I mentioned in my earlier post “An Introduction to Traditional Chinese Medicine” that I have created a Reiki healing system based on working with the “Five Elements” of Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). In a series of articles I’m going to be talking about different aspects of the Five Elements and how they impinge on people’s lives: how imbalances in the five elements can show themselves as physical conditions and particular emotions and states of mind.

Last week in “Five Elements: The Basics” I explained how the elements support and control each other through the nourishment and control cycles, and today I’m going to talk about meridians and body ‘organs’ and how they relate to Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water…

The Meridians

Meridians are channels of energy running throughout our bodies, and each meridian is related to a particular body ‘organ’ from which it takes its name. There are twelve major meridians and number of minor meridians related to each organ, and you will have seen diagrams or posters depicting the course of the various meridians over the surface of the human body. Although the majority of the meridians are related to physical organs that we in the West would recognise, not all of them are, and they do not necessarily work on the same physical basis.

For example, there are two ‘organs’ that are unknown to Western physiology: the Pericardium (or Heart Protector) and the Triple Burner, Sanjiao, or Triple Heater. The Pericardium protects the heart from emotional upsets and ‘knocks’, and protects us from external ‘attacks’ such as infections. The Triple Heater harmonises the organs and ensures the safe passage of energy and fluids through our bodies; malfunctioning is seen as causing Chi or body fluids to become blocked in our systems.

The ‘Organs’

The word ‘organ’ does not have the same meaning in Chinese medicine as we would understand in the West when we think of the liver or the heart, for example. Each organ also has a much wider range of associations, characteristics, functions and influence than the physical organs we perceive in the West, and we are going to look at this in more detail later on.

Each ‘organ’ functions on all levels of our body-mind-spirit, part of an overall dynamic energy process.

In the Five Element Reiki system the meridians and particularly the ‘organs’ are important because each organ is allocated to a particular element, so if we want to work on Wood then we can focus energy on the ‘organs’ of Wood: Liver and Gall Bladder, and their associated meridians. We will we be focusing energy on these organs and we will be sending the organ’s characteristic energy through it, intensifying the beneficial effect by making the ‘organ’ and its meridian resonate at its characteristic frequency.

When we work on the Liver and the Gall Bladder we will be sending Wood energy through those organs, to produce balance in Wood on a deep level. We will produce balance in all the various ramifications and associations of Wood: anger, planning, decision-making, the tendons, the eyes, tears, and so on (see later blog posts for discussions of the associations of each element).

Usually two organs represent each element, one Yin organ and one Yang organ, one solid organ and one hollow organ, and listed below are the major meridians/organs and their associated element.

The Yin organs are the solid organs: Liver, Heart, Heart Protector, Spleen/Pancreas, Lung and Kidney. These organs are considered to be deeper in the body and are concerned with the manufacture, storage and regulation of the fundamental substances. They each have an emotion associated with them.

The Yang organs are hollow: Gall Bladder, Small Intestine, Triple Heater, Stomach, Large Intestine and Bladder. These organs are considered to be closer to the surface of the body, and have the functions of receiving, separating, distributing and excreting body substances.

Interestingly, in the same way that one element supports another in a continuous cycle, in TCM one organ/meridian can be seen as supporting the next. So the Heart supports and nourishes the Spleen, and this in turn nourishes the Lungs. The Lungs support the Kidneys, and these nourish the Liver. The Liver supports the Heart and so on.

There are two other meridians outside the element classification, and they run down the front and back of the body in the midline. These meridians will be familiar to those carrying out the ‘microcosmic orbit’ meditation: The Conception and Governing Vessels.

Did you like this blog?

If so, you are going to love this book…

Five Element Reiki

“Excellent and informative book. Great guidance and exercises to follow with ease.

As a 5 Element Acupuncturist and Reiki Master Teacher, I can only say I would have loved this to have been a course support book on my TCM Degree.

It has been a wonderful refresher and one to keep close with those few special books that need picking up all the time. Once started I found I needed to keep reading, it was like a breath of fresh air, the author has gathered and passed on some gems on 5 Elements and Reiki. It has been a pleasure to read and review this book.”

Ann Charlton

Five Element Reiki

A Unique & Powerful Healing System for All Reiki Practitioners

Five Element Reiki is a unique way of working with Reiki. It’s acupuncture without needles, or acupressure without pressing on anything, and without having to learn about or focus on the body’s meridians or their acupoints.

This system, created by Taggart King, is a way of working with the energies of the five elements of Traditional Chinese Medicine so that the meridians and organs ‘resonate’ with the energy you channel, removing blockages and bringing a state of balance on all levels.

You’ll use special symbols and creative visualisation, focus your intent and hone your intuition through a whole series of practical exercises found in this comprehensive guide. You’ll learn the essence of five element theory and understand how imbalances show themselves in your body, emotions and states of mind.

This book will be of interest to anyone who is interested in exploring and experimenting with the energy and who wants to learn a unique and powerful system for self-transformation.

This professionally-printed Reiki book has 292 A5 pages, a glossy soft cover and we will send it to anywhere in the world!

Read the contents list before you order, if you like, by clicking on this link: Table of contents

Book: 292 pages.

Price: £13.99 + p&p

Or Download a PDF version now for only £10.99

Picture credit: Wonderlane

I mentioned in my previous post “An Introduction to Traditional Chinese Medicine” that I have created a Reiki healing system based on working with the “Five Elements” of Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). In a series of articles I’m going to be talking about different aspects of the Five Elements and how they impinge on people’s lives: how imbalances in the five elements can show themselves as physical conditions and particular emotions and states of mind.

So today I’m going to give you a big overview of the Five Elements and talk about how they support and control each other…

Creative Processes

The phrase ‘five elements’ seem to me to be a bit of a misnomer, because it suggests to me something fixed and solid. But the elements are creative processes, they are forces, they are phases, functions and movements; they are dynamic, interact with each other in an endless dance, and manifest or condense in different aspects of our body-mind-spirit. The Five Elements are different characteristics of nature imprinted on all levels of our body-mind-spirit. In fact, the philosophical origins of Chinese medicine have grown out of the tenets of Taoism, which bases much of its thinking on the observation of the natural world.

Each ‘element’ is a badge that represents a range of related functions and qualities. For example, Wood represents active functions that are in a growing phase, Fire represents functions that have reached a maximal state of activity. Metal represents functions that are in a state of decline, whereas Water represents functions that have reached a maximal state of rest and are about to change their direction of activity. Earth represents balance and neutrality, and can be seen as a ‘buffer’ between the other phases.

The Seasons

So if we translate these principles into the seasons of the year, then Wood represents the growth of spring, Fire represents the high activity of summer, Metal represents the decline of autumn and Water represents the quiet waiting period of winter. Earth is seen as representing the transition between each season, or can be seen as ‘Indian Summer’, the pause that nature takes between the activity of summer (Fire) and the decline of autumn (Metal).

Over time, a wider and wider range of correspondences has developed: everything from colours, sounds, odours and taste sensations, to emotions, animals, grains, plants, planets and even dynasties. The connections between the elements and the anatomical organs, with the emotions and mental/spiritual states, are the areas that we are most concerned with in the Five Element Reiki system. Some of the connections have come through the application of, for example, the idea of wooden-ness (the dynamic phase) to the physical body, and some have come through observation. So the emotion anger is associated with Wood, not because anger is inherently ‘wooden’ in nature, but because careful observation of people has shown that disturbances in anger are associated with the Liver, an ‘organ’ of Wood.

Ultimately, everything in the universe is Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal or Water.

A Long History

The Five Phases theory was first set down in a coherent way by Zou Yen (350 BCE – 270 BCE approx.), whereas Yin-Yang theory stretches back into China’s distant, distant past. The Five Virtues or Five Powers were used at that time to arrive at the proper colours, musical notes and instruments, or sacrifices, that were appropriate to different dynasties or emperors, and only later became an important part of Chinese medical thought.

The Yin-Yang and Five Phase theories were uncomfortable bedfellows for a long time, and it was only in the Han Dynasty – which was a time of great eclecticism and synthesis – that the two systems started to come together in Chinese medicine.

The Five Elements are a working proposition to explain the interconnectedness of all aspects of our body-mind-spirit, rather than rigid dogma that should be applied in all circumstances.

Interconnectedness

The five elements do not stand alone. They are linked together in an endless cycle, a fascinating and complicated interplay. What happens to one element can have knock-on effects on the others. In the diagram below you can see the elements arranged around the edges of a circle, and explanations that describe two ways in which the elements interact.

The Nourishment Cycle

Moving clockwise round the circle, the elements give support and nourishment to each other, rather like a parent giving support and nourishment to an offspring.

So Fire supports Earth, Earth supports Metal, Metal supports Water, Water supports Wood, and Wood supports Fire. In terms of the natural world, you can imagine that wood burns to produce fire, fire when it has burnt produces ashes which are earth, deep down in earth metals can be found, water condenses on metal surfaces, and water nourishes the growth of wood. These connections are rooted in the observation of the natural world.

When wood is weak or depleted, fire may become depleted also. The emotion of wood is anger, and the emotion of fire is joy, so someone who has wood depletion, and cannot express anger – or suppresses anger – may not be able to fully express joy either. In the Chinese view of things, the full expression of joy would be accompanied by the full expression of anger.

The Control Cycle

There is another way that the elements are connected to each other. Each element controls another element, rather like a grandparent giving guidance and advice to a grandchild. In more traditional societies, the parents would be engaged in working to support the family, while the grandparents’ role was to guide and bring up the children of the extended household.

You can see from the diagram that Fire controls Metal (fire can melt metal), Earth controls Water (earth can dam a river), Metal controls Wood (an axe can fell a tree), Water controls Fire (water can extinguish a fire) and Wood controls Earth (wood can be used to fence off and control an area of land). These connections are again rooted in the observation of the natural world.

So if Water is too strong, Fire may become depleted. On the other hand, if Water is too weak, Fire may burn uncontrolled.

How the Elements Interconnect (diagram)

The Nourishment Cycle
(Moving clockwise round the circle)

The Control Cycle
(Follow the arrows: one element controls the other)

The Complexity of TCM

These descriptions give a hint of the complexity of TCM. If one has a lung problem, most likely there may be a problem with Metal, and that is the root cause. However, the root cause may be elsewhere: Metal may be affected because of an imbalance in its supporting element (Earth) or because of an imbalance in its controlling element (Fire). TCM searches for the root cause, and so there would be many different sorts of treatments for what would seem to be the same medical condition.

In fact, what is described above is not the end of the story, because there are two other ways in which the elements can interconnect. If an element is severely depleted, and needs more energy than is contained within it, then it may start to drain energy from the element that supports it. So a long-term medical problem related to Earth may start to drain, and have a knock-on effect on, Fire, the element that supports it. There is also a relationship described as a rebellious grandchild, where too much Chi in one element can start to deplete the element that is trying to control it.

The Simplicity of Five Element Reiki

The above demonstrates that there is a great deal of depth in TCM; this is an understatement!

Fortunately, success with Five Element Reiki does not depend on such detail. It does not depend on tricky diagnostic procedures such as the taking of the six pulses, for example, which is done by acupuncturists to find exactly which meridian is out of balance, and to determine the precise root cause of a condition.

With Five Element Reiki we are bringing all the elements into balance by using their characteristic energies, and we are flushing through affected elements and their associated ‘organs’ to produce balance on all levels, spending more time on the elements that are most out of balance.

For us, the precise root cause does not need to be determined: we will be balancing it, and it’s knock-on effects, at the same time.

Did you like this blog?

If so, you are going to love this book…

Five Element Reiki

“Excellent and informative book. Great guidance and exercises to follow with ease.

As a 5 Element Acupuncturist and Reiki Master Teacher, I can only say I would have loved this to have been a course support book on my TCM Degree.

It has been a wonderful refresher and one to keep close with those few special books that need picking up all the time. Once started I found I needed to keep reading, it was like a breath of fresh air, the author has gathered and passed on some gems on 5 Elements and Reiki. It has been a pleasure to read and review this book.”

Ann Charlton

Five Element Reiki

A Unique & Powerful Healing System for All Reiki Practitioners

Five Element Reiki is a unique way of working with Reiki. It’s acupuncture without needles, or acupressure without pressing on anything, and without having to learn about or focus on the body’s meridians or their acupoints.

This system, created by Taggart King, is a way of working with the energies of the five elements of Traditional Chinese Medicine so that the meridians and organs ‘resonate’ with the energy you channel, removing blockages and bringing a state of balance on all levels.

You’ll use special symbols and creative visualisation, focus your intent and hone your intuition through a whole series of practical exercises found in this comprehensive guide. You’ll learn the essence of five element theory and understand how imbalances show themselves in your body, emotions and states of mind.

This book will be of interest to anyone who is interested in exploring and experimenting with the energy and who wants to learn a unique and powerful system for self-transformation.

This professionally-printed Reiki book has 292 A5 pages, a glossy soft cover and we will send it to anywhere in the world!

Read the contents list before you order, if you like, by clicking on this link: Table of contents

Book: 292 pages.

Price: £13.99 + p&p

Or Download a PDF version now for only £10.99

Photo credit: Alexander Savin

You may not know this, but I created a Reiki healing system based on working with the “Five Elements” of Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). I brought together principles from TCM and macrobiotic palm healing, I channelled new Reiki symbols and mixed them with the use of intuition, visualisation and intent, to create “Five Element Reiki”, which is a very simple and powerful way of working with Reiki, where you channel the essence of the five elemental energies and focus them in different ways, for your own benefit and to treat other people.

What I am going to do in a series of articles now is to talk about the Five Elements, how they impinge on people’s lives and how imbalances in the five elements can show themselves as physical conditions and particular emotions and states of mind.

But what I need to do first is to give you a quick lightning-tour of the principles of Traditional Chinese Medicine, so you can see how the Five Elements fit in.

So that’s what I’m doing now…

The Basics of TCM

What follows is a very general overview of the principles of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and is designed to show the breadth of its theories, and its application in a wide range of therapies and techniques.

The Breadth of TCM

Acupuncture, herbal medicine, massage techniques, diet advice and QiGong are all forms of treatment that are practised in their own special ways. An acupuncturist inserts needles into specific points in various parts of the body, while a herbalist prescribes a variety of herbs, pills, powders and tinctures. QiGong uses movement and exercise to cultivate personal levels of ‘chi’ and produce balance and health. A Tui Na practitioner uses direct massage techniques. Dietary therapy consists of advice about what to eat which the patient is able to put into practice at home. These disparate areas seem quite unrelated, but there is something that links these outwardly diverse treatments.

The linking thread is the theory of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

The History of TCM

TCM has a long history: there is evidence that there was a sophisticated approach to medical problems as long ago as the Shang Dynasty (circa 1,000 BC). Archaeological digs have unearthed early acupuncture needles, and discourses on medical conditions have been discovered inscribed on bones. Early Asian shamanic practices are believed to be at the foundation of TCM, and the Chinese emphasis on the balancing and governing forces of nature seem to have developed through the observation of the natural world.

By the 1st century AD the first and most important classic text of Chinese Medicine had been completed. The text was probably compiled over several hundred years and based on the writings of many authors, and takes the form of a dialogue between the legendary ‘Yellow Emperor’ and his Minister, on the subject of medicine. The ‘Inner Classic’ expounds the philosophy of Chinese Medicine and a further section deals with the benefits of acupuncture, herbs, diet and exercise. Over the following centuries, these basic writings were expanded upon, and much of the current practice of TCM reflects traditions that have developed over the last 3,000 years.

Whichever of the above forms of treatment a person chooses to have, the underlying theory comes from the same root, and this root forms the foundation for a unique diagnosis of each individual.

The Basic Components of TCM

There are three main components of the theory of Chinese medicine that are used in diagnosis. Together they enable the practitioner to find the exact energetic cause of a patient’s problem.

These are the components:

• Yin and Yang
• The Vital Substances
• The Five Elements

Five Element Reiki concentrates on the five elements, obviously, and one of the vital substances: Qi. I will talk about the five elements in detail in later blog posts, and here I will just touch on Yin & Yang and the Vital Substances.

Yin and Yang

One of the oldest classics of Chinese Medicine, ‘The Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Internal Medicine’ (referred to above) states that:

To live in harmony with Yin and Yang means life.
To live against Yin and Yang means death.
To live in harmony with Yin and Yang will bring peace.
To live against Yin and Yang will bring chaos.

These two fundamental forces of the universe are said to be in opposition yet interdependent, to consume each other and to transform into each other. Nature is seen to group itself into pairs of mutually dependent opposites, for example the concept of ‘night’ has no meaning without the concept of ‘day’; ‘up’ has no meaning without ‘down’. According to the Chinese view, all things in the universe have Yin and Yang aspects, and though the balance of Yin and Yang will vary, both aspects will always be present.

Each patient has their own particular balance of Yin and Yang, and when people become ill their balance of Yin and Yang will be affected. Sometimes a person will become more Yang in nature; Yang is associated with fire and the fire may start to rage as it is not held in check by the Yin. On the other hand, sometimes a person may have relatively too much Yin energy which is not held in check by their Yang, and they will experience symptoms of Yang’s association with water.

We do not focus on the idea of Yin and Yang in the Five Element Reiki system.

The Vital Substances

The cells form the basic structure of the human body as far as Western medicine is concerned, and physiology is the Western study of the body’s ‘normal’ functioning. The Vital Substances are their equivalent in Chinese medicine. They describe the main constituents of a person and the functioning of the vital substances could be seen as ‘Chinese physiology’.

These are the vital substances:

• Qi
• The Blood
• The Jing Essence
• The Body Fluids
• Shen (mind-spirit)

Qi is familiar to Reiki practitioners! It is called Ki in Japanese. It is the energy that underlies everything in the universe. Condensed it becomes matter, refined it becomes spirit, and everything that is living, moving and vibrating does so because Qi moves through it. An old Chinese text called the Nan Jing says that “Qi is the root of all human beings”. Ted Kaptchuk describes Qi as ‘matter on the verge of becoming energy, or energy at the point of materialising’. There are many sorts of Qi: Original Qi, Gathering Qi, Upright Qi, Nutritive Qi, Defensive Qi, Meridian Qi, Liver Qi, Lung Qi and so on and so on.

We do not need to know about these various kinds if Qi in the Five Element Reiki system.

Blood in Chinese medicine is not the same as the ‘blood’ that we think of. ‘Blood’ is described by what it does rather than by what it is, and it is seen as the fluid that nourishes and moisturises the body. It also houses Shen (see later). For example, the symptoms of ‘blood deficiency’ include:

• frequent pins and needles or cramps due to malnourishment of the muscles and tendons
• dry skin and brittle nails due to lack of moistening of the skin
• constant anxiety, poor memory and lack of concentration due to the blood not ‘housing’ the Shen.

Jing is something that we inherit from our parents and the state of a person’s Qi and Blood depend on this ‘essence’. The strength of our Jing determines our constitution, it is stored in our kidneys, and it allows us to develop from childhood to adulthood to old age. The Jing that we inherit at birth is all that we have for the rest of our lives, it varies in amount from one person to another, and most people have an average amount of it. As we get older, our greying hair and failing memories are signs that our Jing is becoming depleted.

Body fluids are referred to as ‘Jin Ye’ in Chinese medicine. The ‘Jin’ body fluids are light and watery and are at the exterior of our body. The ‘Ye’ body fluids are heavier and are found more inside us. If the body fluids are ‘stuck’ then the free movement of Qi and Blood in the body can be obstructed. These body fluids are the most ‘substantial’ of all the vital substances in Chinese medicine!

Shen by contrast is the most ‘insubstantial’ of all the substances in the body, and it can be said to be a rarefied form of Qi. It could also be said to be our very spirit itself. It is housed in the heart by the Blood.

Shen, Qi and Jing are called ‘the Three Treasures’, and together they are seen as the basis of our health. The Chinese will often use the term ‘Jingshen’ as a sort of short-hand term for vitality or vigour, and the term sends us the message that the basis of a healthy life is a good constitution and a strong spirit.

Alongside Yin and Yang and the Vital Substances, in Traditional Chinese Medicine a knowledge of the five elements and their twelve organs is important in diagnosis so that we can understand any imbalance in an individual.

These latter areas are what the Five Element Reiki system is all about, and the following blog posts will deal with these areas in detail, showing their practical relevance to Reiki practitioners.

Did you like this blog?

If so, you are going to love this book…

Five Element Reiki

“Excellent and informative book. Great guidance and exercises to follow with ease.

As a 5 Element Acupuncturist and Reiki Master Teacher, I can only say I would have loved this to have been a course support book on my TCM Degree.

It has been a wonderful refresher and one to keep close with those few special books that need picking up all the time. Once started I found I needed to keep reading, it was like a breath of fresh air, the author has gathered and passed on some gems on 5 Elements and Reiki. It has been a pleasure to read and review this book.”

Ann Charlton

Five Element Reiki

A Unique & Powerful Healing System for All Reiki Practitioners

Five Element Reiki is a unique way of working with Reiki. It’s acupuncture without needles, or acupressure without pressing on anything, and without having to learn about or focus on the body’s meridians or their acupoints.

This system, created by Taggart King, is a way of working with the energies of the five elements of Traditional Chinese Medicine so that the meridians and organs ‘resonate’ with the energy you channel, removing blockages and bringing a state of balance on all levels.

You’ll use special symbols and creative visualisation, focus your intent and hone your intuition through a whole series of practical exercises found in this comprehensive guide. You’ll learn the essence of five element theory and understand how imbalances show themselves in your body, emotions and states of mind.

This book will be of interest to anyone who is interested in exploring and experimenting with the energy and who wants to learn a unique and powerful system for self-transformation.

This professionally-printed Reiki book has 292 A5 pages, a glossy soft cover and we will send it to anywhere in the world!

Read the contents list before you order, if you like, by clicking on this link: Table of contents

Book: 292 pages.

Price: £13.99 + p&p

Or Download a PDF version now for only £10.99

Picture credit: vhines200