Bonus Reading

Hi! Thank you for your interest in Five Element (5E) acupuncture.  What follows is an excerpt from a continuing education course that I wrote for massage therapists about ear acupressure.   To properly train the therapists, I included a brief exploration of Traditional Chinese Medicine basics – which follow those of 5E.  In this excerpt I briefly dip into the Elements and their correspondences.  I hope it will be of service to you.

 

 

 

WEST VS. EAST

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The monolith of Western medical thought is familiar to us all because it’s the dominant paradigm. You get sick, you have symptoms, you put these symptoms together to diagnose and treat an illness that is in itself something separate from you.  You kill the illness. You go out to dinner and get on with your life. 

 

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), in contrast, approaches health from an entirely different point of view; the illness is not an invader, but rather evidence of a fundamental imbalance in the unique biosphere that is you and your relation to the greater biome of the world.  Historically, China was a Daoist and Confucian society. This means that their philosophical grounding is not one of duality like the Cartesian West. This isn’t Philosophy 101 so we’ll keep it simple and say the West considers the individual to be – well, individual.  Remember Descartes’s famous phrase: “I think, therefore I am”. In contrast, the societies of the East followed the model that we are all a part of the greater whole, and that what happens in our interior world is reflected in our exterior world - and vice versa. Writing this during the Coronavirus Pandemic, we can’t help but be aware of the inherent truth in both models: we are truly responsible for our individual wellbeing, but it is obvious that the collective whole and indeed the very Earth around us are inextricably linked to the fates of the least of us. But we digress.

 

In practical terms this Musketeer approach (“All for one and one for all”) means that TCM considers the mind, the body, and the spirit to be interconnected and demands that we treat all as a whole.  It ascribes what Western medicine would consider spiritual or psychological functions to health and to treatment. In TCM, a point that is good to regulate the pulse of a wildly beating heart is simultaneously able to return a broken heart to its natural state of radiant joy.  Indeed, traditional Eastern thought believes that emotions themselves can be the cause of ill health. They also correlate emotions and particular strengths and weaknesses to organs such as the Kidney and Liver. Let’s break it down for you a bit more.  

 

More Background: The Dao and Qi

 

    TCM treats at the body, mind and spirit level, and so over the centuries they have identified and systematized a pattern of how various systems interact, including but not limited to: organs, emotions, colors, sounds, smells, time of day, food preferences, patterns of illness, pulses, and facial characteristics, just to name a few.  It’s a more than 5000 year-old tradition and a truly staggering system that combines religion, politics, medicine, social and family dynamics, astrology and the collective history of billions. We won’t really be scratching the surface but here’s a teaser of TCM.

    

    Vast indeed is the Ultimate Dao,

    Spontaneously itself, apparently without acting.

    End of all ages and beginning of all ages,

    Silently embracing the whole of time,

    Continuing uninterrupted through all aeons

    

    TCM’s philosophical foundation is in the singularity of the Dao, loosely translated as “The Way” or “The One”. The Dao, is the unifying force in the universe and its physical manifestation is the concept of Qi, which is the basis of Eastern medicine.  Qi is what pulses through all life and what we attempt to influence using acupuncture and massage.  Qi as the Dao is eternal and infinite and all things, animate and inanimate, emerge from and return to it.  Everything has within it a reflection of that original oneness, and is ultimately striving to reconnect to it.  This level of connectedness is what Eastern medicine considers health.  

 

    In traditional thought, the world we recognize exists because the Dao separated itself to create the opposing and complimentary forces called by the ancient Chinese Yin and Yang.  Everything that can be experienced is a product of the interaction of these two forces; Yin (cold, dark, female, concentrating) and Yang (hot, bright, male, expansive).  The constant push and pull dynamic of these cosmic twins creates Qi, or energy.  We don’t want to elaborate too much on these points, but you do need to know that Qi is the animating energy of all life and that the goal of TCM is to rebalance our Yin and Yang, and thus achieve harmony and health.  First we have the separation of the Dao into the duality of Yin and Yang that is then reflected in the more delineated energetics of the Five Elements. 

    

 The Five Elements

 

The Five Elements are another important concept in TCM.  Evolving from the initial duality of Yin and Yang, the Five Elements are Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water. Conceptualizing through the lens of the Five Elements allows us to see how the Qi of individual organs is tied to both the seasons and our emotional and physical wellbeing.  

 

The Five Elements

    Wood is its beginning, its bud

    Fire is its growth towards maturity, its blossom

    Earth is its fruition, its harvest

    Metal is the trace elements extracted from this harvest

    Water is its moment of rest, as the new seed germinates.

    

    As mentioned, Eastern philosophical traditions and medicine consider the world inside to replicate and reflect the world outside.  Today as I write, it is spring. Green and blustery. The season of Wood, when the energetic drive of the Liver and Gallbladder combine to push the new plants out of the frozen soil and into their right and pre-planned future.  Emotionally this is the time to get out there and start on all those pent-up projects before your frustration turns to anger. Any gardener will tell you that the steady march of spring is an undeniable force. These qualities of will and drive are also the TCM attributes of Wood.  The Wood’s organs are the Liver and Gallbladder, and they have the ability to see what is the right path for us, make a plan, and keep the drive going that we need to achieve our goals. They also help us to process our anger and move on, letting go of frustrations and being hopeful for the future. 

 

Spring gives way to summer and the energy of Fire.  The Heart, or Supreme Controller, is the organ of Fire most relevant to ear beading, but you should also know that the Supreme Controller pairs with Small Intestine, Heart Protector, and the Triple Heater.  This is the only one of the five elements that has four organs under its domain. All others are paired.  Like summertime, Fire time is all about beauty, companionship, and fun.  The Supreme Controller as the designated ruler of the interior landscape is relied upon to always be in the moment - quite literally, as the beating of our heart says “And now. And now. And now. And now.” The energy of Fire brings us into the present, into the everlasting seat of our joy, and it compels us to find someone with whom we can share.  

 

The joy and flirtation of summer gives way in less tropical climates to a period of fruition and harvest recognized in TCM as Earth time. This is the season of abundance and comfort, and it is ruled by the Stomach and Spleen.  You can envision this time as the centrifugal force that binds us together, the archetypal earth mother who with utmost compassion will cook and care for us all. While Earth is not represented in ear beading by a point in this protocol, it is at the heart of the message you are delivering to your patient: I care about you. 

    

    It is easier to recognize the shift into the Metal energy that the Lungs and Large Intestine animate.  This is the season when the air becomes clear and crisp after the malaise of summer. We move into the fall months, when we should take stock of what we have and what we need as we approach the long dark nights of winter.  In ancient days in China this was the season to decide which prisoners were worth keeping alive through the difficult winter, and which would be executed. A harsh thought in modern times, but it illustrates what Metal energy gifts you; the ability to apprise what is of value, take it in and make use of it, then let go of what no longer is of service to the greatest good.  In TCM the Lungs start the process of breathing in inspiration and the breath of heaven (air), and the Large Intestine completes the journey by absorbing what is useful and letting go of what no longer serves you but may be of great benefit to others (as any farmer knows, some things love poop!). By recognizing what is truly valuable to us, Metal energy allows us to grieve (value) and move on. 

 

The final of the Five Element energetics is Water, which is associated with the Kidneys and Bladder and the season of winter.   This is the original energy and the final destination of us all; the Alpha and Omega of life. Our Water energy is the tiny seed planted in the earth in fall and which springs forth as an oak tree in the spring.  During the winter that seed stores its energy and builds its dream and survives. Water energy is like that-- indomitable and always persevering. All of us in Louisiana know to respect the power of water. It may be quiet or it may roar, but it will always move forward.  The energetics of Water allow us the power to go into our fear, survive, and come out the wiser. This is the gift that our ear beads on the Kidney point will help you offer your client.

 

 

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Property of Jennifer Growden, L.M.T, L.Ac 2025