Archive for the ‘The Five Elements’ Category

I am Earth. I am Gaia, the Great Mother.
I am the Mother of all things. I am Planet Earth.
I am massive as a craggy mountain range and as gentle as a rolling plain; as inviting as a verdant meadow; and as absorbing as a rich alluvial valley. I am Earth. I give life.
All things come from me and unto me they must return.
I cradle and nurture the life that depends on me.
I like warmth and moisture; my climatic state is the humidity of late summer. I am the season of ripening and maturing.
I am Earth, I am humidity and Late Summer marks my ascendence of power.

The Earth Element is aligned with the season of Late Summer or Tropical Summer when it is both hot and humid. This is the season of ripening and maturing, it is the time of bringing to fruition the seeds that were planted in the Spring. Whether they be actual seeds or projects, the time of their maturity is aligned with the phase of the Earth Element. Therefore, Earth’s energy is said to be mature with a warm and moist quality about it.

Earth is the Treasurer, who is entrusted with the receipt, care and disbursement of the treasured Qi. Earth is the archtypal Peacemaker whose guiding principle is unification. Earth will synthesise whatever is divided and antagonistic into a unified and interdependent whole. Thus Earth’s gift is in transforming discord into harmony; it’s desire is to feel unity with the world and an empathetic oneness with others.

In order for the Treasurer to be able to take care of the treasured Qi, it is necessary for there to be officials whose task it is to access and mobilise it. These are assigned to the Official of Breaking Down and Assimilating [Stomach Meridian Qi] and the Official of Transformation and Transportation [Spleen Meridian Qi].

Earth’s colours are yellow, orange and brown.

Earth’s time of day is 7.00-11.00 am. Earth’s time of life is from around age 30 until around 50. Early evening is also governed by Earth Element. These are the peak times of Earth Element Energy.

Earth is our base, our centre, it is that which keeps us grounded and connected to the earth. It gives us physical and emotional stability, and with the Water Element creates our sexuality and fertility. It gives us a sense of stability and belonging wherever we are.

Compassion and empathy are Earth’s emotions. When out of balance we can be stuck in giving too much sympathy at our own expense; or in excusing inappropriate behaviour in self and others; or we may ignore our own or other’s needs. Earth regulates our physical and emotional cycles, helping us to adapt to our natural rhythms. When Earth is in balance we understand that some days are more productive than others.

Planet Earth is our collective mother, so the Earth Element reflects the mothering principle within us, giving us nourishment and nurturing, just as our biological mother would have done. Whether you are a man or a woman, you still have mothering energy within. Carl Jung would have aligned it with the anima, or the feminine aspect of the psyche. It is part of, but not all, the Yin aspect in Chinese philosophy. The Earth Element reflects how we mother ourselves, how we mother our children and others, and how we were mothered.

If our mother had a difficult time being mother for us, then our Earth Element [particularly Spleen Qi] will be somewhat out of balance. If we are unable to be our own mothers, to look after, nurture and nourish the child within, it is usually because our Earth meridians, Spleen and Stomach are disharmonious.

Singing is the sound of Earth. An Earth-imbalanced voice is likely to have a very sing-song ring to it, like a song without a tune. Singing helps to balance Earth’s meridians.

Sweetness is Earth’s taste, and when it is out of balance we will crave sweet things, because natural sweetness is what feeds and nourishes the Earth Element.

I have seen many people, particularly women, with sweet cravings that faded away when their Earth Element energies were back in harmony. One trick is to eat natural sweetness, like that from fresh dates, dried figs, raisins, sultanas, as well as fresh fruit instead of cake, chocolate and lollies. However, take care choosing fresh fruit with this disorder, you must chew every mouthful extremely well before swallowing. This is to allow the rawness to be macerated enough that it arrives in the stomach virtually ready for Spleen Qi to begin discriminating and absorbing the nutrients. Otherwise the stomach has to give up too much of its valuable Qi to break larger particles down, which cools Earth and can ultimately lead to weight gain, digestive and menstrual disorders.

Earth’s Qi flows in the meridians of the Spleen and Stomach. Together they regulate digestion, the menstrual cycle and emotional reaction patterns. They also feed all the other “officials” or energetic centres and organs of the body so that they can carry out their respective functions.

As mentioned earlier, Earth’s time of day is 7-11 am, this is deemed the most appropriate time of day to eat because there is most energy available for digestion at this time, and it is most appropriate to fuel up before a long drive!

The Chinese have a wonderful analogy about eating: We should eat the breakfast of an Emperor; the lunch of a King and the dinner of a pauper.

Consider for a moment what most of us do – skip or have little breakfast, and then at the opposite time of day, around 7-11pm when there is the least amount of energy available for digestion, we have a full-on meal!! No wonder so many weight, energy and digestive problems abound. If we follow the above analogy and do eat a reasonable breakfast and lunch and then less for dinner you will notice that you need less sleep and you gain more energy! If you think of the body as the vehicle you drive around in, then would you ever consider [if it could be done!], driving all day on an empty tank then filling up the tank and putting the car in the garage for the night? It doesn’t make sense does it?

Same with our bodies, except that a car won’t run on empty, but because our mind is most powerful, we can make our bodies run on empty. If you think about it like this you begin to see why you may have problems with energy or digestion or sleep for that matter.

So what do you have for breakfast? It should be nourishing, energising and warm, providing enough stamina to feed the entire system. Since energetically that is what needs to occur. Eating only, say, fruit for breakfast every day helps people whose system is already clogged and is good from time to time as a clean out, but if you lack energy, are overweight, have low blood sugar, menstrual problems or feel the cold readily, then this can severely damage your Earth Qi which will then damage your digestive system and ultimately creat havoc in the entire system.

Instead try eating oats or brown rice porrige, a nourishing soup [miso with tofu], wholemeal toast with free range eggs. These foods provide sustenance, vitality and strength. They are nourishing and healthy. Begin with warm lemon water or a fresh juice occassionally in summer only. Drink herbal tea instead of regular tea or coffee – have that later if you must, but keep breakfast pure. It’s the one meal we can be in total control of. And it doesn’t have to be hard work. Eat less at dinner and warm up the leftovers for breakfast – soups and stews work well here, especially in winter.

If you say you have no appetite at breakfast, then that just confirms that your Earth Element Meridians are weak and dysfunctional. All the more reason to begin trying to eat small amounts of warm foods. It is also a phallacy to think that skipping breakfast or only eating fruit and salads helps in losing weight. The inability to lose weight as well as easily putting weight on are Earth dysfunctions. Since Earth likes warmth and moisture, eating an abundance of cold and raw foods serves to weaken Earth’s functions and eventually it becomes a vicious cycle of eating little and gaining more. Because the Spleen Qi has lost its ability to discriminate between pure and impure foods and just absorbs anything and everything and then stores it because it doesn’t know what to do with it. The result, more weight gain usualy in the form of cellulite.

So try switching to warm foods, having smaller but more frequent meals and chew every mouthful until it is mushy before swallowing. I can’t stress this last point enough. Most of us do not chew our foods well enough – that’s what our teeth are for!! That’s their job, and they serve us better if they are used to full capacity.

Also saliva is the “juice of the Earth” and chewing our food well stimulates the flow of saliva, mixes it with the food to begin the process of digestion before we swallow it. Earth loses too much energy in digesting food that comes in cold, raw or unchewed.

Common symptoms or illnesses associated with the Earth Element:

cold hands and feet; canker sores; stomach/abdominal pain; lack of appetite; eating disorders; bloating; diarrhoea; palpy muscles or poor muscle tone; pale complexion; ulcers; nausea; vomiting; diabetes; yeast infections; PMS; menstrual pain; infertility; irregular ovulation; hypoglycemia [low blood sugar]; self-pity; mood swings; anemia; poor circulation; pain and tension along the course of the Stomach and Spleen Meridians.

When the Earth Element is in balance, we are easily adaptable, enjoy relaxation, have a balanced intake of food, work and play, have strong faith in self and take the time necessary to prepare ourselves for whatever task we have set. Whereas when the Earth Element is out of balance we resist change, seek out drugs to get our relaxation, are nervous eaters – always looking for something to eat and we have a great deal of apprehension over just about everything.