Everything changes except the truth that everything changes. (ancient Chinese dictum)
Are you happy with yourself?
How often do you feel content, joyful, strong, and confident in yourself?
Do you like yourself?
If you don’t often feel happy, what do you tend to feel instead? What are the distinctive moods that define your disposition and your experience?
Is there a pattern to your "down times," a recurring mood of feeling worried, fearful, hurt, sad, or angry?
Do any of these emotional states seem to correspond with any body function problems or any "holding patterns" of tension or pain?
Do you notice any seasonal or climatic pattern to your dis-ease?
Do you have particular cravings in regard to food and drink (sweets, salt, hot-spicy foods, coffee, alcohol, carbohydrates, etc.)?
Do you have trouble completing tasks or getting things started?
Do you feel grounded and have a sense of belonging?
Do you have a plan or a vision for yourself and your future?
Do you have a favorite color? Least favorite color? Favorite flavor? Favorite season?
If your acupuncturist or Chinese herbalist asks questions like the ones above, chances are she or he is using the schema of the Five Elements to formulate a diagnosis and treatment strategy. Notice the holistic sense of these questions; they suggest the intimate connection of the body, mind, emotions, and nature.
Not every acupuncturist or Chinese medical practitioner today uses this very ancient system for organizing diagnostic data. Many practitioners use another very effective method called the Eight Principles, which has become the predominate diagnostic method used today in the People’s Republic of China. Because the Five Element system also contains a kind of "blueprint" to higher consciousness and inner freedom, it has been, for the most part, repudiated by the current regime in Communist China and dismissed as an "ancient superstition."
Questioning and pulse-taking with the Eight Principles has been compared to getting a detailed black and white "snapshot" of a person’s current pattern of disharmony — an "inner weather report." This very precise diagnostic information is indispensable for developing effective treatment strategies. Questioning and pulse-taking through the Five Element system is more like viewing a technicolor movie of the whole etiology of a dis-ease pattern, including information on prognosis. This is because the Five Elements comprise a dynamic system that describes cyclic movements within time. This system enables a practitioner to work more subtly in the very valuable, preventive way — what the ancient authors once called "superior medicine." Obviously, and ideally, it would be best for a practitioner to make use of both systems rather than relegating the Five Elements to history.
All phenomena are ordered according to the Yin Yang and the Five Phases of Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water.
— Nei Jing 225 B.C.E.
According to classical Chinese medical theory, happiness is our natural condition. The original, enlightened formulators of traditional Chinese medicine taught that at our inner core (called Shen, or Spirit), we are each already whole, complete, innocent, and good. It is our birthright to explore and experience the primordial purity of that true inner self and to accomplish the necessary work that allows our lives to be organized and maintained from a position of self-leadership. This was the original teaching of Daoism, from which the ancient medicine sprang — that there is a way of life that allows for a healthy alignment of the body/mind to the inner Spirit. If this healthy shift takes place, we are happy, confident, strong, and creative, and we radiate a compassionate wisdom.
Usually this wisdom starts with an awakening, which is generated by, or results in an abundant energy (Qi) flowing like a fountain within us; this is the experience of pleasure and joy. It brings a realization of the interconnectedness or oneness of ourselves with others and with nature. This optimal condition, a function of awareness and a smoothed energy flow, is called harmony. The Five Elements within and around us serve as a pathway or schema by which to maintain this integrated, evolved state while we are alive.
Of course, most of us don’t experience this natural condition of happiness and harmony. Indeed, the present body/mind state of most people is stressed, resulting in blocked or deficient qi, which is the experience of pain, dis-ease, and suffering. A lot of us are haunted by unresolved conflicts from childhood. We then become lost in a maze of many thoughts and recurring negative moods which often work like vicious cycles. The answer to how and why this happens is the subject of the vast curriculum of a traditional Chinese or Japanese medical school. By understanding the Five Elements we can get a sense of this profound knowledge and something of the grandeur of this medicine as it was originally practiced
In order to bring into harmony the human body one takes as standard the laws of the four seasons and the Five Elements.
— Nei Jing, 225 B.C.E.
The theory of the Five Elements, like the philosophy of the Yin and Yang, grew out of the wisdom tradition of ancient China. The Five Elements describe the five observable movements or phases within a cycle and contain the secret to how change occurs in a perpetual pattern of five stages, from beginnings to completions: birth-growth-maturity-decline-death. These "Elements" are not meant to be taken literally as static constituents of matter like the "four elements" of the ancient Greeks. Instead, the Chinese meant these elemental names symbolically and dynamically in an archetypal way to indicate a cyclic pattern of movement with five universal, interconnecting stages. Unlike the number four, which suggests stability and stillness like the four legs of a table, the number five implies movement, evolution, and energy in a process of transformation.
Five was a special number to the ancient theorists, who viewed the human (five fingers, five toes, five senses) as a perfect microcosmic replica of the active, fully conscious cosmos. Moreover, the human being, standing central between Heaven and Earth, Yang and Yin, held the "quintessence" — the promise of perfection. In fact, the Five Elements, or wu xing (five movements, or phases) as the Chinese call this theory, is an elaboration of the ceaseless cycles of Yang to Yin and Yin to Yang as we spiral toward our spiritual goal. It also is an attempt to bring the abstract Yin-Yang philosophy down to earth in a detailed way. Each Element or "phase" was given a symbolic name culled from nature and visualized in a sequence: Wood-Fire-Earth-Metal-Water. For example, instead of stating that Yin (water/coolness/nighttime) transforms into ("creates") Yang (fire/ heat/daytime), in five Element language we say that the Water Element (winter/kidney/cold/stillness/black) transforms first into Wood (spring/liver/wind/birth/green) before transforming into Fire (summer/ heart/heat/growth/red).
The Five Elements carefully describe such natural cycles as the changes of the seasons, the passages through life from birth to death, and in medicine — where we find the most startling ramifications — the transformations of qi that take place deep within the organ-networks of the body/mind.
Yin and Yang
A good way to begin to appreciate the cyclic workings of this theory is to start with the Yin and Yang (diagram 1) to understand the interdependent polarity of the body/mind and the changes of the seasons. Yang is symbolized as fire and is associated with warmth, upward movement, activity, light and it is the Spirit/Mind reaching toward Heaven for formation. Yin is symbolized as water and associated with coolness, downward movement, structivity, darkness. It is the Earth "womb" of the body, which constantly gives birth to the formless Spirit/Mind. Actually, Yin and Yang need each other and give birth to each other in a mysterious, ceaseless daily cycle.
Applied to the seasons, springtime, like the beginning of daytime, starts on the bottom of the diagram in the smaller Yang (white) part. As Yang rises upward in a clockwise motion, the white, Yang part of the diagram grows larger until it reaches its fullness at the top as summer (or noon in the daily cycle). Continuing clockwise to the right, we find the beginning of Yin, the smallest of the black part or the beginning of the fall season. And then, as we "fall" downward into the deepest black Yin part of the diagram, we arrive at wintertime (or midnight). The wavy line in the diagram, separating and uniting the two polarities describes movement and balance. The circle of opposite color in each half reminds us that the opposites are an integral part of each other.
The Five Elements of the Seasons
The ancient Chinese theorists first formulated the schema of the Five Elements (diagram 2) by observing the seasons and the directions. Springtime is called the "Wood" phase or the "Lesser Yang." Wood is also associated with expansive, outward movement (like a tree), the eastern direction, the color green, and sour flavor. Wood holds the potential for Fire, which it "creates." The "Fire" phase, which as summer, is the exuberance of Yang or "Greater Yang." Fire is also associated with upward movement and heat, the southern direction, the color red, and bitter flavor.
After summer, in this schema, there is a balance phase between Yang and Yin (like the wavy line in diagram 1) which is called the "Earth" phase or "Indian summer" (a distinct "fifth" season in northern China). The Earth phase is associated with stability, centrality, the color yellow and sweet flavor. Earth then transforms into or "generates" the "Metal" phase, which starts the cool, yin cycle of autumn, or "Lesser Yin." Metal is associated with contractive, inward movement, the western direction, the color white and acrid flavor.
Finally, "Lesser Yin" becomes the "Greater Yin" of the "Water" phase. This corresponds to winter, downward movement, cold, stillness, the northern direction, the color black, and salty flavor.
Notice that in the Five Element system there are many associations or correspondences within each Elemental phase (Wood, for example, relates to each of spring, morning, wind, birth, the liver, the color green, outward movement, the eastern direction, and lesser yang). In this sense, all five Elements are "archetypes," or universal patterns that describe how reality is organized in terms of five quintessential processes. Though these categories are memorized by Five Element medical practitioners, they are not always taken literally; they are meant as a framework for formulating medical strategies (diagram 3 describes these correspondences in more detail).
The Five Elements of the Life Span
To elucidate further, let’s take a similar journey around the Five Elements with regard to another important natural cycle: the sequence of birth to death in all living things. To use human life as our example, the Wood phase corresponds to birth and early childhood. It is a time of energy (small yang), idealism, innocence, and freedom from inhibition. As we grow to puberty, Wood transforms into Fire and we enter the wild, rebellious period of young adulthood. This is a period of intense energy (great yang), growth, creativity, experimentation, and expression. It is a time of self- and sexual discovery and also a turning outward toward the world with excitement and enthusiasm.
When the Fire phase of life passes to the Earth phase, we enter the sobering, grounded period of maturity. If we are growing according to the Dao, (the Way) in a balanced, sequential manner, the Earth phase brings out our sense of responsibility and the desire to serve our community. With Earth, we find our "niche" in life in terms of career and family and we have the opportunity to become dedicated and concentrated on what we do best. It is important to understand, however, that in a healthy person, all phases are active and potentially available in each stage of life. We don’t lose track of the other phases (Wood and Fire) when we need them.
As we approach middle age, Earth transforms into Metal and we enter the "autumn" of life. Metal is a symbol of refinement and excellence. Hopefully we have mastered our life and our craft by having "followed our bliss," during the Earth phase and now are in a position to guide and to give to others. If we are growing in a balanced way, there is a natural feeling of wanting to "let go," like the leaves and fruit that fall from the trees late in the season. Metal is the beginning of the yin, the time of decline and turning within.
Finally, Metal transforms into the Water phase and we enter the "sunset" of life. This is the deep, dark Yin stage; the dignified wintertime of stillness, storage, and deep inner work. This last stage of life is our final opportunity to awaken fully and attain self-perfection before we die. To the ancient Chinese, this was the greatest stage of life, one that ancient peoples aspired to: the time of wisdom and freedom. Curiously, Chinese medicine was originally developed for this Spiritual purpose: restoring the body/mind to a healthy, balanced state in order to prolong life long enough for us to reach our spiritual goal. Attaining complete, pristine enlightenment before death was the primary goal of the ancient Daoists, the designers of Chinese medicine.
The Generative and Controlling Cycles
In our discussions of the cycles of the Five Elements we have moved from Wood to Water in an orderly sequence. This sequence is known as the Generative Cycle or the "mother-child" cycle (see Diagram 4). Each Elemental phase is the "mother" of the next phase. As a mnemonic device, we say that Wood generates Fire, Fire generates Earth, Earth generates Metal, Metal generates Water and Water generates Wood. So each Element is both a mother and a child of another Element (the clockwise circle in diagram 4).
In the world, however, this cycle of generation would spawn an ever-expanding cycle of chaos if it weren’t for another important cycle, the Controlling Cycle (see the five-pointed star in diagram 4). In this sequence, each Element also "controls" (supports or holds within limits) another element and is, in turn, controlled by one. Again, mnemonics help: Wood controls ("breaks through") Earth, Earth controls ("holds" or "dams") water, Water controls ("extinguishes") Fire, Fire controls ("melts") Metal and Metal controls ("cuts through") Wood.
Viewed together as a complete system, the generative and controlling cycles are especially interesting when applied to body/mind and medicine. For example, as we shall see shortly, if Water/Kidney is weak and can’t control Fire/Heart, Fire/Heart can get excessive with symptoms like heat, palpitations, insomnia, and "Spirit-disturbance."
The Five Elements in the Body and Mind
According to traditional Chinese medicine, the Five Elements are within the body and mind (or body/mind) as the five important, energy-generating "powerplants," the organ-networks of the Liver (Wood), Heart (Fire), Spleen/Pancreas (Earth), Lungs (Metal) and Kidneys (Water). Moreover, there is an inner circulation of cyclic transformations of energy and blood that sequence according to the generative cycle from Spleen/Earth through to Heart/Fire.
In Chinese medicine, each organ is viewed energetically and thus dynamically as a complete network that includes the Western physical organ but also includes a tissue and its system, a sense-organ and sense, and an emotion, and a mental/spiritual quality. This is especially true of the five special organs already mentioned, each of which the Chinese consider a Zang, or "treasure-house" of stored energy and emotion. Viewed thus holistically, the organ zangs are also generators and transformers of the energy (qi) and the Mind (See diagrams 4 and 5). For example, "Liver" (as part of Wood) includes the eyes; the sense of vision; the muscular system; the source of anger; and the powers of assertion, planning, and gentleness. "Heart" (as part of Fire) includes the tongue; speech; the circulatory system; the source of joy; and the powers of inner strength, creativity, and compassion. "Spleen/Pancreas" (Earth) includes the mouth; the sense of taste; digestion; the fleshy fascial system (form); the source of concern and sympathy; and the powers of groundedness, nourishment, and concentration. "Lung" (Metal) includes the nose, the sense of smell; the skin (protection from the outside); the source of grief; and the powers of openness, letting-go, and self-refinement. Finally, "Kidney" (Water) includes the ears; the sense of hearing; the skeletal system; sexuality; the source of fear; and the powers of will, adaptability, and wisdom (see diagram 3).
Heaven has four seasons and five elements.... Man has five zangs to transform five energies, for the generation of joy, anger, sadness, concerns and fear.
— Nei Jing 225 B.C.E.
All five organ-networks work in a concerted, synergistic way to generate, transform, and store energy and Mind. Individually, each organ-network contributes in its own way, with its own unique energetic functions, to refine energy, which will eventually transform into Mind (consciousness). Ultimately and ideally, the five organ-network "powerhouses," as part of the archetypal system of the Five Elements, exist to support the Spirit’s evolutionary journey into life and love. The degree to which a person is balanced and healthy is the degree to which the Spirit, or inner self, is in charge.
To the ancient Chinese, the Spirit is regarded as the inner "emperor." It is meant to be centralized or "housed" in the Heart zang. If the Heart zang thus "houses" properly, the other four organ zangs and their corresponding mental attributes then serve to support the "emperor-Spirit" by generating, transforming, and circulating energy all the way from the Earth Element (food source/mouth) straight through to the deepest core, the Fire Element/Heart, where Spirit is centralized. This is the optimal and ultimate Way of life — living harmoniously from the position and inner authority of an awakened self-leadership.
Ancient Chinese and Japanese medical teachings thus regard the body and mind in a much different light than Western medicine. Body and mind are viewed together as a "body/mind" or a "mind/body" which is an incredible generator and transformer of energy and consciousness. In addition, the body/mind is considered to be equipped with an intricate system of channels and meridians that circulate tremendous amounts of creative energy. According to the classical teachings, the body/mind is likened to a spiritual laboratory, or alchemical cauldron, for the deep inner transformations.
Our bodies are designed for ecstasy! If the channels are open so the qi can flow freely and smoothly, and if the five Elements as Organ zangs are strong and functioning optimally, vast supplies of energy help maintain the harmony that allows the compassionate Spirit (Self/awareness) to be in charge and thus there is happiness.
Just as weather is nature’s attempt to balance heat and moisture around the globe, a healthy body/mind with its five internal processes is constantly dealing with the many vicissitudes of life by making careful, instinctive adjustments between the Yin (water/Blood/physical substance) and Yang (fire/energy/mind). For example, in the eventuality of danger, the Kidney zang will create fear which will temporarily and necessarily interrupt the homeostasis of happiness in order to promote action and thus alleviate danger (a Western corollary would be the adrenal system). Likewise, the Liver zang will generate anger if we encounter a disagreeable experience. Once the anger is felt and expressed, a balanced person will return to happiness. The Spleen zang, as part of the Earth Element, generates serious concern and concentration when we need to take care of practical matters and obligations (working, studying, raising a family etc.). Once we take care of our responsibilities and meet our needs, the serious, intentional concern transforms back into happiness. When we experience a devastating loss, the Lung zang creates grief, enabling us to express through tears so that the loss and the attachment are fully processed and we can return to happiness.
If a person is not able to live according to the Way of body-mind-Spirit-nature wholeness (Self-leadership), one or more Elements are out of balance. That’s because when the body/mind is out of balance, we lose touch with the "navigational" skills of the Spirit/Self. If we feel unhappy, blocked and stuck in vicious cycles, our life isn’t working, evolving, and transforming. The Five Element system then offers valuable strategies for understanding the core issues and imbalances. Usually there is one Element/Organ that is weak or deficient ("tired" or hypo-functioning) and one excessive or hyper-functioning Element/ Organ, which "takes up the slack," by taking over some of the functions of the deficient Organ.
A deficiency could be due to a damaged Organ function or an emotional blockage. For example if a person has a genetically or constitutionally weak kidney or has damaged the kidney, the Water Element may not support or control the Fire Element; excessive Fire could result in insomnia, depression, or high blood pressure. Concomitantly, Water might not be able to generate Wood (i.e. Kidney/Water can’t nourish the Liver/Wood). This could result in an on-going state of fear, anxiety, and possibly anger.
Alternatively, an excess of fearful situations in childhood, for example, could weaken the Kidney zang and result in the same state: the body/mind’s experience would now be dominated by Water Element/Kidney/fear associations, displacing the rightful place of the joyful "emperor-Spirit." This person’s mood and experience of self and life would become colored by the afflicted Element (Water). If this were to become a chronic pattern, the imbalance could affect character and this person could become a "Water" person organized around blocked (or defended) fear. This would also block the Water mental/spiritual qualities as well (will and adaptability). Similarly, a person with an Earth imbalance may find herself stuck in worry (unbalanced, excessive concern, or "over-sympathy") which could similarly displace the Spirit’s leadership role.
A trained Five Element practitioner, understanding the associations with each Element and the myriad combinations of possible imbalances, is in an excellent position to expertly assess the nature of the problem. Moreover, he or she is in a position to intervene appropriately to correct the main obstructions and imbalances. This increases our capacity to handle more energy so that the Spirit, with the "wisdom-energy" of higher consciousness, can heal itself.
Unfortunately, many of us live our lives oblivious to our inner imbalances. This includes many blocked and unprocessed feelings. We tend habitually and unconsciously to adapt to our imbalances instead of correcting them, settling for a more limited experience of life. It takes a tremendous investment of our precious energy to hold on to those adaptations (such as chronic muscle tension, defensive mental attitudes, or shallow breathing), which block painful memories, images, and feelings. The result is a limited experience of our innate wholeness, and a lowered or blocked energy flow. The acupuncturist schooled in the classical Chinese and Japanese Five Element tradition, offers with this intelligent ancient technology a pathway of transformation to optimal ways of being. Correct treatment restores the harmonious cyclic interactions of the Five Elements, freeing up vast amounts of energy and awareness, and thus, restoring our natural condition of Self-leadership and happiness.
The utmost in the art of healing can be achieved when there is unity. But when the minds of the people are closed and wisdom is locked out, they remain tied to dis-ease. Yet their feelings and desires should be investigated and made known, their wishes and ideas followed; then it becomes apparent that those who have attained Spirit and energy are flourishing and prosperous, while those who lose their Spirit and energy will perish.
— Nei Jing, 225 B.C.E.
Justin Pomeroy, Lic. Ac., NCCAOM, AOBTA has been practicing acupuncture and acupressure for 23 years and teaches at home and abroad. He directs the Life Gate Center in Chicago. E-mail: lifegatecenter@yahoo.com
Resources
Beinfield, Harriet and Efrem Korngold. Between Heaven and Earth, 1992 Ballantine Books, NY.
Connelly, Dianne M. Traditional Acupuncture: The Law of the Five Elements, 1994 Traditional Acupuncture Institute, Columbia, MD.
Matsumoto, Kiiko and Stephen Birch, Five Elements and Ten Stems. 1983 Paradigm Publications, CT.
Larre, Claude, S.J. and Elisabeth Rochat de la Vallée, Rooted in Spirit/The Heart of Chinese Medicine, 1992 Station Hill Press, Barrytown, N.Y.
Maoshing Ni, The Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Medicine, 1995 Shambhala Publications, Boston.
Padmasambhava, Self-Liberation through Seeing with Naked Awareness, translation by John Myrdhin Reynolds, 1998.
Teeguarden, Iona Marsaa. The Joy of Feeling/Bodymind Acupressure, 1989 Japan Publications, Tokyo and NY.