The 5 Elements — Explored A Little More
Feng Shui, the ancient Chinese science of balancing the energy in the home or office, also provides us clues as to how to balance one's food.
I just finished providing you with an introduction to the five elements, also referred to as the five energies. But now it's time to explore this concept a little deeper.
Our investigation of the five elements will help us see that food is not the only source of the five elements. We will also begin to discover just how the five elements affect health?
Ultimately, when the five elements are in balance, one experiences good health. However, everything is in a constant state of change but more than that, we can, without knowing it be creating an imbalance ourselves.
The Five Elements and Health
When the body is healthy, all five elements are in balance. Each element feeds the next element and helps to ensure that no element becomes out of balance. But when an element becomes out of balance, we need to work to balance the body.
The outer arrows flow in a clockwise manner. This is the direction in which the energy flows. Each element feeds the element following it with energy. Each element also restrains the element following the element it supports from becoming too dominant or powerful — these are in the inside arrows — don't worry, I will give examples too. Ultimately, all five elements are interconnected in numerous ways.
In looking at the image of the five elements, you will notice that:
- Wood feeds fire (outside arrow) but wood restrains earth (inside arrow), the element directly after fire.
- Fire feeds earth (outside arrow) but fire restrains metal (inside arrow), the element directly after earth.
- Earth feeds metal (outside arrow) but earth restrains water (inside arrow), the element directly after metal.
- Metal feeds water (outside arrow) but metal restrains wood (inside arrow), the element directly after water.
- Water feeds wood (outside arrow) but water restrains fire (inside arrow), the element directly after water.
The following shows you what the five elements relate too:
- Wood
- Fire
- Earth
- Metal
- Water
- Attribute
- Germination
- Growth
- Transformation
- Reaping
- Storage
- Bodily Organ
- Liver & Gallbladder
- Heart & Small Intestine
- Spleen, Pancreas, & Stomach
- Lungs & Large Intestine
- Kidneys & Bladder
- Sense Organ
- Eyes
- Tongue
- Mouth
- Nose
- Ears
- Tissue
- Tendons
- Vessels
- Muscles
- Skin & Hair
- Bone
- Emotion
- Anger
- Joy
- Worry
- Grief
- Fear
- Sound
- Shouts
- Laughter
- Singing
- Crying
- Mourning
- Season
- Spring
- Summer
- Late Summer
- Autumn
- Winter
- Color
- Green
- Red
- Yellow
- White
- Black
- Climate
- Wind
- Humidity & Heat
- Dampness
- Dryness
- Cold
- Form
- High & Cylindrical
- Sharp or Pointed
- Flat
- Round
- Wavy
- Taste
- Sour
- Bitter
- Sweet
- Spicy
- Salty
- Direction
- East
- South
- Center
- West
- North
- Wood
- Attribute: Germination
- Bodily Organ: Liver & Gallbladder
- Sense Organ: Eyes
- Tissue: Tendons
- Emotion: Anger
- Sound: Shouts
- Season: Spring
- Color: Green
- Climate: Wind
- Form: High & Cylindrical
- Taste: Sour
- Direction: East
- Fire
- Attribute: Growth
- Bodily Organ: Heart & Small Intestine
- Sense Organ: Tongue
- Tissue: Vessels
- Emotion: Joy
- Sound: Laughter
- Season: Summer
- Color: Red
- Climate: Humidity & Heat
- Form: Sharp or Pointed
- Taste: Bitter
- Direction: South
- Earth
- Attribute: Transformation
- Bodily Organ: Spleen, Pancreas, & Stomach
- Sense Organ: Mouth
- Tissue: Muscles
- Emotion: Worry
- Sound: Singing
- Season: Late Summer
- Color: Yellow
- Climate: Dampness
- Form: Flat
- Taste: Sweet
- Direction: Center
- Metal
- Attribute: Reaping
- Bodily Organ: Lungs & Large Intestine
- Sense Organ: Nose
- Tissue: Skin & Hair
- Emotion: Grief
- Sound: Crying
- Season: Autumn
- Color: White
- Climate: Dryness
- Form: Round
- Taste: Spicy
- Direction: West
- Water
- Attribute: Storage
- Bodily Organ: Kidneys & Bladder
- Sense Organ: Ears
- Tissue: Bone
- Emotion: Fear
- Sound: Mourning
- Season: Winter
- Color: Black
- Climate: Cold
- Form: Wavy
- Taste: Salty
- Direction: North
Health Problems and The Five Elements
Looking at the chart, we can see that a human suffering from kidney problems probably also has an underlying fear related issue. This could be generated as a result of too much water energy
in the body.
A human suffering from asthma may also have grief related issues. This could be a result of too metal energy
in the body.
A human suffering from pancreatitis might have too much earth energy
in the body.
A human suffering from heart related problems may have too much joy in their life due to an imbalance of the fire energy
.
A human with liver problems may have anger related issues due to excess wood energy
in the body.
Colors and The Five Elements
We can begin to go a little further now by looking at the colors related to each of the elements.
If a human has kidney problems (water), then there may be excess black in the surroundings.
If a human has lungs problems (metal), then there may be excess white in the surroundings.
If a human has pancreas problems (earth), then there may be excess ochre yellow (golden yellow) in the surroundings.
If a human has heart problems (fire), then there may be excess red in the surroundings.
If a human has liver problems (wood), then there may be excess green and/or blue in the surroundings.
The excess colors could be blankets, paint on the wall, carpeting, etc.
In the kitchen, you want to avoid excess red. It's not that there can't be red, but excess red will create too much fire
. This in turn can lead to aggression, stress, restlessness — things you want to avoid while feeding your family or your pets.
Using The Chart
Using the chart, we can begin to see how climatic conditions can begin to affect health. We can begin to see how certain sounds, even how the energy of crying can affect us.
To really understand the five elements takes quite a bit of time. But this is a good start — an introduction to build awareness.
All health problems happen as a result of an imbalance. Diet has the single biggest impact on the balance of our body but the energy
around us also affects our health and the health of our pets.
Harmony Using Rose Elixir
We all know the value of a harmonious life. But no matter what you do, some discord cannot help but occur. It could be something as simple as someone being stressed, angry or even too happy that causes an imbalance.
In Chinese herbal medicine, it is said that too much happiness causes heart problems. So as you can see, it is about balancing all energies — both what are perceived as positive and negative energies.
All things are poison and nothing is without poison. It is the dose that makes a thing poisonous.— Paracelsus, 16th century pharmacologist
Now Paracelsus was not Chinese, he was in fact born in Switzerland in 1493. But his statement is very powerful.
What Paracelsus is saying is that the difference between poison and medicine is in the dose
. Thus even too much happiness, when in excess, can cause problems.
One thing we can do is to energetically cleanse the rooms in our house, especially the kitchen. To achieve this, the Chinese created the Feng Shui Rose Elixir
. Essentially this is rose water. All you do is either mist the air with some rose water and/or use a cloth to wash the walls, countertops, tables, furniture, etc.
You can mist the air every few days, wipe the furniture every 2 to 4 weeks, plus you can apply some rose water to your face.
Rose water is also used in cultures like India where it is used in Ayurvedic medicine too. It's also possible to make your own rose water — you can find guides online.
Most health food stores sell and provide rose water but there are many of other sources too.
Ultimately, rose water has a very clear and extremely high energy in combination with a wonderful fragrance that will help create harmony in your home, with your family and pets.
Feel free to also read:
Have you been wanting to do hatha yoga (stretching) but have found it either too difficult or you are not that flexible? If yes, and even if no, watch Jesse do some pure hatha yoga routines.
Unlike flow yoga
, each pose in pure or traditional hatha yoga is held for a few minutes. While holding the pose, you focus the mind on the stretch. When you focus the mind, that's when you find silence.
Jesse is not flexible — never has been and probably never will be flexible like others. But it doesn't matter. In pure hatha yoga, how flexible you are makes no difference. It's all about loving the pose and focussing the mind on the stretch.
If you want to learn pure hatha yoga, now you can by following Jesse on a series of hatha yoga routines.
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