Welcome to 5 Element

5 element acupuncture can be seen as the art of paying attention and engaging with life on and from the most subtle levels. The most commonly studied form of 5 Element was formed by JR Worsley. His work is being expanded upon and given a 21st century facelift by evolutionary practitioners, a path pioneered by Lonny Jarrett. What interests me most about this form of acupuncture is not how effective it has been in healing people’s relationship to life, or the beauty of its simple nature, but the potential that it holds. I consider 5 element to be on the leading edge of medicine, with the potential to catapult not only medicinal modalities into new, more intricate and integrated realms, but contribute to guiding humanity’s moral compass by facilitating a new ground for which individuals operate from.

There are many beautiful gifts that 5 element blesses the practitioner and the patient with. For the practitioner, it gives perhaps the most gracious gift of all- the recognition that life is inherently good and beautiful. It undresses life, leaving it naked for senses to feast upon. For the patient, it is ever so mysterious. It has been my experience as a patient that it quenches a thirst deep inside me that before the treatment I was unaware I craved. I have found it to be nothing short of radically transforming.

As a student of this form of acupuncture I find that I am really a student of nature. I find nature is truly my classroom, whether it be a walk in the woods, a run on the beach, or cruising the mall, or chatting with friends in a coffee shop. Anywhere there is life there is something to be learned. I find I pay attention to life at a depth and intensity like never before. I am watching for color, smells, how the plant grows around the tree, how the tree wavers in the wind and yet does not fall. I watch a mother cradle her child, I see the lover’s tears fall in sorrow. I have found that by paying close attention, these observations translate into knowledge and if I contemplate this knowledge, they become a part of me, embedded in my being. My self is changed with the embodiment of this wisdom and I find I am a more refined tool for healing.

In the blog posts to follow I will be sharing my observations and seeing how they tie into each of the elements (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water). It is my goal to push beyond observation and stimulate deep contemplation.