Chinese Medicine is a nature based medicine. By observing how plants and animals grow and live in the environment practitioners learned that living in harmony with one’s surroundings promotes life and well-being. The Chinese Taoists viewed themselves as being part of nature, not separate from nature so they were affected by seasonal changes and their specific geographic environments whether by wind, heat, damp, dry or cold or any combination of the five conditions.
Five Element Acupuncture is built on the theory of the five elements which are Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water. Each element represents a season, a cycle of human growth, a personality type, an organ system in the body, a color, a sound, an odor and an emotion. The elements also represent constitutional types. So in treating a patient, the practitioner is determining the primary constitution and any other elements at play in the present moment. The benefit of this style of treatment is to bring balance and grounding to the individual because he or she is having their primary constitution nurtured and supported by the treatment allowing the body to be in more of a flow state so the body systems can repair and heal with greater ease. One of the central tenets of the Five Element System is that ones past or present emotional responses to life events are quite often at the root of physical, mental, emotional and spiritual problems. Thus the practitioner will investigate the patients background to understand what drives the patient and what could be the cause of the present issue. We take into account past traumas and early childhood experiences that can influence the course of a persons life.
The medicine honors each persons specific characteristics and health conditions. It is also important to note that in addition to receiving treatments that other factors affecting our health include our diets, our physical activities, relationships, our emotional and spiritual lives. All of these must be taken into account and nurtured as part of living healthy and balanced lives.
