Classical Five Element Acupuncture
Five Element • TCM • Acutonics® • Cupping • Moxibustion
Click on one of the Elements below to learn more about their role in our lives…
Wood • Fire • Earth • Metal • Water
Five Element Acupuncture has become a catch-all phrase for those who have studied in varying degrees the teachings passed down to a gentleman by the name of J.R. Worsley (1923-2003). Born in England, J.R. Worsley lived a life dedicated to healing - studying and practicing as a physiotherapist, osteopath, and naturopath for many years even before discovering the medicine of the East. In the early 1950s, J.R. entered into an apprenticeship of an oral tradition passed down for thousands of years, with teachers Dr. Ono and Dr. Hsui, and was later bestowed the title of Master and lineage-holder of what is now called Classical Five Element Acupuncture. Even after this time he continued on with his travels and education, including earning his Doctoral in Chinese Medicine. J.R. brought Classical Five Element Acupuncture to the West opening the first schools of acupuncture in England and the United States.
The core teachings of Classical Five Element Acupuncture are thousands of years old, rooted in the observations of the ancient Taoist philosophers and sages that everything is interconnected, in perpetual change, and always moving toward balance and harmony with its environment. Or put another way, all that exists in the Universe is made up of the five elements – Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water. They represent five phases in a cycle that all energy (or Qi) flows through. In Nature, we can see and feel the five element cycle throughout the year as seasons – Spring, Summer, Late Summer, Autumn, and Winter. Each phase is unique, but also dependent on the other phases for its vitality and balance. In us as humans, the five elements flow from one to the next via our energetic pathways, called meridians. This network of meridians and the quality of Qi flowing in them is the backbone for all functions and activities essential for physical, mental, and spiritual life.
Diagnosis and treatment are quite unique in Classical Five Element Acupuncture. It is taught that everyone is born with or develop early in life a place within the five element cycle that will tend to fall out of balance and as a result, cause the entire cycle to be out of balance. This imbalance becomes the underlying root of illness, and is aptly diagnosed the person’s Causative Factor. Sensory information provided by the patient is used to accurately diagnose a person’s causative factor. Each of the elements has a corresponding color, sound, odor and emotion, which can be perceived by the practitioner when a particular element is out of balance. Symptoms are not a guide to diagnosis or treatment. The reasoning is, if the whole energetic cycle is out of balance, then symptoms can be coming from anywhere, at any time; they are seen as distress signals that something is wrong on an energetic level and the root has not yet been addressed.
Other diagnostic methods include radial/umbilical pulse palpation, abdominal palpation, body temperature, eye inspection, and energetic tests to determine the flow of energy from one meridian into the next, the distribution of energy flowing on each side of a particular meridian, and the overall quality of energy flowing throughout the cycle. Regarding techniques, what’s classically taught, is that only acupuncture, moxibustion, and the body’s own natural capacity to heal are needed to restore the balance of the five element cycle.