五行 Wu Xing (Five elements): how our wellbeing is connected to nature?

Do you feel like all things are somehow connected? I do. For me, I found my answer in the Chinese 五行 Wu Xing (Five elements or Five phases theory).

The standard translation of Wu Xing is five elements or five phases. Both conveys only half the original meaning in Chinese.

“Wu” means five and “Xing” means movement and transformation. Together, it means the movement and transformation of the five elements, wood, fire, earth, metal and water. Which exact five elements are surely important, however, the more important part of the theory is in the transformation of each element itself and with each other.

Ancient Chinese people observed the five elements as the main objects in the natural world. They possess specific properties and depends on each other to exist. Using these set of basic properties, people were able to understand the properties of most of the things in their surrounding.

To apply the theory to more things, people abstracted the properties of the five elements for wider application and extended their implications. Resulting in a structural system of the five elements with close relationship between the internal and external environments of our body.

5 elements system- from nature to human body

To use the 5 elements system, it is necessary to understand how the elements interact with each other first.