Your Seasonal Wellbeing

Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water 

In traditional Chinese medicine there are Five Elements and each element gives birth to the next and nourishes it by a flow of energy.  So the bracken is burnt, the ashes go into the earth and form minerals, the water flows and there is new growth.  Kinesiology is an effective methodology for balancing the energies of your meridians. Balancing your meridians with Kinesiology can improve health and wellbeing on a physical, mental and emotional levels.

Meridians are passages of energy flow located all over your body, as a kinesiologist I work with Chinese Medicine Five Element Theory, which believes that everything in the universe, including our health, is governed by five natural elements: WOOD, FIRE, EARTH, METAL and WATER. This theory underscores the Traditional Chinese Medicine understanding that human beings, both physically and mentally, are intertwined with nature.

An individual’s state of health manifests according to the balance between these Elements.

Winter-Water

In the Five Elements System the spring season (starting with the equinox on 21^st December) correlates with the element of WATER.  The organs associated with this element are Bladder and Kidney. Are you aware that there has been the same amount of water on out planet since its beginning?  Water is an essential element of our bodies.  It is important for circulation of blood, carrying heat and nourishment.  The lymphatic flow which helps to process and eliminate waste and provides the ability to fight off infection.

The flavour or taste of the water element is salty.  If you crave the flavour of salt or really dislike you may have a water element imbalance.

The sense associated with this element is hearing.  Also, the bones and bone marrow.  Expressions like ‘I felt it in my bones’ suggest a relationship of bones to deep emotional experiences (which is one of the reasons Zero Balancing can be so effective)

The Bladder Meridian is where our vital energy is stored for times of need. This is our ability to hold on to ideas, to stay with things to retain vital chi itself.  If we are tired it is good to look at the Bladder meridian.

The Kidney Meridian is the centre of our will and determination.  This part of us is like water; when roused nothing can get in our way, when quiet can still erode a mighty mountain.  When unwell we do not have the will to do anything.

It is usual to feel more emotional in winter as they are a more inward and sensitive time.  Nature is resting.  As the cold and wet chill your bones, seek inner warmth.

Do not increase your food intake at this time as the days are shorter and there is less physical activity, or you may gain more weight than you wish. Carbohydrates and protein together with moderate activity should keep you in shape.  Cooked whole grains with beans like kidney, aduki, mung, black beans (my favorite) or lentils.  Root vegetables are right for winter eating together with garlic, ginger, and cayenne pepper to add heat.

Nettle is an excellent herb for kidney problems, backache, uterine problems or as a tonic when drunk daily as a tea,

The water element can be associated with emotions in general, but the specific emotional imbalance is fear.

MAKKA HO STRETCH for the WATER  ELEMENT

Sit with your legs straight out in front of you. Inhale and raise your arms above your head. Lean forward to grasp the soles of your feet as you exhale. Inhale and bend your knees, then exhale as you straighten them. Repeat five times

MASSAGE for the WATER ELEMENT

Bladder Meridian Massage:  Place both hands between eyebrows go up over crown and down back of head and neck.  Remove hands from neck and reach back underneath as high as you can reach on spine. Trace hands down either side of spine to below waist into sacrum and up toward waist around gluteus maximus.  Leave and come on to your shoulders, go straight down to the back of the knees in at the knees down to the floor off your little toes.

Kidney meridian Massage: place fingers under the ball of each foot, middle finger in line with the space between first and second toes.  Draw fingers up to the inside of each foot, circle behind the inside of each ankle bone, and go straight up the front of the body to K 27 – (in the dip below the nobbly bits where your collar bone meets) massage these points.