We have 5 elements in Chinese medicine corresponding to five main archetypes or personalities. How is this relevant in clinical practice diagnosis and treatment?

What is your archetype or your personality according to Chinese medicine? This is what we’re gonna talk about today, and I’m really excited because I love this subject and I think it’s fascinating.

Often I will ask questions to patients and it might take me a couple of session to figure it out, but eventually I can see which dominant archetype or personality comes out.  I look at how to address what could come up in the physical body according to Chinese medicine, it also really helps to narrow down issues that can be affecting the patient as well.

In today’s video I share the 5 elements archetypes, their Yin and Yang sides, and acupuncture points to balance each personality.
Let me know what you think!

Clara
TCM Geek

PS: Check out my 5 Elements Theory video here. If you want to learn more about this subject, do not miss my podcast episodes about growing your practice by using the 5 elements! And if you haven’t treated yourself to my Chinese Medicine Made Easy Book or digital PDF, check it out!

The 5 Elements Archetypes

In traditional Chinese medicine, the Five Element Archetypes are used to understand the underlying energetic patterns of the body and mind. These archetypes are associated with the elements of wood, fire, earth, metal, and water. Each archetype has a unique set of qualities and characteristics that can give us insights into our personalities and health.

Wood Element or LIVER Archetype 🪵

The Wood Personality Type is associated with the liver and gallbladder. The Wood archetype is characterized by traits such as vision, planning, and goal-setting. These individuals are often achievers who like to be in control and have a strong desire for success.

On the positive side, being a planner and achiever can be a great asset. However, the Wood Personality Type can also have difficulty working in a team environment and may become frustrated when things don’t go their way. They are often perfectionists who put a lot of pressure on themselves, which can lead to stress and irritability.

The BEST WOOD LIVER archetype acupuncture points: LV 3, GB 34 and SP 6

The Liver personality has unique strengths and weaknesses that can provide insights into their health and well-being. By understanding the Five Element Archetypes, we can gain a deeper understanding of ourselves and others, and use this knowledge to promote health and balance in our lives.

Fire Element or HEART Archetype 🔥

The Fire archetype corresponds to the Heart and Small Intestine organs in the Five Element Theory. This archetype is most active during the summer season and corresponds to the noon time of day. The Fire personality tends to be very joyful, passionate, and excited about everything and anything. They love to be around people, and they are the life of the party. They are great team players and work well in team environments.

However, the Fire personality has a tendency to have difficulty completing tasks or projects because they get easily distracted and lose interest when the journey towards the goal becomes less exciting. They also have a hard time focusing and may struggle with insomnia due to their high levels of excitement and energy.

The BEST FIRE HEART archetype acupuncture points: HT 7 & ST 40 (for focus)
It’s important to ask the right questions and understand the patient’s daily life and habits to provide effective treatment for Fire personalities.

Earth Element or SPLEEN Archetype 🔥

In the 5 elements in Chinese medicine, the Earth archetype is nurturing and caring. The Earth element corresponds to the Spleen and Stomach and is responsible for the digestion process. It is also associated with transitions in life and between seasons, and is connected to dampness, the colour yellow, and the muscular regions in the body.

People with an Earth personality type are often sensitive and empathetic, and are good at caring for others. They suit professions in the medical field, such as nursing, and also excel in careers that involve caring for animals.

However, their sensitivity can also make them vulnerable to anxiety and worry, particularly when they are exposed to negative news or stressful situations.

One of the negative aspects of the Earth personality type is their tendency to neglect self-care. They often prioritize the needs of others above their own, which can leave them feeling exhausted and depleted.

The BEST EARTH SPLEEN archetype acupuncture points: SP 6, REN 6, DU 20, and SP 5

Additionally, encouraging them to engage in self-care activities such as exercise, meditation, journaling, and spending time with friends can help them restore their energy and maintain their emotional wellbeing.

Metal Element or LUNG Archetype 🪨

In Chinese medicine 5 elements theory, the metal archetype is associated with the Lung and Large Intestine organs, as well as the fall season and the colour white. It corresponds to the immune system and acts as a shield to protect the body. The metal personality is trustworthy, loyal, and dependable, but also very guarded and standoffish.

People with a metal personality tend to be self-preserving and may have difficulty opening up emotionally, even in close relationships. This can lead to feelings of loneliness and even depression. Opening the heart and chest with acupuncture or other techniques may be helpful for these individuals.

The BEST METAL LUNG archetype acupuncture points: REN 17 and LU 7

In terms of physical health, metal personality types may be more prone to issues with the skin and respiratory system. Keeping the lung and large intestine organs healthy through proper diet and lifestyle habits may be beneficial for these individuals.

Water Element or Kidney Archetype 💦

The water archetype in the 5 elements in Chinese medicine corresponds to the colour black, the Kidneys, Bladder, bones, and the season of winter. The water element also corresponds to the ears.

In terms of personality, the water archetype is introverted and enjoys being alone to recharge their energy. They are creative and love to self-reflect through activities such as painting or writing. The Water type is family-oriented but also needs downtime to recover. They get emotionally fatigued around others, especially if they don’t get enough time to create.

The BEST WATER KIDNEY archetype acupuncture points: KD 3, KD 6 and SP 6

When assessing patients, asking about their preference for working alone can help identify if they have a water archetype.

The 5 Elements Archetypes Video Transcript

What is your archetype or your personality according to Chinese medicine? This is what we’re going to talk about today and I’m really excited because I love this subject and I think it’s fascinating.

We have 5 elements in Chinese medicine and we have 5 main archetypes or personality.

How is this relevant in clinical practice?

Well often I will ask questions to patients and it might take me a couple of sessions to figure it out, but eventually I can see which dominant archetype or personality comes out and how to address what could come up in the physical body according to Chinese medicine. It also really helps to narrow down issues that can be affecting the patient as well, so it’s great for diagnosis and I think it’s also really interesting to see those personality archetypes emerge in clinical practice.

Hi, I’m Clara and if it’s your first time here I create Chinese medicine and acupuncture content for students and practitioners making it easy to grasp and fun to learn. Let’s rock it!

In Chinese medicine, the Five Elements is such a useful theory in clinical practice and if you haven’t watched my video on the Five Elements Theory go for it watch it it’s one of my most popular. It’s also one of my favorite theories in TCM perspective. Now, the five elements are: Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water and those five elements in nature and in the body are really part of each other. They control each other, they generate each other, they are very much part of a wheel and each cog in the wheel; if one of them is out of whack it may affect the others.

So this is a really good theory that I love to use in clinical practice. Now today we’re going to talk mostly about the archetype.

Each Element has it’s own personalities

Now each of those elements corresponds to Organs, System, Meridian. The Wood corresponds to Liver and Gallbladder, The Fire corresponds to the Heart Small Intestine, but also Pericardium and San Jiao Meridian specifically. The Earth corresponds to Spleen and Stomach. Metal to Large Intestine and Lung, and Water Kidney and Bladder.

Those are what we know at the base of the Five Element, but today let’s talk about the personality.

Like the Wood Liver personality, or the Heart Fire personality, or the Spleen personality of Earth, or a Metal the Lung personality, or Water the Kidney personality. We’re going to look at the Yin organ system mostly, so let’s start it up with the Wood.

It’s one of my favorite one. I think I’m a bit biased because I’m Wood as well as Earth. Those are my two main personalities. When I was younger, I was Earth with a little bit of Wood. Now in my late 50s, I am much more Wood and Earth is my second one. This is fascinating to watch because personalities can change and adapt over time. They might not stay the same there’s some traits that will stay the same but they might really change. Does that make sense?

In general, when we look at the personalities some of us like I said earlier can have two main dominant ones like I said mine is Wood and Earth or Liver and Spleen are my main ones. We’re going to talk about what does that mean, but for some of us it may be three or four. I’ve had students that really resonate with all five of them. This is a really balanced personality, which has a little bit of everything which is fantastic.

The Wood | Liver Personality

The Wood element in the Five Element Theory is related to the Liver and the Gallbladder. It also corresponds to the eyes, the tendons, joints, ligaments, the season of spring, the color green. All those are going to give us clues of what’s going on in the patients and their imbalance. Today let’s talk about the personality.

So the Wood or Liver personality and it’s a Liver personality type or archetype is type A. It’s the person with division, the goals, the planning, the person that plans everything in advance, has goals, has vision and will go and achieve them. If you’re let’s say an Accountant, you are very, very organized. This is a really good job for the Liver personality. You know when I made this video, I wrote it down. I write what I want to do in advance when I’m gonna film it and everything. I like to plan and it helps me be more accountable to myself.

So there’s everything with each personality or archetype is going to have the Yin and the Yang side. So the good side is being a planner, being organized, being on time, being someone that has goals and vision and is an achiever is a great part of this personality. As you can see, this is great; however, on the other side of the coin for this personality there’s also difficulties.

The problem with Wood | Liver Personality

The problem is Type A wants to be in control and if it’s not their way it’s the highway. So in general, they like to be in control, they like to do things their own way. So it’s really hard for them to work well in a team environment where everybody contributes because they want to be the leader. They want to be the person in charge, so that makes it a little bit tougher for them. Also they get really frustrated, really irritable when it doesn’t go their way, right? Or because they’re an achiever, they also are a perfectionist, an overachiever. Often this really stresses them out when they don’t do well, when they’re not achieving what they want to achieve. Or when they put pressure to themselves.

How to determine if you patients are the Wood | Liver Archetype

So when I see patients that are the Wood or Liver archetype, I can ask questions to them saying, “Are you a perfectionist? Are you someone that likes to be in control?” When I see this I’m like okay so you’re more of a Liver type. So because they’re more Liver type, they have tendency to put pressure on themselves to stress very much. It’s really good because in practice I can start using points to calm that stress to relax them right like Liver 3 obviously would be one choice. Gallbladder 34 would be another choice to really calm that, because I’m not going to be able to change their personality of course, but we want to calm the stress that comes with the personal body as well if that makes sense.

The Fire | Heart Archetype

The second archetype is the Fire or the Heart Archetype. This is the Fire Element, so it’s on fire. The Fire in the Five Element Theory corresponds to the Heart and the Small Intestine. It corresponds to the summer season, it’s the most Yang part of the whole Five Elements of time (so noon for example). This is where it corresponds to, it’s also opening into the tongue, it reflects into the face and it has tendency to be corresponding to blood vessels and the color red.

My husband is definitely the Heart Fire Archetype. This is the personality that is very happy, very joyful. It’s like the the clown of the party, the person that wants to have fun, you know? Loves to dance, loves to make people laugh. That’s my husband. I love him for it. They are the life of the party.

They are passionate, they’re excited about everything and anything you can feel the excitement.

This is the personality very much an excited personality. They get to see the shiny object, you know where they go “This is so awesome! This is great! This is great!” When I go on holiday, with my husband you know I’ll say, “Oh, I want to go to Costa Rica.” And he’ll say, “I don’t want to go there.” Then I kind of push him, and I push him, and I push him–to get him out of his comfort zone. Then we get to Costa Rica, and he loves everything. Like everywhere. Everywhere: the food, the places, the people, he’s like “This is awesome! This is awesome!” He‘s always excited and happy. Very passionate, very happy, excited, loves people, loves to be around people, loves to be around crowds. Very much more an extroverted kind of personality because it’s Fire.

The problem with Fire | Heart Personality

That archetype is great person to have around because they’re very good team player, they love to play sports, they’re the team sports (like volleyball or soccer or football). They work really well in a team environment. However, there’s always that other side. 

The problem with the Fire or Heart personality is they have tendency having issues with completing project or finishing something they start because they get really excited.

They can’t finish up the work or complete what they want to do, because then it’s boring, it’s not exciting anymore. The journey towards the goal is not fun the excitement of the goal is fun, but the journey is not. It’s very hard for them to complete a task. They get very distracted very easily because those shiny objects everywhere. The other thing too, is they love to be around people.

They don’t do well if they’re by themselves, which means that you know if they are you know, let’s say traveling for work or going somewhere else and they don’t have friends, they don’t know anybody, they feel really down. They feel tired. It gets their energy to drop. The energy will drop when they’re by themselves. The energy will rise when and they feed from all the other people they surround themselves with. On the opposite side, if they’re by themselves they start to be depressed. So, they really need other people. so

How to determine if you patients are the Fire | Heart Archetype

If you understand that, you can ask questions to patients and say, “Oh, are you more an extrovert or introvert?” Doesn’t mean that they’re fire right away, but ask more questions. Say, “Do you have difficulty in focusing?” “If you’re not excited about something, do you get excited really easily? Then it’s hard when it’s time to grind and to do the work?” Right?

Ask the questions. What we want to do with those patients is, we want to try to keep that excitement and happiness and passion. But, we want to calm them down enough so they can sleep (because those people have tendency to be so excited that it’s hard for them to sleep). Heart 7 is a great point for that and also to help them focus ,so Stomach 40 is one of the best points to clear the mind and focus as well. See how you can utilize this in clinical practice. I think it’s fantastic! This is why it’s really important to ask the right questions, so you can help the patient really hone down into their health but also into their daily life. TCM rocks! I’ve said it and I’ll say it again.

The Earth | Spleen Personality 

The Earth personality type in Chinese medicine is the nurturer. The nurturer because it’s all about related to digestion, food, Mother Earth. It’s the nurturing personality, or the caring personality. The Earth Element according to Chinese medicine corresponds to the Spleen and Stomach, and opens into the mouth. This is where digestion begins. It is also in charge of transition in Life or between Seasons, it is connected to the dampness, color yellow, and muscular regions in the body. It’s also the sensitive personality. I am Wood and Earth or Liver and Spleen kind of personality. Growing up I was much more sensitive. I would cry very easily because I would be affected by everybody’s emotions. Over time I have learned to do this much better, but I’m still very sensitive and I still get affected. I have to protect myself, so my second personality type is Earth.

A lot of our professions in the medical field are those Earth type. We want to take care of everybody. We want a really nurture everyone. They’re very sensitive, so we love those people and they do really well in the medical profession as a nurse as any kind of practitioner. They do very well in profession where you have to care. Maybe a vet or someone working with animals. Those people do really well in helping others. That’s the positive part.

The problem with Earth | Spleen Personality

The negative part or the other side of the coin when it comes to Earth personality is, because they are so sensitive they are going to be affected. Like I said earlier, for myself (by a lot of news, for example) it’s very hard for those people if they watch the news because they will be affected by it. They might worry, they might get anxious, it might be a story that really affected them and made them cry. They’re very sensitive and it could take a lot of the energy specifically.

If people take advantage of their caring loving nature because what happens is they give, they give, they give, they give, they take care of everybody else, but they forget to take care of themselves. And that is the problem with the Earth personality is they do not take the time for self-care. Which means in the end, they get exhausted. They are always tired, because they never take the time for themselves. They always take care of everybody else.

How to determine if you patients are the Earth | Spleen Archetype

When I see this in clinical practice, I will ask patients you know, “How’s your energy?” and they might say, “Oh, I’m exhausted.” Now, I need to dig a little bit deeper.  “Do you take time for self-care?” “I don’t do anything. I don’t exercise, I don’t meditate. I don’t journal, I don’t go for walks, I don’t see friends. I’m basically working. taking care of my family. Doing everything and exhausted.” Now, that’s a problem!

And so what we want to do for those people is, we really want to raise their energy. Spleen 6, Ren 6, DU 20 are great to raise that energy. However, for the person that’s so giving, Spleen 5 is really good to calm that worry about the inability to say no, right? People that are that personality cannot say no. They have tendency to think if I say no they’ll feel guilty, they’ll feel bad, right? So Spleen 5 is a really good point to stop the worrying and overthinking when we feel guilt. This is a great point to add to those patients. Isn’t it amazing? I Chinese medicine.

The Metal | Lung Archetype

The Metal Personality in Chinese medicine. This is a blue quartz. I love rocks, I gotta show you, I got so many of them. I got amethyst, I’ve got so many in here I could do like a whole thing on minerals. Love minerals. When we talk about the Metal Element in Chinese medicine or the Five Element Theory, I like to say mineral. Often we think Metal is just like that piece of lead or something, but really I think it was a mistranslation and it should say mineral. Because it’s calcium, it’s quartz, it’s magnesium, it’s all the minerals and in the Five Element Theory I like to call it minerals. However, for the purpose of Chinese medicine translation that is common everywhere we will call this The Metal Archetype or The Metal Personality.

The Metal Element in Chinese medicine corresponds to the Lung and Large Intestine. It opens into the nose, it reflects into the skin. It is of course corresponding to The Fall season, the color white, right? It’s the Metal Archetype or personality in Chinese medicine. Metal is going to be like the immune system, where the Lung and Large Intestine are in charge of the immune system (which is our defense system, our shield).

We stay protected–well the Metal personality in TCM–is trustworthy, is loyal, is dependable and will help you anytime. If you need to move, you ask them, they will come and help you out. They are very dependable, they’re always on time; however, what’s interesting about their personality is that as I said they have a shield. Remember we talked about the Earth personality, which is very caring very nurturing and giving, giving, giving. The Metal is not giving, but it will be there dependable and it will be trustworthy.

The problem with Metal | Lung Personality

However, when you look at the Earth personality, they’re very sensitive, right? The Metal personality is very standoffish. They’re not a hugger. They are not going to be sensitive, they do not cry when you see something sad or a commercial because they are self-preservation. They are self-preserving their emotions, and not to get it emotionally. What’s interesting about them is that it’s very hard for them to get close to someone. Even if they’re in a relationship, it’s very hard for them to get close to really share who they are at the core. They are guarded and often they’re very lonely because of that. Because they cannot let people in and that makes it hard. Sometimes they get into depression because they can’t let people in. The reason is they don’t want to be hurt.

I have a patient like that. She’s so metal. She has asthma, eczema so she has skin and lung issues, which is fascinating to me. She does not say anything, like no emotion comes out. She’s not emotional.

How to determine if you patients are the Metal | Lung Archetype

So I can ask those people, “Are you someone that likes to talk about feelings?” and they look at me like and go, “No that’s not my thing at all.” Ask the right questions and what we want to do for those people is we want to open their heart, so they can let anybody in. And yes, they might get hurt; but, they also might get really, really good outcome, right?

Open the chest with Ren 17 its really good point to open your heart your chest, but also for the lungs for breathing ability. Its a really good point to do for the Metal personality.

The Water | Kidney Personality

The Water or Kidney personality. Yes this is my water, it’s got fulvic and humic acid in it (which comes from the Lava Rock) so it comes from the Metal, but I love it. I love how it tastes and how it makes me feel good. It’s really good to strengthen the immune system and you know, you can look it up. Anyway, the Water personality it’s dark water, right? Because in Chinese medicine, the Water element corresponds to the color black.

In general, it’s corresponding to the Kidney, the Bladder, the Bones–so the structure. Our teeth bones, but also to those season of Winter. It is corresponding also to the ears, but when we look at the personality types, we talked about the Fire earlier.

Fire and Water are Yin and Yang are opposite, right?

 Personality wise, there’s a lot of opposition. The Water personality is much more introverted. Waters are different from the Fire personality which is extroverted. They love to be alone. Waters enjoy being alone and this is how they recharge their energy. They are actually drained if they’re staying around a lot of people too long. They’re the opposite of the Fire, right?

They like to be alone, and they like to recharge their energy. The Water personality is the creative. The one that loves to create. It could be painting, writing, drawing. It could be social media content creation, whatever. Creation comes up; they’re the creator. They love to self-reflect so they could be painting for hours and reflect this is their way of meditating and lots of self-reflection self-awareness as well they love their family as well they’re very family oriented, but at the same time they can’t be with their family all the time. They need that downtown to recover. Great for artists, for people that work by themselves that like to create. This is a great job for the Water personality type.

The problem with Water | Kidney Personality

However, they do get really tired around other people. They do get drained or really emotionally fatigued if they do not get to create. If they’re so busy and stressed with life that they don’t get their creative time it will take their energy down. Yeah, so for those people we want to protect their Kidneys. And with Kidney 3, Kidney 6. We want to allow them to get energy even from other people and that’s Spleen 6. Spleen 6 is the crossing of three meridians so it is other people, right? The Liver type, the Earth type, and then the Water type. So those two-three points are really good.

How to determine if you patients are the Water | Kidney Archetype

I will ask patients often you know depending what they do, “Do you like working from home? Do you like working alone?” “I love it. This is my favorite thing to do.” And then, yeah, I’ll ask one question about creativity. If they love to be on their own, if they need that alone time really much–that’s how we get to ask the right questions. Does that makes sense?

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