Acupuncture (Five Element)

Classical Five Element Acupuncture is a strand of Acupuncture which is based on the five elements. Classical Five Element Acupuncture is a living tradition based upon immutable natural laws. It has been passed directly from teacher to student for thousands of years.

The Chinese have always recognized that the Five Elements exist in everything and everyone, and are essential for life itself. These elements are water, wood, fire, earth and metal, and are linked to five distinct emotions, five pairs of organs, five seasons of the year and the rhythm of life from birth to death. When the body sends out distress signals in the form of any symptom, it is a sign that there is an imbalance in the person's life energy known as qi, which must be re-balanced, if good health is to be restored.

Five Element Acupuncture focuses on the whole person and their body type or constitution, rather than specifically concentrating on a particular symptom or illness. Each person is therefore treated uniquely. Particular emphasis is placed on the health of the person's body, mind and spirit, and through diagnosis and treatment, the individual's constitutional imbalance is addressed, thus enhancing the person's own powers of recovery.

A five element acupuncturist determines the causative factor which she believes is the root cause of the symptoms being presented. This is a unique diagnostic aspect of Classical Five Element acupuncture. Having found the causative factor, the practitioner then treats the client based on pairs of organs. To give an good example, if the causative factor is thought to be the metal element, the practitioner treats the meridians of the lung paired with the large intestine. The result should be an overall improvement in the general health and well-being of the client, and not just improvements in the metal element, but in all of the other elements too.

Classical Five Element Acupuncture was first taught by the late Professor J.R. Worsley. For many years he lived in England, where he opened a school of acupuncture. There he trained many of the leading five element practitioners practicing today.