The Five Elements and Reiki: The Fundamentals | reiki development (2023)

I mentioned in my previous post “Introduction to Traditional Chinese Medicine” that I created a Reiki healing system based on working with the “Five Elements” of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). In a series of articles, I will talk about different aspects ofthe five elements andhow they affect people's lives: how imbalances in the five elements can manifest as physical states and certain emotions and states of mind.

So today I'm going to give you a great overview of the Five Elements and how they support and control each other...

creative processes

The expression "five elements" seems to me a little inappropriate because it suggests something solid and solid. But the elements are creative processes, they are forces, they are phases, functions and movements; they are dynamic, they interact with each other in an endless dance and manifest or condense in different aspects of our body-mind-spirit. The Five Elements are various qualities of nature imprinted on all levels of our body, mind and spirit. In fact, the philosophical origins of Chinese medicine stem from the tenets of Taoism, which bases much of its thinking on the observation of the natural world.

Each "item" is a badge that represents a set of related roles and qualities. For example,Madeirarepresents active functions that are in the growth phase,fogoRepresents resources that have reached a maximum state of activity.Metalrepresents functions that are in a state of decline whileaguarepresents functions that have reached a maximum state of rest and are in the process of changing direction of activity.Terrait represents balance and neutrality and can be seen as a "buffer" between the other phases.

seasons

Applying these principles to the seasons, then, wood represents the growth of spring, fire the great activity of summer, metal the decline of autumn, and water the calm waiting of winter. Earth is considered the transition between each season, or it can be thought of as the "Indian Summer", the pause that nature takes between the activity of Summer (Fire) and the decline of Autumn (Metal).

Over time, an ever-increasing range of correspondences evolved: from colors, sounds, smells and tastes to emotions, animals, grains, plants, planets and even dynasties. The connections between elements and anatomical organs, with emotions and mental states, are the areas that concern us most in nature.Five Element ReikiSystem. For example, some of the connections were made through applying the idea of ​​wood (the dynamic phase) to the physical body, and some were made through observation. Thus, the feeling of anger is associated with wood, not because anger is inherently "wood", but because careful observation of human beings has shown that anger disorders are associated with the liver, a woody "organ".

In short, everything in the universe is wood, fire, earth, metal or water.

A long story

The five-phase theory was first coherently formulated by Zou Yen (c. 350 BC - 270 BC), while the yin-yang theory goes back to China's distant past. The five virtues, or five powers, were then used to arrive at the appropriate colors, musical notes, and instruments or offerings for different dynasties or emperors, and only later did they become an important part of Chinese medical thought. .

The yin-yang and five phase theories were troublesome bedfellows for a long time, and it was not until the Han Dynasty, a period of great eclecticism and synthesis, that the two systems began to unify in Chinese medicine.

The Five Elements are more a working suggestion to explain the interconnectedness of all aspects of our body, mind and spirit than a rigid dogma to be applied in all circumstances.

interconnection

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

the power cycle

As they move clockwise around the circle, the elements support and nurture each other as a parent supports and nurtures its offspring.

Thus, fire supports earth, earth supports metal, metal supports water, water supports wood, and wood supports fire. In terms of nature, you might think that wood burns to produce fire, fire produces ash when it burns, earth is, metals can be found deep in the earth, water condenses on metal surfaces, and water fuels the growth of life. wood . . These connections are rooted in observation of the natural world.

If the wood is weak or out, the fire can go out too. The emotion of wood is anger and the emotion of fire is joy, so someone who is deficient in wood and unable to express anger or repress anger cannot fully express joy either. . From the Chinese point of view, the full expression of joy would go hand in hand with the full expression of anger.

the control circuit

There is another way to connect the elements. Each element controls another element, like a grandparent giving advice and guidance to a grandchild. In more traditional societies, parents would work to support the family, while grandparents' role would be to guide and raise the children of the extended family.

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 ax can chop down a tree), water controls fire (water can put out a fire). and Wood controls Earth (Wood can be used to surround and control an area of ​​land). These connections, in turn, are rooted in the observation of nature.

Therefore, if the water is too strong, the fire can be extinguished. On the other hand, if the water is too weak, the fire can get out of control.

How the elements are connected (diagram)

the power cycle
(moving clockwise around the circle)

the control circuit
(Follow the arrows: one element controls the other)

The complexity of TCM

These descriptions give an idea of ​​the complexity of the TCM. If you have a lung problem, there's probably a problem with the metal and that's the root cause. However, the cause may lie elsewhere: the metal can be affected by an imbalance in its supporting element (Earth) or an imbalance in its ruling element (Fire). TCM looks for the root cause, so there would be many different types of treatments for what appears to be the same medical condition.

In fact, the above is not the end of the story, as there are two other ways in which elements can be connected. When an item is severely depleted and requires more energy than it contains, it may begin to drain energy from the item that sustains it. So a long-term Earth-related medical issue may subside and affect Fire, the element that sustains you. There is also a relationship described as a rebellious grandson, where too much chi in one element can start to deplete the element trying to control it.

The Simplicity of Five Element Reiki

The above shows that there is a lot of depth in TCM; that's an understatement!

Fortunately, success with Five Element Reiki does not depend on so many details. It does not rely on complicated diagnostic procedures, such as measuring all six pulses, which acupuncturists use to pinpoint exactly which meridian is out of balance and pinpoint the exact cause of a condition.

With Five Element Reiki, we balance all the elements using their characteristic energies and clear the affected elements and their associated "organs" to create balance on all levels, spending more time with the elements that are most out of balance. .

It is not necessary for us to determine the exact cause, we balance it and its side effects at the same time.

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Photo author:Alejandro Savin