A TCM Checkup - the earth element
April 13th 2007 01:14
“The five elements” is one way that Traditional Chinese Medicine looks at our health. The five elements are: water, wood, fire, earth and metal.
Let’s look a little closely at the earth element in our life. It is the part of our life or world that nourishes us (at every level – whether physical, emotional, mental or spiritual). What feeds us is the earth element. If we are always hungering for something this means some aspect of the earth element in our life needs looking at.
Taking in the fruit of the earth and extracting its goodness leads us to have a good digestion and healthy muscles. We are also nourished by our relationships as well as exercising our intellect on fruitful and useful problems (yes schooling can lead to big problems in keep our earth element in balance). It also covers our sense of spirituality – the sense that our lives have meaning, not necessarily being a member of a particular group, ‘religious’ or otherwise. A problem in any of these areas is described by Traditional Chinese Medicine as a problem with the earth element.
When we are healthy we take in enough nourishment, not too much. This leads to us stopping, cutting free, moving on, letting go. This is the metal element in our life. In Traditional Chinese Medicine it is said that: earth feeds metal.
The temptation with the earth element is to take in too much. With physical food this will usually lead (if it is not due to another element) to central obesity – that spare tyre around our middle. The remedy for this is to be acting – ideally easefully, flowingly and in accord with our vision. This is the wood element – wood holds earth together. Instead of taking in everything we act and need to choose what is in line with our vision. Without this we can get mired in relationships going nowhere, thinking the same thoughts over and over and never digesting our food properly.
So to have a healthy wood element means digesting well the ‘food’ that nourishes all of who we are.
Let’s look a little closely at the earth element in our life. It is the part of our life or world that nourishes us (at every level – whether physical, emotional, mental or spiritual). What feeds us is the earth element. If we are always hungering for something this means some aspect of the earth element in our life needs looking at.
Taking in the fruit of the earth and extracting its goodness leads us to have a good digestion and healthy muscles. We are also nourished by our relationships as well as exercising our intellect on fruitful and useful problems (yes schooling can lead to big problems in keep our earth element in balance). It also covers our sense of spirituality – the sense that our lives have meaning, not necessarily being a member of a particular group, ‘religious’ or otherwise. A problem in any of these areas is described by Traditional Chinese Medicine as a problem with the earth element.
When we are healthy we take in enough nourishment, not too much. This leads to us stopping, cutting free, moving on, letting go. This is the metal element in our life. In Traditional Chinese Medicine it is said that: earth feeds metal.
The temptation with the earth element is to take in too much. With physical food this will usually lead (if it is not due to another element) to central obesity – that spare tyre around our middle. The remedy for this is to be acting – ideally easefully, flowingly and in accord with our vision. This is the wood element – wood holds earth together. Instead of taking in everything we act and need to choose what is in line with our vision. Without this we can get mired in relationships going nowhere, thinking the same thoughts over and over and never digesting our food properly.
So to have a healthy wood element means digesting well the ‘food’ that nourishes all of who we are.
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