Abstract

Here is a comprehensive and practical guide to using the Five Element model in your daily life in ways that can improve your physical health, foster mental ease and clarity, create more emotional balance, and bring you closer to spirit.

Having introduced the philosophical and practical principles of the Five Elements, the author invites you to 'live the book', immersing yourself in the many aspects of each Element during its corresponding season. He offers a range of methods of doing this, including activities such as movement, cooking, gardening, journaling, visualisation, meditation, dialogue and self-acupressure. In working with each Element, he explores the three levels or expressions of human life - the physical (structures, organs, tissues and systems), the psycho-emotional (thoughts, beliefs, self-images, emotions and reactions), and the spirit.

Detailed information is provided on each Element's specific attributes, associations, resonances and gifts, and anatomical illustrations are included for further guidance. An invaluable reference book for practitioners and students of Chinese Medicine who hope to become better practitioners to others, the book also provides the means to become a practitioner to yourself.

The author blends ancient Five Element theory and the modern psycho-spiritual wisdom of the Diamond Approach into valuable advice for staying healthy during the seasons. He presents activities, diet and contemplations that enhance specific aspects of body/mind/spirit - what the author calls Soul - for each element. This is a warm, insightful and excellent book for anyone who wants to enjoy good health by staying in harmony with seasonal changes.
Dr. Ronald H. Davis, author of Qigong Through The Seasons
John Kirkwood has been working, living and playing with the Five Elements for 30 years, first as a practitioner and teacher of Jin Shin Do® Acupressure, later as a graduate of the SOPHIA program of the Traditional Acupuncture Institute of Maryland, and now as a practitioner and teacher of Five Element Acupressure. John lives in the beautiful Adelaide Hills of South Australia. He is the author of The Way of the Five Elements.
This book challenges us firstly to find our own true self and then to walk our unique path through the Five Seasons, rather than simply tell us about them. The Five Seasons extends to the value of the Five Elements providing robust resources to understand seasonal changes and how best to use the Five Element associations to benefit our own health and that of our clients.
Julie Weeks
Shiatsu Society Journal