Elements - Intro

Characteristics

Correspondences

Concepts

Hexagrams

According to the 5 Elements theory - which is of itself no more than just one facet of a far greater united theory of traditional Chinese medicine - your internal organs, tissues, other parts of the body and their associated activities, all correspond to one or another of the Five Elements (phases). Thus, the relationship between the internal organs is like the relationship between the seasons. Accordingly, in healthy people the elements are said to be balanced and in sick people they are said to be unbalanced. Indications of an imbalance may appear in signs as varied as an unusual skin colour or body odor, or as the recurrence of a particular symptom at specific times of the day.

The characteristic of each phase (new yang through to full yin) is determined by what happens in the natural world during each associated season. One season after another plays its role in the cycle of the year by just doing what it does when it does it and then smoothly moves on to the next. It is the smooth and harmonious transition from one phase to another that is important, along with the balance between them.