by Kimberley Heit

Created on: May 24, 2009   Last Updated: June 02, 2009

According to Chinese philosophy, there are five elements which reflect the changing nature of human behavior and the world around us. These elements are; wood, fire, earth, metal and water. Everyone is naturally stronger in one of these elements and this is referred to as their constitutional type. An acupuncturist can determine what your constitutional type is,and use this to bring about mental and physical harmony.

The five elements are a more detailed part of the Yin and Yang philosophy. This is a belief that each person is governed by opposing, yet complimentary forces. These forces are opposites that combine to create a whole balanced person. When a person's constitution becomes imbalanced they are likely to suffer from illness.

Each element is associated with a certain color, smell, taste, sound and emotional behavior. An acupuncturist will try to read these signs to determine what element is your natural constitution. For example, a Fire element is likely to exhibit a red flush to their skin tone, be joyful, have a laughing voice, and may get a bitter taste in their mouth from time to time. Armed with this knowledge the acupuncturist can tailor their treatment to the channels that correspond to your element.

Unlike western medicine that seeks to treat the symptom, rather then the problem, this form of treatment can really get to the root of a problem. This is because each element is also tied to corresponding organs. For example, a person with a wood element is likely to experience problems with their liver or gall bladder.

An overview of each of the elements is provided below:

Wood

Wood elements tend to be assertive, organized and strong, but flexible. They have a loud voice, rancid odor, blue/green facial tinge and can experience a sour taste in their mouth. Their associated organs are the liver, gall bladder and soft tissue. Wood types benefit from keeping physically active and need to deal with anger as it surfaces, otherwise pent up anger is likely to come out in a damaging way. They need to plan well, but allow themselves room to move. A wood type that becomes too unbalanced will either become strongly dominant, or not able to assert themselves. Either of these traits can lower their feelings of self worth and lead to depression. You are likely to be a wood type if you seem to get riled up easily, don't like to be controlled by others, and feel strongly about correcting injustices.

Fire

Those with a well balanced fire element are social

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