A Five Elements tale

Hi and welcome back here, if you came back for more you’re in for a treat, or so I hope..

This weekend in clinic I was reminded of the power of the Five Elements in the traditional Chinese Medicine practice.

My TCM brain was picking at straws to all of the different signs I was picking from my patient’s pulses… till when my mind channeled the image of all my teachers telling me: keep it simple.

It’s so cliche and yet so powerful, it has the power to calm me down and let me think clearly on what to do.

So I worked on Five Elements only, and worked on the element I felt it was needing help the most, and low and behold, pulses collectively came up and became more harmonious.

Five Elements is to me in many ways a magical realm, it’s very simple and yet so mysterious, it talks to our inner nature and what we truly resonate with.

My own experience with this work modality has been since the beginning mixed with awe and skepticism, it didn’t feel enough to needle some points on a single element to help a patient, it felt too simple to be true.

Throughout my yet brief clinical experience I’ve been witnessing time and time again how wrong I was in thinking that this modality was biased and just too simplistic, instead, it’s filled of nuances and difficult decisions to make, such as:

What element should I treat?

Is there a block? Or am I confused by the pulses?

Am I treating the right element or something else is emerging?

The key ingredient in all of this, was just me, trusting in what I was feeling right in the moment and seeing it through. More often than not it bears good results for the patients in the end.

My note to self is: to carry on trust my intuitions, work with simple principles and trust the process.

If you’re a practitioner out there and needed to hear these words I’m glad you found me, if not and have any tips please reach out and connect.

If you’re a patient, thanks for being here and reading yet one another rambling of mine.