Touching the Spirit

The Role of the Five Elements and the Five Spirits in Emotional and Psychological Healing

with Lorie Eve Dechar, M.Ac.

February 16 - 18, 2007

PRELIMINARY WORKSHOP OUTLINE

Friday Morning

Introductions and Outline of Weekend

Preliminary discussion of Taoist ideas about emotions and the psyche and their implications for acupuncturists and other holistic health professionals, particularly with regard to the interfacing of Western and Eastern attitudes in the treatment room and the integration of alchemical understanding into modern practice. In addition, we will begin to explore the consciousness of the ancient Taoist healers who developed Chinese medicine and, in particular, the tradition of wu shen, the Five Spirits. What is the special kind of “seeing, sensing, speaking and knowing” necessary to do this kind of work?

The Alchemical Tradition

Alchemy is an ancient spiritual discipline and natural philosophy that was practiced, in various forms, the world over for many centuries. Alchemy’s main concern is the process of transformation and the attainment of immortality; in other words, the overcoming of entropy and death and the upgrading of material and psychic substances to form systems of ever-increasing complexity and value. The Taoist alchemical tradition can be viewed as the way Chinese people organized their understanding of the natural world after the waning of shamanism and before the emergence of modern science. It began around 350 BCE with the publication of Taoism’s primary text, Lao Tzu’s Tao Teh Ching. Although alchemical practices are currently outlawed in mainland China, they continue to play a part in Taoist ritual, Taoist and Buddhist meditation practices, and Chinese martial arts. The development of Taoist alchemy in China parallels the development of Chinese medicine. It is the premise of this seminar that many of Chinese medicine’s central principles derive from alchemical consciousness.

(Cited texts: Claude Larre and Elizabeth Rochat de la Vallee, Rooted in Spirit and Lorie Eve Dechar, Five Spirits: Alchemical Acupuncture for Psychological and Spiritual Healing.

Friday Afternoon:

An Alchemical Approach to the Five Elements

In this segment, we will revisit the Wheel of the Five Elements from the perspective of Taoist alchemy, studying the movements of the sheng and k’o cycle and their relationship to the forces of entropy and negentropy from a Taoist perspective. We will also do an intensive investigation of the transition from Metal to Water at the bottom of the cycle and the implications of this transition in the healing process.

This segment will include a review of the Five Elements and an interactive discussion of how an understanding of the elements can help us heal ourselves and our patients.

Saturday Morning:

A Taoist Cosmology – The Axle and the Wheel

According to Taoist tradition, the cosmos began as chaos, an unbroken unity like the egg of Pan Gu. In the beginning was Tao, the unknowable wholeness beyond space and time, being and non-being, form and formlessness. Eventually the original unity polarized and the opposites of yin and yang came into being. After yin and yang appeared, heaven and earth separated and the world was born.

Just as the tension between positive and negative charges creates an electromagnetic field, the tension between the opposing polarities of yin and yang created a third phenomenon—the field of qi, the life force. As the field of qi was compressed and expanded by the tension of the opposites, it gathered potency and momentum and began to spin outward from its own center. The three became four and the compass points of the directions came into being.

As the centrifugal forces of the spinning qi increased, the heavier, coarser yin qi separated from the yang. The four directions further divided to form wuxing, the horizontal wheel of the Five Elements: water, wood, fire, earth, and metal, the basic components of life on earth. The Five Elements went round and round, creating, destroying, and transforming each other in endless cycles. The circulation of the Five Elements formed the Great Round, the Wheel of Life, which represents the cycles of the natural world, the seasons of life that spin in endlessly repeating rhythms of change.

In the middle of the Wheel, a vortex or empty center appeared. Here the lightest, most ephemeral yang qi gathered to create wushen, the vertical Axle of the Five Spirits, the shen, hun, yi, po, and zhi. The Five Spirits animate the Wheel of Life and infuse the Five Elements with the light of the divine. At the center of the wheel is the empty space where the Axle of the Spirits spins its vitalizing and illuminating energies out into the material world.

Introduction to wu shen – the Five Sprits

Moving from the Five Elements to the Five Spirits, we will explore the purpose of the spirits and how they can be used as a tool in the treatment room and in supporting people in discovering their “tao” or authentic wholeness and health.

Discovering the Spirits

In this session, we will explore how wu shen can be used as a tool in psychological healing and spiritual growth. Just as blocks at the level of the body can result in physical pain, blocks at the level of the psyche can result in psychological and emotional distress. This discussion will also include time for each participant to explore their own life situation and identity areas of “stuckness” on a psychic level so that they can be actively engaged in their own healing process during the next days of the workshop.

Shen

During our life, the shen resides in the empty center of the heart where it continues to grow as it guides us along our path through life. Although it is invisible, its presence is reflected in the light that shines from the eyes of a healthy human being. In the presence of healthy shen, there is a luster and brightness to the disposition, a feeling of connection and awareness. Most of all, the presence of healthy shen results in a life that is uniquely suited to the individual and a person whose actions make sense within the context of the surrounding environment.

In this segment we will explore the shen spirit and its implications for psychological health. Both diagnostic and therapeutic issues will be discussed as well as specific points and techniques for moving qi in these areas.

Hun

The hun is a slightly more materialized psychospiritual substance than the shen. Although they live quite close to heaven in the upper spirit levels of the mountain, a bit of yin sediment infiltrates the hun’s yang. This infiltration of matter and vapor into the pure white light of the shen creates the hun. The bit of matter makes the hun more susceptible to the pull of gravity and the emotional life. Pure spirit becomes cloudy as we drift down through the upper soul realm towards the earth. The pure, clear insight flash of the shen becomes shaded and colored by refraction and reflection as it enters the world of dreams, visions, and the imagination.

In this segment we will explore the hun spirit and its implications for psychological health. Both diagnostic and therapeutic issues will be discussed.

Saturday Afternoon:

Yi

The yi represent the powers of the earth in us. They are the spirits that give us the capacity for sustained intention, purpose, clarity of thought, altruism, and integrity. They are related to the emotions of sympathy and the organ of the spleen. They support our capacity for thought, intention, reflection, and the act of applying ourselves to our heart’s purpose. They give us the ability to concentrate, study, and memorize data for one’s work, and they endow us with the capacity for clear thought. In other words, they allow us to apply our spirit to the world of forms.

In this segment we will explore the yi spirit and its implications for psychological health. Both diagnostic and therapeutic issues will be discussed.

Po and Zhi

The po are the animating agents of vital life processes that take place beyond our conscious awareness and control. They are closely related to the autonomic nervous system, the sensory receptors—especially the primitive touch responses of the skin—and the interior sense receptors of the visceral organs. Just as the shen and the hun can be correlated with the frontal lobe of the brain and the conscious mind and imagination, the po and the zhi can be correlated with more primitive aspects of the brain such as the limbic system and cerebellum.

In the microcosm of the psyche, the zhi reside in the most hidden parts of body unconscious, in the instinctual responses of the sex organs, the biochemical intelligence of the endocrine system, and the knowing of our bones.

In this segment we will explore the po and zhi spirit and its implications for psychological health. Both diagnostic and therapeutic issues will be discussed.

During this afternoon session, we will revisit the idea that the spirits are “guiding lights” on the path of tao. Each person will have an opportunity to share their associations and connections to the spirits on a personal level. Through meditation, sharing and other creative processes, we will explore how the sprits can be used to help us live more fulfilling and meaningful lives.

Sunday Morning:

Putting it all together

Breaking into small groups, we will explore the concepts in depth and create treatments that will support personal transformation in and out of the treatment room.

Sunday Afternoon:

Review of therapeutic strategies as well as discussion of implications for treatment protocols and practitioner self-care.

Closing circle.