What Is Five Element Acupuncture?!

🪡 In this week's episode What Is Five Element Acupuncture?!, the hosts elaborate further on Five Element Acupuncture, a unique approach to medicine. Ben starts by asking Gabriella about the basics of acupuncture, the insertion of needles into specific points on the body to influence the flow of Qi and restore health. Gabriella, with over 20 years of experience in Five Element Acupuncture, describes its focus on observing how nature manifests in individuals.

They touch upon the differences between Five Element Acupuncture and other acupuncture styles, noting the emphasis on treating the root cause rather than just symptoms. They discuss the multitude of acupuncture points and the idea that treating the individual's underlying imbalance can address multiple symptoms simultaneously.

In the second part, the hosts hypothesise on how the points and meridian system might have been discovered. They also touch upon the transition of Five Element Acupuncture from the East to the West, crediting JR Worsley for popularising it in Western countries. Ben, whose late grandfather was JR Worsley, and Gabriella, who has extensive training in this tradition, share anecdotes about him and the challenges he faced in promoting acupuncture during a time when it was often regarded as quackery.

Transcript

Pt.1

Ben: So, What Is Five Element Acupuncture?

Gabriella: Well first we need to ask the question, what Is Acupuncture? In short, Acupuncture is a form of medicine where needles are inserted into points on the body called acupuncture points, that affect our vital life force or flow of Qi in order to restore health. Five Element Acupuncture is one type of acupuncture. A few other types of acupuncture include TCM, or Traditional Chinese Medicine, Stems and Branches and Japanese Acupuncture, to name a few.

In this and coming episodes, we’ll be introducing you to the basic theory behind the type of acupuncture known as ‘Five Element Acupuncture.’ Why not other types? Did you even know there were different types of acupuncture? I didn’t when I decided to train. The first thing I heard at the introductory day held by one of the colleges I was thinking of applying to was ‘this is different to other types of acupuncture’ - I managed not to let on that I’d got there and didn’t even know that! My acupuncturist had recommended it, it happened to be a Five Element school and by the end of the day I was hooked. I needed no more introductory days - this was the one for me, and still is. I’ve not looked back once and thought I should have studied something else. There was a deep resonation - now not to say that other types of acupuncture don’t help people, they must do, but for me, this was clearly my calling. The reason I’m not talking about other types of acupuncture is because I’m not qualified to. And we don’t like someone who’s not an expert in a particular area pretending they know something about it, do we?

Ben: Hmm… Now when has that happened in recent times?

Gabriella: I couldn’t possibly say, Ben… Anyway… Five Element Acupuncture is the one I’m trained in and the one I know something about, having practiced it for the past 20 years. So this podcast isn’t a ‘compare and contrast’. It’s what I’d love to share with you and why I love Five Element Acupuncture, and the reason I’ve chosen to spend the rest of my life practicing and teaching it. What I can say is that all types of acupuncture recognise there are meridians or pathways of energy within the body that we can affect using acupuncture needles, and that the different types of acupuncture use the points along these meridians in different ways.

Ben: Physiotherapists and osteopaths use acupuncture too, don’t they?

Gabriella: Ah, good point, Ben. When practitioners of other medical disciplines use acupuncture needles, in most cases they aren’t actually needling into acupuncture points, they needle ‘trigger points’, which are tender and knotted areas in your muscles. Putting needles into them can relax them and bring some pain relief, but it’s important to be clear that this is a different practice to what a trained acupuncturist will do, and is normally known as ‘dry needling’ to differentiate it from ‘acupuncture’.

Ben: Thanks for clarifying. So, tell me more about Five Element acupuncture

Gabriella: Five Element Acupuncture is a system of medicine that is based on observing how nature is manifesting in the human who is being treated, so it focuses on the person who has the disease, not the disease that has the person. It is simply based on the laws of nature, and I don’t believe it takes much of a leap of faith to see why it makes so much sense once we know a little bit more about how it works.

Ben: What do you mean by the laws of nature Gabriella?

Gabriella: Well, we are beings of nature. There are very few people around now who don’t believe that we have evolved from the simplest single cell organisms over billions of years.

Ben: You mean we weren’t dropped onto the planet into volcanoes by celestial aliens then?

Gabriella: No, Ben. The only place we could have come from is nature, as life on our planet has spread and adapted to different environments, climates and conditions. So, it makes sense to me that medicine would seek to understand our bodies within the context of nature. Forces in nature flow within us and affect us as do they affect every living thing on the planet. It’s mind-blowing how little difference there truly is between us and all other life. Although is it? All life on this planet can be traced back to common ancestors, those tiny single cell bacteria that first appeared billions of years ago. And over all this time, nature has evolved an all-over pretty good design - it absolutely boggles my mind when I think of the fact we have around 30 trillion cells in our bodies let alone the myriad of functions that go on within us every single second to keep us alive and functioning.

Ben: Lots of people believe it’s God who created everything.

Gabriella: Of course. And that’s a big discussion that arguably no one has a concrete answer to. Science hasn’t proven the existence of God, but it has also not proven God’s non-existence. What if, at least for the purpose of this podcast, we put this question aside, and concentrate on what is tangible, which are the laws of nature (perhaps nature IS God?) and move on to deeper metaphysical questions a bit further down the line?

Throughout this podcast I may use terms like ‘I believe’ or ‘we say’. Just to set things straight, I am most definitely of firm standing that what I’m talking about IS so and not just a ‘maybe’. But out of respect to those who don’t believe or need ‘proof’, I may use language that implies I’m not a firm believer. I invite all, willing sceptics included, to listen with an open mind and draw your own conclusions. Or ask your own questions. Let’s talk about this and see if there really is a point to it all.

Ben: Haha pun intended there Gabriella?

Gabriella: Well-spotted Ben, and talking of points, did you know that nature gave us 670 little points of energy all over the body, from the top of the head to tips of fingers and toes? These little points are connected to each other, along little tiny rivers of energy running all over our bodies, a bit like the tube map of London. We call them acupuncture points, if we visualise the tube map super-imposed on our body, they are like the stations, some giving access to other lines.

Ben: So where’s Piccadilly Circus on me then?

Gabriella: Very funny Ben… moving on … I imagine an acupuncture point like a little tiny whirlpool - whirlpools have an incredible amount of energy harnessed in them. These points aren’t just sitting there waiting for an acupuncturist to come along and stick a needle in them, they are firing off themselves hundreds maybe thousands of times a day, constantly rebalancing and replenishing the energy that’s available to us. Each point gives us something unique and together they give us all we need in order to function in good health: body, mind and spirit.

Ben: So why is anyone ever ill then?

Gabriella: I love this quote from the Dalai Lama: “What surprises me most is “Man” because he sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health. And then he is so anxious about the future that he doesn’t enjoy the present; The result being he doesn’t live in the present or the future; He lives as if he’s never going to die, and then he dies having never really lived.”

Ben: So our constant striving for financial gains within our capitalist system is what makes us ill? We do need money to pay our acupuncturists though Gabriella!

Gabriella: You raise an excellent umm ‘point,’ (Ben groans) Ben! Sticking the needle in again eh? But it’s not all about paying acupuncturists, the stresses and strains of life as well as environmental factors, our lifestyles, diet, pathogenic diseases, or the genetic potential each of us is born with, the ageing process etc etc all have a bearing on our health. However the Chinese, thousands of years ago, discovered that when we touch an acupuncture point with a needle, it can encourage it to release a little of its energy, (we call it Qi energy and we’ll talk about more it in a future episode), which in turn can adjust the balance in that person and help them to feel better. Or the person may not even have been unwell. Sometimes long before someone actually feels a symptom, nature sends out signals that its natural order has started to go off balance in that person. The well-trained acupuncturist can detect these signals, recognise where the imbalance is coming from and select the best points to restore that balance and therefore encourage the health of that patient to return.

Oh, and just in case there are any pedantic acupuncturists out there listening, yes, the number of points is 361, but of course the 12 meridians are bilateral, so offer us 618 points that we can access, while the channels of energy running down the midline just have one point per number. There are also of course points off the general meridian system, but for the benefit of those people listening who aren’t practitioners, let’s just start with the basics!

Ben: But if the points are firing off all the time, how come we don’t feel it?

Gabriella: Do we feel our spleen working? Or blood circulating? Or food passing through our alimentary canal? Most of the time we’re not even aware of our heartbeat, the loudest rhythm in our body. It’s the same thing - one of those habitual events that our brains don’t alert us to. I think we’d go bonkers if we were aware of every single little event in our bodies! People do often say they feel a nice, tingling sensation in their bodies after treatment, which comes from increased energy circulating, putting a little extra fire into those points!

Ben: OK, so what makes Five Element different to other types of acupuncture?

Gabriella: As I’ve said before, because I’m not trained in other methods of acupuncture, it’s not fair for me to describe them. However, treating the root cause seems to be a fundamental difference as opposed to treating symptoms directly. Five Element Acupuncture addresses the underlying imbalance thus often treating far beyond one single symptom.

Ben: So by treating the cause, all the symptoms are treated at one time?

Gabriella: That’s it, and what’s more, treatment can have a much longer lasting effect. And the cause of one condition, let’s say migraines, the cause of migraines could be completely different in each person. So, I’m not treating migraines, I’m treating the unique individual who has the migraines. The beauty of it is that the person with the migraines might also have, let’s say, painful, irregular periods and frequent urinary tract infections. A Western approach would require a different treatment and possibly a different doctor or specialist for all of these conditions, whereas in Five Element Acupuncture, by using one single treatment method administered by one practitioner, we can see all three of these improve at once and I’ve seen this many times in practice. In my Five Element Acupuncturist’s mind, I’m not thinking ‘hmmm, migraine, let’s use migraine points, or painful period points, or urinary tract infection points. I’m selecting points that get that person’s innate healing system working again, so allowing the body to heal itself. And they are very likely to be different points for each person who has the ‘same’ condition.

Ben: And how long does it take to get better?

Gabriella: Oooo Great question, Ben! And why do you think I can’t give you an exact answer to that one?

Ben: Umm… because we’re all unique individuals?

Gabriella: Exactly! And because apparently, Rome wasn’t built in a day, likewise it can take time to reverse weeks, months, years or even lifetimes of imbalance in nature. And, you’re absolutely right, we are all unique and so our own path to greater well-being doesn’t take a fixed amount of time. We’ve been so conditioned to think of treatment in numbers like sixes or twelves, ‘a course of treatment’.

We think of ‘getting there’ - but where is there? Why limit ourselves to this destination called ‘there?’ Yes, of course, we want to be not having those stomach pains, say, but let’s think about a continuing journey, with no final destination, just stops along the way. And there’s no reason things have to grind to a halt at a particular stop! We can get to one place and then realise we could go further, a bit like places on our beautiful planet. Florence is gorgeous but it doesn’t mean we don’t also want to go to Seville, New Orleans and maybe even Kathmandu too!

Ben: Are these all places you’ve been to by any chance Gabriella?

Gabriella: So many places to visit! Life will always have its ups and downs, things that throw us off balance, so Five Element Acupuncture is a perfect companion to assist us in navigating our lives.

What I normally say to people when they ask, because I do understand people want a general idea of how long before this debilitating thing improves - is initially to commit to one session a week, 6 to 8 weeks consecutively. Most people feel some change during this time, sometimes quite dramatic change can happen quite quickly, and other times it’s a longer path to balance and build up the energy. Remember that in most cases, the symptom or problem didn’t just start yesterday or last week even. People come with often chronic conditions that have lasted weeks, months or years. It’s not reasonable to expect these to miraculously disappear overnight (although occasionally it can be very quick). Many variables come into play, including how much the person is willing to make changes that will enhance their potential for greater well-being. However, many people feel a sense of hope as they embark on this treatment even when all hope was seemingly lost, and so many times that hope is fulfilled and the patient recovers. As the person starts to feel better, we gradually space out the treatments, eventually reaching a frequency that works well for each individual to maintain how well they feel. I have treatment once a month, for example. Some come every couple of weeks, some come once every two or three months.

Ben: So once you’ve started, do you have to come forever?

Gabriella: Funnily enough, I don’t have a supply of balls and chains in my cupboard to hold onto my patients Ben! It’s personal choice, but many see - and feel - the wisdom in maintaining the balance they’ve invested in and choose to continue, seeing it as an important and sometimes the main part of maintaining their health and well being.

Pt 2

Ben: So how on Earth did the ancients discover this ‘meridian system’ in the first place, let alone that it could be used as an effective way of treating people?

Gabriella: That’s a great question and the answer is… drum roll… I haven’t got a clue! But, I have pondered and speculated over the two plus decades that I’ve been doing this, and as my own sensitivity to Qi energy has increased, I’ve come up with my own thoughts on the matter. Let’s think about a wild animal, or perhaps better still let’s think about an animal many of us have easy access to observe, one of our own pets for example.

I’ll talk about cats, because yes I am one of those devoted ones known as a ‘cat slave’ - although being a Leo, apparently I’m a cat as well! I’m really just the top cat in the home that I share with 3 other cats (but don’t tell them).

I digress. Cats use their senses to navigate their way through life. I can come home after a long day at the clinic, full of love for my babies, and yet immediately sense their suspicion. They can smell that I’ve been unfaithful the very moment they come to greet me. And yes, I had just spent a few moments petting the cute white cat down the road (affectionately known to us as Steve Bushemi). Their sense of smell is so acute that instantly my unfaithful misdemeanour is outed.

I plonk my bags down and pop to the loo. No need to switch the light on, I’ve made that trip enough times in the dark that I know it by heart. Within seconds, Toulouse, my large ginger cat, has accurately landed on my knee. He doesn’t need light either. He uses his sense of smell and highly sensitive whiskers to gauge exactly how to land, two paws purrfectly placed on each of my knees. I hear a rustling from the bag I’d thrown down in my haste - dammit! Momo is already onto the fact there’s some chicken I’d got for my dinner in there, despite it being ‘protected’ in a shrink-wrapped plastic box.

Ben: Gabriella, you’re starting to sound a little like a crazy cat lady…

Gabriella: Meow! No seriously, there is method in my madness Ben. Weren’t our senses just as acute as those of my cats many years back when we were more ‘beings of nature’? Our evolution has involved changes in how much significance the brain allocates to each sense. It’s a well known fact that if you lose a sense, sight for example, your other senses like smell and hearing become more enhanced. So way back, when we didn’t have the multitude of stimulation that we live with today, I believe we were more able to sense this energy. And so IF we do have a meridian system of energetic pathways, (which of course I say we do) and that gives off some form of sensation, light, or warmth, then of course the ancients were able to track it down, just like an animal can track its prey, or suss out its unfaithful mistress stroke cat slave. How in the world they discovered the nature of each of the points is another question and I haven’t got a clue how they did that.

Ben: So if this is all Chinese theory, how did it get over here to the West?

Gabriella: Five Element Acupuncture made its way into the West early last century and more prominently so in the 1950’s and 60’s when somebody called JR Worsley…

Ben: Who just so happens to be my late Grandfather…

Gabriella: I thought your surname sounded familiar! Well he’s the person credited with bringing it from the East and teaching it widely in the West. So the legacy and practice of this ancient medicine continues. Your grandfather, JR Worsley had extensive training in the far east, and was taught a lineage that was passed down to him via interpreters, as he didn’t speak Chinese. Because of his immense skill in observing nature he readily understood the concepts taught to him, and integrated them into the system we know today as Classical Five Element Acupuncture. What do you remember about him Ben?

Ben: He passed away when I was still relatively quite young, so I don’t have too many memories of him, to little Ben he was just my Grandad and I wasn’t too aware of who he was really. Now knowing who he was and what he went through to popularise the medicine, I admire how he stood firm in his convictions that this medicine really worked and despite all the abuse and backlash he received, he wasn’t deterred. I remember stories my Dad used to tell me about how back in the 60’s people would cross the street when they saw him coming as they thought he was a witch and that they would be cursed.

Gabriella: Sounds more like 1660 not 1960!

Ben: Right? Look how far the attitude towards this medicine has come since then.

Gabriella: Yes. And for him to come from a working class background in Coventry, to go on to become a master of this style of acupuncture in times when this medicine was looked upon as quackery, and then to create a college to help spread it far and wide is admirable.

Ben: It does make me proud to be his Grandson. Did you ever meet him?

Gabriella: I only met him three times, as I came into this medicine in the very latter years of his life. What I remember most was my consultation with him in Leamington Spa. I have two memories of this meeting that have stayed with me all these years. The first is how when he took my pulses, it felt like his fingers were landing on my wrists like a butterfly - so light - something I’ve kept in mind and aimed for over the years in my own pulse taking practice. Pulse taking is one of the most important parts of our practice, as it gives us information on the state of the Qi energy that we are working with during the treatment process, but more on this further down the line after I’ve explained more of the basic theory.

My second memory of JR (as he was affectionately known in our community) was when he looked in my eyes to see if I had a particular energetic block - again, I will explain more about what blocks are further down the line. I remember an incredible vision as I looked back into his eyes. His irises seemed to be expanding and for a brief moment I felt kind of engulfed in a celestial ocean!

Sometimes I think it would have been nice to have been around a few years earlier and experience his teaching first hand but it’s great that his daughter HIlary among others that he taught are still practising and teaching and I can still learn so much from them! One thing I heard is that to the end of his life, he said he was a student of Five Element Acupuncture, and that I admire, because why should we sit on our laurels and think we know it all? The thought of never stopping learning and bettering myself, excites me, so I too am a student of Five Element Acupuncture and I’m grateful that by virtue of his work, I too have become a practitioner.

Ben: And boy am I glad you did, so now I get to have you as my acupuncturist!

Gabriella: Happy to needle you any day, Ben!

Ben: So generous… anyway, you’ve told us that Five Element Acupuncture stimulates acupuncture points that promote natural healing energy in us, but you haven’t told us how.

Gabriella: Patience, Ben! It takes a bit longer than a single podcast episode to explain an entire system of medicine!

Ben: Not fair!

Gabriella: Incorrigible! Rest assured that each week I’ll be revealing a little more of this fascinating theory so with a little patience you’ll gain a greater understanding of how sticking an extremely thin needle into specific points on the body can not only heal our physical ailments but can help our mental health and even lead us to transform our lives! And maybe even make impatient patients patient!

Conclusion

Ben: So, what’s the point?! Why bother with Five Element Acupuncture?

Gabriella: Well, to conclude, Five Element Acupuncture is really far reaching and can help the whole state of a person improve, so promoting an all round sense of well being.

Ben: Yes. We also touched on the basics of acupuncture, the type of medicine which involves inserting needles into specific points on the body to influence the flow of Qi, our vital life force, and promote health.

Gabriella: That's right, Ben. We then delved deeper into Five Element Acupuncture, a unique approach that focuses on the individual and their relationship with the natural world. Nature is a profound source of inspiration for this ancient practice, and it's awe-inspiring to reflect on the intricate balance and design that nature created within our bodies.

Ben: We hope you enjoyed this introduction to Five Element Acupuncture and we invite you, whether you’re a seasoned acupuncture enthusiast, or a skeptic, to join us on this journey of exploration and discovery. In the next episode, ‘How Does Five Element Acupuncture Help?’ we’ll hear some diverse examples of how this medicine has helped people of all different shapes & sizes.

Gabriella: And there are as many potential cases as there are individuals in the world, because Five Element Acupuncture is all about the unique individual. I’ll narrow it down though to fit into one episode, so I can give you an idea of the very broad range of reasons people seek my help.

Ben: And with that, we'll say goodbye for now.

Gabriella: Feel free to get in touch with us if you have any questions or suggestions. Stay tuned for our upcoming episodes and please consider subscribing or becoming a patron to gain access to our bonus episodes and have your questions answered by us.

Ben: Until then, take care and keep on pondering the mysteries of life!

Gabriella: Bye for now!