TCM - 5 ELEMENTS Flashcards
METAL
金 jīn
Organs: lungs (肺) and large intestine (大肠)
Season: Autumn
Metal practice fosters integrity, courage, dignity, and the lungs are the interface: you breathe in integrity and dignity; you breathe out all that is toxic.
Thus, the lungs are the gateway to transformation.
WATER
水 shuǐ
Organs: kidneys and urinary bladder
Season: Winter
Emotion: Fear - Wisdom destroys Fear
Water practice fosters wisdom, listening, deep knowing.
Kidneys: home to body’s essence, Jīng (精) - regulate our bones and reproductive health. They help govern how we grow and age.
Bladder: helps regulate how we store and utilise our energy, or Qi reserves. It also affects our will and drive.
WOOD
木 mù
liver and gall bladder
Spring
Wood practice fosters Vision, Clear Perspective and Plans, Growth.
Helps us manifest our dreams.
Helps us to remain flexible, creative, resourceful when our plans are thwarted.
Inhibiting anger, Wood fosters kind intention.
EARTH
土 tǔ
Organs: spleen and stomach*
Season: Late Summer
Attributes: steady + centered,
it balances all the other elements.
It helps maintain balance and hold centre in the chaos of conflicting priorities.
It relates to home, as well as our sense of belonging;
out of balance, we can feel uprooted, unfulfilled.
* Stomach and spleen are critical in maintaining the Earth element in balance.
FIRE
火 huǒ
Six Extraordinary Fu organs:
- Gall Bladder (also a regular Fu organ)
- Brain
- Bones
- Vessels
- Uterus
- Marrow
FIRE 火 huŏ
positive/negative?
POSITIVE
compassion, calm, tranquillity and love - fill these qualities into the heart.
NEGATIVE
tendencies towards agitation or restlessness.
Thus, you can start to support the radiant, warm capacity of the Heart when in balance.
Metal 金 jīn
Element?
Positive + Negative?
POSITIVE: transformation, inspiration, and purity,
integrity, courage and dignity. Metal inspires us to remember what is of most value in our lives, and what is a source of integrity, dignity and courage. Breathe in what helps you find inner strength and can inspire you.
NEGATIVE: When Metal is out of balance, we may tend to being harsh, cutting, self-righteous. We may also cling to ideas or loss, which prevent us from moving foward in life, with lightness, and new possibilities.
WATER 水 shuĭ
Positive + Negative?
POSITIVE: wisdom, strength, inner stillness, a connection with the deeper life’s purpose.
Water is associated with wisdom, listening and deep knowing. Water also possesses deep tenacity and power; it will wear down the hardest stone, and render soft and round the most jagged rocks.
NEGATIVE: fear.
WOOD mù 木
Positive + Negative?
POSITIVE: clear direction, growth, vision, kind intent. Helps us manifest our dreams. Wood encourages us to remain flexible, creative, resourceful, especially when our plans are thwarted.
NEGATIVE: anger, misdirected frustration.
Healthy anger can be expressed in a drive to effect social change. Too little anger can translate in meekness; too much, and there can be violence.
Earth 土 - dì
Positive + Negative?
POSITIVE: Earth is steady and centered - it balances all the other elements. It also relates to the ability to maintain balance and hold centre. Whether in our bodies or in our lives, finding balance involves managing a number of opposing forces at once. In balance, Earth helps us manage these forces and feel centered. In balance, the Earth element gives us the support and nourishment that comes with feeling at home, and the stomach and spleen relate to our ability to receive this nourishment, digest it, transform it.
NEGATIVE: can manifest as feeling overwhelmed, or ungrounded or obsessed or overly concerned
Earth also relates to our sense of home, of belonging. Out of balance, we can sometimes feel uprooted, or unfulfilled.
WUXING
generate & control
tip:
generate is around the circle
control is inside the circle
Which element controls water?
tip: this is not peripheral, it’s inside the circle.
Earth
Which element controls Wood?
tip: in the elements diagram, this is not peripheral, its across.
Metal
Which element controls Earth?
tip: in the elements diagram, this is not peripheral, its across.
Wood
