Hello Dear Readers!

Today we are going to get into the second part regarding the laws that rule the functioning of the 5 Elements. In part 1, we saw the Son’s Mother Law (Generation Cycle). Using it, we are able to tone or sedate organs according to its positions Mother and Son as distributed on the pentagram.

Now we will take a look into the Grandpa and Grandson Law (Control Cycle).What we have on the pentagram is:

Heart is Lung grandpa                                Small Intestine is Large Intestine grandpa

Lung is Liver grandpa                                 Large Intestine is Gallbladder grandpa

Liver is Spleen grandpa                              Gallbladder is Stomach grandpa

Spleen is Kidney grandpa                           Stomach is Bladder grandpa

Kidney is Heart grandpa                             Bladder is  Small Intestine grandpa

In a disease situation, the Control Cycle, or Grandpa and Grandson exemplifies the energy control, that is, it doesn’t allow energy to just be created, passing from organ to organ, as in Mother and Son Law. There is a control over this energy generation through this cycle.

When we talk about disease treatment, the law is also valid, but divided in two parts:

1. When we Tone Grandpa – we Sedate Grandchild

Therefore: When we Tone Kidney, we Sedate Heart. When we Tone Liver, we Sedate Spleen. When we Tone Stomach, we Sedate Bladder.

The practical application of this law is used to Sedate organs that are suffering from Excess Diseases.

Exemple: When we have Heart Excess, We Tone its Grandpa, Kidney. Given that when we Tone Kidney, we Sedate Heart.

2. When we Sedate Grandpa – we Tone Grandson

Therefore: When we Sedate Bladder, we Tone Small Intestine. When we Sedate Gallbladder, we Tone Stomach. When we Sedate Lung, we Tone Liver.

The practical use of this law is to Tone organs who are suffering from Deficiency Diseases.

Example: When Lung is in Deficiency, we Sedate Heart, since once we Sedate Heart, we Tone Lung.

A friendly reminder that the word Sedate, shall always be remembered as “disperse”, to circulate energy, and it must never be thought on as the ability of making another organ or viscera reduce its normal functioning. Also, the word Tone, shall always be understood as “nourish”, to make it simple, bring energy, blood or body fluids to the places where there is deficiency, for these substances. That means, Tone does not mean to make the organ work more than normal.

When we add the two rules, Mom and Son, and, Grandpa and Grandson we have the following situation:

In Deficiency Diseases:

• We Tone the mother of the organ/viscera deficient.
• We Sedate the grandpa of the organ/viscera deficient.

In Excess Diseases:

• We Sedate the son of the organ/innards in excess.
• We Tone the grandpa of the organ/innards in excess.

The treatment uses the classical 4 point chart, where Old Shu points are distributed. However, that’s a topic for another text.

I hope that you liked it and that you can now comprehend the 5 Elements Laws a bit better.

My warmest regards,

Profa. Fernanda Mara

Good morning Readers

Today I’m going to talk a bit about the laws that rule Traditional Chinese Medicine when it comes to the 5 Elements.

The 5 Elements are the philosophical base for the body proper functioning, be it in physiology (normal body functioning), or be it pathology (in disease).

It’s explained in the 5 Elements, that, an organ is capable of donating energy to another, meanwhile another organ controls the energy reception.

Why does this Happen?

In case an organ was able to receive all energy in a indiscriminate way, it would enter in a state of “Energy Excess”, thus leading to a disease, that is why there is an organ countering or controlling this energy reception. This movement of, donating, receiving and controlling energy, makes the following laws: Generation (Mother and Son) and Control (Grandpa and Grandchild).

Besides showing us how energy is distributed, this laws are also useful to treat patient who suffer from Excess Diseases (Qi stagnation, Blood or presence of Pathological Factors – cold, humidity, heat, dryness, phlegm or wind) and Deficiency Diseases (when there is a decrease in Qi production, Blood or Body Fluids).

How do the Laws work?

Generation Law (Mother and Son)

This law is divided in 2 parts, being the first that states:

When we tone the mother – we tone the son. To make it simple, when we nourish the mother, we nourish the son.

On 5 Elements, we have:

Heart is Spleen mother                                     Small Intestine is Stomach mother

Spleen is Lung mother                                      Stomach is Large Intestine mother

Lung is Kidney mother                                      Large Intestine is Bladder mother

Kidney is Liver mother                                      Bladder is Gallbladder mother

Liver is Heart mother                                        Gallbladder is Small Intestine mother

In other words, when we Tone Heart, we Tone Spleen. When we Tone Spleen, we Tone Lung. When we Tone Stomach, we Tone Large Intestine and so on. We must keep in mind, that organs will only tone organs and viscera will only tone viscera, according to the pair above,

The practical use of this Law is when we need to tone an organ that is suffering from a deficiency disease.

Example: When Heart is in Deficiency, we tone it’s mother, that is, the Liver. When Bladder is in Deficiency, we tone it’s mother, Large Intestine.

The second part of the Law, states:

When we Sedate the son, we Sedate the Mom. 

Based on the previous pairs, we already know that:

Heart is Liver son                                          Small Intestine is Gallbladder son

Liver is Kidney son                                        Gallbladder is Bladder son

Kidney is Lung son                                        Bladder is Large Intestine son

Lung is Spleen son                                         Large Intestine is Stomach son

Spleen is Heart son                                        Stomach is Small Intestine son

We can observe, based on this law, that when the Son gets Sick the Mother suffers. Basically, when we Sedate the Kidney, we Sedate the Lung. When we Sedade Bladder, we Sedate Large Intestine. Equal to the prior section, organs will only sedate organs, and viscera will only sedate viscera, according to the pairing stated above.

The practical use of this Law is when we need to Sedate an organ who’s suffering from an Excess Disease.

Example: When Heart is in Excess, we sedate it’s son, Spleen. When Bladder is in Excess we sedate it’s daughter, Gallbladder.

Before we proceed to the Control Law, I suggest to the readers that study this first part in depth. Since it’s crucial that we master it, so that we are able to figure out the next step, tied to this one, that will give birth to the treatment by the 5 Elements

Practice a lot, I will be back in a few days to explain the second law🙂

A very tight hug!

Profa. Fernanda Mara

Hello guys!

Today we are going to talk about an interesting subject: Envy!

According to the dictionary, envy is the desire to own a good that belongs to the other. It is a feeling of inferiority and disgust at the happiness of the other. It is a feeling of greed for the wealth, brightness and prosperity of others.

For Traditional Chinese Medicine envy is a pathological condition related to the imbalance of the Lung’s energy.

When the Lung is functioning well, it relates to the feeling of sadness when there is a reason for the individual to feel sad. For example, if a person loses a loved one, or if he or she has broken a relationship, if the Lung is unbalanced, that person will feel sad.

However, when the Lung becomes energetically unbalanced, it can generate bad feelings, such as anguish in excess and frustration and envy in deficiency.

What can leave the Lung in deficiency?

• Invasion of Pathogenic Factors: the invasion of cold and dryness leaves the Lungs weak in the long run. When not properly removed, the patient may develop an envious and frustrated behavior. Any pathogenic factor not properly cared for may deepen and cause energetic wear on the Lung.
• Smoking: people who have a habit of smoking, even for a short time, may irreversibly weaken the Lung, and thus suffer from behaviors of frustration and envy.
• Poor Food: the Lung doesn’t react well to excessive consumption of cold food. When the individual has a diet based on raw foods or with cold essence, the Lung can weaken, generating inappropriate behavior of envy and frustration.
• Sadness, Emotional Shock, Grief: these feelings, when maintained for a long time, even if for plausible reasons, will weaken the Lung, generating a person with bitter behavior, and later, frustration and envy.

How can we improve the energy of the Lung and thus remove the feeling of envy?

In Traditional Chinese Medicine we can strengthen the Lung in several ways, namely:

a) Breathing exercises: inhale slowly until the greatest capacity of the Lung and then loosen slightly, repeating this process at least 3x, once a day already helps to strengthen the Lung.

b) Acupuncture: acupuncture points such as LU-7, Lu-9, BL-13, BL-42 are excellent in Lung toning, especially BL-42 which is a point with a psychic indication 🙂

c) Auriculotherapy: Lung Point in auriculotherapy …. self explanatory right? 🙂

d) Therapeutic Food: spicy foods, especially red and black pepper, help to tone the lung, as well as honey, almonds and papaya are also great choices for this function.

We need to understand that not every frustrated and envious person says things with the intention of hurting. Assuming that these problems are associated with an energetic dysfunction of the Lung, we must welcome those in need and help in their improvement and evolution.

I hope you enjoyed!

A big hug to everyone,

Profa. Fernanda Mara

Hello dear readers!

Today, inspired by a course with Professor Neil Gumenick, I decided to write something about GV20 point based on the explanation of 5 Elements of the Traditional Chinese Medicine.

When we talk about Acupuncture, we know about the possibilities of treating physical and psychological problems using it. Also in TCM, we say that psychic, mental and emotional problems are imbalances of the Shen (the Mind), which is ruled by the Spirit, also known as Shen.

In the Oriental point of view, the Spirit is always perfect, because he is not born; he just is… A non-substantial energy. We can imagine our Spirit as the sky, completely blue and cloudless.

As we grow up, we hear a lot of good things and a lot of bad things, such as “you are not good enough”, “you are not beautiful enough”, “give up, you will not make it”. Over the years, our “blue sky” becomes full of dark clouds, prone to big storms. Therefore, our spirit ends up troubled by negative ideas and thoughts, which commands our mind, and that normally, has an external origin, coming from other people.

The important point of this analogy is that no cloud is permanent and it is possible a blue sky after a storm. Clouds always dissipate, and so it is with our or to the patient’s emotional problems.

It is imperative to know that there is no “I AM an emotional patient” but “I AM sick of my emotions”. Then we can use the GV20.
GV20 is the twentieth point of the Governor Vessel meridian. Located at the top of the head, it is the highest point of the body, therefore, known as the most Yang point of our entire system. In a spiritual way, it is seen as the closest point to heaven, which means, the closest point to our spirit and his Yang energy is able to clear up the clouds. (Clearing thoughts, giving hope, encouragement and the ability to get rid of negative thoughts)

GV20, in a world where depression rates, anxiety and suicide only grow, have such a noble function. I believe it is extremely important to consider not only using this point in Acupuncture sessions (with needles), but also to teach patient its location and how to pressure it whenever bad feelings create such grey clouds on blue sky.

Professionals qualified in this area can also use Moxa effectively.
There are many others GV20 functions that I have already seen. However, this use was undoubtedly one of the most important that I have studied recently and I really wanted to share it with you today.
I hope it was enlightening for you!

Big hug to all.

Fernanda Mara
PS: Please, read Prof. Neil Goumenick’s articles at link:
www.acupuncturetoday.com