What Are The Chinese Five Elements?

How can the Chinese five elements be used in the diagnosis and treatment of disease?

Through observing the colors in your face, the sound of your voice, your predominant or inappropriate emotions, the subtle odours of the body and by listening to your pulse, the doctor is able to tell if there was an element which is out of balance that has become the primary cause of health problems.

Once the diagnosis is made the doctor or practitiioner will treat you with a variety of herbs, acupuncture or by teaching you different movements with the goal of returning you to a state of balance with the energies and elements within and outside of you.

To help you better understand how the Chinese five elements play a role in your life take a look at what each element as it manifests in a person.

Personality Types Connected With The Chinese Five Elements

It must be remembered that the five elements are present in all of us, but there will be one element in particular with which we have an affinity and this can be both our strength and in case of imbalance, our weakness.

• Wood – people with a close affinity to the wood element, often excel, or have problems planning, making decisions or taking action. Their strength is in their ability to see the future and act upon the choices they make to bring their vision into reality.

  If the wood person is out of balance they can become depressed and may feel as though all hope is lost, they procrastinate because they either can’t plan or can’t make a decision to move forward. Anger or frustration then becomes a predominat emotion.

• Fire – these are the warm and fuzzy people. A person with a fire personality is more likely to reach out to people and be in a relationship with everyone.

  Laughing and making people happy, is what they love to do most, but on the inside they can feel sad or unable to experience joy. If they are out of balance, they may be unable to form good relationships, or they are over-the-top in being the ‘life and soul of the party’.

• Earth – this personality is one of mothering and nurturing. Their priorities are on understanding the needs of others and also keeping the balance of self-nourishment. If out of balance, they may not feel fulfilled unless they are mothering others and finding solutions to their problems. This can go to the extreme where they neglect their own needs while mothering everyone else. They may feel as though there life is empty or they can feel very needy.
• Metal – people with a metal personality tend to look for spirituality and pureness. They hold on to high standards for themselves and expect the same from others. They are more interested in respect.

In the other extreme, they may have no self respect and a low opinion of themselves and others. They are also known to live in a state of “what might have been” for awhile. When out of balance, the emotion they may experience a lot is grief.

• Water – the water personality is one of persistence and determination. They tend to excel in times when others would run. They are able to hide their deep feelings of fear or feelings of being frozen. Such a person, when their water element is out of balance, may be fearless to the point of recklessness, but on the other hand, may be so full of fear that they feel frozen and paralyzed by it.

This is a very brief understanding of what the Chinese five elements are and how they affect our lives, helping to give us insight into physiology and pathology. They help enormously in being able to diagnose and treat many problems.

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