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The Wood Element
The wood element is rising Yang which is the opposite of the metal element. It is the spring time and the energetic tendency is creation. The aspect of personality is called the Hun; our volition, our karmic momentum, the tendency of our actions and is responsible for our volitional formations, what drives our actions in response to the world around us.
On the level of the physical body the wood element is associated with the Live and Gallbladder and fortifies the sinews. Liver is our planning and vision and the meridian runs up the center of the inside of the legs, through the sex organs, our root of creativity then internally up to the eyes. The Gallbladder is about how we move around obstacles when manifesting our plans and visions. The meridian runs along the sides of the head, neck, along the torso, hip and allowing us to move from side to side.
As we move through life and encounter obstacles energy rises to the eyes, throat and hands in response so we can remove or move around the obstacle. When we experience the feeling of this rising chi our brain often labels it as anger. If a part of us is uncomfortable with the “anger” word we might lock up the ocular and jaw segments to avoid the sensation. Tension in the ocular and jaw segment can result in many difficulties such as; headaches, neck pain, TMJ, excessive heat in the body causing inflammation, ringing in the ears, difficulty sleeping and so on.
Many of us have a part of ourselves that carries the belief that it is not safe and correct to feel anger. We feel what we feel, what counts is how we act. Rising energy is a natural reaction to things that get in our way. The energy rises in response to a belief we hold in our system. Sometimes the amount of anger we are feeling may be out of proportion to the obstacle we are encountering in the moment because the event is triggering an event from our past. When this becomes a problem to experiencing our life as we want we can work to change what we feel. We can explore the parts of ourselves that carry burdening beliefs that are keeping us from experiencing events as they are in the present moment.
Working to understand our internal world is the first step to change what we feel in response to what arises around us. The chi kung movement and the healing sound not only helps open the segments it also teaches us how to cultivate this rising energy to effectively use it. When we try to hold the energy down we eventually lose our temper and although we may be yelling it is usually not heard. If we connect to the rising energy, breathe and stay present we can whisper and we will be heard. When our chi is in our eyes and voice we can move mountains.
The deeper aspect is that the response of rising energy is about our relationship to an object or situation, not the object or situation. With the Hun in balance we stay grounded in the present moment and when faced with obstacles we use our creativity and flexibility to create our world. We have the vision, courage and determination to see all the possibilities that surround us.
The Healing Sound for the Liver can be seen at https://youtu.be/_rGaozq95Fk
Associations
· Color- green
· Sound – shout
· Odor – rancid
· Emotion – anger
· Attitude – assertion, movement
· Taste – sour
· Sense – vision
· Sense organ – eyes
· Climate – warm & moist
· Fortifies – sinews
· Energetic tendency – birth
· Vital organ – liver
· Hollow organ - gallbladder
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