This video course is all on the 5 Element Theory in Chinese medicine (my all time favourite TCM theory!!)

I’ve been teaching TCM to future acupuncture professionals since 2008 and absolutely love it! Today, my goal is to expand my reach to TCM Rock Stars (yep, that’s you!) all over the world. For that reason, I want to make Chinese medicine easy to grasp and fun to learn. Enjoy!

Keep rocking using TCM,

Clara
TCM Geek

PS: If you want more, check out these other Chinese medicine foundation made easy lessons: The Zang-Fu Organs, The Yin Yang Theory, and The 4 Vital Substances.

The 5 Elements Theory – Chinese Medicine Made Easy

All the graphics from this video are from my book “Chinese Medicine Made Easy” Have you gotten your copy yet?


Wood (Mu), Fire (Huo), Earth (Tu), Metal (Jin), Water (Shui)

In TCM, the 5 elements are used to explain the properties of the organs, their mutual relationship and pathological changes.

As a whole, there are five natural substances we cannot do without: food depends on water & fire, production relies on metal & wood, and earth gives birth to everything.

The basic qualities of the 5 elements
  • Wood can bend & straitened
  • Fire flares upwards
  • Earth permits growth
  • Metal can be molded and harden
  • Water moisten and travel downward

The Inter-Relationship of the 5 Elements

  • Generating: mother & son (wood needs water to grow, so water generates wood or water is the mother of wood)
  • Controlling: to ensure balance (Water controls fire)
  • Over-acting: balance breaks and disease occurs (Too much fire and Metal would just crumble)
  • Insulting: balance breaks in reverse from the over-acting sequence. Essentially, if there was too much Water and Earth would flood.


TCM Treatments with the 5 Elements Theory

  • The Cosmological Sequence: this one is less seen in Chinese medicine books, but so useful in clinical practice. Earth is in the centre of all the other elements and dictate the health of Metal, Wood, Fire and Water. The digestive system is physically at the centre of our body!
  • Tonifying the mother in case of deficiency of Son (providing water for the growth of wood)
  • Reducing the mother in case of Son excess (Stopping from adding wood to the fire)