The Five Elements And The Emotions

We are connected emotionally with the Five Elements. When you have a liver problem you will feel angry, and need to shout. By shouting you release the negative energy blocking the liver.

When you have a heart problem your body is under pressure because your blood pressure is high. You will soon become over-excited and start laughing. Laughing releases the negative energy, easing the pressure on your heart but if you laugh too much, it can cause more pressure again on your heart.

When your stomach has a problem you may quickly start to worry about things and lose your appetite - or you may react in the opposite way and start to eat a lot. You like to talk to people, because talking helps you to release the negative energy and balances your stomach.

If you have a lung problem it will make you feel sad or depressed. This makes you cry easily - even just watching a sad TV programme or hearing about someone else's problem makes you cry, because crying helps you to release the tension (negative energy) from your lungs. Also, when you catch cold, the blockage in the lungs and chest will cause coughing to release the tension.

When you suffer from a kidney problem it will also affect your back. You will experience pain and feel tired. Emotionally you will feel insecure or scared. This makes you complain or moan to others or groan to yourself. But this groaning releases the negative energy from your kidneys. From observing emotions, from how someone reacts to others and the colour of their face or even their palms, you can see which organs are causing problems. 

So if you find your boss likes to shout at you, forgive him (or her) as he may be suffering from a liver problem and is perhaps just releasing his negative energy. Of course, it is not good to shout at others as they will take on your negative energy. It is better to go outside on your own and shout at the trees, mountains or sea, because they can stand it. (In some Qigong practice we use sounds to strengthen the internal organs.)

Some people go to discos and dance until three or four in the morning. They think they are full of energy; actually it is not energy but over-excitement, which will affect the heart. If someone in the East is healthy and full of energy he will be calm and relaxed, he will smile and feel secure. Western people's attitude is different: if they do a lot of work, laugh a lot and are very active, they call themselves 'energetic'. In fact they are using a lot of energy, and the day might come when all that energy has been burnt out and they then become ill. Save your energy is the best advice.

Consider the Chinese interpretation of people's behaviour. You might find that a friend of yours likes to talk and eat a lot. Maybe his behaviour arises from worry caused by a stomach problem. A lot of people like to sympathise with others and cry easily in bad situations. To me, this shows that their lungs are weak. In hospital you will find many people groaning in their beds, insecure, scared of the dark and of the unknown. This is because their kidneys are weak and their energy is low.

A balanced person, however, can cope if his domestic situation or his job changes. A balanced person's mind is calm and he or she is not readily attracted by advertisements and the 'glossy things' of life. He likes nature, and knows how to relax and use his energy. The character of a healthy person is entirely different from that of an unhealthy person. A healthy person can do his job well and will be successful. Unhealthy people lose their jobs very frequeptly and change their situations very quickly because of their energy. Good energy can attract good people and opportunity to you.

Bad energy attracts bad people and bad luck. As you can see, the most important thing to know is how to get and stay healthy. You cannot just act healthy - you need to do something that will change your lifestyle and your character. The secret is daily Qigong practice.

The Five Elements and The Internal Organs

The five elements are also associated with the five major organs that keep the entire body balanced - the liver, lungs, heart, kidneys and spleen. The main organs are all Yin and solid. They pair and work closely with the Yang organs which are hollow.

Wood is connected with the liver, and the liver with the gall bladder -they are like brothers. When you have a liver problem your face and eyes will turn green and your skin will become dry like wood. Your face will turn a greenish colour because the liver is connected with the circulation and when the liver or gall bladder is in poor condition the normal red colour of the blood will become lighter, thus turning to somewhere between green and yellow.

Metal is connected with the lungs, which are related to the large intestine. When you suffer from a lung problem it will make you cough and your face will turn white (pale) and shiny as it might if you were out of breath, after running. Also your breathing will make a noise-like metal.

Fire connects with the heart. Its brother is the small intestine. When you have a heart problem or high blood pressure your face will go red and your body temperature will go up -hot like fire.

Water connects with the kidneys, whose brother is the urinary bladder. When you have a kidney problem or backache your face will turn a dark colour and your hands and feet will feel cold -like water. (The true colour of water is transparent, clear, but when you look at the sea it is a deep blue or closer to black.)

Earth connects to the spleen and its brother is the stomach. When you have a stomach problem, such as a stomach ache, you will feel movement inside and your stomach will make a noise. Your face will turn brown like soil and your stomach will move like an earthquake.

The Five Elements

Wood, fire, earth, metal and water represent the Five Elements. Wood and metal form a pair: wood is Yin, soft, natural and gathering; metal is Yang, hard, polished and separating. Fire and water are another pair: water is Yin, soft, cold and flowing; fire is Yang, strong, hot and damaging. Earth is the centre, connecting all the elements, but does not belong to any of them. So earth is described as soft and wet (soil) in its Yin side, and hard and solid (rock) in its Yang side.

THE FIVE ELEMENTS AND THE DIRECTIONS
The Five Elements 'cover' the whole world. Wood represents the East, Metal the West, while Fire stands for the South and Water for the North. Earth is the centre. The East gets the sun before the West, and so more trees and plants grow in the East. The West gets the sun later, so the West creates more minerals, metal and iron. The South is hot and the North cold.

Small has no inside. big has no outside

Nowadays many scientists spend a lot of their nation's money trying to extend the frontiers of knowledge. They want to know what is 'on the inside'. They have broken things down into molecules, atoms and electrons, smaller and smaller particles, and even sub-atomic particles. Each time they think they have found the smallest 'thing', they find another even smaller. And each time they look they find something different. It is as though these things create themselves. Modern scientists spend their working lives trying to discover new things such as the smallest or the biggest. But four thousand years ago the Chinese said in the YiJing, 'Small has no inside, big has no outside',
and also: 'From nothing comes something.'

The principles of Yin and Yang, the Wu Xing, Five Elements, and Bagua tell us the principles of the universe. I call it 'Chinese Science' and, like Chinese medicine, it is totally different from that of the West. We use herbs which come from the earth, which is where we all From nothing comes something. come from. We use acupuncture, moxibustion and massage to stimulate different areas of the body to keep it balanced, and we practise Qigong to keep ourselves healthy, strong and vital.

We know everything must be natural. This is different from the way the West thinks. The scientists keep looking for the smallest things only to find something smaller inside, so then they look for the biggest things only to keep finding bigger things…So they go on and on and never stop, but they miss the principle of the universe and the relationship between big and small: 'Small has no inside, big has no outside.' What is small? What is big? It is only when you put them together that one is big and one is small. 

If we understand Yin and Yang we know that if we see one side' then there must be another to balance it, otherwise it cannot exist (unless it is the centre). There is only one centre which is steady and stable -for example, we have only one nose and one mouth, which are at the centre of the face, but we have a pair of eyes and a pair of ears, which are not at the centre. 

We live on a planet and we know that we are not at the centre of the universe. So this means there must be some other planet the same as ours in the universe, because we exist according to the principle of Yin and Yang. By developing this principle, and dividing it by two, we get the 'four images' as follows:

Together with the centre (which connects them all together) they become the Five Elements. So if one day you see a UFO or if we discover another human planet, don't be suprised!

Chinese Philosophy & Medicine

When you learn about Qigong you will come to understand the basics of Chinese medicine, which uses natural methods to treat and heal and to balance the internal organs through herbs, massage, moxibustion, acupuncture and Qigong. The first four types of healing skill mainly depend on others giving you treatment, but Qigong is a way of self-healing. All five, however, are based on the principles of Yin and Yang -a question of balance.

In the West, people take medicines or drugs, vitamins and high nutrition foods in an attempt to make themselves healthy. Gradually the body becomes saturated with these substances -which are already present in a healthy body -and after a while the body becomes reliant on them. As a result, if people forget to take their pills or 'health food' or other props, they become weak and tired. The body starts to lose its normal functions and can no longer produce its own energy. The search for different or stronger medicines and specialist doctors continues until there is nothing and no one left who can offer any help. What a very depressing way to try to become healthy and to treat our ailments!

Fish in their natural state obviously have bones, so why don't the fish served up in fish and chip shops have any?

The reason is that Western people remove the bones to make it easy to eat. Everything in modern society is geared towards making life easy so we do not need to work hard to get what we want. Eventually we will lose the natural original way to live by becoming so distanced from nature, even in the way we eat fish. Did you know that fishbone shave all the essence of the nutrients? Chinese people like to suck the marrow from the bones.

The Chinese philosophy known as 'Dao' is the right way. It holds that everything has its own way, from a stone to a piece of paper to a human being. In other words, everything must be natural, and natural means balanced.

The Scripture of Change (Yi ling or I-Ching), which is 'around five thousand years old, first laid down the concept of Yin and Yang. Since then it has played a very important part in Chinese culture. The Yi ling says: 'Wuji creates Taiji; Taiji creates Liang Yi, two forms; two forms create Si Xiang, four images; and four images create Bagua, eight situations.' What this means is that from nothing comes something, something creates Yin and Yang, Yin and Yang create four images, and four images create eight situations.

The universe started from nothing. From nothing it became something. When something is created there must be two forms, two faces or two different situations - for instance, if one is the front there must be an opposite, the back. If one side is right, there must be a left to balance. So if we know fire, there must also be water to balance it. Male and female balance, tall and short, dark and light and so on -there are two different situations to balance the whole universe. If there is only one of something it will become too strong or too weak and will disappear by itself. For example, if there was only fire in the world, one day the world would become too hot and burn out.

The Origins of Qigong contd....

Victim of the Cultural Revolution

The development and appreciation of Qigong continued unabated until 1966, when the Cultural Revolution began and most of China's traditional culture was outlawed. All study of Taoism, Confucianism and Buddhism, for instance, was prohibited; some monks and nuns were forced to abandon the religious life and were only allowed to study Marxism. Anything relating to the old way of life in China, including Qigong, was condemned or 'sent to hell', as the Chinese would say. But Qigong survived these terrible years: it is a diamond -even after it has been attacked it lets the light shine through it into the darkness. In 1978, the Cultural Revolution came to an end, the 'heat' spreading throughout China was visible. 

Qigong was still being practised and within three years at least five magazines devoted to Qigong were being published there. 

Once the 'Gang of Four' was overthrown the ancient culture began to grow back, like grass sprouting up through the bare earth after spring rain. At first most people did their Qigong just for exercise, although some combined it with their Taiji Quan and other martial arts practice. Then doctors of traditional Chinese medicine started to join in, because their work is based on traditional medical principles like the flow of Qi, the Five Elements, and Yin and Yang. 

Their patients were introduced to Qigong to help them recover from their illnesses, and many improved more quickly than if they had been treated with Western medicine or even Chinese herbs. Old masters of the craft such as Yang Mei Jun, Gou Lin, Ma Li Tang and Que Ya Shui shared their families' skill to help unhealthy people, especially those who had suffered under the Cultural Revolution. At the same time, Taoist and Buddhist monks and nuns came forward to help and to perpetuate their knowledge.

Beyond healing: mind over matter

At the end of 1980, the famous Qigong Master Yan Xin held many lectures and healing sessions in which he successfully treated thousands of people. He conducted scientific research into Qigong and created a lot of enthusiasm for it. There was also a man called Chiang Bo Xing, commonly known as 'Chinese Number One Superman' who had extraordinary power. He could apparently look through people's bodies and see their skeletons, burn paper and clothes, move objects and even remove the contents from a sealed bottle. Everyone was quite nonplussed by this and it led to more people and scientists concentrating on the research and practice of Qigong to discover how it could develop human potential and abilities. A wealth- of information has been discovered. It has been found that many masters, like Yan Xin, can also transmit their Qi to heal people. 

Lin Hou Sheng in 1980 even transmitted his Qi to a patient who was undergoing an operation without anaesthetic. Master Yang Mei Jun, over one hundred years old, can see the colours of Qi yellow, red, brown, green, white and so on - and can transmit energy with a fragrance of flowers. 

Qigong practice has also been found to develop the potential of children - it is claimed that some can read what is written on a piece of paper
by just putting the paper to their ear. Now the Chinese Government is focusing on this human potential or supernatural power to help develop 'Human Science'. In particular Chen Ken Xin, the Chinese National Research Chairman, has great faith in Qigong and is researching its relationship with human development. 

Government research has found that these extraordinary skills are connected with intensive Qigong practice, and are sometimes inherited. Chinese legend contains many tales about Buddha and the 'Immortals', the ancient Chinese Gods, who use magic to move things and to disappear -maybe there is some truth in these stories after all, and perhaps Qigong is the link between ancient legend and present reality.

The Origins of Qigong

In ancient times most of the population of China consisted of peasants. The people would work in the fields all day until sunset, and then return to their homes to rest. Some would gather together and listen to the stories of their elders, while others would go and enjoy the cool night air after the heat of the day. Since the people enjoyed the refreshing nights more than the stifling days, they preferred the moon to the sun; that is why the Chinese calendar follows the moon -it is a lunar calendar, as opposed to the West's solar calendar.

Healing and wellbeing

Out in the moonlight, the weary peasants could wind down and relax. And it was then that they became aware of something moving around inside their bodies -something that felt a little like steam. This steam could move up or down, and in different places such as the legs or arms; it also seemed to be related to their breathing and to the mind. The people noted all these various feelings and eventually discovered that each person had a centre, just below the navel, which made the rest of the body warm and strong. They called this centre 'Dantien'.

With continued observation they found that the flow of the steam could make the body warm and was related to the spirit -spirit in the sense of a feeling of wellbeing rather than in the religious sense of the word. Gradually they discovered a network of channels crossing the body, linking the internal organs. Distributed along these channels were certain points which affected the way the steam flowed through the body. Thus energy (Qi) and the system of acupuncture points and channels were discovered, and people found that touching and massaging the points could heal a variety of problems.

Movement and breathing of various kinds to create heat were thus perceived as ways of healing physical ailments from very early times, long before the formulation of medicines. Throughout the centuries Chinese sages and philosophers have written of the beneficial effects of this treatment.

The Yellow Emperor's Canon of Internal Medicine, an ancient text of 722-721 BC which is known in Chinese as the Huangdi Neijing, contains the following passage: “People live in the centre [of China, along the Yellow River]. The area is damp, therefore suffering from tiredness, depression and hot and cold illness [similar to today's ME -myalgic encephalomyelitis or post-viral syndrome] is common. The curing method is Daoyin [breathing techniques] and Angiao [stretching].”

Even earlier than this, about four thousand years ago, the people of this region are known to have danced to rid themselves of damp and arthritis. Dancing made them hot, and the heat expelled the damp and poison from their veins and joints. The movements and breathing patterns of animals were also regarded as valuable examples to follow. In his book Chunway Chu, written around 600 BC and dealing with the subject of breathing,

Zhuang Zi said: 'Breathing techniques can improve metabolism; moving like a bear and a bird will result in longevity.' During the Three Kingdoms Period (from 280-220 BC), a famous Chinese doctor, Hwa Tou, created 'Five Animal Play'. He understood how wild animals lived and how they moved to maintain their bodies' balance and he saw how people, living under the system of society, had lost this natural ability. 'Five Animal Play' was designed to help people relearn this skill in order to cure illness and strengthen the body. Hwa Tou explained that when you raised your arms above your head, as if they were the horns of a deer, it stimulated the Qi circulation of the liver; when you stretched your arms out like a bird spreading its wings, it was good for the heart and relieving tension; rubbing and slapping yourself and moving like a monkey was good for the spleen; stretching your arms out in front of you while exhaling, like a tiger, was good for releasing the tension in the lungs; and bending forwards like the bear was good for the back and the kidneys. Hwa T ou used the names of animals because it made the exercises easier to remember and by using wild animals, instead of domestic ones, he made the exercises sound exhilarating. All these movements help the Qi flow aJong the channels, strengthening the body and promoting vitality. They also balance the circulation and stimulate the internal organs.

The famous seventh-century BC philosopher Lao Zi advised people to relax their hearts (meaning their chests) and to firm their stomachs, by which he meant that they should concentrate their minds on the centre (Dantien, as mentioned above). And so these techniques continued to be used, with great effect, for hundreds of years. In the twentieth century, while Western medicine was relying heavily on new drugs, improved surgical techniques and so on, this ancient and proven method of healing was still highly valued in the East.

During the revolution of 1911, when China ceased to be ruled by emperors, Jiang Weigiao's Yin Shi Zi Sitting Still Exercises became very popular in Shanghai. Nor, to begin with, did .advent of Communism in 1949 affect the high regard in which Qigong was held. The first Qigong therapy clinic was established at Tangshan in Heibei Province in 1955, and another was set up two years later in Shanghai. That Qigong was taken seriously even in official quarters is evidenced by the fact that in 1959 the Ministry for PubIic Health held the First National Meeting for the Exchange of Qigong Experiences at Beidihe in Heibei Province; it was attended by some sixty-four groups from seventeen provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions from within a country as large as the USA.