The Five Elements

I love the theory of the five elements and how it provides us with a deeper understanding of ourselves and our relationship with nature. It is an integral part of my Moving Meditations for fertility programme where we cultivate the different qualities of each element to cultivate our health and in turn reduce stress and support our fertility.

When we feel well, the five elements are considered in balance

The ancient Daoist theory of the five elements (Wu xing) uses wood, water, fire, earth and metal as the five basic substances of the material world. This theory shows us how qualities within each of us are connected to qualities of nature and our external world.

Our emotions, our physical health, the seasons and cycles are inextricably linked and with just a little understanding we can use their healing power as part of our daily self-care routine.

When we feel healthy and content all the elements are considered to be in balance, just like homeostasis when we function optimally! Or if we consider a year where the weather plays ball and all the seasons do their right thing to yield the perfect crop of food.

However, if we have bad weather in Spring it may lead to a poor harvest later in the year. Equally if the elements are out of balance within us, our health and emotional well-being are expected to be out of balance too. Everything works together and is connected.

Five elements associations

Each element can be associated with different emotions, seasons, physical organs and meridians, environments, cycles of life, colour, directions and much much more. Below is a chart breaking down the main associations and qualities of the different elements. I have also created five short videos which can be played further down.

The five elements, stress and fertility.

When we consider the idea of ‘stress’ it is a bit of a catch all term. We may understand it as being raised stress hormones in the body such as cortisol and adrenaline and we know that overtime it can affect our health, our immune system and our ability to conceive as well as make us feel emotionally less positive. However, this concept doesn’t necessarily help with the understanding of the range of the different emotions and physical symptoms that we may be experiencing within that ‘stress’ or provide a way to deal with them. This is where the five elements come into their own.

Acupuncturists and herbalists have been using the concept of the five elements as a way of understanding their patient’s health and wellbeing for a very long time. It is a proven powerful tool to indicate where a person is out of balance and it provides an explanation as to why they may be experiencing certain emotions or physical symptoms. It also offers clear treatments to help re-balance.

For example, if the wood element becomes out of balance, we may feel more irritated and angry than usual, our physical body will become tight as tension sets in. This may affect our menstrual cycles as they become irregular or painful. We may also develop a tendency to ‘grit our teeth’ with determination and force ourselves to achieve our goals. We become blinkered without looking at alternative routes to move forward, as we can only see ‘our’ way of doing things. If we can re-balance wood, by softening it, we feel less tension in our bodies and our mental focus may soften too. This will have a positive knock on affect on our health and fertility.

Cultivating the five elements to correct imbalances

I have developed five short videos to explain why we should cultivate each element and offer an affirmation at the end of each video to help balance these elements within you too.

I use these affirmations in my Moving meditations for fertility programme . This is a qigong for health programme that teaches gentle and safe moving meditation over 8 weeks to help cultivate the elements within us. These meditations will start to correct any imbalances in the five elements, reduce stress and bring you to a place of better health and emotional well-being if practiced regularly. For more information on the programme click here.