People often think that the most important thing for five element acupuncturists to learn is gradually getting better at diagnosing their patients' elements. This ignores the fact that we can't do this until we have familiarized ourselves as closely as possible with as many expressions of the different elements in as many people as possible, and, above all, this includes in ourselves. I don't think this was emphasized as much as it should have been in my own training, nor, I'm afraid, in the early stages of my own teaching. This was probably because I only slowly realized the importance of familiarizing myself with the elements at the deepest level possible in as many people as possible. All therapists have a natural tendency to try to detach themselves from the treatment situation, acting often as if they are outsiders looking in on scenes for which they act only as observers, not participants. This has something to do with the belief, which is still there despite many observations and much scientific evidence to the contrary, that a human being can observe another human being from the stance of an objective observer, in other words, as though from behind a screen blocking the practitioner off from the patient.
And this is a thoroughly false belief, and is patently untrue. Modern physics has proved beyond doubt that there is no such thing as an objective observation. Each observer participates in what is being observed, and to that extent affects the person or object being observed in one or more ways.
This is particularly true of the kind of human interactions which form an essential component of the relationships between patients and practitioner in five element acupuncture, where what we can describe as the energies of the different elements coming towards either of them from the other person are accepted as directly affecting the other person's corresponding energies. In other words, an Earth patient will inevitably respond differently to a Metal practitioner than he/she would to a Wood practitioner, just as a Water patient will respond differently to these same practitioners.
Unless five element practitioners are made aware of all the subtle interactions between the elements in both themselves and their patients, they may well misinterpret the nature of these interactions, and therefore often misdiagnose their patients' elements. If, however, a practitioner is fully aware of their own guardian element, he/she will be much more successful in accurately interpreting what is occurring between the patient and themselves, leading them to diagnose the patient's element much more quickly and more accurately. As I have always said, the dictum, "Physician, know thyself" is particularly appropriate for a five element acupuncturist. If we understand how our own element reacts to the people it encounters, this knowledge will act as a strong foundation for our practice.
There are two obvious unknowns which control any relationship between two people. These relate to how the guardian element of each interacts with the other and influences the other. If the practitioner is at least sure of one of these unknowns, his/her own element, he/she is halfway there to building a good relationship with their patients. It then only needs the certainty of having diagnosed a patient's element correctly to complete this necessary first step in establishing a good patient/practitioner relationship.
Of course, both of these factors, a correct diagnosis of both practitioner 's and patient's elements, are difficult to establish unless there is an opportunity for students as often as possible to obtain the help of the most experienced five element practitioners around. This is where I realise that I was particularly fortunate, as were my students, and I took as much advantage of my good fortune as I could. For I trained at a time when JR Worsley was still teaching at his Leamington College, and also established SOFEA at a time when he was still available to give all my students the benefit of diagnosing their elements and diagnosing the elements of as many of their clinical patients as possible. I would encourage them all to arrange to have a diagnosis from him, and would also arrange for him to come at least once a year to the school clinic to diagnose students' patients. In doing this, I felt privileged to think that I was giving them the best opportunity I could to observe a master practitioner at work. Looking back, I can see that there could not have been a better start to their five element practice if they chose to take advantage of it.
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