Comments on: Chinese medicine, the Earth and the Center

By: Brainy Folks: Let’s Put Our Minds Together | Helfgott Blog: Exploring Health and Medicine

Sat, 02 May 2009 00:36:49 +0000

[...] in comparison to other mainstream medical models presently at play. Our presence is akin to the yin within yang ideology, if you will. And we’re getting shouldered out before we can provide a preventative game [...]

By: Wailana Yoga

Wailana Yoga — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 02:52:30 +0000

I really liked your description of your hike and the earth. Beautiful pictures as well (especially the shimmering drop one.) Thanks for sharing :).

By: Yael Ernst

Yael Ernst — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 13:14:13 +0000

Eric,
In the clinic you are right. Most of the times it’s best to focus on one, but then you always remember the other because you someimtes want that one thing to nourish or help that other thing…
When I say equal I mean equal in importance, maybe I should have been more clear about that.

Anne- to read your words about Chinese Medicine…. Ahhh :) You make me so happy!!!
Yes, Earth is the center, but that doesn’t mean it’s the most important. It’s very important, and when we can look at certain situations and think that Earth will be more important than others, but that’s not always the case.

I had a teacher who thought that everything has to do with the Earth element. Everything.
While I can understand this point of view, I don’t see things this way.

Yael

By: michael

michael — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 04:16:30 +0000

Hi Eric,
What a pleasure to read this article! I is so tangible and yet contains something important within, (may I dare say sacred?), this is just as Earth. Li Dong Yuan certainly understood this, but did he understand it enough to see that it is the Hearth quality of Earth which places it at the center, that it, like the physical body, contains and embraces, nurtures and transforms what is most sacred? When we consider Yin and Yang, we are often misled in to thinking of duality, yet when we consider that Yin, in the context of life and transformation of life can never be truly still, we see that there is Yang and there is the shady side of Yang called Yin, there is the Sun and its shadow. Thus, it’s not that Yang is more important or more prevalent than Yin, it is that there is only Yang, and that is what is most imporant. The Earth, holding the position of the center, holding the four pillars of transition periods between each seasion, and containing all of the other 4 elements by being designated the number 5, should thus be at the center of our focus in medicine. Yet, it is because the vessel is empty that is useful; for this reason, while I love the Guizhi based Xiao jianzhong tang as a model of returning to the central focus, I think bringing our patients to a formula like Fuzi lizhong wan touches upon why the center is so important.
Thanks Eric!
Michael G

By: G. Michael Reynolds

G. Michael Reynolds — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 03:49:14 +0000

Uh oh. Sounds like we’ve got a future Li Dong Yuan fan here. ;)

By: Evan

Evan — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 03:06:14 +0000

Hi Eric,

I’m an earth type.

I think needing to tonify the centre is important because our western culture emphasises wood so much (taking initiative, being the general (entrepreneur), being flexible . . . on and on. And so we are liable to have our earth invaded.

Thanks for a great post.

By: Anne de Courtenay

Anne de Courtenay — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 16:01:13 +0000

Eric, beautifully written description of the Earth during its season, late summer time, when we experience quite literally Nature’s ripening and rottening! The fruit of summer’s industry, the collective harvest, comes to its fullness now, but at the same time things begin to die back to the earth… with the ultimate aim being that oh-so-Spleeny transformation.

Yael, I agree with you, but I can certainly see why Earth may lay claim to being the ‘most important’ element in some respects because it does provide the center around which everything orbits. We have the ’star’ layout of the five elements, but we also have the older glyph which places Earth at the center. If one considers that Earth is the plane upon which the theatre of life plays out, one can imagine why it is so essential to keep it sound. Certainly in treatment if you have several element systems manifesting chronic patterns of disharmony, the Spleen/Stomach network is a good place to turn, because it is the staging platform for health — without adequate nourishment, absorption and transformation, nothing can go right.

Just two cents from a fledgling herbalist!

By: Eric Grey

Eric Grey — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 15:21:03 +0000

While I agree, ultimately, I think there’s an important point that can be missed by the “all are equal” proclamation. While it’s true that all are necessary (elements as well as yin/yang) I think it’s possible that greater therapeutic effect can be rendered by focus on one or another. Think of Yang within Yin/Yang. There’s an obsession with thinking of them as “equal,” but in reality I’ve seen much more powerful therapeutic effects when more attention is paid to the flow of Yang. This doesn’t mean one can IGNORE the Yin or that the Yin is “less important,” simply that for whatever reason when it comes to human beings intervening in the healing of other human beings, a greater focus on Yang seems to bring about greater results.

I think the same could be true of the elements.