Diving Deep Into the Five Elements
The ancient knowledge of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is over 5,000 years old and offers a holistic understanding of how mind, body, and emotions together create imbalances. These imbalances lead to dis-ease, and TCM offers tools to maintain balance and harmony in your Body/Mind to support health and well-being.
At the core of TCM are the Five Elements - Fire, Earth, Metal, Water and Wood. We are all familiar with these elements. Each one is an intimate part of our life experience. But until we explore TCM, we do not often see the interconnectedness among them and how to use these relationships among them to create a better quality of life for ourselves.
For instance, if we have excess Fire - too much passion - it might be because our Water is deficient due to fear, and thus not strong enough to control our Fire. So Fire becomes a forest fire of self-destruction, and in turn damages our Earth element which is our actual physical embodiment.
But first, think of these elements in the context of how they manifest in Nature.
Earth is the ground we stand on, that which supplies us with all the nourishment we need to survive.
Wood is the landscape of Mother Nature, and is utilitarian for creating shelter and warmth as well as transforming carbon dioxide into oxygen.
Water comprises 80% of our planet and at least 75% of our physical bodies, and is the home of our nervous system.
Metal represents the precious gems and minerals both in the Mother Earth, and the chemical messengers of hormones and neurotransmitters in our physical bodies.
And Fire is of course the Sun, which provides us with physical warmth and the light of being, which illuminates our physiology through our heart energies.
The profound richness of these Five Elements has led me to connecting many dots in my healing practice and in my personal life. While it may seem daunting at first, it quickly becomes familiar and opens up a whole new template for seeing ourselves and our worlds. With these understandings, we can move forward and make more life-supporting choices for ourselves. If we happen to be in a healing practice, we can use this knowledge to support others on their unique life journeys.
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Are you interested in diving deeper into the Five Elements and how they connect with our Essences?
Every year since 1995 we have offered training about Pacific Essences in the place where they were born – the beautiful west coast of Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada. Since the early 2000s, we have offered this training as a retreat, where you can let go of your daily responsibilities and immerse yourself in Nature.
You are supported on your retreat by comfortable accommodation, nourishing meals, and amazing journeys into forests and onto beaches. And every day you will also learn some fundamental principles of the template of Traditional Chinese Medicine.
And of course, we learn about the Essences which support each of these elements in their own unique and powerful ways. Learning to ‘be with’ and ‘listen’ to a plant is a whole new experience for most people. While we may enjoy plants and appreciate their beauty or fragrance, most people have never just sat with a plant without expectation. What comes out of such encounters has contributed to enormous shifts in people’s connection to Nature and to themselves.
So, I invite you to join us for what may be the epic journey of your lifetime. Come and play for a week and let go of all your ordinary concerns and agendas. I promise it will be a life-changing experience.
Learn all about our transformative Five Elements Retreat, and join us for the next offering!