Five Element Shiatsu
Five Element Theory & Emotional Wisdom - Appreciating the Gift of our Emotions
While most of us appreciate our good feelings, we often try to push away the negative ones, hoping to feel good all of the time. We learn to ignore our so-called negative emotions, stuff them down with food or other addictive substances, or be victims of them, swinging wildly from emotion to emotion with little understanding or ability to integrate what they were trying to tell us. However, even unpleasant feelings are part of our dynamic flow and can help us to increase our health and vitality.
Our thoughts and emotions are powerful and can lead to intense - and sometimes uncomfortable - sensations. In our ongoing natural attempts to move away from pain and toward comfort, our subconscious will label some thoughts or emotions as “bad.” As a result, we shy away from them and, over time, become more and more reluctant to experience them. In the worst instances, unprocessed emotions manifest in behavior that is destructive or self-destructive. We truly limit ourselves when we refuse to experience some of our emotions when they come up.
Sometimes the discomfort of challenging emotions causes us to stuff them deep down inside and try to lock them away. For some people, alternating between no emotional flow and excessive emotional flow seems reasonable, but because there is no balanced flow, those emotions accumulate and build up pressure mentally and physically. Eventually, they may burst out despite our best efforts, which can be cathartic but also scary if we don’t have tools for processing what’s happening.
You may be thinking that experiencing positive emotions such as joy, kindness, and courage is well and good, but that you do not particularly want to experience impatience, anger, or sadness. It is easy for us to understand the benefits of our positive emotions because they feel good, but it can be more difficult for us to acknowledge the gifts that our challenging emotions bring as well. Often, it is the discomfort of negative emotions that awaken us to their presence and increase our awareness of what needs our attention. And it is that same discomfort that creates motivation for us to move mindfully toward harmony and balance. The more discomfort, the more we are motivated to do something about it. Emotions provide us with valuable feedback and guidance, even the uncomfortable ones. It is only when our emotions get stuck, or we ignore them that they create problems. Rather than avoiding negative emotions, our focus should be on encouraging optimal flow so that they arise, present their gifts, and then dissipate in a healthy way.
Eastern traditional medicine uses the framework of five elements and their associated emotions, both positive and negative. Five Element Shiatsu aims to smooth out stagnated flows so that we can experience all of our emotions fully, as well as express them skillfully and authentically. This not only helps with calming the mind, but it also helps to heal physical illness and symptoms. Five Elements system can be drawn as a wheel with a five-pointed star in the middle, connecting the elements in two different patterns. There is a circle on the outside (the flow cycle) and a star on the inside (the control cycle). This visual description helps us see how the elements are in a constant dance with each other.
THE FIVE ELEMENTS AND THEIR RELATED EMOTIONS AND ITS GIFTS