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Five
Element Theory and Oriental Medicine
People
have always been looking for ways to understand what's happening with
their health. Ancient Chinese philosophers called Taoists,
put together a framework for doing this that's still used today in Oriental
Medicine. It's called Five Element Theory.
The
logic of Five Element Theory becomes clear as you begin to use it as a
filter for processing your observations regarding things like: how you
feel after eating, the types of emotions you're prone too, and the kinds
of food you crave.
Working
with the Five Element chart below, is a fun and informative way to
understand how to navigate your way toward health and well-being.
On
this page:
What
Is Five Element Theory
Five Element Theory helps you understand how natural changes
within your body and outside environment affect your health. To
predict and understand these dynamic changes, ancient
doctors studied nature to determine what universal principles existed that
could be applied to health and well-being. Five Element Theory is what
they came up with.
The
five elements are wood, fire, earth, metal and water. They were
selected based on the observations of ancient oriental philosophers who
theorized that the natural world embodied these elemental characteristics.
Oriental
Medicine uses this time-tested, diagnostic model to analyze how the
various parts of a person's body and mind interact to affect health.
These relationships are illustrated in the Five Element
Chart below, which shows how each element is related to specific
aspects of your body and mind.
Five Element Theory
Chart
| Element |
Organ
|
Bowel
|
Surface Part
|
Opening
|
Trait
|
Mental
Part
|
Taste
|
Water
|
Kidneys
|
Bladder
|
Bones
|
Ears
|
Fear
|
Will Power
|
Salty
|
|
Wood
|
Liver
|
Gall Bladder
|
Nerves
|
Eyes
|
Anger
|
Mental Activity
|
Sour
|
|
Fire
|
Heart &
Sexual Glands
|
Small Intestine
|
Blood vessels
|
Tongue
|
Arrogance and
Impatience
|
Intuition, Joy,
Peace
|
Bitter
|
Earth
|
Spleen &
Pancreas
|
Stomach
|
Muscles
|
Mouth
|
Worry
|
Pondering
|
Sweet
|
|
Metal
|
Lungs
|
Large Intestine
|
Skin
|
Nose & Sinuses
|
Sadness
|
Orderliness and
Rightness
|
Spicy
|
The above chart is a static illustration showing the different
body/mind relationships associated with each organ. To get a sense of the
dynamic nature of these interactions, let's look at how these elemental
forces generate and regulate energy (chi) in nature, and by extension, in
the human body and mind.
Generating
Energy (Chi)
Based on Five Element Theory, each elemental force generates or
creates the next element in a creative sequence.
For example:
- Water generates wood. Rain nourishes a tree.
- Wood generates fire. Burning wood generates fire.
- Fire generates earth. Ash is created from the fire.
- Earth generates metal. Metal is mined from the earth.
- Metal generates water. Water condenses on metal.
This creative process is illustrated in Figure 1 below:
Figure 1. Cycle of Generation
When applying this "supportive relationship" to the human body, we see
that each internal organ embodies the energetic qualities of the element it's
related to. Each organ is responsible for providing the energy needed by the
next organ in the generative cycle.
For example:
- Kidney (water element) supports the Liver (wood element).
- Liver (wood element) supports the Heart (fire element).
- Heart (fire element) supports the Spleen (earth element).
- Spleen (earth element) supports the Lung (metal element).
- Lung (metal element) supports the Kidney (water element).
Regulating Energy (Chi)
Based on Five Element Theory, each elemental force is also associated
with another element which it is responsible for controlling or
regulating.
For example:
- Water controls fire. Water puts fire out.
- Wood controls earth. Tree roots hold clods of earth.
- Fire controls metal. Fire can melt metal.
- Earth controls water. A pond holds water.
- Metal controls wood. An ax cuts wood.
This regulating process is illustrated in Figure 2 below:
Figure 2. Cycle of Regulation
When applying this "regulating relationship" to the human body, we
see that each internal organ embodies the energetic qualities of the
element it's related to. Each organ is responsible for providing energy to
regulate or control excesses or deficiencies in the energy of the organ
it's associated with in this cycle.
For example:
- Lung (metal element) controls Liver (wood element).
- Heart (fire element) controls Lung (metal element).
- Kidney (water element) controls Heart (fire element).
- Spleen (earth element) controls Kidney (water element).
- Liver (wood element) controls Spleen (earth element).
In summary, your internal organs play a dual role in
promoting and maintaining your health: generating and regulating energy
for each other.
Each organ passes energy to the organ it supports,
and, when necessary, controls imbalances in the
energy of the organ which it regulates.
Your Health and Five
Element Theory
The best way to become familiar with Five Element Theory and its
health-related relationships is to refer to the Five
Element chart regularly to determine which element is associated
with any symptom or discomfort you're experiencing.
For example, if you are crying a lot, or feeling sad, referring to the Five Element chart
will tell you that these are "metal" characteristics, which
indicate a potential Lung imbalance. Having
this information enables you to start taking steps to balance your energy
and protect your health.
For this example, some things you could do include:
- Avoid eating spicy foods: And, as part
of your diet and
nutrition plan, find out about recipes that support your
lungs.
- Practice Chi Kung exercises
that strengthen and balance the chi flowing to your lungs.
- Schedule an appointment to receive an acupuncture or acupressure
treatment, along with a prescribed herbal formula, to balance and
strengthen the chi (energy) in your lungs and related organs.
As
you become more familiar with Five Element patterns
and relationships
you'll come to know, through personal experience, the value of this road
map for health.
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out how Oriental Medicine can
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