Chakras and your nature

The Five Elements in Chinese Philosophy

The yin and yang philosophy was further refined into the system of the five elements to gain a deeper understanding of how the body, mind and spirit work and acupuncture.
The microcosm of the body is linked to the universe and is affected by the daily and seasonal cycles of nature. (Think about the seasonal affective disorder which manifests itself in winter or when the light is not sufficient). The individual and the world are changing all the time. But Chinese believe that these changes are occurring in certain order and in cycles. (We can think about these like our economic cycles or agricultural cycles. A period of growth is always followed by a period of stagnation or unemployment. In the stock market, a bull market is always followed by a bear market etc.) In the same way, a seed planted in spring blooms in summer, seeds itself in late summer to autumn, dies in winter, and a new seed grows again in spring. It is part of a never-ending cycle and each phase has its role to play in maintaining the balance of nature. The same process of change occurs within the body. Cells grow and die to make way for new cells, and body systems depend upon each other in a similar way to the seasons, working together to ensure the balanced functioning of the body, mind and spirit and the healthy flow of life through the whole person.

Representation of the Five Elements

Chinese philosophy recognizes five distinct elements of cyclical change called water, wood, fire, earth, and metal. These five elements can be related to our four seasons (with a fifth late summer season) as shown in the table below. The elements can also be related to different colors, emotion, taste, voice and various organs. These can also be related to the selection of food and herbs. Notice the correspondence between the Chinese philosophy and the underlying Indian philosophy, which also classifies everything in the universe under earth, water, fire, air, and ether.

Season	Element	Yin-Yang Phase	Yin Organ	Yang Organ	Energy Pattern	Color	Emotion	Taste	Voice
Winter	Water	Full yin	Kidney	Urinary bladder	Conserved	Black	Fear	Salty	Groans
Spring	Wood	New yang	Liver	Gallbladder	Expansive	Green	Anger	Sour	Shouts
Summer	Fire	Full yang	Heart	Small Intestine	Culmination, completion	Red	Joy	Bitter	Laughs
Late Summer	Earth	yin-yang balance	Spleen	Stomach	Balance	Yellow	Sympathy	Sweet	Sings
Autumn	Metal	New yin	Lungs	Large Intestine	Contraction and accumulation	White	Grief sadness	Pungent	Weeps

Each person's physical and mental constitution can be described as a balance of the elements in which one or more may naturally dominate. The proportion of the elements in a person determines his or her temperament. Oriental medicine considers the ideal condition as one in which all the five elements are in balance or in harmony. Wood is said to be the mother of fire and the son of water. (Water allows wood to grow, wood provides fuel for the fire). Using these relationships one can describe all possible yin-yang imbalances within the body. The thrust of five element diagnosis is to isolate and treat the imbalanced element, because an imbalanced element is like a weak link in your energetic chain that can undermine the strength of your mind, body and spirit.

How the Five Elements are Manifested Internally and Externally

Element	Universe	Individual
Wood	Growing, flourishing, rooted yet pushing upward	Striving, controlling, flexible strength, self-assured
Earth	Productive, fertile	Solid, stable, reliable, tenacious, grounded
Metal	Hard, structured, symmetric	Organized, substantial, strong, durable
Fire	Dry, hot, ascending	Dynamic, sparkling, enthusiastic
Water	Wet, cool, descending	Flowing, adaptable, pliant

The chakras are related to your body and emotions, any in-balance in one chakra will affect all the other chakras. You can dowse to check each of your chakra to see if they are balance, if you find that you have issue say at work(feeling in-secure) you might find that your first chakra is out of balance, you may also find that the third chakra out of balance too, the chakras work together to bring a sense of well being to you. I have come across a few people who ask me about their job security, complaining about their colleagues and supervisors, after balancing their chakras, they stop complaining altogether. They gain confidence and was happy again.

Chakras can sometimes become excessive or weak, one chakra may overwork to compensate for another, so once a day balance your chakras for good health.

Love 
Alan