Qigong Meditation – Five Elements

The Five Element Theory is an ancient understanding of the natural world. It is expressed and experienced through the consistent movement and transformation of our environment, with the elements being interrelated and influencing each other. We as human beings are also an integral part of this system. This theory, together with Yin and Yang, are the main methods used in Traditional Chinese Medicine and Daoism to help explain our connection to and relationship with our environment and the universe.

	FIRE	EARTH	METAL	WATER	WOOD
Organ	Heart	Spleen	Lungs	Kidneys	Liver
Season	Summer	Late summer	Autumn	Winter	Spring
Emotion	Joy/excitement	Worry	Grief	Fear	Anger
Colour	Red	Yellow	White	Deep blue	Green

This meditation focuses on the five solid (Yin) organs of the body and their corresponding element –­ Heart (Fire), Spleen (Earth), Lungs (Metal), Kidneys (Water) and Liver (Wood). These organs function a bit like batteries and when we bring our awareness and energy to them, they help our Qi flow smoothly and bring harmony to mind, body and spirit. The Qi from these organs then supplies the flowing (Yang) organs –­ Small Intestine (Fire), Stomach (Earth), Large Intestine (Metal), Urinary Bladder (Water) and Gall Bladder (Wood).

This meditation follows the progressive order of the Five Elements. The way to remember is to follow the natural order of nature, starting with the Heart relating to Summer, followed by the Spleen (late Summer), Lungs (Autumn), Kidneys (Winter) and Liver (Spring).

The Five Element Qigong Meditation follows this cycle three times. The first cycle is to become aware of the organ by sending our appreciation and gratitude, acknowledging the organ for the work that it does, and to consciously allow a coloured cloud to envelope the organ, dissolving the excess emotion. After clearing the stale energy, the next cycle energizes the organ with our love and appreciation to become a precious stone, allowing the light from the universe to shine on the organ. The third cycle helps spread the Qi through the whole body with our love and smile, allowing all the organs to smile with the radiance of the universe.

Preparation Sit in a comfortable position either on a cushion or a chair, keeping the back straight. Gently breathing in and out through your nose, just relax, follow and watch the breath.

First cycle

After your mind has become calm and peaceful, place your awareness in the area of the heart. With intention, send your appreciation and gratitude to the heart, thanking it for the work that it does. The heart represents the element of fire, the season of summer and its colour is a fiery red. The emotion of joy and excitement can affect the function of the heart. With your intention, bring in a fiery red cloud from the universe and let it envelop the entire heart, helping to dissolve the excess joy and excitement that may be stored there.

Now place your awareness in the area of the spleen. This is next to the heart on the left side of the body, under the rib cage. With intention, send appreciation and gratitude to the spleen. The spleen represents the element of earth, the season of late summer and the colour is a golden/yellow. The emotion of worry can affect the function of the spleen. With your intention, pull in a golden/yellow cloud from the universe and let it envelop the entire spleen, helping to dissolve the excess worry which can be stored there.

Now place your awareness in the area of the lungs. With intention send your appreciation and gratitude to the lungs. The lungs represent the element of metal, the season of autumn and their colour is a silver/white. The emotion of grief can affect the function of the lungs. With intention, draw in a silver/white cloud from the universe and let it envelop the entire lungs helping dissolve the excess grief which can be stored there.

Now place your awareness in the area of the kidneys. With intention, send your appreciation and gratitude to the kidneys. The kidneys represent the element of water, the season of winter and the colour is a deep blue, like the colour of the deep ocean. The emotion of fear can affect the function of the kidneys. With your intention, bring in a deep blue cloud from the universe and let it envelop the entire kidney in order to dissolve the excess fear which may be stored there.

Now place your awareness in the area of the liver. With intention, send appreciation and gratitude to the liver. The liver represents the element of wood, the season of spring and the colour is a rich green, like the green of new forest growth. The emotion of anger affects the function of the liver. With your intention pull a rich green cloud in from the universe and let it envelop the entire liver helping to dissolve the excess anger which can be stored there.

Second cycle

With our love and appreciation, the heart becomes a fiery red, precious stone, allowing the light from the universe to shine down on the heart, helping to open and heal the whole body. We can see it shining in the light. With our love and appreciation, the spleen becomes a golden yellow precious stone, allowing the light from the universe to shine on the spleen. With our love and appreciation the lungs become a silvery white precious stone, and with the light from the universe the chest opens. With our love and appreciation the kidneys become deep blue precious stones. With our love and appreciation, the liver becomes a rich green precious stone and we can see it shining in the light. We open the chest, the treasure chest and let the light from the universe shine down on our whole body.

Third cycle

With our love, smile and loving kindness, we can see the heart smiling as it appreciates the attention we are giving it. This helps open the energy channels of the body, connecting us with the universe. We see the smile spreading into the spleen. The lungs and the kidneys are smiling, too, as well as the liver, also smiling. Our whole beautiful body is smiling with the radiance of the universe, as we merge with the universe.

Closing

Rub the palms together. Consciously bring your healing energy, love and kindness through the heart into your hands. Place the palms over the heart, allowing the heart to absorb the warm healing energy. Then after a few minutes, place the palms over the spleen, followed by the lungs, kidneys and liver. To finish the meditation, place one hand on top of the other over the lower Dan Tian, the energy centre just beneath the navel. Just relax and allow the breath and energy to settle.