Tag Archives: Fire Element

All You Need Is Love

Anxiety, Breathing difficulty, Confusion, Depression, Fire Element, Gift, Heart problems, Joy, Love, , , , ,

As we move fully into the Fire season of summer, here we look at one of Fire’s greatest gifts: love.

Shanzhong – Within the Breast – Conception Vessel 17

4-17Perhaps more words have been written and spoken about love than any other subject. Certainly it is a major focus in books, movies and popular music. There is no simple definition of love because it has different meanings in different contexts. There are many kinds of love.

We can say we love certain foods like ice cream or chocolate, we love our hobbies or our work, we love our pets, we love our neighbours, we love our family, we love our partner, we love the earth, we love God.

Whichever culture or system you look at, there seems to be universal agreement that love is associated with the heart. Whatever kind of love we are talking about, it is a state that is perceived by and expressed through the heart centre. Love is often experienced as a warm or expansive feeling in the chest. This is a direct experience of the fact that the heart is the primary organ of the Fire Element. The extent to which we are able to feel love, receive love, give love or express love will indicate the health of our Fire.

The Fire point that lies in the very centre of the chest is Shanzhong – Within the Breast. While it lies on the Ren Mai (Conception Vessel), it is the mu or alarm point for the Heart Protector. This is where the shen, the spirit of the Heart resides. It coincides with the heart chakra or heart centre and is the place where we most feel our heart feelings. It is where we feel the pleasurably warm, glowing feeling when we fall in love and also where the pain is felt when our heart is broken.

Shanzhong is a point that activates the shen. It facilitates the communication of feelings from the Heart to the outside and helps to settle the spirit when the person has been exhausted or betrayed by relationships. When the heart has gone cold, it opens the Heart Protector to new possibilities of engagement with others.

At the physical level, this point strongly activates Qi in the chest, affecting both heart and lungs. It treats tightness in the chest, chronic cough and shortness of breath. Because it quells rebellious Qi in the middle burner, it aids heartburn and acid reflux. It also facilitates lactation and treats mastitis.

While this point won’t guarantee you’ll find the love of your life, it can help you to open the conduit for communication of feelings and for the giving and receiving of love.

Location of Conception Vessel 17

4-18The point is in the centre of the sternum in a shallow hollow. On men it lies between the nipples. It is at the level of the fourth intercostal space which is  located by counting down four rib spaces from the underside of the clavicle. The point can be held with gentle, direct finger pressure, or more gently still by placing the palm on or over the point.

 

This is an extract from The Way of the Five Elements by John Kirkwood, a book that might make a lovely gift for someone you love.

Sumer is icumen in

Depression, Fire Element, Joy, Psycho-emotional, Seasons, , ,

sumer-is-icumen-inThis bright, jolly, 13th century rota sings gaily about the arrival of summer. Its four part harmony is popping with the joy of the season. There are blooming meadows, merrily singing cuckoos, prancing bullocks and farting goats. The song evokes many of the qualities of summer and the Fire Element: expansiveness, joy, expressive movement and an overall outward orientation. You can listen to it here.

The first notes of summer in the southern hemisphere are usually seen around the midpoint between the spring equinox and the summer solstice, about November 6th. The days are long and becoming longer, the temperatures warm and getting warmer, the sun bright and growing brighter by the day.

This year, however, there has been an abnormally cold and wet start to summer in southern Australia. I’m reminded of the jape about the English weather, that the main difference between winter and summer in England is the temperature of the rain.

Last weekend I taught a Fire Element workshop in which we invited the energies of Fire to fill the room so that we could immerse ourselves in a Fire bath. It was an unseasonably cold and wet day and it took a while to turn up the flame. In one spontaneous moment, I invited everyone in the group to spread their arms out wide, a gesture often associated with joy. As we all spread our arms out, I noticed that smiles broke out on everyone’s face. I didn’t even need to bring out the silly rubber chickens to get people smiling.

As we open our arms, we open our hearts. Through this posture, we can access the contented joy that is the natural state of the heart. And since the fundamental movement of Fire is outwards, joy flows naturally out into the world. What is more, this arms-wide-open stance also invites the world in.

I’m going to make it a practice this summer to open my arms out wide at least once a day.

I invite you to join me.

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