Month: February 2022

We might view the start of Spring around March or April, when the weather starts warming up. In the Chinese calendar, Spring starts earlier, sometime in February when the bulbs come up and new buds start to appear.

Spring is associated with Wood, which is the element of the Liver and Gall Bladder. Whereas in winter we have been hunkering down in the Water time of the year, resting and nurturing our yin, Spring brings about a shift in energy, and if we are aligned with nature, we may start to feel the desire to be more active and spend more time outside.

The Wood Element is all about being expansive, creative and fearless It is about energy and growth (just like nature at this time of year). It’s also associated with being determined and organised. But the liver is the organ associated with anger and frustration, and these can manifest if our wood energy is out of balance.

In order to maintain balance, we want to start introducing more sour food to our diet at this time of year. Add a little lemon juice or apple cider vinegar to your meals. Maybe eat some sauerkraut or pickles. Green is the colour of the Wood element, so you might want to wear more green, certainly to eat more leafy greens, and to spend time out in nature as the greenness returns.

We need to make sure that we don’t overdo things, causing a Wood imbalance. Green shoots are fragile and we are only at the beginning of the more active time of year. Take it slow, no matter how impatient you feel!

I work with the elements in my practice, including using essential oils (AromaReflex and Aromatherapy Massage). At this time of year I will start to use more cedarwood, lemongrass, chamomile and bergamot to clarify and ground. If you fancy booking yourself in for a Spring pick-me-up, get in touch and I can book you in.

Breathing more deeply is the number one thing that will help most people with their health and wellbeing. So why when you come for a treatment with me do I not ask you to breathe more deeply during a session? Because when we are told to deepen our breathing, the first thing we do is take a big, forced in-breath. Then we lose touch with our natural breathing rhythm and we can experience constriction or tightness in the chest. We also tend to lift our shoulders with a big in-breath, creating more tension in an area often already full of tension.

Instead, I may ask you to concentrate on your out-breaths, gradually extending them with each breathing cycle. I will ask you to just let the breath come in. What do I mean by that? There is a world of difference between forcing the breath and naturally allowing it to deepen with softness and intention.

So when I talk about breathing exercises, and I do with many of my clients, this is what I mean, at least to start with. We know that breathing well has been found to reduce stress and anxiety, improve digestion and sleep and even reduce inflammation in the body. If you can take five minutes, even just a couple of times a day, to sit in peace and allow the breath to deepen, you will certainly experience more benefits than you can imagine.

I usually incorporate some breath work in my treatments, particularly my massage sessions. If you feel you could benefit from some time out to take a breath, contact me and I can book you for a relaxing treatment.

The Five Element theory or system was mapped out between 2,000 – 5,000 years ago by Chinese Physicians. In this system, everything in the Universe is grouped into five elements or seasons, Water, Wood, Fire, Earth and Metal. These physicians proposed that all people, their behaviour, emotions and health, are influenced by these elements and that people’s personalities can be distinguished by them.

Each element has a number of associations, including a season, an emotion, two bodily organs (one yin, one yang), a taste, and so on. For instance the Water element is associated with Winter. Energy has sunk into the earth, deep down to the underlying water. The Water Element organs are the bladder and kidneys, it’s primary emotion is fear.

Additionally, there is a Five Element body clock which tells us when each organ functions most strongly at a specific time of day, and correspondingly, at it’s weakest at the opposite time. This can give us clues as to why, for instance, you might wake at a specific time in the night, or why you feel thirsty in the late afternoons. It can also guide us to a regular routine that suits our physiology and gives up optimum chance for good health.

Each person has a primary element, or sometimes two or even three main elements.
Our primary element(s) contain our best qualities, but also can be an are where we most find ourselves out of balance. The most common way this can happen is through lifestyle – modern living often knocks the Five Elements out of balance. We can counter this and improve our health by eating healthily and appropriately for our elemental make-up, taking moderate exercise, finding a balance between activity and rest, and, if needed, getting help in the form of acupuncture or Five Element Reflexology.

If you want to find out about your Five Element constitution, you can take a quiz here.