Wu Xing / Five Phases
How to Read a Five-Phase Correspondence Chart
Read two Five-Phase correspondence charts and understand how qualities connect Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water with the body and natural world.
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Traditional
Chinese Medicine.
Begin with the concepts.
Understand them in context.
A connected way of thinking about relationships, change and the human body. These introductory articles explain traditional concepts in context and make their limits clear.
Choose a starting point
Find a path into the ideas.
01 · 1 articles
Chinese Medical Worldview & Holism
A holistic view of the person, connecting body, inner life, natural environment and social world.
Explore02 · 2 articlesYin & Yang
Two complementary terms for understanding relative qualities and changing relationships.
Explore03 · 3 articlesWu Xing / Five Phases
A five-part framework for considering processes and relationships, rather than five physical ingredients.
Explore04 · 4 articlesZang-Fu: A Different Model of the Body
A traditional model of bodily functions and relationships whose terms should not be equated directly with anatomical organs.
ExploreA map for your reading
Six collections.
One connected system.
- 01
Foundations of Chinese Thought in Medicine
The ideas and relationships that shape the system.
Chinese Medical Worldview & HolismYin & YangWu Xing / Five Phases - 02
The Chinese View of the Human Body
A connected model of functions, substances and relationships.
Zang-Fu: A Different Model of the Body - 03
The Substances and Forces of Life
Learning the language of Qi, Blood, Body Fluids and Essence.
- 04
Constitution and Causes of Illness
Individual differences and the contexts in which illness develops.
- 05
How Illness Begins and Imbalance Develops
Patterns of change, progression and response.
- 06
Prevention, Treatment and Yangsheng
Principles of care and the cultivation of everyday life.
From the Library
Follow a question. Find the next connection.
Wu Xing / Five Phases
How the Five Phases Generate and Control One Another in Traditional Chinese Medicine
Understand how the Five Phases generate and control one another in Traditional Chinese Medicine, with clear sequences and everyday memory images.
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Wu Xing / Five Phases
Five Elements or Five Phases? What Wu Xing Means in Traditional Chinese Medicine
Learn what Wu Xing means in Traditional Chinese Medicine through Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water, their qualities, movement and change.
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Chinese Medical Worldview & Holism
What Is Traditional Chinese Medicine? Start With the Whole Person
Learn how Traditional Chinese Medicine begins with a holistic view of the person, connecting the body, inner life, natural environment and social world.
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Zang-Fu: A Different Model of the Body
Why Does Traditional Chinese Medicine Link the Liver with Emotions?
Explore the traditional Liver, shu xie and emotional life without equating feelings with liver disease or blaming people for their emotions.
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Zang-Fu: A Different Model of the Body
Why Does Traditional Chinese Medicine Link the Spleen with Digestion?
Understand the TCM Spleen’s transformation and transportation role, its relationship with Stomach, and why it differs from the anatomical spleen.
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Zang-Fu: A Different Model of the Body
Zang and Fu: What Is the Difference?
Learn the difference between Zang and Fu in Traditional Chinese Medicine, including the five Zang organs, the six Fu organs, and why the Gallbladder is considered special.
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Zang-Fu: A Different Model of the Body
Why Traditional Chinese Medicine Organ Names Are Not the Same as Anatomical Organs
Learn why Liver, Heart, Spleen, Lung and Kidney in TCM refer to more than the anatomical organs with the same names, and how to read these terms in context.
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Yin & Yang
How Yin and Yang Relate: Four Core Relationships in Traditional Chinese Medicine
Understand four core Yin–Yang relationships in Traditional Chinese Medicine: opposition and restraint, interdependence, waxing and waning, and transformation.
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Yin & Yang
Yin and Yang Meaning: What Yin and Yang Actually Mean in Traditional Chinese Medicine
Learn what Yin and Yang mean in Traditional Chinese Medicine, why their qualities are relative, and how comparison changes the way they are understood.
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