(Episode 82) Shamanic Healing for the Five Elements

Click here to download a transcript of our conversation.

Share your thoughts in the comments below after you’ve listened to the episode. We’d love to hear from you!

Welcome to our latest episode, where we delve into the pursuit of balance through elemental practices. When we discuss the elements, we are referring to the five Chinese elements: Earth, Wood, Metal, Fire, and Water. Join us as we explore how these practices can enhance our well-being, harmony, and balance in today’s fast-paced world.

Key Themes:

  • Balance and Harmony: We discuss the crucial role of achieving balance in our lives and how connecting with the five Chinese elements can lead to mental, physical, and emotional harmony.

  • Shamanic Traditions: We encourage listeners to engage with shamanic practices to balance the five elements.

  • Connecting with the Elements:

    • Earth: Learn how drumming and preparing food can help you connect with the earth element.

    • Wood: We talk about hugging trees and listening to the wind to strengthen your wood energy.

    • Metal: Discover how wind chimes, singing bowls, and crystals can help you align with metal energy.

    • Water and Fire: Understand the importance of balancing these opposing forces through moon and solar gazing, and why spending time near water can cultivate Ying energy.

  • Leadership and Organization: We delve into how wood energy is associated with leadership and metal with organization, offering insights for those looking to improve in these areas.

  • Creative and Calming Practices: The episode covers how to stimulate creativity with Fire and calm the mind with Water, as well as safe alternatives to direct sun gazing.

Even if you just have 5 minutes, fast forward to one of these key moments, then bookmark this episode for later to learn:

  • [00:00] Introduction to the concept of balance and harmony through elemental energies for overall well-being.

  • [04:30] Discussion on the significance of grounding in the year of the Yang Wood Dragon.

  • [06:50] Importance of integrating shamanic traditions to balance the five Chinese elements for personal harmony.

  • [08:40] The role of astrology in self-awareness and its limitations without the addition of personal growth and free will.

  • [10:20] Practices to connect with the Earth element: drumming and cooking.

  • [12:05] Techniques for connecting with Wood energy: tree hugging and listening to the wind.

  • [14:00] Using wind chimes, singing bowls, and crystals to align with the metal element.

  • [15:35] Leadership and wood energy, organization and metal energy: exploring their interconnections.

  • [17:20] Engaging with Water and Fire energies through moon and solar gazing.

  • [19:10] Recommendations for inviting more Water energy into one’s life for Ying energy and balance.

  • [21:00] Calming the mind with Water practices and stimulating creativity with Fire practices.

  • [22:45] Advice on safe sun gazing.

  • [24:30] The healing benefits of altering old patterns and enhancing consciousness through these elemental practices.

  • [26:10] Emphasizing the role of nature in achieving relaxation and deepening awareness.

Resources Mentioned in This Episode

Download the Microcosmic & Macrocosmic Orbit Meditations at  ⁠acenterfornaturalhealing.com/shop⁠⁠⁠.

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(Episode 79) Foods for Brain Health and Longevity

Click here to download a transcript of our conversation.

Share your thoughts in the comments below after you’ve listened to the episode. We’d love to hear from you!

Regardless of whether you’re listening to this episode during wintertime, you’ll learn about key foods and practices that will support your brain health and longevity.

Winter is related to the Water Element and in particular the Kidneys, which store your essence, known as Jing. Jing is the foundation for brain health, longevity and disease prevention.

Even if you just have five minutes, fast forward to one of these key moments, then bookmark this video for later to learn:

[7:35] an ancient nutrition technique to restore hormone balance

[11:40] five types of foods that help nourish the Kidneys

[12:57] foods that are especially beneficial for brain health

[14:25] the cholesterol myth (and what actually causes high cholesterol) 

[15:40] a key way to regulate your hormones and curb cravings

[16:39] important oils to support brain health

[18:05] the most important meat to support your Kidneys that also strengthens your sinews and bones and can help alleviate neurological conditions

[19:20] the proper way to integrate spices into your diet

[20:30] what to eat if you tend to have cold hands and feet

[23:23] a powerful visualization practice guided by Salvador to reduce anxiety and support longevity

[29:37] what’s essential to lower your stress (and cortisol) levels to reduce morning anxiety

Resources Mentioned in This Episode

Click here to try out a wonderful natural deodorant by Wild! It has a fully sustainable design, vegan, cruelty free, all natural ingredients and you can choose your case color, the scent combinations using essential oils. Use promocode: naturalhealing at checkout for a discount of 25% off your first order. Enjoy!

Click to download your free audio guide on How to Improve Your Gut Health in Just One Week!

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Thank you!

(Episode 59) Creating Space: 3 Practices to Allow New Energy Into Your Life this New Year

Once you’ve listened, scroll down to the comments and let us know — how will YOU create space in your life this new year?

With the onset of the lunar new year and the beginning of the Year of the Water Rabbit, creating space is essential to allow new energy to enter your life.

In this episode you’ll learn how to create space in your physical environment, your body and mind to attract new possibilities in this new year and beyond.

The Year of the Water Rabbit

The Chinese New Year starts with the first new moon of the year, which in 2023 was on January 22nd. The change of the zodiac occurs based on the first solar term (the beginning of the 24 solar terms), which is on February 4th.

The solar terms are based on the elliptical orbit of the Earth around the Sun, divided into fifteen degree segments. These solar terms also determine the seasons. According to the luni-solar calendar, February 4th is the start of Spring in the Northern Hemisphere, and the Vernal Equinox is actually the middle of the Spring season.

We are transitioning from the Year of the Water Tiger in 2022 to the Year of the Water Rabbit.

Since the Rabbit’s natural element is Wood and according to the Five Elements, Water nourishes Wood, this year of the Water Rabbit is considered to be a harmonious year.

In order to fully experience the benefits of this new year, it’s important to make changes to create space in your life.

Ready to live a life of endless possibilities?

Click the button below for your FREE audio guide to learn 4 essential pillars rooted in Classical Chinese Medicine and Daoism that'll support you to transform your well-being and create an extraordinary life.

How to Create Space

Creating space in your environment can be done first through decluttering your home and office, and getting rid of the things you don’t need in your life.

One of the methods we like to employ for this is rooted in the KonMari Method from the book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo. In it, Marie encourages that you go through each category of your belongings (clothes, shoes, jewelry, makeup, kitchenware, etc.) and determine which items ‘spark joy.’

Anything that doesn’t bring you joy when you’re in its presence should either be discarded or given away.

This allows you to really scale back on the extra clutter that you don’t even enjoy having in your life!

We also recommend that every year you try to get rid of at least 30% of all your belongings. It may sound like a lot, but you’ll be amazed at how much extra clutter accumulates over the course of a year!

The next thing to be mindful of is your breathing.

Inhalation allows you to draw in fresh energy, while your exhalation allows you to let go and release toxins from your body.

When your breathing is shallow, not only does this inhibit you from letting go, but it also inhibits the Qi from effectively flowing throughout your body.

Ultimately, the way energy flows in your body will be reflected in your life.

Taking deep breaths allows you to maintain the movement of energy and blood, thereby creating space physically and emotionally.

In terms of the physical body, creating space requires the movement of Yin stagnation and this can be done vibrational through Water Breathing, which has been discussed in past episodes. Salvador demonstrates this breathing in this episode.

Emotionally, releasing emotional stagnation requires moving the blood of the Pericardium Luo, which is done by tapping the inner arm, which is explained in this episode.

Overall, you want to make sure to create space in your physical environment as well as your body through deep breathing and in your emotions through simple exercises that free the stagnation physically, mentally and emotionally.

As you create space, you allow for new and endless possibilities to come into your life.

Scroll down to the comments and let us know — how will YOU create space in your life this new year?

Resources mentioned in this episode

How to Do Ujjayi Breathing

How to Attract Endless Possibilities

(Episode 27) A Deep Dive into Resolving Anxiety: A Classical Chinese Meridian Approach

by Setareh Moafi, Ph.D., L.Ac. & Salvador Cefalu, M.S., L.Ac.

Once you’ve listened, let us know in the comments below — what’s one small step you can take to reduce or prevent anxiety in your life?

In this episode, we discuss anxiety from a Classical Chinese meridian perspective. 

When we’re going through any type of emotional imbalance — such as anxiety and depression — it is really important to have tools and resources to empower us. 

Classical Chinese Medicine is especially empowering as it provides great insight into anxiety disorders, such as the important relationship between the Heart and Kidneys.

The Heart is related to the Fire element and the Kidneys relate to the Water element. 

Fire houses your shen or spirit, which is said to go into the Kidneys that hold your essence, or jing, and retrieves the curriculum that you’re meant to discover or express in the world. The curriculum is essentially your life’s purpose. Anytime there is disharmony between the Heart and Kidneys, you will not feel purposeful in life.

This is also true if there is excessive Fire in the Heart and the Kidneys are not able to anchor, so you end up experiencing anxiety and panic attacks. 

The disconnect between the Heart and Kidneys can begin at an early age, often introducing lack of self-confidence and insecurity. 

All of this is rooted in experiences and nourishment received in early developmental years — which is when the Heart-Kidney relationship is established. These formative years are also important because they relate to the constitutional energetics that are associated with the unique expression of the five elements in each of our personalities. 

The expression of our Five Element energies or temperaments are especially influenced by those around us during childhood. When these natural personalities are suppressed by our parents, society, or the environment generally, it affects how our personalities are formed. 

This type of conditioning impacts our constitutional vessels or the Ancestral Vessels which relates to our hereditary qualities and connections. Specifically, it relates to our first ancestry or Chong, Du and Ren Mai. 

Chong Mai is the penetrating vessel and is considered to be the blueprints of our constitutional energetics and begins formation in utero, continuing development up until the age of 7 or 8. Chong Mai helps form the other two vessels Du Mai (Sea of Yang Qi) and Ren Mai (Sea of Yin Qi) — collectively forming all of the primary meridians in Chinese Medicine acupuncture.

Chong Mai, or the Sea of Blood, makes the primary connection with our Heart and Kidneys and ultimately harmonizes this connection — making us feel in-purpose and helps us quell feelings of anxiety. Insufficiency in the Heart and Kidneys can cause flare-ups so it’s essential to rebuild and reconnect the Heart-Kidney relationship.

It takes time to resolve the root cause of anxiety. That’s why it’s important to seek help from a healthcare professional. Although a temporary relief can be achieved with conventional drugs, they do not address the suppressed or the deeply rooted underlying issue.

Chinese Medicine, through acupuncture, essential oils and herbs, can provide more natural and long lasting relief. In addition, an insight into your lifestyle — especially your eating habits, routines, stress levels — can provide hints about the stagnation in your life and they’re worth exploring as well. 

Once you’ve listened, let us know in the comments below — what’s one small step you can take to reduce or prevent anxiety in your life?