The Five Element Theory is a theory developed by Ancient Chinese philosophers that is still widely used today in Traditional Chinese Medicine.
It was through observation of nature that they came to believe it was possible to predict how natural changes, within our bodies, and outside environment can affect our health.
Practitioners used the relationship of five elements and the meridians (channels) of energy within the human body to bring conflicting body forces back into balance.
The five elements were described as:-
· Wood
· Fire
· Earth
· Metal
· Water
These were identified as the five elemental forces embodied in the natural world. Each of these elemental forces is also associated with major organs of the body.
By use of the properties these elements possess, coupled with how the Yin/Yang balance of the body is structured, it is possible to correct any imbalance of the body, and hence, potential illness can be averted or arrested.
The Yin and Yang concept is a basic principle of Traditional Chinese Medicine, they are terms used to describe the balance of any item in nature.
These two forces are said to be in confliction and must always be in balance for the item to be in its natural state.
So if the Yang is described as "hot", the Yin will be described as "cold, any imbalance of these forces will be seen as a major contributor to ill health.
A simple example that illustrates how both these concepts are used could be :-
If the diagnosis of a patient shows an excessive Yang condition in an energy related to a "fire" element, it can be assumed that this is being caused by the opposing Yin condition being in the "water" element
(i.e. there is not enough water to control the fire), or they may find a Yang condition in the in the "wood" element (i.e. too much wood is feeding the fire).
If you now consider the "fire" as the heart, the "water" as the kidneys, and the "wood" as the liver, you can begin to see the concept of interaction/balance and how a typical treatment may be constructed.
Traditional Chinese Medicine still uses this ancient, diagnostic method to analyse how the various parts of a person's body and mind can interact to affect their health and wellbeing.
Modern acupuncturists also use the five element theory but in varying degrees depending on the individual practitioner and what style of acupuncture they practice.