The Five Elements: A Little Background
The Regeneration Cycle, as taught in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), looks at the flow of the Five Elements. TCM practitioners use the Regeneration Cycle to conceptualize the parts and flow of the body, and find patterns of imbalance. Assessing the flow within the body using this system is the main approach for diagnosing patients. With a little use of the imagination, practitioners can interpret what imbalanced element a patient’s physical ailments are being caused by, and guide the patient back into a healthful flow.
We are currently passing through the end of the Fall season, represented by the element Metal, and moving into the Winter season, represented by the element Water. In TCM and Taoist theory, the full Regeneration Cycle is as follows:
Water feeds Wood,
Wood feeds Fire,
Fire creates Earth,
Within the Earth we find Metal,
Metal collects condensation, or Water, and so on.
Understanding the directional movement and symbolism of this cycle leads the practitioner to find where the flow is slowed and keeping the body from whole health. The practitioner can then begin addressing the imbalance through customized treatment.
Metal and Fall
Fall is about Metal. Metal represents the body’s structure-strengthening minerals: oxygen, iron, and other nutrients extracted by the digestion process. The Yin, or female, organ system of metal is the lungs. The lungs gather and disperse nutrients and energy into liquids. That liquid, nutrient-rich blood or “clear qi”, flows through the body and allows the energy of the body to flow. When the lungs aren’t performing this function well, a resulting emotion can be felt in the body, grief, which. Grief is a direct result of energy stagnating in the body, and signifies the presence of a blockage between the Metal and Water elements in the body.
A word needs to be said about a key concept that gets confused by many. Yin refers to the potential or purpose an item holds (the pieces of a puzzle) and Yang refers to the action of the potential (the puzzle put together). Yin organs put nutrients/energy into the fluids in the body and Yang organs hold and distribute the fluids’ nutrients/energy to allow operation of the body.
When thinking about metal, consider what happens in the Fall season, the large intestine, and what it could mean regarding letting your mind get clear. Fall is when we harvest the bounty from what’s been cultivated during Spring and Summer. Likewise, nutrients from air and food are harvested in our lungs and large intestine. Metals’ nature, being malleable when warmed, shows that our body’s cellular structural foundation, which provides internal stability, stays flexible and functions best when warmed up in the Fall. With a stable foundation, and as we move into watery Winter, we have prepared the stage for water, which would flow into any unstable boundaries in the body’s structure, causing problems.
The inability to pass energy through the structural components of the body, and the sensation of grief, is balanced by the Yang, or male, organ system of metal, which is the large intestine. The large intestine refines digestion of food and energy, and releases the waste-rich blood or “turbid qi”, cloudy substances, and thoughts, out of the body’s structure through Water. When water is held in a strong structure, this process is smooth and creates optimal health.
Water and Winter
Winter’s element is Water, which flows throughout the the body. Water’s Yin organ is the kidney and Yang organ is the bladder. The kidneys regulate the water processing through the body, regulate the sex organs in the body, and house the pre-congenital qi created for the body upon conception. The Bladder organ houses the turbid or excess properties produced from the Kidneys process. Winter is cold in nature and has a tendency to consolidate and slow processes. Winter is the time to slow down and rest and release the hindrances of the past to prepare for the abundance coming in the next spring season.
Transitioning from Metal and Fall to Water and Winter
Fall is moving to Winter, Metal to Water. With the seasonal transition of Metal to Water, we have to be aware of the Yang side of the emotion that water will bring if we are not in balance, which is fear. My key personal wisdom about fear is that it’s the projection of negative outcomes onto what is yet unknown. The human mind is wired to be aware of negative possibilities to help it navigate life and remain safe. Because the body only knows threat or non-threat, when the mind’s overrun with too many possibly-negative unknowns, the body begins responding to untrue outcomes.
During this seasonal transition, help yourself understand you are safe by breathing deep, and staying warm and malleable. Allow your lungs and large intestine to gather and provide the nutrients for a solid foundation. To avoid constriction or stagnation in the flow of the body, eat warming foods like cinnamon, ginger, turmeric, cardamom, garlic, onion, and Chinese yam. Instead of restricting the lungs with fear-induced shallow breathing, become nutritionally prepared for Winter by breathing deep this season.
Fall is About Releasing Grief
When thinking about the COVID19 pandemic as a global grief, a world-wide stagnation, we can interpret our need this Fall to Winter transition, Metal to Water, is to change any stagnating behavior and create new understanding.
When it comes to COVID19, we must take responsibility to consider that even our smallest social interaction made without keeping the established physical health guidelines is a potentially life-stagnating action. During a pandemic, we must be especially careful in considering visiting our elder populations or those whose health is susceptible to pernicious external invaders like the COVID19 virus, such as diabetics and heart disease patients. When we avoid spreading sickness and death through our senior communities, we avoid the risk of spreading COVID19 in all our communities, saving us from further grief.
I would like to encourage each and every person to be aware as possible that the pandemic is happening to each and every one of us. Make an intentional choice when planning how to handle your everyday turbid moments. When you find yourself burdened with worries, when you sense grief or fear, that is a message from your internal organs to warm up and breathe deep. To get your energy, moving try the following:
Get acupuncture,
Get a massage,
Call your loved ones,
Ask for help,
Be as you choose, instead of being a reaction to your mental or emotional buildup.
The Regeneration Cycle compares the cycles within the body to the cycles of the external world: as within, so without. Understanding the flow of this Cycle in the human body can bring predictable health outcomes during seasonal transitions. The cycle is complex, but I’m sufficed to say, there are ways to live in balance, even during the current Pandemic responsible for stagnating our outer world. Breathe deep, partake of the bounty of the season’s nutritional harvest.