Diving into the wild heart of medicine : Wood

My last post discussed relating to the elements not just as phases of movement and symbols of natural processes, but as living presences. But I didn’t go into much detail about what this might mean. What does it look like to engage with an element on a visceral level, to meet its being with your own? To encounter it not just with intellect but with body-mind-spirit-soul? This, the first of five planned posts on the 5 elements, focuses on Wood. As CM students and practitioners we’ve known about Wood since our first year of school: it resonates with springtime, with the liver, with the early morning; with the east, the color green; it moves up and out, spreading like the branches of a tree. It is born of Water. It feeds Fire. It controls Earth and is controlled by Metal. Actually we’ve all known about Wood, in fact not just known about Wood but actually known it directly, for as long as we’ve been alive. Our lives began with Water-into-Wood, after all. Drawing on the deep Water of jing, the reproductive essence, our parents bodies met to mingle their genetic information. When sperm, the yang seed, meets egg, the yin field, the very genesis of the universe is recapitulated in microcosmic form. But it took the up-and-out yang energy of Wood to motivate and achieve the union of Heavenly Waters. When we talk about Wood, we’re talking about life force itself. Yes, the Force! Libido, in its original meaning of primal energy, lust for life. This certainly...
Source: Deepest Health: Exploring Classical Chinese Medicine - Category: Alternative Medicine Practitioners Authors: Tags: Foundational Science Source Type: blogs