Shiatsu Shin Tai in Chester County PA

Entries in fire (2)

Thursday

21Jan2010

Antidote for Winter

Thursday, January 21, 2010 at 12:00PM

The days have been brightening a bit here in Pennsylvania, now that the sun is inching back to center, and the paralyzing deep freeze of the new year has lifted for the moment.

But spring is still a ways off, and you know that last dreary month and a half of winter can be a bitch.

Winter. The water element. Cold, dark, and always sinking to the lowest point possible. This is useful in its ability to nourish our roots, and to store vital energy for the coming spring, but it can also lead to feelings of depression and stagnation in an unbalanced state.

This time of the year and its attendent downward energy is ideal for going within, minimizing activity, exploring dreams, and replenishing vital reserves.

But like any body of water cut off from its source, it can become stagnated. Ever feel like that on a cold bleak winter day?

In the Five Element Cycle, the dynamic in which each element has a particular nurturing or controlling relationship with another, Fire is one element that can bring Water back into balance when it gets to be too much.

Sunshine, warmth, laughter, relationships that lighten the heart... all of these are Fire associations and complementary to the Water element when it gets too heavy. A small dose of upward and outward energy (in wise moderation, because it is still wise to store up our resources), as well as engaging with whatever you consider to be your Source, can revitalize you and get the stream flowing again.

Gina Loree' Marks |

Are You a Fire Person?

Monday, July 27, 2009 at 12:00AM

"Having purified the great delusion, the heart's darkness, the radiant light of the unobscured sun continuously rises." ~ H.H. Dudjom Rinpoche

Fire. Expressive, expansive, radiant, awe-inspiring, hot, dangerous, and transformative.

An element of extremes and contradictions. We crave to be around the warmth of fire, but only so close. We need heat to survive, to turn our food into energy (calories are units of heat), to thrive, to instigate movement.

We love to be around people who are warm, expressive, energetic, fiery. They make life interesting, they encourage us to thaw, they bring people together. They exhaust the rest of us.

Maybe we are those people. Maybe we have moments like that, or wish we did. Maybe I'm expressing a little envy about people like that...

The Fire element in Chinese Medicine has the unique position of governing two pairs of meridians: the Heart /Small Intestine, and the Heart Protector/Triple Heater. All of these are related in that they deal with our spirit, our core, our consciousness and our ability to navigate relationships. These will be addressed in other posts more specifically.

Fire is about transformation, warmth, movement, power and responsiveness. Fire is yang... active and outwardly directed. It burns brightly, but only as long as it has something to feed on. This need for fuel makes it difficult to control, or self-maintain. Fiery people are emotionally expressive, and can easily transfer their contagious enthusiasm and passion to others in a positive way or in a mob-mentality way.

The Emotional element of Fire is Joy, but when imbalanced, it can be experienced as nervousness, anxiety, manic behavior, or depression.

You may be a Fire Person if you:

are drawn to excitement
delight in intimacy
live for sensation, drama and high emotion
laugh easily
easily engage others in your enthusiasm
tend to run hot, bright and vibrant (especially when stressed or sick)
effortlessly engage in verbal communication
are intuitive and highly empathetic
cultivate relationships easily
uninhibited with sharing your feelings

You may have a Fire element imbalance if you:

tend toward anxiety, agitation and frenzy
experience nervous exhaustion or insomnia
laugh when you're nervous or in situations that might warrant a different appropriate emotional response
tend to talk too much when you're nervous or upset
have palpitations, sweating, hypoglycemia, rashes, sweating
have difficulty relating to people, and with setting appropriate boundaries
burn out easily, especially without the resources of others to keep you going
experience delusional behavior
either crave or are repulsed by the bitter taste