The fire element of Feng Shui & East Asian Medicine corresponds with summer, as the climactic season of the year. This is when the sun is at its peak, bringing the most heat and daylight. Therefore, it’s a conducive time for a cleanse, as the warmth brings on more activities and sweating to facilitate detoxification. Wisdom from East Asian Medicine guides on how best to cleanse and attune to the seasonal cycles. Also, summer corresponds with the heart and small intestine, recommending this as the best time to cleanse these organs. Similarly, this is a good time to detoxify the mind and body’s toxic residue from emotional hatred or a broken heart. This gives space to revitalize with new loving and joyful perspectives.
East Asian Medicine – Five Elements System
East Asian Medicine rests on a foundation of 5 Elements, Theory, connecting Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water. These elements are a 5-phase theory of interrelated, organic energies expressed in our body and nature. In other words, this pentagram within hosts a flow of energies that depict our personalities, emotions and health imbalances. Everyone has their unique energetic blueprint of 5 elements expressed through health patterns and can be a key factor in diagnosing for a East Asian Medicine Practitioner. This article is one of a 5 element series, focusing on the fire element for summer. Here’s a table, that sums up the elements and their correspondences:
Table for Five Elements’ Correspondences
The interrelationships flow so each element feeds the next element and controls the second from it as depicted below. For example, the fire feeds the earth (think of the fire dispersing seeds) and controls (melts) metal and is controlled by water.
We embody all five elements, however, many individuals express certain elements more strongly. For example, a Fire Type may be passionate, energetic, creative and intuitive.
Fire Element of Feng Shui & East Asian Medicine Correspondences
East Asian Medicine diagnosis recognizes the fire element, as embodying part of the physical, mental and spiritual aspects of the constitution. Being human, we are always out of balance with our own individual blueprints growing toward our highest nature. Therefore, working with and understanding the baseline can give guidance for objective assessments, helping to eliminate judgement and encouraging personal evolution.
The fire element direction is south on the Feng Shui Ba-gua and associates with fame and name. Fire types are passionate, energetic, creative and intuitive. Also, their signature emotion is Joy, so these individuals seek pleasure and gratification with desire as their compass. If the fire element is in excess, however, the person imbalances arise, such as, insomnia, anxiety, inappropriate laughter or problems with their heart or small intestine. In contrast, if the fire element is deficient, the person lacks enthusiasm, confidence and persistence.
Fire Element of Feng Shui & East Asian Medicine – Love and Joy
Each element associates with paired yin-yang organs and other emotions. The Fire Element in East Asian Medicine is the Heart (Yin) and Small Intestine (Yang), corresponding with joy and ‘separating the pure from the impure, respectively. The fire is the only element with 2 extra meridians: Pericardium (yin) paired with the Triple Burner (yang).
East Asian Medicine’s cultural perspective is different than the West regarding emotions. With the exception of joy, the other 4 emotions, such as, anger, worry, grief and fear are ‘negative’ to most individuals. Rather, with East Asian Medicine the emotions are a source of disharmony with neutral connotations. All emotions have their place in healthy individuals and expressed in a balanced way to maintain health. Even too much joy can be a source of disharmony. In contrast, a heart pattern with excess fire manifests as nervous and inappropriate laughter, along with an imbalance of grandiose tendencies. For instance, this pattern of excessive joy ignores mundane realities.
Fire Element in East Asian Medicine Taoist Healing Sounds and Tones-Heart
There’s an ancient Taoist concept of the Six Healing Sounds or Liu Zi Jue. Each of the 5 elements and paired organs have a healing sound and tone. For example, the tone for Fire Element in Chinese Medicine is G and the healing sound is HAWWW. Moreover, a classic Taoist Qi Gong exercise guides you to lean to the right with arms and palms up. Then after inhaling deeply, you exhale while saying the healing sound, HAWWW. Most noteworthy, the Six Healing Sounds transform the stagnant energy stored in the organs and meridians into a vital life force.
Furthermore, this meditation, also includes a concept, similar to the western modality, EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization Reprogramming). In this Heart exercise, you imagine a person or situation that you feel hatred towards. (With a person, separate them from the hatred) Next, imagine your eyes move down into your heart. While focusing on the hatred, move your eyes back and forth. Simultaneously, imagine the eyes in your heart moving back and forth, eliminating the hatred. Overall, this exercise benefits all organs and their corresponding emotion and vocal healing sounds. In addition, you can use color therapy and imagine vibrant red light penetrating the heart and small intestine this meditation.
Taoist Healing Sounds and Tones-Triple Burner
Triple Burner (TB) is the sixth sound, HEEEEEE, integrating all 5 sounds. The Triple Burner is an organ system, unique to TCM, used as a collective term regarding the 3 burners in the body. First, the upper burner is above the diaphragm. Secondly, the middle lies between the diaphragm and umbilicus. Lastly, the lower burner lies below the umbilicus. This system considers the passage of heat and water. Most importantly, acupuncture points along the meridians regulate heat in the body and invigorate the immune system.
In the TB meditation, lie on your back, with the inner vision to even out the heat in the body. Keep in mind that heat often rises to the upper body, leaving cold feet and hands. Next in this meditation, one imagines a big roller moving down the front of your body, starting from the head. Moving down, imagine any congested heat being redistributed to cold areas and evened out throughout the body.
Fire Element in East Asian Medicine – Heart & Circulation Cleanse
There are many natural remedies and supplements for the heart and blood vessels. For example, Hawthorn Berries (Goji Berries), along with its leaves and flowers, benefit the heart and blood vessels. It’s best to combine the whole plant as a tea or standardized supplement. Even more, this plant benefits many imbalances, such as, high and low blood pressure, lowers the trigylcerides and LDL cholesterol in atherosclerosis. Overall, it widens blood vessels and enables the heart to pump more blood for circulation. In addition, garlic, cayenne pepper, horse chestnut and butcher’s broom benefit the heart and circulation. Furthermore, in East Asian Medicine the flavor of summer is bitter. Therefore, bitter greens (kale and mustard greens) and herbs are also a good source to tonify the heart.
Modern Day Supplements for the Heart:
It’s vital to include modern day supplements, such as C0-Q10 (Ubiquinol) and fish oils for heart health. Co-Q10 is an antioxidant, present in every cell, converting carbohydrates and fats into ATP. Consequently, it’s one of the most important energy sources in the body. Furthermore, the active ingredient for CO-Q10 is Ubiquinol, as the most bio-available form. The name describes its ubiquitous nature in every cell. Also, for heart health, the Ubiquinol works as an antioxidant in the blood, where it prevents oxidation of LDL cholesterol and prevents atherosclerosis. In addition, if you are on a statin-cholesterol lowering pharmaceutical, the statins deplete Ubiquinol. Ubiquinol deficiency can lead to heart attacks. Most importantly, as we age, Co-Q10 levels decline, and it becomes more difficult to absorb the Co-Q10, unless it’s the form of Ubiquinol.
The Omega-3 Fatty Acids in fish oils are an accessible option for improving heart health. Many experts now believe that heart disease is an inflammatory disease. In other words, cellular inflammation causes the build-up of atherosclerotic lesions and their rupture, leading to heart disease. Also, fish oils are anti-inflammatory and have shown to lower triglycerides and blood pressure.
Fire Element of Feng Shui & East Asian Medicine – Small Intestine Cleanse
Detoxification regimes often overlook the Small Intestine. First, it’s important to understand the brunt this organ takes from the western diet with dairy, farmed meats and processed foods, along with antibiotics (pharmaceuticals and meat/dairy). As a result, this overwhelms the digestive system, causing a breakdown of the stomach’s ability to kill bacteria and break down protein. The Small Intestine reacts by building up a mucoid lining to protect itself. Furthermore, this cascades into undigested proteins and bacterial overgrowth or SIBO (Small Intestine Bacterial Overgrowth), ultimately inhibiting nutrient absorption.
Mullein, an anti-inflammatory herb, benefits mucus membranes. It acts like an expectorant that breaks down mucus lining in the digestive and respiratory tracts. Furthermore, mullein works best combined with digestive enzymes, for example, bromelain (pineapples) and papain (papaya). Plus, mullein is anti-bacterial to ward off infections and support immune system.
For many of us, the digestive Microbiome is in crisis due to overuse of antibiotics and ingestion from meats and dairy products. Thus, it’s crucial, especially for the Small Intestine, to replenish our “good bacteria” in the gut with Probiotics and Prebiotics. Since many individuals get “die off” symptoms of bloating and nausea from high dosage of Probiotics, I recommend following advice from a health professional on balancing this health matter.
East Asian Medicine Meridian Therapy
In East Asian Medicine, there are 12 principle meridians that correspond with organs, as paired organs: 1 yang/hollow and 1 yin (solid) for each element and season. The fire element is an exception having 2 pairs: Heart/Small Intestine and Pericardium/Triple Burner. The meridians are channels, where the qi (life force) flows, transforming energy to material and vice versa. Most importantly, the acupuncture points are needled along these channels.
However, there are many ways to stimulate the points without acupuncture needles, such as, using essential oils, acupressure, massage, Reiki or tuning forks. Plus, anyone can support the flow of the qi in the meridians by stretching or doing yoga. When we are stiff, for example, our meridians kink like a garden hose, obstructing our free flow flow of qi. Obstructions can lead to pain or disease from this imbalance. Here is an overview of the locations and benefits of the 4 fire meridians with their power points:
Heart Meridian:
This originates in the heart and spreads through the heart system, passing through the diaphragm, connecting to its yang-paired organ, Small Intestine. On the more exterior level, it passes from the heart, through the lungs emerging into the arm pits and down along the inner bicep and forearm and hand, exiting out the tip of the little finger. From its 9 acupoints, 3 are worth knowing for self-acupressure or the like:
5-Connecting Interior (1 *cun from wrist crease above pinky): loss of voice, stiffness of tongue, palpitation
6-Yin Cleft (Half *cun from wrist crease above pinky): Night sweats, cardiac pain, palpitations
7-Spirit’s Gate (Inner wrist crease above pinky): Insomnia, anxiety,memory
Small Intestine Meridian:
This originates on the lateral side of the small finger, moving up the along the lateral side of the hand wrist, and up alongside medially the elbow up the triceps through the shoulder blades, up the side of the necks and cheek, ending in front of the ears. From its 19 acupoints, 4 important ones’ locations and indications are explained:
3-Back Stream (on side of hand, with loose fist, where transverse crease puckers): pain/rigidity in neck, malaria, lumbar pain/stiffness, epilepsy, manic psychosis, deafness and also eye congestion
(excellent for neck and back when combined with Bladder 62)
11-Celestial Gathering (center of subscapular fossa): shoulder/arm pain & stiffness, mastitis and also asthma
17-Celestial Appearance (on neck, posterior to angle of mandible): swelling and neck pain, tinnitus, ear pain
19-Hearing Palace (Anterior to ear, in depression with mouth open): tinnitus, deafness, toothache and also jaw pain
Pericardium Meridian:
Firstly, it originates in the chest, entering the pericardium and descends to the abdomen, connecting with the Triple Burner. Another branch emerges at PC-1 a cun lateral to the breast nipple, flowing down the arm on the medial biceps border down through the middle of the inner forearm through the palm of hand. lastly, exiting the middle finger. From the 9 acupoints, 2 are explained:
6-Inner Gate (2 cun up from wrist crease in center of forearm): chest congestion, nausea and vomiting, cardiac pain, irritability, insomnia, epilepsy and also palpitations
8-Labor Palace (center of the palm, between the 2nd and 3rd metacarpal bones; when a fist is made, the point is where the tip of the middle finger touches): canker sores, halitosis and also hand fungal infections
Triple Burner Meridian:
First, it originates in the ring finger traveling up the back of the hand, up the outside center of the forearms and triceps, side of neck around perimeter of ears and lastly ending at lateral sides of eyebrows. From the 23 acupoints, 3 significant ones are explained:
3-Central Islet (dorsum of hand between 4th and 5th metacarpal bones): tinnitus, deafness, earache and also eye pain
5-Outer Gate (on dorsal side of forearm, 2 cun from wrist crease): augment immunity, fever, hot flashes, deafness and also headache
6-Branching Ditch (on dorsal side of forearm, 3 cun from wrist crease): constipation, hypochondriac area pain and also irritability
*Cun: Approximately 1 thumb width of person being measured
Fire Element in East Asian Medicine – The Heart’s Spirit-Shen
Shen translates as the Spirit or Mind and encompasses our mental functions and health, consciousness, memory and vitality. Furthermore, Shen is the spirit inside that shines, emanating into the world and giving us spiritual dimensions. It contributes to our wisdom, tranquility and connection to the world around us. Also, Shen lives in the heart, where it sleeps during the night. A disturbed Shen leads to insomnia. Moreover, the Shen’s state is visible in the eyes. In other words, a healthy Shen creates bright, shining eyes, that spark a connection with others.
Trauma or shocks disturbs the Shen, diminishing vitality of the eyes. For example, a disturbed Shen dulls the eyes, with the sense that there are curtains in front of them and no one behind, inhibiting connection or healthy eye contact. Disharmony of the Shen manifests, for example, as anxiety, insomnia, inappropriate laughter or chatter, forgetfulness, lackluster eyes, unclear thinking or mental illness. Most importantly, Acupuncture, herbal medicine and meditations with qi gong or tai chi, harmonize the Shen with increased vitality.
Overall, Guided Healing Heart Meditation
The fire element of summer is 1 of a 5-part series with links below for both articles and meditation download. This information especially benefits during the summer, however, anytime you have imbalances with the heart/small intestine or their associated emotions of joy and love, this can be helpful.
Read More!
Wood Element of Feng Shui & East Asian Medicine – Spring Detox for Liver/Gallbladder & Fear
Earth Element of Feng Shui & East Asian Medicine – Balancing Digestion and Being Present
Metal Element of Feng Shui & East Asian Medicine – Autumn Healing of Grief & Lung/Large Intestine
Water Element of Feng Shui & East Asian Medicine – Winter Healing for Fear & Kidneys/Bladder
Healing Meditation Download
Disclaimer: This article or meditation is not intended to diagnose, cure or treat any disease. Consult a health practitioner for any illness. Also, do not listen to meditation while driving or lifting heavy items.