Five Elements: Chinese Medicine for Balanced Health

The five elements theory uses the properties and characteristics of wood, fire, earth, metal, and water to describe natural phenomena. Although this philosophy can describe almost anything, it is widely used in Chinese medicine to explain the functions of the body and its surrounding environment. When these elements work together properly, your body is healthy. When one or more of those elements act abnormally, symptoms of disease can crop up. Understanding this theory can help you strike the delicate, fluid balance necessary for good health.

To learn more about specific relationships between colors, seasons, and how they affect your body, continue reading. To explore other aspects of Chinese medicine, choose from the following:

Yin and Yang  Qi  Blood  Fluids  Qi, Blood, and Fluids  Essence  Channels/Meridians Viscera  Diseases and Their Causes  Four Examinations  Syndrome Differentiation (Pattern Identification)

Table of contents:
-Characteristics of the five elements
-Generation cycle
-Restraining cycle
-Health and Disease

Characteristics of the Five Elements
The five elements [五行wu3xing2] theory, like yin and yang theory, evolved through observation of the natural world.  From those observations, certain qualities were associated with each element. The five elements, also called five phases, have specific characteristics as follows: 

Basically, the characteristics of the five elements can be attributed to all phenomena in the universe. Here are some common categorizations:

Generation cycle
The generation cycle [相生 xiang1sheng1] is the cycle of creation or birth.  In other words, one element gives birth to another. From wood comes fire, from fire comes earth, from earth comes metal, from metal comes water and from water comes wood. Although this theory is thousands of years old, it can still make sense using today’s logic.

In the chart above, we mentioned that each Zang organ is associated with an element. The interactions between organs can follow this generation cycle. For example, the liver generates the heart, the heart generates the spleen and so on.

Restraining cycle
Just like yin and yang, this theory focuses on balance. In nature, you cannot have generation without restraint. This restraining idea can be easily compared to the checks and balances system of the United States government. The legislative, executive and judicial branches act in a similar way to the elements. They each can check or restrain a different branch but are always checked or restrained by another branch. This creates balance. The restraining cycle [相克 xiang1ke4] functions as follows:

Health and Disease
With respect to the human body, if there is a normal amount of generation and restraint, the body is healthy. Only when the balance of power shifts past a certain point do the symptoms of disease appear.

For the generation cycle, we see two possibilities for disease: a problem either with the mother element or with the son element. For example, if the kidney(mother) is weak, it cannot support the liver(son), which in turn weakens the liver. Another case is when the heart(son) fire is vigorous, which in turn causes the liver(mother) fire to become vigorous.

For the restraining cycle, there are also two possibilities for sickness, which are when the restraining element is overwhelming or when the restrained element is rebellious. Liver qi, which normally restrains the spleen, can actually over restrain or overwhelm the spleen and thereby cause it harm. The liver qi, which is normally restrained by the lungs, can fight back or rebel against the lungs and thereby cause it harm.

So what causes these elements to start acting up and getting crazy? Sometimes the imbalance is caused by a pathogen or injury. Sometimes it can be the effect of the weather or your physical environment. Sometimes imbalance is even caused by strong emotion. Whatever the cause, when these elements or zang organs are out of balance, sickness can occur. A Chinese medicine doctor must focus on maintaining a steady balance between all the functions and parts of the body to keep the patient healthy. It is possible to use any number of methods to do so, including



acupuncture, moxibustion, herbal remedies, qigong and taichi, tuina massage.

Yin and Yang  Qi  Blood  Fluids  Qi, Blood, and Fluids  Essence  Channels/Meridians Viscera  Diseases and Their Causes  Four examinations  Syndrome Differentiation (Pattern Identification)