“What is Five Element Acupuncture & how will this help me?”

Five Element Acupuncture addresses the key elemental imbalance that an individual acquires during the course of their life. Elemental imbalances are the source of disease & disharmony in the body, mind and spirit. The Five Element practitioner identifies the primary imbalance through in-depth diagnosis and uses acupuncture to correct this imbalance. By identifying the key imbalance, we are empowering your body to heal from a root-constitutional level. Our bodies are marvelously equipped to overcome disease given the right influences. Five Element acupuncture activates the bodies self-healing mechanisms by addressing the key Elemental imbalance.

“What causes the Elements to be out of balance"?”

Elemental imbalances occur due to a variety of factors from emotional shock, trauma of the body, mind or spirit, the stresses of modern life, life-style choices, how relate to others, birth trauma, and/ or even being exposed to too much of an Element (i.e. being out in the cold too long or exposed to extreme heat or damp environments).

Since the Elements govern life & given our current relationship with Earth, we can see that things are globally out of balance and this complex problem affects each and every one of our relationship to the Elements.

“What are the Five Elements?”

The Five Elements, Metal, Water, Wood, Fire, & Earth are forces that govern the seasons, Earth’s natural processes, and the cyclic rhythm of life. We have all of the Five Elements in us at any given time. As seen in nature, these processes have peaks and valleys, and the same can be said about our health and well-being.

Some ways to understand the Elements:

  • Metal is Earth condensed and refined. Think how Earth stores Metal which can be cold and brittle in the case of raw ores or stones, or flexible and hot in the case of our planet’s molten core. Metal is the time of Fall & letting go & governs the Lung and Large Intestine organ pair. Its color is white, and the emotion of Metal is grief.

  • Water is ubiquitous to life on this earth and has many expressions. Water can be still and stagnated, or it can rage through canyons and river systems. It can also freeze and evaporate. Since our bodies are mostly Water, we can see the importance of how this element is used in our bodies. Water corresponds to Winter and its color is blue. The emotion associated with Water is fear (or lack of) & the organ pair is the Bladder and Kidney.

  • Wood is the creative, generative, and motive force of life. The Wood Element can be seen in the new buds of Spring and rapid growth of plant matter in the months after. If we think of properly nourished Wood, we think of flexibility, overcoming obstacles much like a tree growing around a fallen boulder. Wood in balance will naturally adapt and overcome, or will be inflexible and break under stress. We can see how easily this metaphor can translate to every day life. Wood is Spring-time, its color is green, its emotion is anger & the organ pair is the Liver & Gall Bladder.

  • Fire is the warmth that allows life to exist. No fire means no life, or a life of cold and struggle. This can be seen in people as well, coldness of the body and spirit. People often say “my fire is out!”, or “I’m out of steam” meaning they have nothing left to give. Fire governs the warmth of Summer, its color is red and its emotion is joy. There are two organ pairs relating to the Fire Element: Heart & Small Intestine, Pericardium and Triple Burner (a process governed by our fascial tissue cavities that hold our vitals).

  • Earth is generated from the ashes produced by Fire. Earth is the time of harvest, the dog-days, the end of Summer leading into Fall. Earth is the harvest of our life’s work and the ability to assimilate nourishment physically mentally, and emotionally. The sound of Earth is singing, its color is gold and the associated emotion is sympathy.

“How can you tell what Element I am?”

The ancient Chinese spent thousands of years observing and documenting the characteristics, qualities, and natural tendencies of the Elements both in nature and in human life. The practitioner will determine your primary imbalance through careful review of your health and life history, the reading of your pulses, listening to the tone of your voice and language, asking about your preferences or dislikes, observing the color around your eyes among many other diagnostic methods. This is no easy task as we are all of the Elements at once and we can change from one to another during the course of our lives, seasonally, or even in the treatment room.

“How does Five Element address the spirit?”

Certain aspects of the spirit are affected throughout a person’s lifetime, and often a primary elemental imbalance results from emotional trauma(s). Each Element embodies a portion of someone’s emotional make-up. The emotions, in my opinion is what influences a person’s spirit the most. Let’s take the grief over loss of a loved one for example. It is a normal life process to experience deaths of loved ones & the resulting grief. Is it ‘normal’ to feel that same grief the same intensity and regularity as from fifteen years ago, or even experience more grief than before? As a Five Element practitioners, we can address the elemental imbalance which can affect a person’s experiences of lingering emotional trauma thereby affecting the overall spirit of the individual. Much like the Elements, the body, mind and spirit are not separate from each other but are closely interconnected.