Five-element
theory
*neigong* - part 3
for
part 3 – practising the wuxing qigong
the five-element cycles
Whenever we practise a specific qigong exercise, it can be
helpful to try and understand how this exercise aims to affect
our position in the larger existential frame that surrounds
us. This is especially relevant if we are interested
in neigong and we wish to manifest the philosophy of this art
within our own body. Neigong is the philosophy of change; as
such, it seeks to bring about change on the different planes
of human experience (jing, qi and shen).
After looking at the five elements as a purely theoretical
framework, it is now time to introduce a practice that can
manifest this theory into something more tangible. The wuxing
qigong is a practical set of exercises that can help us
balance the five elements within our body. This set is
suitable for beginners as the movements are very easy to
memorise. Along with the jiben qigong (fundamentals of energy
work), the wuxing qigong provides the basics for energy-work
practice. The wuxing qigong comprises several exercises that
are based on the five-element model. On a purely energetic
level, each exercise stimulates a particular element, which in
turn strengthens the health of a specific organ. For instance,
the water exercise is beneficial to the kidneys.
Within the wider frame of neigong, the wuxing qigong provides
much more than a health practice. However, it is essential
that we first look at the practical aspects of these exercises
and how they can be used to affect our energetic makeup before
we can grasp its more spiritual implications. A (very) basic
knowledge of Chinese medicine is required in order to
understand the energetics of the wuxing qigong. The most
important thing is to familiarise ourselves with the five
elements and how they interact. This interaction is usually
represented through two key cycles: the cycle of creation and
the cycle of control. These cycles can be seen in the diagram
below. This is a very standard way of laying out the five
elements—you will find this diagram in many books of so-called
‘traditional’ Chinese medicine (or ‘TCM’, as it is usually
abbreviated).
It is perhaps easier to look at the cycle of creation first as
it follows a linear pattern on the diagram. Wood is generally
the first element discussed. On a very basic level, wood
represents the onset of something – it is usually associated
with the season of spring. The Daoist theory of creation
provides us with a prime example of wood. Emerging from wuji,
taiji is the catalyst that brings existence into motion (taiji
can be translated as ‘the motive force of creation’). In this
sense, taiji can be said to manifest the energy of wood. To
avoid any confusion at this point, it should be noted that the
‘cycle of creation’ and the ‘process of creation’ refer to two
different things—although they can be discussed in view of one
another. The process of creation describes how human beings
spring from consciousness and gradually materialise on the
energetic and physical planes. The cycle of creation, which is
addressed here, refers to a specific aspect of five-element
theory.
From the point of view of our qigong practice, the creation
cycle indicates a pattern of nourishment. If we follow the
cycle as laid out in the diagram above, we will see that each
element nourishes the one that directly follows it. Wood, for
instance, nourishes fire. This is easy to remember if we think
that fire literally feeds on wood – as in the case of a
wildfire, for instance. Likewise, water nourishes wood. Here
again, it is possible to draw an analogy with nature: trees
absorb water through their roots. It is not always possible to
make a direct or obvious parallel with nature though as these
analogies are only reminders that can help us memorise the
different elemental interactions. The complete cycle of
creation can be viewed in the diagram above.
The second cycle to bear in mind is the control cycle. In the
five-element diagram, the control cycle takes the shape of a
pentagram. This cycle more readily matches nature, as the
examples below show:
wood controls earth (trees ‘cut’ right through the earth
when they grow)
earth controls water (earth absorbs water)
water controls fire (water extinguishes fire)
fire controls metal (fire melts metal)
metal controls wood (wood is usually chopped with sharp
metal tools)
Although those mnemonics can help us remember the different
cycles, we should always keep in mind that they do not provide
the origin of the five-element system. So we should take those
parallels with a pinch of salt. The ancient Daoists did not
develop their philosophy by observing nature, as is widely
believed. Rather, theories like that of creation or the five
elements were rooted in a systematic work of introspection.
Daoism always looked inwards first in order to understand what
took place on the outside—not the other way around. Through
their meditative practices, the early Daoists were able to
gain profound insights into the nature of reality.
Now, how does this fit into our wuxing qigong practice? Once
we understand the cycles of creation and control, we can start
using them to guide our practice. The key is to remember that,
within the Daoist picture, everything is constantly changing
into something else. Therefore, if we wish to affect the state
of something, we need to understand what comes before it and
what comes after it. This notably applies to the state of our
health and that of our emotions. Each element within the fiveelement framework is associated with a particular organ and a
particular emotional state. Let’s look at the wood element, by
way of an example. As most introductions to Chinese medicine
usually point out, the emotion of anger is a manifestation of
the wood element being out of balance. When this element falls
out of balance, the first yin organ to become affected is the
liver. The tendons and ligaments will also be weakened. These
are external symptoms of a deeper elemental imbalance.
Most people have a predominant elemental imbalance—although
sometimes there can be more than one. Once we have identified
this imbalance, the most important factor is to determine
whether it corresponds to a state of excess or deficiency. In
the case of the wood element, an excessive condition will
often manifest as outwardly directed anger, as in shouting at
other people or being aggressive towards them. A deficient
wood condition will tend to manifest as inwardly-directed
anger—typical examples of this are recurring feelings of
frustration and self-hatred (sound familiar lol?). Determining
whether our main elemental imbalance is one of excess or
deficiency can give us an idea of where to take our practice.
If we have established that wood is our main elemental
imbalance and that our condition is one of deficiency, we
might want to try and nourish our wood element. The cycle of
creation tells us that this can be done through the water
element. Therefore, the water qigong is probably the most
suited exercise to practise for this particular imbalance. If
our wood element is in excess, it might be better to work on
restraining it. Following the cycle of control, this can be
done through the metal element. Accordingly, practising the
metal qigong should help us to do that. As a general rule, it
is always beneficial to practise the exercise that corresponds
to the element we are trying to affect. Thus, whether our
condition is one of wood excess or deficiency, practising the
wood qigong will always address the imbalance we are trying to
work on.
The main lesson to draw from this is that there is no set way
of practising the wuxing qigong. There is an artistic element
that is inherent to all Daoist practices. We should never be
too set or systematic in the ways we train. It is essential to
remember that the five-element system was put together as a
guideline to help practitioners of the internal arts – and
this includes Chinese medicine. This system should not be seen
as a set of immutable rules. In recent times, Chinese medicine
has been watered down for a number of reasons. Five-element
theory is too often studied outside of the system from which
it originates – i.e. the Daoist process of creation. This is
one of the reasons why Chinese medicine has become oversimplified in many cases. The Chinese internal arts rely on a
web of subtleties. Once we become familiar with this inherent
depth, we should see that those arts cannot be systematised—or
else they die!
Students often wonder how long they should practise the wuxing
qigong as a set. They also wonder how much time they should
spend on each individual exercise. The answer is that it does
not really matter. As a general rule, it takes roughly an hour
of qigong practice to begin reprogramming our energy body and
our connective tissue (jingjin). It is still beneficial to
practise for less time than this though, although the benefits
will be limited to health improvement. If your time is
limited, then it is probably better to focus on one or two
exercises at a time and do different ones every day—rather
than rush through the whole set just for the sake of it! If
you do have enough time to go through the entire set (and
this, realistically, should take at least an hour), make sure
to emphasise the exercise(s) that is/are most relevant to the
imbalance(s) that you have identified in yourself. Last but
not least, it is essential to spare some time to stand in the
wuji posture after each exercise. It is during this time of
standing, ‘doing nothing’, that the work of deep energetic
readjusting of our nature takes place.
Balancing the elements
In the context of neigong training, it is essential to study
the five elements and how their different qualities manifest
inside our body. Specifically, it is always useful to
understand how the five elements interact and what happens
when they fall out of balance. According to Daoism, we are in
a congenital state of being prior to being born. This
essentially means that we are as close to our true nature as
we can be at that particular moment. In Daoist terminology,
this original self is referred to as yuanshen—which can be
translated as ‘primordial spirit’. From the moment we are
born, we slowly but inexorably move away from our true nature.
Thus, we progressively move towards an acquired state of
being. Newborns come into the world with a fully active lower
dantian. However, by the age of ten, there is very little
energetic movement left in the area of the lower abdomen. This
slowing down of the dantian mirrors the shift from the
congenital to the acquired mind that takes place early on in
life.
Through its various practices, Daoism seeks to take us back to
a congenital state of being. This is why neigong, in its early
stages, strives to awaken the lower dantian. Five-element
theory provides one of the most comprehensive ways of looking
at the acquired mind. As we move away from our yuanshen,
specific imbalances develop and eventually manifest in our
elemental makeup. In this sense, it is not possible to move
back through the process of creation until the five elements
are in a state of balance inside our body. Therefore, as
practitioners of the Daoist arts, we must strive to understand
our own elemental makeup and its key imbalances. Everybody
tends towards one or several elemental imbalances: once we
have identified those imbalances, we can work on them through
our practice as well as through cultivation of the heart-mind
(xin).
Within the Daoist process of creation, the shift from
congenital to acquired starts taking place when the yuanshen
splits into five lights—namely when it reaches the realm of
shen. On the level of qi, those lights manifest as five
movements. These are the five key pulses that we aim to work
with through our neigong practice. There are several different
ways to work directly with the elemental pulses. The wuxing
qigong consists of a simple set of exercises that are very
easy to learn for beginners. In spite of their simplicity,
those exercises can effect very profound change for the
practitioner. The key, once again, is whether the neigong
process is taken on board or not. From a qigong perspective,
the wuxing set will work with specific movements or exercises
to stimulate the energy of the vital organs. For instance, the
water movement will temporarily boost the energy of the
kidneys.
From the perspective of neigong, this type of training barely
scratches the surface as it does not durably affect the
practitioner’s nature. Neigong is about reprogramming your
whole nature. This is why it works directly with the pulses,
which correspond to our energetic blueprints. In order to do
this, we must learn to stand still, with our mind focused in
the right place. As surprising as it may sound, the actual
work of transformation is done not during the exercises
but afterwards. As stated above, a given exercise will
stimulate the energy of a particular element. Once we have
created an energetic movement outside our body, we must
internalise it. This is done by standing in the wuji posture,
with our mind resting in the lower dantian. This posture is
called wuji (emptiness) because it does precisely nothing. As
such, it allows whatever movement we have initiated to unfold
inside us. This, in turn, will progressively re-balance the
elemental pulses that dictate who we are. As a result, we will
become more and more balanced as we shed layers from the
acquired mind. More importantly, from the point of view
of neigong at least, we will be able to move back through the
process of creation.
From the perspective of neigong, qigong exercises are only a
means to an end. Qigong movements are tools that can be used
in our work of self-cultivation. This is why we should never
get attached to a particular type of qigong. The same applies
to martial arts: as long as they integrate correct principles,
martial arts essentially provide us with tools for working on
our nature. Therefore, whatever ‘style(s)’ of qigong or
martial arts we practise is ultimately irrelevant.