The Therapeutic Value of the Five Elements

Sponsored Content from Kristin Grayce McGary

One way to help bring more balance, health, peace, and ease into your life is to spend more time in nature. As a licensed acupuncturist and practitioner of Asian medicine, I’ve learned the therapeutic value of the 5 Elements. They include Fire, Earth, Metal, Water, and Wood.

The 5 Elements are around us daily and offer information that connects us to nature and our bodies in a beautiful way even if we live and work in a busy city.

Each element is associated with an organ, emotion, body part, taste, sound, season, time of day, channel of energy (aka meridian), and so much more. I’ll briefly share how they correlate with your body and emotions.

Fire

The heart, pericardium (the protective sack in which your heart resides), thyroid, small intestine, triple warmer (this is your upper, middle, and low torso areas) and sexual organs.

In Balance - Love, Joy, and Passion.

Out of Balance - Vulnerable and lost, experience sexual guilt or a loss of purpose, or disconnected.

Earth

The spleen and stomach

In Balance - Offers a sense of self-worth, self-care, and an ability to say ‘No’ rather than giving too much of yourself.

Out of Balance - Worrying, pensiveness, low self-esteem, codependency, low self-respect, and an empty feeling.

Metal

Lungs and Large Intestine.

In Balance - Able to let go, discern, and express healthy grief.

Out of Balance - Deep sadness, or experience clinging or a lack of trust, and insecurity.

Water

Kidneys and Urinary Bladder.

In Balance - Sense of inner peace, are easily connect to silence in yourself, feel adaptable and unafraid.

Out of Balance - Experience paralyzing fear, insecurity, negativity, isolation, and restlessness.

Wood

Liver and Gall Bladder.

In Balance - Confident, honest, and flexible

Out of Balance - Overly angry, are reactive, jealous, or easily frustrated, and competitive.

You can use small things in your daily life to reconnect with the 5 Elements:

1. Fire: Take a moment each day and sit with a candle, connecting with the gifts fire has to offer such as warmth, food preparation, and campfires that bring people together with love and passion.
2. Earth: Put your feet on the Earth and feel gratitude for the grounded foundation upon which you walk. Notice the cycles of the seasons and the gifts each one offers.
3. Metal: Connect with your favorite piece of jewelry, crystal, or metal object and with the discerning aspect of metal, like a sword cutting through illusion. Have gratitude for your ability to choose to say Yes or No to people and situations.
4. Water: Take a bath, a shower, or sit with a glass of water. Honor this life-giving element and how you too are made up of about 75% water. Feel into the water element, and it’s ability to go with the flow like a river, freedom, without guilt or shame.
5. Wood: Connect with a tree. Notice how the bark protects it. It began as a seed deep in the Earth, and its inherent wisdom knew which way to grow up to reach the sunshine. You too have this wisdom.