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I joke a lot that I play the “translator” role in my family.  I listen to each member using their words and when the other person is stuck trying to understand, I simply change the diction usage and they understand it.  Each of the five elements has the language perspective they like to use.  In this series I’m hoping to help elucidate this difference and hopefully help you better understand those around you.   Here’s a quick explanation of how the five constitutions will focus their language: Water:  Overriding themes that are meant to teach lessons for wisdom. Wood:  Direct arguments and trying to “win” the conversation. Fire:  People centered and fun. Earth:  Focusing on the community and people’s needs. Metal:  Flowy and poetic word usage.   “Be the change that you wish to see in the world.” – Mahatma Gandhi This is my favorite quote, and I was analyzing […]

The Urinary Bladder (UB) is, just like the Kidney (KDY), also a controller of water in the body.  There is a difference in the way they function though and the type of water they control.  The main difference stems from the UB being a “yang” organ (extroverted…outward…etc) and the KDY being a yin organ (introverted…inward…etc)  To remind you, water in chinese medicine has to do with resources, fear, and the truth.   Fear and the Various Responses:  When fear kicks in, the three typical responses are fight, flight, or freeze.  When it’s the KDY we are examining, we’re mostly talking about freezing.  The KDY gives you a second to think and respond.  Fight and flight, those are the UB’s responses.  In the moment, we just act.  This is why the UB is considered the head of security, constantly watching and there in a flash.   The After-Effect on the Body: […]

If your body were a business and the organs were different jobs at the business, the Kidney Official would be the accountant of your body. The accountant of any business has to take things for what they are and what the bottom line reads. In acupuncture, water energy represents the truth, resources, and fear. The Kidney, being the ruler of water, commands all of these. An accountant needs to be very fact driven. If not, they may give bad advice to the company about the state of their finances. If this happens, the company is bound to make incorrect moves, draining it’s money supply and potentially going bankrupt. Energy is the money of your body and more specifically it is broken up into two kinds of energy: “qi” which represents the checking account and “jing” which represents the savings account. Jing is stored in the Kidneys and when it is […]

For awhile now, I’ve talked about how the five elements are a fractal. In short, this means that the flow of energy of the five elements applies to everything. Lets see how it applies to new year’s resolutions and how this knowledge can help us overcome potential pitfalls. As a reminder, here’s how the five elements flow: Water: All ideas are born from water just like all life is born from water. We grow in the water that is our mother’s amniotic fluid, yes? The water element represents the truth and thus it is confronting this truth that we get our new year’s resolutions. Example – Stay Fit and Healthy (note: I got this example by googling “most common new year’s resolution”) A person would decide on this new year’s resolution by facing reality. This might happen by looking in the mirror and deciding they were overweight, or by putting […]

  5 Element Acupuncture – Metal Constitutions (CFs) That first chill of the fall hits me like a breath of fresh air.  The first sign that the mugginess of summer is going to break into the crisp cleanliness of autumn.  The leaves started falling early this year but that was mostly due to dryness, still important for this newsletter.  Metal elements can be tough to define sometimes and even harder to spot, but like the air that fills the lung (a metal organ), they can be aloof and tough to wrangle.   Summary of Metal CF attributes: Feeling connected to all things Self-worth issues and needing constant affirmation Seeing inspiration and need to feel inspired Completion Making sure actions are noted and made aware of appreciation Loving structure Can feel fragile Over-analysis and perfection The metal time of life starts when the kids grow up, move out and start their […]

5 Element Acupuncture – Earth Constitutions (CFs) Did you feel sometime in the middle of July when the heat waves started breaking into the rain?  Then it just got MUUUUUUUGGGGYYYYY.  The late-summer is not a season classically recognized by Americans, but we appreciate it in Acupuncture.  I know late summer has arrived when all of the late flowers start blooming (mallows, thistles, etc), cicadas come out, and the humidity gets brutal. Summary of Earth CF attributes:   Can have issues with getting needs met Need to be comfortable Can confuse their own lives with others.  Their life becomes all about another. Can crave sweets and attention.  Can become needy. Prone to over-eating or never eating.  Prone to being overweight Lives to eat. All about community and doing things together Can be the best mothers and want to mother everything   The Earth time of life for people typically starts around […]

Feels like water is just spilling everywhere out there. SP 7 – Leaking Valley Purposes: Helps support the retaining of fluids Bring balance to emotional neediness Most people reading this would say “why do I want to retain fluids?” But the retention of fluids here comes in the form of urinary leakage, seminal and vaginal leakage, and also leaky gut syndrome. The Spleen in chinese medicine gives integrity to structure, like the banks of a river keeping the water in. If the integrity lessens, symptoms can arise like chronic fatigue syndrome. There’s a great quote from Lonny Jarrett’s The Clinical Practice of Chinese Medicine: “The craving of sympathy is the psychospiritual equivalent of craving sugar.” The spleen loves sugar but too much can hurt it in the long run. The same runs with sympathy. A little bit can go a long way, but too much and the person can become […]

What does the Yin/Yang Symbol Mean? Millions upon millions of Americans know this symbol.  It has become incredibly common to the point that no words are needed to explain what it is.  But how many people truly understand it?  Learning about Yin and Yang is day 1 in Acupuncture school.  Yin/Yang is the entire basis of Chinese Medicine.  When I began my practice, I spoke about it as if people knew exactly what I was talking about yet I still get funny looks when I describe it.   Starting at the beginning:  What do the Chinese Words Mean? There’s no better place to start than looking at the Chinese words.  Each word in Chinese is built around smaller words.  That will be discussed in future posts.  In school, we learned that the small symbols in the word for Yang mean “the sunny side of the mountain” and for Yin it […]