5 Element Acupuncture
The Wu Xing (Chinese: 五行; pinyin: Wǔ Xíng), is also known as the Five Elements, Five Phases, the Five Agents, the Five Movements, Five Processes, the Five Steps/Stages and the Five Planets of significant gravity: Jupiter-木, Saturn-土, Mercury-水, Venus-金, Mars-火 is the short form of “Wǔ zhǒng liúxíng zhī qì” (五種流行之氣) or “the five types of chi dominating at different times”.
It is a fivefold conceptual scheme that many traditional Chinese fields used to explain a wide array of phenomena, from cosmic cycles to the interaction between internal organs, and from the succession of political regimes to the properties of medicinal drugs. The “Five Phases” are Wood (木 mù), Fire (火 huǒ), Earth (土 tǔ), Metal (金 jīn), and Water (水 shuǐ). This order of presentation is known as the “mutual generation” (相生 xiāngshēng) sequence. In the order of “mutual overcoming” (相剋/相克 xiāngkè), they are Wood, Earth, Water, Fire, and Metal.
According to Wu Xing theory, the structure of the cosmos mirrors the five phases. Each phase has a complex series of associations with different aspects of nature, as can be seen in the following table. In the ancient Chinese form of geomancy known as Feng Shui, practitioners all based their art and system on the five phases (Wu Xing). All of these phases are represented within the trigrams. Associated with these phases are colors, seasons and shapes; all of which are interacting with each other as seen in the diagram above By User:Manonastreet – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:FiveElementsCycleBalanceImbalance.jpg#file, CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15187602
Based on a particular directional energy flow from one phase to the next, the interaction can be expansive, destructive, or exhaustive https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wu_Xi. A proper knowledge of each aspect of energy flow will enables the Acupuncturist to re-balance the flow of energy in the patient’s meridians.
For example someone with severe migraines might need the energy in the Liver meridian soothing, someone with saddness post-miscarriage might need their Heart energy nourishing, and other times 5 Element Acupuncture can be used to help heal the Spirit. When the five elements are present within us in a balanced and harmonious state, we experience health, well-being and the joy of being alive.
