Have you ever heard of the five elements? Namely the wood, fire, earth, metal, and
water. What exactly are the five elements? And how can it be applied in Chinese
Medicine? Hello Alex here! Today I'm going to be talking about another very
important philosophical concept in Chinese Medicine, the theory of the five
elements. The five elements theory is used to understand and analyze
interrelationships between our body organs, and between our body and the
nature. It is then used to act as a guide in terms of diagnosis and
treatments. The five elements are wood, fire, earth, metal, and water. Actually at
first the five elements only refer to the five substances that people worked
with in their daily lives, for example people grew crops (or wood),
need a fire to cook, soil (or earth) is needed to grow plants, metal are used as
tools, and water to drink or irrigate. Then throughout time the five elements
expanded and all things in the universe are classified into the five elements
according to their properties. Let's take a look at the properties of each
elements. Wood. The basic properties of wood is that it can be bent and
straightened. Plants expand and try to reach for the Sun. Therefore anything that
represents growth or expansion and outward movements are categorized as wood.
Fire. Fire flares upward, anything that has a function of warmth, heat and
ascending are categorized as fire. Earth. Earth provides for sowing, growing and
reaping. Therefore anything that has the function of generating, holding and
receiving are categorized as earth. Metal. Metal can be molded and changed. Anything
that has the function or properties of purification, elimination and reformation
are categorized as metal. Water. Water moistens and flows downwards. Anything
that has a function of being cold and cool, moistening or
flowing downwards are categorized as water. The table here shows extension of
the five elements to different aspects. For example, season-wise wood is spring,
fire is summer, earth is late summer, metal is autumn and water is winter. Just
understanding the properties of the five elements are not enough. We also have to
understand the interrelationships between the five elements. The five
elements are in constant motion and moving. So today I'm going to be sharing
with you the two most basic relationships among the elements, 1) the
generating cycle and 2) the destructive cycle. The law of the generating cycle is
wood generates fire, fire generates earth, earth generates metal, metal generates
water, and water generates wood. It may seem complicated to understand at first
However let's use a simple example. Wood can be burned to produce fire, thus wood
generates fire. The burnt remains is transformed into ashes and it gets
absorbed back into the soil which is earth, thus fire generates earth. Metal
mines are buried in the earth, thus earth generates metal. Metal can be melted into
liquid thus metal generates water. Water is a fundamental ingredient for life
water is used for irrigation to grow plants, thus water generates wood. However
as I mentioned in the last video, there must be a yin and yang balance. If the
five elements keeps generating then there will be an excess of everything, so
therefore we must have a destructive cycle, and the law of destructive cycle
is, water restrains fire, fire restrains metal, metal restrains wood, wood
restrains earth, and earth restrains water. And again let's use a simple
example to describe. Water can put out a fire, thus water restrains fire. Fire can
melt metal and make it weak, thus fire restrains metal. Metal in a form of tools
such as an axe can cut through woods or trees, thus metal restraints wood.
Wood can grow down into the earth and consume the nutrients of the soil
thus wood restrains earth. Soil can be gathered to build a dam that blocks
water, thus earth restrains water. Without generation there is no birth and
development. Without destruction, everything will be in excess and there
will be harm. Therefore a well balanced system must include both generation and
destruction. However this graph is actually not the
best representation of the five elements. And the earth should be in the middle,
like this. If you like to understand the deeper meanings of the five elements, it
is important to also understand the "He Tu:, or the "Yellow River diagram", but I
think it's good for now. In the future I will make a series talking about the
"Yellow River diagram" and also another very important diagram known as the
"Luo Shu" or the "nine halls diagram". Comment below if you're interested in
this topic. Now let's talk about the application. Like the Yin and Yang
theory the five elements theory are used by Chinese people in all sorts of
applications. For example "Feng Shui", which is the exterior and interior design of
your house to balance the five elements, so we can live healthy and in harmony
with the environment. The five elements can also be applied in Chinese music. For
example the five notes corresponds to the five elements, let's say one has a
deficiency in water, by listening to a piece that has a major in water element
will have a healing effect. And of course the five elements is widely used in
Chinese medicine. However the topic is so wide that I can spend a full semester
just talking about this, so today I'm just gonna talk about the surface level
and among all, the most important is to understand the core relationships
between the five elements and the five "Zang" organs. In the future I will describe
more in details about the "Zang" organs. However today all you need to know is
wood is to liver, fire is to heart, earth is to spleen, metal is to lung, and
water is to kidney. And the key to be healthy is to maintain the balance of
the five elements. For example if there is an excess in
liver wood it will over-restrain the spleen earth, thus injuring and affecting
the normal functions of the spleen. Therefore understanding the five
elements helps Chinese medicine doctors in terms of treatment principles. For
example if there is a deficiency in lung energy, doctors can reinforce the spleen
energy in order to tonify the lung energy. Of course in reality cases are
much more complex and it is not too simple. However the five elements model
is really helpful in helping Chinese medicine doctors to help analyze the
patient's issues. I hope you found the five elements theory interesting. In the
future I will be talking a lot more about how to apply the five elements
into your diet, into your exercises for better health. If you like this video,
please subscribe and stay tuned. Up next I would be talking about the most
important substance in the universe, the "Qi (Chi)". So I'll see you in the next video!