The concept of a guardian official

I have been convinced from the first day that I encountered five element acupuncture that we each have what I call a guardian element, one element under whose protection we live our lives.  It is the element which gives us our individuality, and helps distinguish you from me.    I have now decided to extend the term guardian element, which I coined to describe this particular element, to include the yin and yang officials which together form each element, calling them our guardian officials.

 In my last blog (17th March) I discussed the Small Intestine's relationship to the Large Intestine official.  This set me thinking about the relationships of yin and yang officials in general, not only within the circle of the elements but also with respect to how they relate to each other within their own element.  This raises the question of whether part of our diagnosis should be be looking at which official of this pairing is our patient's dominant official; for one of them certainly is.  When we compare one Wood person with another Wood person, or one Metal person with another, we can detect differences which relate to the characteristics of either their yin or their yang official.

 

There are various features specific to all yin and yang officials.  All the yang, for example, have longer meridians than the yin, with more acupuncture points along them.  They are also said to have direct access to the outside world, whilst their companion yin officials are shorter, have fewer points and are hidden deep within us.  This distinction also provides an explanation for the procedure for tapping Aggressive Energy, where we only insert needles into the yin AEPs.  This is because the yang AEPs are able to release to the outside air any negative energy they have accumulated, whereas the yin have no such points of release, retaining any AE deep within the body and requiring the insertion of needles to draw this AE to the surface.  

 

I remember when I began to understand why this might be so.  Many years ago as a student, I was in a classroom watching JR Worsley draw 3 parallel horizontal lines one above the other on the blackboard.  He told us that the bottom line represented the level of the spirit, the middle line the level of the mind and the top line the level of the body.  When we tap for AE, we must therefore only insert needles superficially into the yin AEPs which enables them to make a slight opening at the physical level.  This creates an escape route to the outside enabling any AE trapped at the lower two levels, the mental and the spiritual, to be drawn up and expelled from the body.  This has always seemed to me to be such a simple explanation for why we tap for AE in the way we do.  

 

It also provides an excellent description of the different functions of the yin and yang officials within each element.  The yin can be understood to carry out an element's fundamental functions deep within us, whilst their yang companions open pathways to the outside world.  I use this understanding to help me differentiate between the different characteristics which yin and yang officials within an element imprint upon us, enabling us to see how a person's element may be manifesting in a more yang or a more yin way.  On this basis, all yang officials can be thought of as playing a more active role, reflecting their connection to the outside world, whilst the yin officials play a more passive, static role, reflecting their position deep inside us.    

 

The problem with trying to include a micro-diagnosis of this kind to the diagnosis of a patient's element as a whole is that, whilst our diagnosis of an element can eventually be confirmed by the effects of treatment, we have no way of corroborating our diagnosis of guardian official.  Nor can this be said to be clinically important, since we always treat both officials equally (for instance needling both source points or both AEPs).  It is however interesting to try to pinpoint whether somebody's element has a more yin or yang emphasis, because it helps us to a deeper understanding of the qualities of all 12 officials.  This may also help us gain greater insight into our patients' needs at a deeper level, something that should always be our aim.

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

          

The close association of the Small Intestine and the Large Intestine officials

I have realised over the years that it is the study of my own element and its many manifestations within me making me who I am which has formed the bedrock of my understanding of the work of the elements as a whole.  Perhaps that is true of us all.  Maybe we can only start to gain glimpses of other elements through the lens of our own, and then gradually widen this to include greater understanding of the other elements.  But we must never underestimate how much of what we learn will inevitably at first be coloured by our own unique view of the world shaped by our particular element.

Today I became aware at a deeper level than before of how interlinked my Small Intestine is with what can be regarded as its closest companion, the Large Intestine, with which has an indissoluble connection, the Small leading to the Large.  I like to think of the Small Intestine as doing the preliminary sifting of whatever material, physical or emotional, comes to it from the Stomach, and the Large Intestine continuing this by working on the residue of waste material from the Small Intestine's work.  This final processing sends on what is no longer needed as nourishment to be eliminated from body and soul.  I regard the Small Intestine as in some sense being the ultimate ditherer as it passes its decisions to and fro, often changing its mind, as it tries to sort things out, until forced, sometimes almost reluctantly, to make a final judgement by deciding upon what it regards as pure enough to release to nourish the Heart. The residue it passes on to the Large Intestine to extract any remaining benefit from before it expels the dregs as waste material.

 

I became aware of this close interaction between the functions of Small and Large Intestines today because a close colleague of mine, who has Metal  as his guardian element, acted this role out for me, as we discussed our plans for the future.  I can now trace exactly the point at which my Small Intestine passed on responsibility to my colleague's Large Intestine.  I could feel myself, with some relief, stepping back and handing my colleague the final decision about what we were planning to do, each step along the way a clear indication of where my role started and ended, and where his role ultimately started and ended.  It is rare for me to see such clear evidence of how my Small Intestine depended so much upon accepting the Large Intestine's help in this way.

 

Similarly, it would be possible for each of us, when we become aware not only of our guardian element but of which of the two officials within that element play a dominant role in our life, to work out how far the officials of other elements within us are helping us to greater balance, or conversely may be holding us back for whatever reason.  Here, in the case of my colleague's Large Intestine, there might well be occasions when I feel his Metal element's pressures upon me are a hindrance rather than a help to me.  This might depend on how balanced my Small Intestine is or how balanced his Large Intestine is at any point of our interactions with each other.  Any imbalances in either of us will create pressures which affect the nature of our  officials' responses to each other.  

 

When we bear in mind the subtle interactions each of our officials have with those of the people we meet, it is surprising how well we usually handle our complex relationships with other people.