Wood Element

Wood Element Personality in Chinese Medicine

Wood Personality In Balance

You are a highly confident and motivated person! You have the power to envision the future and you have incredible insight. You take your insight and vision and make strategic plans. You are courageous and resourceful in implementing change. You love a challenge and welcome deadlines. You are ambitious and competitive.

Wood Element is all about growth, change, and expansion.

Wood is of the spring, when the grass shoots up and the Earth is vital, and full of activity. In your life, the Wood Element will allow you the ability to burst forth with assertive drive.

Wood Personality Out of Balance

If the Wood Element is out of balance, or is blocked from fully expressing itself, you may lack the qualities above, or have lost them over time as the imbalance has grown more severe. Confidence turns to tyranny; motivation turns to confrontation; planning turns to reckless impulsiveness; courage turns to aggression; ambition turns to arrogance; competitiveness turns to pretension.

Acupressure for Anger, Frustration, and Feeling Stuck

Apply the Fire Element Acupressure Stick to Acupressure Point Heart 8
Apply the Wood Element Acupressure Stick to Acupressure Point Liver 2
Apply the Wood Element Acupressure Stick to Acupressure Point Liver 3

Emotional and Physical Symptoms of a Wood Element Imbalance

In Chinese medicine, as in reality, there is no way to separate the mind and the body. By treating the Liver, you correct emotional imbalances associated with the Wood Element; by addressing emotional issues associated with the Wood Element, you treat the Liver.

Physical and Emotional Symptoms that occur with a Wood Element Imbalance include:

Wood Element and Spring Season Correlations

Spring is designated to the Wood Element, and the qualities of spring such as sudden change and volatile weather are reflected in the way that the body can reflect the Wood Element attributes. The erratic winds that are indicative of spring also reflect the ‘Wind’ created internally from Liver-Fire rising and causing erratic symptoms such as spasms, osteoarthritis that moves around, and restless leg syndrome.

The spring of our lives can be reflected in our warrior years during our 20’s when we are planning our life strategy and forging ahead with our lives; without great foresight provided by Liver energy, we will likely stumble during these early years and have a rocky start to life. The forceful energy and confident commitment are needed to launch a life is evident in the strength of the Wood Element represented by a tree, but requires flexibility and the ability to change as represented by a trees ability to go with the flow of the wind and its bending branches.

The Liver Energetic Organ System of Chinese Medicine and the Wood Element

Because Liver Qi Stagnation is so common in our culture, it is easy to focus on the negative attributes of the Wood Element such as easy anger, frustration, and depression; however, if the Liver is soothed with abundant Qi and Blood that is able to flow freely, the Wood Element can be a powerful positive force throughout a lifetime. Great vision, the ability to plan, decisiveness, and the motivating factor to take action can all be attributed to the Wood Element.

While the Liver is well known for its destructive powers associated with Liver-Heat and Liver-Fire, as the Yin-Yang Theory explains, a fire cannot burn forever; over time, Liver Qi Deficiency and Liver Blood Deficiency will develop if Liver Qi Stagnation is not addressed well. While still marked by irritability, this deficient state will be marked by pensiveness, indecision, loss of good judgment, and a loss of motivation. Over time, the absence of abundant Liver Blood will create osteoarthritic conditions; as our limbs dry out we lose our physical flexibility long after our mental and emotional flexibility began to wane.

References

Pedersen SS, Andersen CM, Burg M, Theuns DAMJ. Anger and long-term mortality and ventricular arrhythmias in patients with a first-time implantable cardioverter-defibrillator: data from the MIDAS study [published online ahead of print, 2020 May 19]. Europace. 2020;euaa083. doi:10.1093/europace/euaa083

Lee MJ, Ryu JS, Won SK, et al. Effects of Acupuncture on Chronic Stress-Induced Depression-Like Behavior and Its Central Neural Mechanism. Front Psychol. 2019;10:1353. Published 2019 Jul 5. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01353

Xiao X, Zhang J, Jin Y, Wang Y, Zhang Q. Effectiveness and Safety of Acupuncture for Perimenopausal Depression: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2020;2020:5865697. Published 2020 Jan 19. doi:10.1155/2020/5865697

Lee, H. Y., Kim, J. E., Kim, M., Kim, A. R., Park, H. J., Kwon, O. J., Cho, J. H., Chung, S. Y., & Kim, J. H. (2018). Effect and safety of acupuncture for Hwa-byung, an anger syndrome: a study protocol of a randomized controlled pilot trial. Trials, 19(1), 98. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13063-017-2399-0

Sánchez-Vidaña, D. I., Ngai, S. P., He, W., Chow, J. K., Lau, B. W., & Tsang, H. W. (2017). The Effectiveness of Aromatherapy for Depressive Symptoms: A Systematic Review. Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM, 2017, 5869315. https://doi.org/10.1155/2017/5869315

This information has not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This information is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.