The Five Elements of Chinese Medicine

Five elements, one connected system

In Traditional Chinese Medicine, each element governs a pair of organs and channels, a season, and a set of emotions. They're not separate parts. They feed and balance one another in a cycle: Wood feeds Fire, Fire feeds Earth, Earth feeds Metal, Metal feeds Water, and Water feeds Wood.

When one element is depleted, another often works overtime to make up for it. Over time, that imbalance shows up as physical symptoms, emotional patterns, or both.

A map that builds with every Somatic Session

Every Somatic Session includes an assessment of your channels at the abdomen, and your first session also begins with a full Eastern medicine intake. I'm looking for two things: one channel that's quiet and depleted, and another that's loud and overcompensating for it.

After the session, I explain which elements those channels belong to, how they relate to each other, and how that connects to what brought you in. Bodywork releases the overworking channel. Your homework nourishes the depleted one. When the quiet one comes fully back online, the loud one no longer has to work so hard.

After every 75-minute Somatic Session, I email you Your Five Element Map, with links back to these pages so you can keep learning at home. What shows up changes from one session to the next as your body shifts. Over time, your maps show your patterns, and you start to recognize them yourself. That's the real goal: knowing your own body well enough to come back to center on your own.