Guy Caplan and I will focus the day on the Wood element, in its season, spring. Do come and join us, and our usual large group of Chinese five element acupuncturists who watch our days from Beijing online, a truly international group all interested in adding to their understanding of their five element practice in the company of their fellow practitioners.
To book a place, click:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/sofea-seminar-clinical-seminar-tickets-1347851763909
One of the basic principles of five element acupuncture is that each person has one dominant element out of the five, which shapes their life both physically, in terms of the colour of their skin, the sound of their voice, and the smell on their bodies, and emotionally, in terms of their dominant emotional response to life. I see this element as a positive force, when a person is living a balanced life, or becoming a negative force when a person starts losing that balance.
It was one day as I was sitting in the classroom at my Leamington college,in the final year of my three year’s training there, that the phrase “guardian element” popped into my mind. I realised that I regarded this element as a protective force, and that it echoed the familiar phrase “guardian angel”. I remember mentioning the term to the person teaching the class I was in, and she told me that she thought it was a lovely phrase. From that day onwards I started to use the term, firstly privately to myself, then increasingly adding it to my thoughts until it has become one of the hallmarks of my teaching. I like to think of this element as being a positive, protective force on which we concentrate the focus of our treatment. The aim of treatment is always to restore the dominant element to a state of balance.
Additionally, there is a subtext here which concerns the individual official, either the yin or the yang official which are paired together to form the element. For each of us, one of the two officials is the dominant one. In my case, Fire is my guardian element, and the Inner Fire aspect is its dominant aspect. The Small Intestine can therefore be called my guardian official. It is the protector of its companion yang official, the Heart,
It is difficult enough to diagnose the dominant element, let alone try and diagnose which of its two officials is the dominant official. This is something which I should have paid greater attention to over the many years of my practice. This is because a guardian official, either yin or yang, should demand more focused treatment than its less important companion official. Treating a particular official gives a particular emphasis to
These new thoughts were sparked by a comment I read recently about our new Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, that “the most frequent complaint about the Labour leader was that he was impossible to pin down.” I had already thought that his element might be Water, primarily because of his voice was a very clear groaning, added to the fact that I wasn’t initially at all sure about his element. I think this comment can point only to the Water element.
One of the things my Chinese students taught me was that, when, as I often did, I would say about a patient, “I’m not sure what there element is“, the whole group would shout out “Water!”. They had learnt that my initial reaction to being in the presence of Water often led to my indecision, which reflected the kind of hesitancy which Water seems always to arouse in me. It seems that the fear which is Water’s emotion appears to transfer itself to me in the form of uncertainty.
One other reason why my Chinese students are so sure about my response to Water is because the Water group among those attending our seminars over the years constitutes by far the largest element group of the five, so they have had amply opportunity to observe me diagnosing this element. At one of our recent seminars, for example, of the 400 or more students who wanted us to help diagnose their elements at least 200 of them we eventually decided belonged to the Water group, whereas only 30 – 50 were spread over each of the other four elements. This ratio remained surprisingly constant over the many seminars we held there.
I would ask myself whether this was merely a coincidence, but if so, it was a surprising one. There seemed to be no such emphasis towards Water in the groups we diagnosed in this country. Could it possibly be that there was some specific environmental reason in China that could offer some explanation? And, if so, did environmental factors enter into the equation as to which element we are born into? Nobody can ever know why each of us is handed the gift (or sometimes the burden) of living our life under the influence of one particular element, though I have occasionally wondered why one member of a family is of a particular element which brings something essential to the family (perhaps warmth (Fire) or strength (Wood) or comfort (Earth) for example), which may be qualities needed by other members of the family,. But then I have thought that this might just be one of my more fanciful ideas. But what if the larger habitat into which we are born could indeed influence which element dominates in our life? Could, therefore, the extreme cold which China suffers each winter be causing Water to dominate in this way? And is it fanciful to wonder whether those born in very hot climates might have a greater affinity with the Fire element?
These are fascinating questions, ultimately impossible to answer, but I find it both exhilarating and disturbing to think that the element which our destiny seems to stamp upon us might have its origin in the climate of the place where we are born, or at least be partly due to this. Are these just idle thoughts, or is there some truth hidden here, as explanation for the many Chinese to seem to owe allegiance to the Water element?
Pierre, a French acupuncturist, has asked me an interesting question, which has prompted this blog. He wants to know whether I think the guardian element (CF or dominant element) can be regarded as the weakest link in the chain of the elements, something he finds puzzling. If a five element acupuncturist's attention is focused on strengthening the patient's element does this mean that it is this element which in reality represents the weak link in the chain of the elements rather than the strongest link, as it might be considered to be in view of its dominant position? I have been thinking deeply about this for all the years that I have practised five element acupuncture, because I realise that we have to try to reconcile the concept of a dominant element with the picture of the elements circling harmoniously around all things, and in human beings creating each of our organs.
We have somehow to add to this picture another image, which accentuates one particular element for each of us, and then try to reconcile the two. Five element acupuncture is based on the understanding that one element appears to have been singled out to put its stamp upon us, marking us with its imprint, a lifetime's branding which it seems we can never obliterate, however balanced we are. In a more fanciful moment I like to visualize this as though the universe, in its endless circling, allows the tiniest hitch to appear in the unbroken chain of the elements, through which each of us slips into life at the moment of our birth. This is the point in the circle where we are marked with the characteristics of that element, emphasizing its role in shaping our life. It then becomes the place where we can grow and develop, but also, if we deny it its role, the place where we can wither and fade, and therefore also of course where illness can creep in.
When JR Worsley called this element the element of the causative factor of disease (CF), it was certainly an accurate description of how ill-health can occur when a patient's element is under too much stress. But I also remember JR telling us that we should always ask, "What does this patient need to do to live the most productive life possible?" The aim of treatment is then to help our patients achieve this aim. I have always seen this as evidence that he saw a person's element as the point of the greatest potential development, a threshold for change, whilst only if is denied the right to flourish can it become the cause of ill-health.
I have been intrigued by the fact that the Western world, too, in days long gone had a similar approach to understanding how illness developed as the Chinese have. There was a time when the concept of the humors dominated Western medical thought, each of the four humors being associated with its own organ of the body and its own emotional approach to life. If we look at a list of the characteristics of these humors there is a definite similarity to those shared by the elements, although the seasons to which both are assigned, as well as other qualities, differ. The similarity is in their understanding that illness is the result of a combination of both physical and emotional factors. At a time when orthodox medicine is gradually starting to accept that the physical and the emotional may be inextricably linked it is also perhaps time to start resurrecting the concept of the humors, taking it down from the shelves of medical libraries where it has gathered dust over the centuries. We may now see some value in determining how far our inner life may be contributing to the onset of illness, and what types of illness this makes us susceptible to.
Both these systems, that of the humors and that of the elements, try to offer an explanation for our individuality by listing specific features relating to each humor/element. I believe there lies a profound truth behind both concepts, and, in the case of five element acupuncture, I have had this truth confirmed by the results of many years of treating my patients. I have seen their lives transformed, their physical ailments helped and their emotional well-being enhanced when my treatment has been focused on one particular element. I have not seen the same results if my treatment has not been addressed at the right element.
In answer to Pierre's query, therefore, I do not think that the guardian element is a weak link in the chain of the elements. I think it should be viewed, instead, as the place of our greatest potential.
