Deficiency or excess?
I received some lovely feedback from an acupuncture student that her class and their teacher, reading these cards, debated whether excess joy really belongs under Excess Fire. I am honoured to be playing a supporting role in the education of new cohorts of acupuncturists!
Manifestations in practice
So, when I classify excess joy and over excitement as reflections of excess Fire Energy, at the same time as I classify excess anger as a reflection of Excess Wood, I don’t mean to suggest that we should routinely work to sedate those energies as soon as we see those signs.
When a skilled acupuncture practitioner undertakes a full Traditional Diagnosis, a core challenge is to map out that patient’s individual and interrelated patterns, in a web of cause and effect, before deciding where best to treat.
Strengthening to subdue
Where Fire is Blazing, or Liver Yang is Rising, it’s often clear that the root of their flaring ‘excess’ is a deeper deficiency, and Tonifying their Fire Qi or Nourishing their Liver Blood is what is needed, to support and settle that Element.
In a similar vein, it would be a rare patient who would need their Water energy draining. Manifestations of excess again may be symptoms arising from underlying deficiency. Or perhaps just a happy abundance of youthful vitality, which could benefit from a little harmonising and balancing.
And happily, successfully Tonifying with acupuncture alone, is one of the beautiful strengths of Five Element Acupuncture.
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