What Is Acupuncture? (4) - Live Natural • Heal Natural Acupuncture

Acupuncture and Meridians, continued

Before we dive in further in meridians, we need to take a look at the Five-Element theory first, because it is deeply related with the meridians.

let’s start with what the Five-Element theory is.

The Five-Element theory is one of the fundamental theories of Traditional Chinese Medicine philosophy. It thinks that the entire universe and everything it contains consist of 5 elements, which are Metal, Water, Earth, Wood, and Fire. These five elements form two types of sequences – the generating sequence and the restrain sequences.

**As you can see, in the generating sequence,**
• Fire generates Earth (imagine the ashes created by fire)
• Earth generates Metal (metals are found in earth)
• Metal generates Water (condensation that happens when a piece of metal’s temperature drops)
• Water generates Wood (plants and trees etc. need water to grow)
• Wood generates Fire (wood can be used to start fire)

In the restrain sequence,
• Fire restrain Metal (fire melts metals)
• Metal restrain Wood (metal tools can cut wood)
• Wood restrain Earth (imagine trees’ roots grasping earth)
• Earth restrain Water (imagine earth being dams)
• Water restrain Fire (water extinguishes fire)

With the above being said, what is the role of the Five-Element theory in acupuncture?

In acupuncture, organs are assigned with those 5 elements.
• Fire: Heart and Small Intestines
• Metal: Lungs and Large Intestines
• Wood: Liver and Gallbladder
• Earth: Stomach and Spleen(pancreas)
• Water: Kidneys and Urinary Bladder

Now let’s use a couple of examples to see how this works in a practical way.
• Control sequence: Fire-Heart(hyper emotions, such as anxiousness ) restrains Metal-Lungs(results in irregular breathing, such as hyperventilation)
• Generate sequence: Fire-Heart(Happy emotions) generates Earth-stomach(results in good appetite)
The examples above is a type of diagnostic modalities often used in acupuncture to determine the causes of patients’ current conditions.

The Five-Element theory goes hand by hand with the meridians, I will explain more in future blogs. Stay toned!