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THE FIVE ELEMENTAL ENERGIES

As modern physics has conclusively proven, all matter—from atoms and molecules to planets and stars—is composed of energy. In the traditional Taoist paradigm of creation and manifest form, all matter on earth is composed of and regulated by what are known as the five elemental energies (wu shing). The Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Internal Medicine states, “The five elemental energies of wood, fire, earth, metal, and water encompass all the myriad phenomena of nature. It is a paradigm that applies equally to humans.” Another ancient Chinese medical text notes, “the five elemental energies combine and recombine in innumerable ways to produce manifest existence. All things contain the five elemental energies in various proportions.”

The five elements are also known as the five processes of energy. This description is a little more true to the actual meaning of the words, for the processes are, in fact, observations about the movements of energy. The five elemental processes can be observed in nature and throughout the universe. In space, they regulate the motions of all the planets, stars, and suns. In nature, they promote interactions between the elements of fire, water, wood, metal, and earth. Within the human body they affect the five major organs; the heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, and spleen.

Just as Western science understands atoms and subatomic particles to be the fundamental units of all matter, the five processes of energy are understood in Taoism to be the essence of all processes. “As above, so below” expresses this principle of the five elements: the understanding that the forces that regulate nature and the cosmos are the same forces that regulate our bodies and minds.

Each of the five elements has myriad associations and interactions. For example, wood represents energy expanding and is associated with spring, the liver, kindness, and vision—among many other things. Fire represents energy activating and is associated with summer, the heart, love, and speech. Earth represents energy stabilizing and centering and is associated with Indian Summer, the spleen, open-mindedness, and taste. Metal represents energy solidifying and is associated with autumn, the lungs, courage, and breath. Water represents energy sinking or resting and is connected to winter, the kidneys, inner peace, and listening.

In the body, all of the vital organs are paired in matched sets of yin and yang, and each pair is associated with one of the five elemental energies. For example, the yin heart and yang small intestine are paired organs governed by fire energy, along with their related functions of circulation and assimilation, the emotion of joy, and the color red. Similarly, the yin kidneys and yang bladder are governed by water, which also controls the associated tissues of bone, brain, and marrow, regulates the fluids of urine and semen, houses the emotion of fear, and is reflected in the color dark blue.

There are two basic transformational cycles whereby these elemental energies interact and counterbalance one another to sustain homeostasis. One is called the creative or generative (sheng) cycle, in which one energy stimulates and amplifies the next. In this cycle, water generates wood, which generates fire, which generates earth, which produces metal, which completes the cycle by creating water. The other is called the control or destructive cycle (ke), wherein one energy impedes and reduces the activity of the next. In this cycle, water impedes fire, fire reduces metal, metal controls wood, wood reduces earth, and earth impedes water.

Chi Kung provides a mechanism through which one can guide and balance these five elemental energies that compose the human system. By working with the elements, practitioners restore normal balance and maintain natural equilibrium among the vital energies that govern the internal organs and regulate their related functions and tissues.

Since there are specific Chi Kung exercises to influence