HONORING AUTUMN’S ENERGY - Understanding and Applying Chinese Five Element Theory - by Sharon Crowell, Licensed Acupuncturist

The Five Element, or Five Phase, Theory of Chinese medicine views nature as continually cycling through five distinct processes or conditions.  These are most easily understood as being the five seasons of the year (autumn, winter, spring, summer, and late summer) or the five elements represented by each season (metal, water, wood, fire, and earth, respectively).  All of life is influenced by this cycle.  Reflecting upon what is happening in nature during each season can help us to gain valuable insight into our own lives. 

Think about what happens in nature during the season that we call autumn.  The days shorten, the leaves fall from the trees, and there is an almost palpable sense of heaviness, of life moving downward and inward.  The element associated with the autumn is Metal, which we can think of in terms of valuable gemstones, whose very preciousness has resulted from this same type of physical compression within the earth.  The autumn is an excellent time for us to think about what we value most in life, what we can extract from our daily life and experiences that is of the greatest worth to ourselves and to others.

Autumn is a difficult time for many of us.  We mourn the passing of the lighter, more carefree days of summer, even while we understand that this loss is a necessary part of life and that spring and summer will cycle around again.  The emotion associated with the autumn is grief, and one of the gifts that autumn gives to us is the ability and the permission to be with our grief and our loss, to feel them intensely, knowing that we will have the capacity to move on when we are ready. Autumn reminds us to pay attention to and to honor the losses that we have in our lives, be they the death of a loved one, the termination of a relationship, or the loss of opportunities for ourselves that occurs over the course of our lifetime. 

The two physical organs that are associated with the Metal element and the season of autumn are the Large Intestine and the Lung.  In the body, the Large Intestine is responsible for removing waste, substances that our body no longer needs.  The Lung, on the other hand, allows us to continually breathe in pure and fresh air, necessary for our continued survival.  It is important to think about this relationship not just on a physical level, but from a mental and emotional perspective as well.  We must be able and willing to relieve ourselves of what we no longer need.  This includes judgments about others, patterns of reacting to certain situations, and any other habits that don’t contribute to our growth and development.  If we don’t let go of these, we won’t have the capacity to take in new information or allow for new possibilities in life.  The Lung-Large Intestine dynamic, so pronounced in the season of autumn, reminds us that life is a continual process of taking in and letting go, always requiring discernment in what we choose to get rid of and what we then allow in.

It is important that we spend time considering these aspects of life that are so clearly illuminated in the season of autumn.  Reflecting upon what we value most in our lives and in ourselves, acknowledging the losses that have helped shape who we have become, and letting go of all that prevents us from taking in and being inspired by what is new and fresh are not easy tasks.  However, just as the spirit of autumn contributes to the full expression of nature’s seasonal cycles, recognizing how we manifest the releasing and cleansing nature of this season will allow us to experience a fuller and more balanced life.

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