Category Archives: five element

Fire – Discover Divine Purpose

Dr. Elizabeth Cox, ND, LAc Posted on by

Fire – Discover Divine Purpose. True alignment with your divine purpose is not a permanent state of calm, nor is it an escape from the grit of the human experience. Traditional wisdom from ancient cultures teaches us that purpose is not a destination, but a way of moving through the entire spectrum of human emotion.   We often mistake spiritual alignment for endless positivity, yet the oldest traditions view grief, anger, fear, and joy as equally sacred messengers.   In the crucible of daily life, full-spectrum living means allowing yourself to feel deeply without losing your center.   Traditional wisdom … Continue reading →

Fire – Cool down with cucumbers or watermelon

Dr. Elizabeth Cox, ND, LAc Posted on by

Fire – Cool down with cucumbers or watermelon   Balancing Your Heat: Top Cooling Foods for Vitality In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), optimal health relies on the balance of Yin (cool, moistening) and Yang (warm, activating) energies. When your body accumulates excess heat—whether from stress, hot weather, or spicy foods—you might experience symptoms like acne, irritability, dry mouth and skin, or constipation. To restore harmony, TCM recommends consuming “cooling” (Han) and “cool” (Liang) foods to clear internal heat and generate fluids. Here are five essential TCM cooling foods to add to your diet: Cucumber: Clears heat, detoxifies, and promotes fluid … Continue reading →

Fire – Hug heart to heart

Dr. Elizabeth Cox, ND, LAc Posted on by

Fire – Hug heart to heart   The hug Next time you go in for or are receiving a hug, take note.  Do you lean in left shoulder to left shoulder, right shoulder to right shoulder or reach for the waist with a side hug? Are you comfortable with a hug? Were you raised with hugs? How long is your natural hug? Do you want to practice hugging?   Word Origin Etymologically, “hug” is thought to come from the Old Norse word hugga, which translates to “to comfort or console”.   A lesson from one of my clinical mentors in … Continue reading →

Earth: Down to earth

Dr. Elizabeth Cox, ND, LAc Posted on by

Down to Earth. What does the phrase ‘down to earth’ mean to you? Earth Writing Exercise Take a moment. Find pen and paper. Transcribe the phrase Down to Earth.  Place both feet on the ground. Take three deep breaths, expanding your ribs. Write free associations of what ‘down to earth’ means to you for 90 seconds. Wake the spleen, an earth organ with the exercise below.  Repeat the automatic writing exercise.   Wake the Spleen With both feet on the ground, raise your left arm. Wake the spleen organ by tapping on your left side, one hand width below the … Continue reading →

Earth: Too much sitting injures the spleen: qi gong

Dr. Elizabeth Cox, ND, LAc Posted on by

The digestive organs are injured by stagnation.  Desk or remote virtual jobs, long hours of studying, research and writing keep us seated.  Relaxing and decompressing may also become habituated to screen time, gaming or media binging. Fatigue sets in from lack of activity; a sedentary life is injurious. Frankly, it is killing us slowly. The combination of oversitting and overthinking is a harmful combination for the earth organs,  particularly the spleen.  The lack of healthy circulation settles dampness deep into our systems. If you are prone to oversitting, please build in healthy habits.  Set a timer at the desk for … Continue reading →

Does your yes serve the balance? Earth Sounds

Dr. Elizabeth Cox, ND, LAc Posted on by

HEALING SOUNDS FOR THE EARTH ELEMENT The earth element, is involved with digestion and transformation of food. It can get bogged down with overthinking, oversitting, worry, anxiety. This can result in weight gain or indigestion. When the earth element is weak we may say ‘yes’ when we mean ‘no’ or ‘can I get back to you on that? In this way, we create imbalance within by giving ourselves away to be liked or approved of, to avoid conflict, to fit into social norms or to get something from the other party. The earth season holds the energy of center, return, … Continue reading →

Metal: Shine on you crazy diamond

Dr. Elizabeth Cox, ND, LAc Posted on by

Shine on you crazy diamond! Allow your inner light to shine through as we move into days of diminishing daylight. Our moods may change with less light.  Diamonds form from elemental carbon between 237,000 – 1.3 million times atmospheric pressure deep within the earth.  Carbon is the fourth most abundant element in the universe according to mass. This makes carbon rather ‘ordinary’.  However the brilliance of the diamond is acquired from intense pressure to ordinary carbon.  Like carbon, our extraordinary-ness is derived from our ordinary-ness plus stress.  The practice of being present moment to moment helps us appreciate the extraordinary in … Continue reading →

Fire – bittersweet

Dr. Elizabeth Cox, ND, LAc Posted on by

A fare the well to the summer/fire season and a teacher along the way. UWA has lost a good one while MSU is gaining some serious talent! The taste of summer (fire) is bitter; the taste of earth (transition) is sweet. Tomorrow we move into the 18 days around the equinox (transition earth season). People come for a brief moment or may stay a lifetime. The taste is bittersweet as life in all of its glorious beauty moves people in and out of our small and infinite worlds. Time is not linear and does not measure the impact of a … Continue reading →

Fire – Sing, chant, pray

Dr. Elizabeth Cox, ND, LAc Posted on by

This chant clears hatred and affirms Mingli: understanding sacred connection. A Confucian & Daoist resonance via Lao Tzu via Wang FengYi and on to me as a student of Heiner Fruehauf. 💫The people around us are manifestions of our internal universe. 💫 Thank you beloveds for being my practice partners as we journey toward justice, compassion, love, trust & transform hate, blame, anger, criticalness via the deep politeness and the way. Yes, you trigger me. That is part of the grace. I am grateful to each brother & sister in my constellation, my family, my teachers. Clear Hatred. Sing, chant, … Continue reading →