TCM or Five Elements?

TCM or Five Elements acupuncture – what’s the difference?  That is a question that many prospective acupuncture students ask!

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The Wu xing or Five Elements/ Phases is one of many systems within Oriental medicine used to describe and understand how Qi moves in nature and the human body, mind and spirit.

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Although ‘Five Element acupuncture’ can be practiced as a stand-alone style, we teach the Elements as part of the entirety of Traditional Chinese Medicine alongside Yin yang, The Three Treasures (Jing, Qi, Shen), The Four Levels (Wei, Qi, Ying, Xue), The Six Divisions (Liu jing), The Seven Emotions (Qi qing) and the Eight Principles (Ba gang), and Organ (Zang Fu) Syndromes.

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Specialising in a specific style too early in your education can cause problems for you later on as you may not have a wide enough understanding of Chinese medicine to continue your professional development after graduating. Our understanding of the Five Elements is based on the classics such as the Huang di nei jing and the Nan jing.