What Is Earth?!

🌏 This week Ben asks Gabriella 'What on Earth is going on?!'...or rather 'What Is Earth?!' They explore this fascinating element from the ground up (or down), discussing the many properties and associations of the Earth element and how it relates to the treatment of Five Element Acupuncture.

We hope you enjoy the show!

Transcript

Pt.1

Ben: So, Gabriella, What… on EARTH are we doing here?!

Gabriella: I think I’m meant to be answering your pesky questions on the Earth element today, you know the line, So, Gabriella, Wha…

Ben: So, Gabriella, What IS Earth?

Gabriella: Third planet from the sun! The Blue Planet! Gaia! The ground beneath our feet. Mother Earth. Our home!

Ben: Nothing to do with soil then?

Gabriella: Oh, quite a bit to do with soil, Ben. But let’s start where we always start when describing the many virtues of an element - with the season.

Ben: Oh, that fifth season that definitely exists…

Gabriella: I wonder why we in the West don’t really recognise it? It’s that time of the year when it’s past summer but it’s not autumn, and people aren’t quite sure what to call it. Easy! It’s Late Summer! When the sun is no longer at its zenith, the light is softer, yellower, more diffused, the shadows longer. Green fields of wheat have changed to golden, but it’s not just the colour that’s changed. What was once an upright head of wheat heading up towards the sun has now bowed slightly with its own weight, signifying that it’s ripe and ready for harvest. Nature is starting to pull in, ready to yield its bounty.

The power of Earth is Decrease. If we remember back to Fire, its power is to mature, so it matures and grows fruit and vegetables to their fullest, but then in order to ripen, this action of ‘decrease’ must happen. There’s a softening of the flesh as starches break down to sugars, and the scent and flavour of the fruit ripens.

Ben: What about winter vegetables?

Gabriella: The same process happens of course as there are crops that grow at different times of the year. But we’re talking about the time of year when there’s an abundance, when the energy of the Earth element is at its most prevalent, its fullest. Orchards full of burgeoning trees, branches heavy with fruit. Crops in fields waiting to be harvested, shops full of this beautiful, fresh produce: the gift of Mother Earth. This is nature’s feast, celebrated in many cultures with some kind of harvest festival where the food that feeds and nourishes us is celebrated, and the surplus distributed amongst those in need.

The energy of the Earth element is all about feeding, nourishing, nurturing, just as a mother does for her children. And Earth is our home. Earth gives us the ground beneath our feet. Is there ever a time when we get out of bed and the earth isn’t there to receive us? We take it for granted that we have this solid, stable home on which to live.

Ben: What about earthquakes?

Gabriella: Exactly Ben. This might sound crazy, but I’ve always felt a little curious about what it feels like to experience an earthquake. And yet how glib does that sound? For those who’ve experienced the tremendous loss and destruction of this powerful and dangerous force of nature, the tragedy of losing loved ones, their homes, everything that provides safety and stability gone in a flash - it’s the last thing they could imagine anyone wanting to experience.

So really, I’m grateful for the stable London ground beneath my feet providing my safe home and the security of knowing it’s pretty likely to always be there for me.

Ben: OK, so why are you saying this? What do earthquakes have to do with our health? Wait a minute…does this have something to do with how the Earth Element manifests within us?

Gabriella: Precisely Ben. Imagine if the earth is out of balance within you, it might feel like you’ve lost your solid footing, or even more, like an internal earthquake. It can totally knock you off your centre. And the direction of Earth is the Centre. And that makes sense, if we think of the globe upon which we live. The sheer mass of our planet creates gravity - the force by which a planet draws objects towards its centre. Earth is the centre of our world, we don’t live in the sky or the clouds, we live on the Earth.

We’ll go more into this in the future, but put simply, the Chinese saw things in the following way: Earth, the Yin, the mother underneath and Heaven, the Yang, the father, above. And man, the creation of these two divine forces standing between the two, feet on the Earth, and head touching the Heavens. Earth being the tangible, the solid matter, the world around us, our centre.

Ben: So what could the colour of Earth be? Blue? Our Blue planet?

Gabriella: No Ben, blue’s water remember, we’ve been over this…let’s think back to the season, where the light changes and the sun gives this beautiful, rich golden glow. So the colour of Earth is Yellow. We can also think of Earth itself, which is a spectrum of colours from pale, sandy yellows all the way through to deep golden yellows and browns. And remember I mentioned the starches breaking down into sugars as produce ripens, this gives the fragrant odour of Earth. That really is the very beginning of the process of rotting, which is where the harvest comes in - we gather in the harvest before it has turned.

We had a big garden when I was growing up. Apart from all the lovely flowers, we had apple trees, a grapevine and a fig tree. I remember regularly checking the apples to see if they were ripe - too soon and they’d be sour (sour being the taste of the wood element - and wood is about birth and growth of the young, so ‘young’ fruit has a sour, mostly unpalatable taste) but too late and they’d fall to the ground, fermenting fast into rotten, brown squishy balls in the grass. The grapes were always sour - the climate of our country not being hot enough to fully ripen them. And the plump, juicy figs were easy to tell when they were just right as they turned from fresh green into this beautiful deep purple colour and they tasted so sweet, which is the taste of Earth.

Ripening is a process and in us, the Stomach, one of the organs of the Earth element, is responsible for taking in our food and processing it into a consistency to send onto the Small Intestine, which we’ll learn later on has the job of picking through all the nutrients, absorbing what we need and sending the waste off to the Colon to dispose of. This process couldn’t happen if whole, undigested food arrived directly there for sorting, it needs to be of the right consistency. So the stomach has the job of churning it all up, like a cement mixer, rotting and ripening it in preparation for the next part of the process. And coming back to the odour, when the stomach isn’t able to do its job properly, the odour that comes from undigested matter can smell like - well, baby sick. It’s often a heavy, cloying smell and the other odour it reminds me of is when you’ve left flowers in a vase of water a bit too long, that combination of the over sweet smell of the decaying flowers, the stems starting to rot in the water.

Ben: What a delight!

Gabriella: Well, it’s just nature Ben, and in us it signifies nature as it’s going out of balance, unable to perform its job as efficiently as when it’s in balance.

Ben: I think it would be very balanced of us to have a little break right now

Gabriella: You’re so balanced Ben.

Pt 2

Ben: So Gabriella, what more can you tell us about the Earth element?

Gabriella: We haven’t talked about the sound yet Ben. The sound of the Earth element is singing.

Ben: Ooh, music!

Gabriella: Yes, there is a quality to the voice that comes from imbalance in Earth that we call singing. We talked about Mother Earth, and mother is a good description - a mother singing a lullaby to her baby as she cradles it in her arms. Nurturing love, providing safety and security for this completely dependent little being. It’s a voice that draws you in - remember the direction is the centre. It’s like a storytelling voice, a melodic lilting, appealing, compelling, one you want to listen to or come towards - or on the other hand you could shy away from it. Remember we’re noticing what’s jarring in a person and sometimes that strong pull in can feel needy, demanding and attention seeking.

Ben: So is that the emotion? Needy?

Gabriella: Good question, oh venerable question master. Again, let’s come back to the mother, as the idea of the nurturing, caring mother is so central to what the Earth element is all about. Not quite needy but sympathy is actually the emotion associated with Earth, and sympathy is an interesting word. While it can on the one hand mean a feeling of pity and sorrow for the misfortunes of another, it also has a meaning of an understanding between people, a common feeling, and I think that’s a good way to think about it. A mother’s role is to allow her children to grow and flourish, and in order to do so she must understand and meet the many needs of her children. Some needs are universal, like feeding, teaching and providing stability but each child also has their own needs and so a mother has to adapt to each and do her best to meet those individual needs of each unique child. Those needs change as children grow up, and so the mother must understand those changes and adapt accordingly.

Ben: Sounds like hard work!

Gabriella: Well it is, but it’s very rewarding to see one’s children flourishing. My two children had very different needs, and although sometimes I felt conflicted to be able to cater to each one individually, I did my best to recognise that bringing up children isn’t a production line churning out identical human beings. One of the most amazing moments in my life - well two of the most amazing moments, was setting eyes on my babies for the first time. It was particularly powerful with the second one. I’d got to know the character of the first one, but as soon as I set eyes on this second newborn baby, I knew there was a totally different little person in my arms and that they were going to need something totally different from my first child. That hadn’t really occurred to me before I was a mother of two, but that very first moment I set eyes on this little being, it was clear as day that all the potential of that new life was in there already, just waiting to blossom as this unique human being.

So - and remember we’re talking about when there is balance - the natural thing for a mother to do, is her very best to provide stability, security and to understand and meet the needs of her children. When we don’t get our needs met, we often feel empty and unfulfilled. Unsatisfied, and always wanting more, because we haven’t received the right thing.

Ben: Awww, poor things!

Gabriella: Sympathy is a complex emotion and often misunderstood. There’s this notion that it’s about feeling sorry for another’s misfortunes, but it’s often not the case and more about being understood, empathy and compassion, like “I as a human get it, I understand where you’re coming from.”

Ben: As an android robot question asker, I’m sorry I don’t get it and I don’t understand where you’re coming from.

Gabriella: I’m coming from Earth! That’s where! Now, Earth feeds us on all levels. Just like all the other elements, it touches every level of our being and so while its job is to feed the body with physical food, the mind and the spirit also need feeding. There’s a phrase in the bible, “Man cannot live by bread alone” - meaning that worldly goods aren’t enough for us, we need spiritual fulfilment as well. And the mind needs feeding. The richness of knowledge nourishes us. It helps us to feel more centred as we become wiser with a better understanding of our context in the world. The sense organ associated with Earth is the mouth, the place where we take in our food, the organ that literally feeds us.

Ben: What happens when Earth goes out of balance?

Gabriella: If Earth in balance gives us that security of knowing that our needs will be met, we have the nourishment we need, and the grounding stability of earth beneath our feet, Earth out of balance can feel like an internal earthquake as we mentioned in Part 1. Not grounded, lacking stability. Our needs not being met, starving even - this can all result in neediness. Nothing ever enough, we may overfeed ourselves in a vain attempt to fill a void. Or we may neglect to feed ourselves enough but derive great satisfaction from feeding others, in a vain attempt to feel full and fed. Many times mothers neglect themselves, so important to them is the task of feeding and nurturing their children. I often use the analogy of a tree to emphasise how important it is to take care of yourself before you look after others, of course we could also refer to the advice given on aircrafts, “put your own oxygen mask on first before helping others”. But imagine a tree heavy with ripe fruit - in order to provide this delicious fruit - it must first receive. Its roots draw in water and vital nutrients from the soil. Its leaves receive warmth and light from the sun. Only then can its fruit grow and ripen to provide its gift. Without any of that, it would have nothing to give. So, being able to receive and look after ourselves is essential if we’re to give and look after others.

Ben: Not everyone is so good at looking after themselves, are they?

Gabriella: No, when Earth is imbalanced this can be an issue. In a way, it’s like we’ve not learned to take over the role of the mother, so the jobs of feeding, nurturing and supporting ourselves haven’t kicked into action. And as I said before it can feel easier to take care of others than ourselves.

So we’ve talked about the stomach taking in nourishment, and transforming it into a consistency that is workable for the body, now the other organ of Earth is the spleen. The physical functions of the spleen are primarily concerned with storing and filtering blood cells as well as production of white blood cells that protect us from infection. The spleen is part of the lymphatic system which in turn is a part of the immune system. In addition, in Chinese medicine, the spleen has the role of transportation and distribution, getting things from one place to another. Nothing is of any use in our bodies if it’s not in the right place. So the spleen is like the logistics manager ensuring things are in the right place at the right time. And when the spleen is out of balance, there’s a tremendous stagnancy and lack of movement because nothing can function without the components it needs to function being in the right place.

Ben: OK I get it. Earth is about nourishment but also transportation which is required to get the nourishment to where it needs to be. What more can you teach me about Earth sensei?

Gabriella: Well we could stay for hours talking all about Earth, but let’s not! Earth can come in many different forms, there are clay soils that are heavy, thick and solid. Sandy soils are lighter, dryer and lower in nutrients. Fertile silt soils that easily retain moisture. Loams, which are mixtures of the first three. Then there are peat soils, high in organic matter and moisture and chalky soils that are alkaline. Different plants thrive in different soils, it’s not a one size fits all kind of a thing. And those different qualities may manifest in us.

Ben: Examples please

Gabriella: Well - think of some of the qualities of earth I’ve just mentioned, like heavy, thick and solid, or lighter and drier, or retaining more moisture. Our consistencies are all different. Earth gives us our form. Muscles are the parts of the body associated with Earth. Remember Wood gives us the tendons and ligaments, which hold the bones of our skeletons together and attach them to muscles (bones being the body part that Water is responsible for). They give us movement along with the muscles, which also give us strength and form. We’ll learn next time that the Metal element is responsible for our skin, our outer wrapping that holds our form. Flesh is the external physical manifestation of the earth element, and we certainly do have different textures and types of flesh. If skin holds our form together, flesh gives us each our unique shape and within it our stores and reserves of the energy that comes from our food.

Ben: Thank you for fleshing out our knowledge of the Earth Element Gabriella.

Gabriella: You’re not welcome..

Ben: Sad Face

Gabriella: Oh don’t do the bottom lip Ben! Of course you’re always welcome.

Conclusion

Ben: OK, so What does Earth have to do with acupuncture, the practice of sticking metal needles into human bodies to increase health and wellbeing.

Gabriella: Oh no, you’re not getting away with it that easily Ben, it’s your turn to tell me what you’ve learnt!

Ben: Alright, fair enough. So, it's clear that its significance extends far beyond just physical stability and nurturing. Each element corresponds to specific organs, meridians, and functions within the body. Earth, being associated with the spleen and stomach, influences digestion, nourishment, and the distribution of vital energy, or Qi.

When Earth is in balance, we experience optimal digestion, absorption of nutrients, and a sense of groundedness. But when it's imbalanced, issues like digestive disorders, fatigue, and emotional instability can arise.

An acupuncturist may recognise the need to rebalance the Earth element which in turn can promote health and vitality in body, mind and spirit.

Gabriella: Exactly, Ben.

And don’t forget the importance of Mother Earth, nurturing us, she’s the ground beneath our feet, she brings security, stability and maternal love.

Ben: Well Gabriella, I feel very grounded now having unearthed so much about the Earth element. What on Earth are we going to do next week?

Gabriella: Well which Element have we not explored yet?

Ben: Plutonium?

Gabriella: Very not funny Ben. It’s Metal!

Ben: I’m looking forward to you ironing out the metal element for us next week!

Gabriella: Until then stay grounded and take good care of yourselves! Bye bye my children!