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.

Summer – Fire

In the Five Elements System the summer season (starting with the 21^st June) correlates with the element of FIRE.  The organs associated with this element are Small Intestine, Triple Heater, Heart  and Heart Protector.

The Fire Element is associated with summer and reflects the qualities of the outer world with the warmth and abundance that summer brings in the natural world. We have all had times in our lives when we were unable to bring a project or effort to its full potential. Summer is the time that crops ripen and are harvested; if we are unable to bring an effort to fruition, it is likely due to an insufficiency of Fire’s potential for fulfilment. This would also be evident in an ever increasing accumulation of unfinished craft or building projects, works of art, or writings in a persons’ home or work environment. 

Because of the Hearts’ enormous importance in our mental and physical well-being, it is the only Organ assigned with an Organ specifically empowered to protect the Heart; the Pericardium, or Heart Protector, works as a kind of doorway to the Heart that opens to allow love in, and closes to protect the Heart from emotional insults or shock. Someone who ‘takes things to heart’ and is impacted from every insult, intentional or unintentional, is likely to have an imbalanced Pericardium.  The Triple Heater is the bodies thermostat.  If your body was a three story building you wouldn’t want the temperatures to vary too much.  You would avoid the cold areas or burn up if you were stuck on the hottest floor.  Triple Heater determines how we react with ourselves and the world.  It supports appropriate behaviour within relationships.  It ensures that we are not too standoffish, too friendly, overly nosy or too aloof.  A balanced triple heater means that we act appropriately in any given situation.

Summer is a time to recharge our internal batteries with solar power.  Keep FIRE balanced with WATER inside and out and keep the body loose, getting a good hours exercise each day.

The FIRE element is associated with the emotion of Love and Joy and the sound of Laughter.

Qi Gong Exercise for Triple Heater – Hands Holding the Sky (from 8 Strands of Brocade)

• Stand with your feet shoulder length apart.
• Inhale as you raise your hands, palms up.
• At chest level, start turning your palms out.
• At forehead level, your palms should be facing front.
• Continue to raise your hands overhead holding both hands as if to hold the sky.  At the same time thinking of the sky, earth and yourself as a whole unit.
• Rise up on your toes (if possible) as you extend your arms, palms facing the sky, fingertips close together and eyes watching your hands.
• Exhale as you sweep your arms to the side, with your palms facing down, until you are standing flat footed.

Repeat.

• Work up to being able to do 8 repetitions.
• Practicing this movement helps build good posture
• Reduces shoulder stiffness
• Helps blood circulation
• Helps regulate Triple Heater and relieve fatigue by activating the fluid flowing in the Triple Heater and ensuring proper nourishment throughout the body.