5 Element Acupuncture
The Elements
Classical Five Element Acupuncture is an ancient form of medicine that works by treating a
person at the levels of body, mind, heart and spirit.
Wood
Wood is the element of spring. Wood is about fresh, new growth. It is the determination of a new shoot to burst through the hard ground at winter’s end. Wood is about pushing forward, like a tree moving toward its source of light. It’s about seeing a path for growth, planning a direction, and implementing the action of forward movement. Wood is about challenge. Wood likes a worthy opponent – someone or something to push against. Wood is vision, planning, decision making, action and much more….
Click here for further details about Spring and the Wood element.
Fire
Fire is the element of summer. Fire is about the joy and play and lightness that we often associate with summer. Fire can be cheeky. Fire is about warmth; it’s about relationship and our connection with others. It’s about our capacity to share intimately with another. Fire is about passion. It’s about laughter. It can also be about deep sadness and how we hold our hurts and tenderness. Fire is about Love and it’s about the Heart, and many other things…
Click here for further details about Summer and fire.
Earth
Earth is the element of late summer (also called Indian summer) – the time of harvest. Earth is about giving and receiving. It is from the Earth element that a mother nourishes and nurtures her child. Earth provides care and support for others. Earth provides understanding and sympathy. Earth is also about our ability to receive and absorb nourishment, both in terms of the food we eat and the emotional caring and support that others offer. Earth is about our need for that care, support and understanding. Earth is home and hearth and mother and…..
Metal
Metal is the element of autumn. Metal is about the purest essence and the highest quality. It’s also about letting go of the waste we don’t need. It’s about the discrimination between diamonds and dust, wheat and chaff – what’s worth keeping and what’s worth throwing away. In autumn trees withdraw their valuable sap deeper inside in preparation for the winter, while the leaves that are no longer required wither and die, returning valuable nutrients to the soil. Metal is about our connection to God, whatever our concept of that may be; it’s also about the grief that comes with death and the loss of connection. Metal is about respect, inspiration, decay, rotting….
Click here for further details about Autumn and the Metal Element.
Water
Water is the element of winter. Water is about our stores of energy. It is about fear, and the stillness or movement that result from fear. Water is about drive – about overcoming obstacles; over, under, around or through, Water finds a way. It is relentless. Water is about survival. It may be deep, dark, hidden, suspicious. Water is the stillness of a frozen lake, and the immense power of a tsunami. It is changeable, elusive. Water is intense, adrenalized, never stopping; or deep, dark, threatening stillness….
Click here for further details about the Water Element.
True Healing
We are often unaware of the role we play in our own illnesses, stresses and struggles in life. We tend to view life’s difficulties, physical and otherwise, as being unrelated to who we are – as isolated events that happen to us. Fortunately for us there is a more empowering way to see things. Our suffering bears great gifts should we choose to learn from it. The purpose of our suffering is to lead us to the path of healing.
True healing is ultimately about awakening. It’s about seeing ourselves – making the unconscious conscious. It’s about knowing ourselves more fully. It’s about growth and maturation. It’s about deep self-acceptance, self-forgiveness and self-love – which brings deep acceptance, forgiveness and true compassion and love for others. It is a journey rather than a destination. The healing journey is about letting go – letting go of our need for people, places, situations and things to be different from the way they are. True healing is about opening and connecting – with ourselves, with others, and ultimately with the pure Spirit (also called Tao, God, the Divine), which resides within us all.
Five Element Acupuncture invites us into the mystery and provides a doorway for our journey. For it is a mystery. The healing journey is about letting go into not-knowing and opening into Wisdom.
