Five Element Nutrition
The path of yoga has taken me down many roads, and I feel it was inevitable that eventually it would lead me to explore nutritional tools and techniques. I consider food, much like movement, to be medicinal, and central to our wellbeing.
My studies have been guided by Chinese Medicine and Five Element philosophies and theories. Focusing on seasonal, functional nourishment depending on where and when we are in our lives. Much like the theory of Yin and Yang, where two opposing forces are constantly fluctuating between each other, what our body requires is always evolving, depending on our internal and external environments.
Five Element Theory
The history and philosophy of five element theory is rooted in ancient Taoist and Shamanic traditions that predate TCM by at least 5000 years but are by no means exclusive to Taoism. Vedic scriptures, Greek, Native American, Tibetan and Mayan texts also reference the five elements. What all of these cultures realized, was that humans do not function independently from nature. By closely observing the natural world and the Universe, they found that we all shifted through similar energetic cycles.
Each element is associated with a season, a time of day, a time in our life cycle, a lunar phase, ovulation, an emotion, meridians, organs and tissues. But what the elements really symbolize is the quality of energy within everyone during every cycle that manifests in nature, constantly transforming between rising and descending, expanding and contracting, yin and yang.
Wholefoods as Medicine
The food we consume has the same energetic properties as everything else. The Qi it contains can ground, balance or lift energy within us to heal and restore. It’s thermal nature can either warm or cool our body
It goes without saying, but the focus of any diet should be on as much local, seasonal, organic produce to optimize the quality of Qi we absorb, as well as including medicinal herbs and spices. This is eating according to Five Element Theory.
There are five tastes and five colors connected to the elements but choosing what and when to eat something is much more nuanced that that. Much like with movement it is a very individual, constantly evolving, self-exploration.
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