked in the same sitting.

This page shares general information about a traditional practice. It is not medical advice and does not replace what your doctor has given you. If you are pregnant, managing a health condition, or unsure whether this applies to you, check with your doctor first.

The whole inner edge of the foot, laid out on one page with photographs, is in The Foot Map — the free book. For every point in this library, see the full pressure point index.

(Point shown: GV20 · Baihui · Hundred Meetings · Bách Hội.)