Yang: Water Earth Metal; Yin Wood Fire Assessment

In the 5 element image above we can see that Water is the dominant element, Earth and Metal are also Yang (or what we show to the world).  Wood and Fire are the internal or inner Yin elements.

The water total is 12 points greater than the next closest of Earth.  When we have too much water energy it may manifest in being overwhelmed or overwhelming others.  Flood of emotion and or white rapid ride.  Your Wood number is 38 less than Water so you may be having a difficult time getting things going.  Your ideas, inspiration and seeds are drowning rather than growing.

Earth's archetype is fertile soil.  It is the accountability of what we do and say.  The earth number is Yang (greater than 72) yet in this instance with too little earth to control the Water you may be feeling precarious and floating.

Metal, another Yang element in this instance, may still present by way of procrastination. You may be in too deep of water to be able to focus, communicate clearly and convert your acumen into clarity.

To control water when it is dominant is to add Earth.

What do you do or what could you do to make yourself feel more grounded and centered.  Are there things that you could let go of, busymaking, that would allow you to slow the flow down?

Yin is the inner and the details, your yin elements are Wood & Fire.

When the wood element is overwhelmed by the flow of water it may be keeping you from branching out.  Again I would invite you to find a way to look at things from a practical standpoint and see where you may benefit from decluttering.

Fire is leadership, speaking words, and emotion.  I would suggest you to observe when you are saying no to something are you saying yes to yourself; when you are saying yes to something are you saying no to yourself.  Fire burns the wood which turns into earth.  

Notice how you are communicating and as above; look for the contrasts in your choices.

Your assessment is one where the word "busy" keeps running through my mind.  I also invite you to pause and be present.

Yang Earth and Fire; Yin Wood, Metal and Water

Yang Earth and Fire; Yin Wood, Metal and Water Observations.

This is in response to a reader's quiz submission.

Thank you!

Earth is your Yang Element, what you show on the outside.

Fire is the compliment Yang Element, supporting your creation of Earth.

Your Internal Yin elements are Metal, Water and Wood.

Strong Earth indicates that you are practical, stable, grounded in the here and now.  While the assessment total in relation to the other elements may suggest that you may have and to take on too much responsibility, feelings of getting stuck, not moving forward, rather a feeling of being anchored or weighed down.

In the I Ching; Earth is the Element associated with the Love & Relationship area of the Bagua.

Known as the receptive; being able to take something in.  The receptive Earth.

Keyword is Devotion; between love partners and within self.

In order to balance out the dominance of Earth, I invite you to add Wood.  Wood consumes Earth.

Wood is intuition, knowledge, inspiration, active, awake & alert.  It embodies openmindness, ability to trust, ability to accept guidance, to take reasonable risks, to try new activities.

Too little wood can keep us “small” or not branching out.

Health & Family’s element is Wood.  The I Ching associates: arousing, thunder & shock.  The best reaction to shock is laughter; Despite being shocked by a thunderclap life goes on.  Shock is a movement to transformation.

What can or is stimulating transformation in your life? 

What seeds can you plant and nurture in Health – Body, Mind, Spirit?

What can you “unearth” about your relationships; to self and to others?

Is there a new way at looking at your relationships?

What can you cultivate in your life?

Highlight with Metal & Water

Metal is the mental and intellectual.  It is the element of both strength and endurance; as well it can be made malleable. 

Metal is excavated from Earth.  To little metal can be procrastination, avoidance, forgetting.  I invite you to consider releasing some of the Earth’s burden of responsibilities to lighten the anchor. 

What area of your life are you holding on to things that others may help support you?

What could you delegate?

Water is the source of life, it is the tapping into the soul, spirit, trusting in the flow of life.  This could be an invitation to “dive” into something. To feel more fluid, to nourish growth.

An Affirmation for you…

Pop Quiz - Finding Your Element

How does one know which element is your Yin or your Yang?

Which of the 5 elements are primary in YOU: Wood, Fire, Water, Metal or Earth.

If you are up for a pop quiz continue reading.

Please accept this as an invitation for you to email me your totals from each part of the quiz, from which I will provide you my observations and interpretations.

Score each question on a scale of 1 to 5.

• 1 being the least likely
• 2 being sometimes likely
• 3 being occasionally but not characteristic
• 4 being frequently
• 5 being most always

Part One: ___Are you a natural born initator?

___Do you act assertively & confidently?

___Do you resist authority figures?

___Do you find that people and activities move to slowly for you?

___Do you like struggling against all odds, proving yourself to others?

___Are you always doing something or going somewhere?

___Do you have high blood pressure?

___So you strongly resist giving in to a compromise?

___Do you always want to be first and best?

___Does confinement and sitting quietly drive you crazy?

___Do you get frequent muscle cramps?

___Do you like to make all the rules and then break them?

___Do you pioneer new trails wherever you go?

___Do your nails alternate between hard & thick and dry & brittle?

___Are you impatient with people who seem to have no direction in life?

___Do you strongly resist showing vulnerability?

___Do you love speed and adventure?

___Have you ever had tendonitis?

___Do you manipulate situations to get what you want?

___Is it difficult for you to control your anger?

___Do you find any kind of restraint insufferable?

___Do you do your best work under pressure?

___Are you considered moody?

___Is your personal freedom a supreme value in your life?

Part One Total_________

Part Two:

___Are you highly motivated to seek the divine?

___Are you charismatic?

___Do you have heart problems?

___Do you have an extreme aversion to pain?

___Do you love drama, performing and being in the spotlight?

___Are you often spontaneous?

___Do you get sores on your tongue or around your mouth?

___Can't say no to anyone?

___Do you tend to be more emotionally intense than your friends?

___Have you ever had a speech impediment?

___Do you love to give your opinion?

___Do you fear separation above all else?

___Are you clever on your feet?

___Do you desire personal fulfillment more than almost anything?

___Do your cheeks turn red easily?

___Could you be described as extravagant?

___Are you bright and scintillating at social gatherings?

___Do you have eczema or other skin eruptions?

___Do you enjoy talking during most activities?

___Do you have trouble with boundaries in relationships?

___Is the need for intimacy and merging a strong motivation for you?

___Do you suffer from anxiety or insomnia?

___Are you mostly optimistic and enthusiastic about life?

___Are you strongly empathetic?

Part Two Total_____

Part Three:

___Do you see yourself as a service oriented person?

___Are you working on being more self-reliant?

___Do your friends often use you as a negotiator?

___Is bloating and water retention a problem?

___Do you struggle with inertia and feel "stuck" sometimes?

___Does nurturing come easy to you?

___Do you like to be in charge but not in the spotlight?

___Does your need to be accommodating sometimes result in conformity?

___Is a need to belong strong in you?

___Do you suffer with muscle tenderness?

___Do you regard loyalty as one of the most important traits in a person?

___Are you conservative in your thinking?

___Are you the family member or friend who knows what's going on in everyone's lives?

___Do you suffer with swollen glands and other lymphatic disorders?

___Would you like things to be more predictable?

___Do you tend to be overly protective?

___Do unrealistic expectations leave you disappointed much of the time?

___Do you try to be all things to all people?

___Have you recently gained weight?

___Are you considered a worrier?

___Do you feel you haven't been recognized for your efforts?

___Are you prone to obsessive thoughts and actions?

___Are you the family member or friend who remembers everyone's birthday?

___Are you regarded as the peacemaker by friends and family?

Part 3 Total__________

Part Four:

___Do you hold righteousness and virtue in high regard?

___Are rituals important to you?

___Is chaos your enemy?

___Do you have stiff joints and muscles?

___Do you have no time for nonsense?

___Do you hold very precise standards?

___Are you very sensitive to temperature?

___Is clarity and agreement important to you?

___Are you a law and order person?

___Is your skin or hair really dry?

___Are you considered a perfectionist?

___Do you fear intimacy?

___Do you have a strong artistic sense or an eye for good design?

___Does carelessness in others drive you up the wall?

___Are you considered cool, dispassionate and distant?

___Are reason and high principles your guiding light?

___Are you considered a little too strict and nit picky?

___Do you have elegant or refined tastes?

___Is social involvement on the bottom of your list of things to do?

___Do you have sinus problems?

___Does your high level of self control drive your spontaneous friends crazy?

___Do you know best?

___Is it difficult for you to experience or release powerful emotions?

___Are you good at providing structure and boundaries for others?

Part 4 Total__________

Part Five:

___Would you describe yourself as introspective?

___Is the search for truth a prime motivator in your life?

___Do you have a very strong sex drive?

___Are you highly creative, imaginative and original?

___Do you dislike superficiality more than anything?

___Do you pride yourself on being self-contained and self sufficient?

___Is rapid deterioration of teeth or gums a problem?

___Do you seek the deep mystery in everything?

___Do you suffer with frequent backaches?

___Do you occasionally catch yourself being tactless or thoughtless?

___Do you have a very penetrating and critical mind?

___Do you hate waste and conserve everything?

___Is the desire to stick to it one of your strongest virtues?

___Do you have hardening of the arteries?

___Is it difficult for you to share your things with others?

___Do you suffer from a feeling of chronic isolation?

___Are you afraid of losing yourself in others?

___Are you considered enigmatic and eccentric by your friends?

___Do you often feel misunderstood?

___Are you awkward in social situations?

___Do you resist conformity?

___Do you have kidney or bladder problems?

___Are your hands and feet likely to be cold?

___Do you have remarkable powers of concentration?

Part 5 Total__________

Summary: Part One is your WOOD Score

Part Two is your FIRE Score

Part Three is your EARTH Score

Part Four is your METAL Score

Part Five is your WATER Score I invite you to email me your summary with the totals from each part of the quiz, from which I will provide you my observations and interpretations.

Water - Its Elemental Dear Bagua

How would you describe your favorite body of water? 

How would the water be moving or is it still?

Would it be deep or shallow?

Would it be calm or energetic?

Off the top of your head, what water metaphor could you use to describe your life at this moment? 

Does that metaphor match your ideal Flow in your life?

Water is an essential ingredient in our life.  Literally.  Our bodies are composed of 50-75% of water.  We can live without food but we can not sustain our life without water.  

Water is the source of Life, it is connecting to spirit and spirituality.  It is the Flow of life.

When we have to much water energy in our lives we can 

• lack form
• overwhelm ourselves and others
• tidal waves of emotion; flooding
• unprocessed stuff
• feel wishy washy

When we have too little...

• anxiety
• like we've lost the/our flow
• lost connection to our Higher Power
• lack synchronicity
• dehydrated, dry and combustible.

Momentum would also be a great way to describe Flow. That feeling of being in the groove.  

Where in your life are things not going with the flow?

Where have you sprung a leak?

What could you add to your life or let go of in order to improve your momentum?

We can unclog our flow by letting go of things that seem to be holding us back.  It could be letting go of literal things, people, relationships, thoughts, clutter and even the simple act of deep breathing can help to release energy to get your flow back on. 

What parts of your life are going with the most perfect flow?

What can you learn from those tributaries and apply to the areas that need some help?

I believe that we could associate multiple metaphors of water to describe our lives.  Your ideal career pace may look completely opposite from what you want your home life to feel like.

The magic is finding the Balance that suits you best.

Wood You? - Its Elemental Dear Bagua

If a tree falls in the forest does it make a sound?  I'm not sure.  However if a palm frond falls off your palm tree and hits the neighbor's garage it most definitely makes a sound.

I've had the pleasure of being in the garden on 2 occasions in the last month to hear the cracking and subsequent whoosh and crash of a 2 metre frond drop.  This morning as I looked up at my tree I was struck with something, perhaps you can relate.

Isn't it fascinating that plant life just does what it does?  Right now in the Southern Hemisphere I see new leaves opening on my trees, my lawn is covered in clover, my citrus trees are nearly done producing and the palm is dropping the seed branch which I think is Australia's version of snow.

The tree never questions its process, it just goes with its rhythm.  All it wants to be is a tree.  

You don't see the orange tree trying to emulate the bamboo, or the bamboo trying to be a hedge.  Plant life does its thing, its the plant its intended to be.

The element of wood in Feng Shui is that of growth.  Plant life of all kind have a foundation of roots to support the growth above the earth.  Just like in our literal life we sometimes need to cut or prune to allow new growth, or to clear so that growth is not stunted or all consuming.

Wood is 

• intuition, 
• it is what you see and what your don't see; as in the plant/tree reaches out above the earth while the roots are hidden in the earth therefore it holds trust; 
• its an element of new growth, new skills, new projects. 
• Wood embodies expansion.
• trees have branches; our brains can branch out
• trees have seeds; seeds are knowledge
• the color green.

Wood is in Balance when we can trust the process and take reasonable risks; while open to guidance and open minded.

Too much wood can leave us feeling encumbered, and we can not keep up.

Taking to much on and consuming to much of the Earth.  We need to bring in the metal element to cut the wood.

Too little wood may be felt when we are not branching out; when we are keeping ourselves small. We need water in order to nourish Wood.

I invite you to consider where you are nurturing yourself for growth in all ways.  Physically, mentally and emotional nurturing to grow your tree of life.

Stoking Your Fire: Its Elemental My Dear Bagua

Fire plays a dynamic role in our world; both literally and in our vernacular.

Using Fire in our language can be as such:

Get fired up = energized.

Being fired up = motivated.

Fire in the belly = motivation.

Getting fired = losing one's job.

I'm on fire = Angry, enraged.

I'm on fire = On a roll, passionate.

And the list goes on...

The Fame and Reputation Gua is the home of the element of Fire.  I interpret this gua as having the essence of Community as its all about who we are in the world, thus how we are viewed by others by what we communicate to the world.

Fire is about communication, emotion, and touch.

A healthy amount of fire in our lives is nourishing.  Fire can be our spark, our sparkle, our excitement in our life.  It can be conveyed in a warm and gracious nature. 

Too much fire can be

• aggressiveness
• conflict
• impatience
• intolerance
• loud

Too little fire can be

• lackluster
• no warmth
• flat
• cold, chilly
• separation from
• shy

Elementally, Fire fees on Wood which turns to ashes which turns to Earth.

If we put a single piece of paper into a fireplace and light it, it will ignite and burst magnificently into flames.  However in order to keep a fire going, we must feed it, starting with kindling and build to adding logs.  We nurture the fire in our live's metaphorical hearth the same way.

Finding Your Center: Its Elemental My Dear Bagua.

Earth is the Element directly associated with the Center of the Bagua.

Hence my invitation for people to come to the center of the map and feel "Grounded".  

The best literal example I can use is what I do prior to teaching a Foot Fitness class or doing any type of bodywork.  I generally ask people to do a check in or perform an inventory of their body prior to us going forward.

Its simple and takes only a couple minutes, I invite you to join in.

• Sit with your feet flat on the floor; or stand
• Hands on lap; or hanging easily to your side
• Eyes open or closed, your choice
• Inhale through your nose to the count of 3,
• Exhale to the count of 3 through your nose, like you are pressing out your breath
• Repeat, extending the count as you are comfortable
• Inhale noticing your lungs expanding and your shoulders rising
• Exhale feeling your body melt down down down into your feet
• Inhale feeling the energy rising
• Exhale feeling the energy descending
• Notice your feet and how they are making contact to the floor
• Notice the where you feel the weight distributed
• Press your feet into the floor; extend the toes to create the widest foundation
• Inhale filling your lungs to capacity; lifting through the top of your head
• pause; then exhale and empty your lungs to their depths pressing your feet into the floor
• Take an inventory of your body from the feet up to the top of your head
• Continue to focus on your breath; extending up through the top of the head and extending through the feet into the floor.
• Notice and feel the contrast.
• Continue for as long as comfortable.

This physical check-in can also be adapted to how you are feeling in your life overall.  Check out the Earth qualities:

Earth is physical, and is tangible in quality.
Earth is represented by the shades of yellow and earthtones;
Earth is literal soil, ceramics, tile, brick; 
Earth is the shapes of square and rectangle.
Earth is practical.
Earth is stability.

Too much Earth energy may be defined as feeling: 

• too much responsibility
• weighted down or heavy
• too conservative
• all method no madness
• getting stuck
• to focussed

Too little Earth energy may be defined by feeling:

• precarious
• floating
• unfocussed
• irresponsible

Balanced Earth Energy

• grounded in the here and now
• accountable of what we do and say
• action to ideas
• practical as an equal partner
• symbolic of being the creator

So where on Earth are you? Or where is Earth within you?

On average are you feeling balanced, centered and grounded?

Can you notice where in your life that you may benefit from cultivating more or less Earth energy.  What action can you take to make that possible?

The Element of Wood controls Earth; whilst Fire makes Earth...

More on that to come.

Press Any Key to Continue

Wouldn't it be awesome if our lives came with an Any Key? 

I'm all about choosing to Move Forward, and admittedly there are times, such as now, that I would love for my life to have a pop up window that said...

 

"Press any key to continue" 

• To continue...
• To continue...
• To continue...

What does that mean "to continue"?

How do we reboot or wait for our internal harddrive to stop spinning on its own and find the point where we left off?

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Ughhh

My focus is to share my interpretation of Feng Shui to help people find their center, their balance and to feel more grounded.  I've gone back to this time and again when my footing has slipped and my foundation shifted.  Over the last few months I have been tested time and again about the feasibility and structural integrity of this concept.

There are five elements that affect and work in concert the Bagua in Feng Shui.  

Water, Wood, Fire, Earth and Metal.  

I trust you are familiar with that feeling when things are moving along just tickety boo,  Gotta love that vibeage.

Metaphorically speaking, the Controlling or Destructive cycle can feel like:

Kerspoosh a big rock is tossed into your Water/Flow;

That splash then douses the flames of your Fire;

Or Sizzle sizzle drip drip the container that holds it all together has melted into a puddle of no discernible shape;

Or Whack...Timmmmber; down fall the tree(s) you've been nurturing;

An imbalance of any element does not have to be your downfall.  The magic is in being able to step back to see what needs to be added or culled to bring back harmony.

And the best direction I can give at this time is to that is to 

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then  "Press any key to continue" 

• To continue...
• To continue...
• To continue...