The Earth Element: Returning to Center with intention (Yi) and Qigong

In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), the Earth element represents our center. It is the place we return to between seasons, effort and rest, expansion and contraction, giving and receiving.

Earth is an interesting element, as it manifests during each seasonal change but also has it own season of late summer with its golden days of harvest and the qualities of fullness & nourishment.

Figure: Wu Xing generating and controlling cycle of 5 elements (left) and cosmological sequence of 5 elements (right)

In the body, it governs the Spleen and Stomach systems, which help our ability to receive, digest, and transform food and thoughts. The spirit that is housed in the Spleen is called Yi  (=intention). Yi governs our focus and cognitive function, memory and is essentially digesting information, just as on a physical level the spleen is digesting food.

When in healthy balance, Yi ensures clear and directed thought, when imbalanced we encounter overthinking, worry and mental fogginess. And this is quite common for many people (me included!).

In our Yin Yoga practice, we can support ourselves or our students with cues that explore our center and the ability to be present with what is right now. The Taoist principle of effortless action, Wu Wei, can be a helpful concept to stop striving and gripping and instead soften. This approach helps to feel safe and supported and is basically speaking to our overloaded nervous systems.

Reflection prompt: What takes me off center? And how do I return?

Earth element and the Nervous System

In Taoist philosophy, balance is dynamic. We are not meant to remain perfectly centered at all times. Because life moves us. Challenges stretch and twist us, without that we would not grow.

But our ability to return is the medicine. Most people forget to return or have lost their connection to their center or don’t feel it is a safe place to return to.

Over-doing, overthinking, overstimulation occurs when we lean out too much without returning to center before doing the next thing (over and over again). Without balance we become scattered, congested and tense in body + mind.

We might have the time to decompress, but rather spend it scrolling instead of looking at the night sky, we eat while watching something on our phones or while walking etc. The smell of urgency in the air, the artificial need to be busy at all times is a convenient distraction.

The intention of forming a habit to return ‘home’ on a regular basis can change this. Because a balanced Earth element supports nervous system regulation, whereas an imbalanced Earth correlates with sympathetic overdrive (overthinking, bracing etc), stagnant earth feels like a heaviness, mental fog not lifting.

Why Qigong Is like Medicine for the Earth element

While Yin Yoga helps us soften into stillness and settle Qi (our life force energy), Qigong uses gentle and intentional movement to open up the Huang (= fascia and connective tissues) so the Qi can flow.

Qigong is great to strengthen Yi, that intentional focus, because the forms practiced in Qigong require attention to detail. You need to be present.

Slow weight shifting, soft spirals, coordinated movement and presence make Qigong deeply regulating to the nervous system.

Qigong Flow: a journey home to center

This 20-minute Qigong flow is designed to invite clarity, soothe the nervous system and ground you in the present moment.

It is SLOW and that is the intention here.

To slow down so you are able to become present and feel into the body, notice your center as you gently move and spiral around.

If you wish to try this, be patient with yourself and invite this reflection:
What truly nourishes me and what is too much? How can I establish a balance?

Taoist Reflection

The Tao Te Ching reminds us:

‘He who knows he has enough is rich" (Chapter 33)

This suggests that contentment is a state of inner sufficiency, not external accumulation and that we therefore need to know what is enough/ nourishing for us and what is too much/draining us.

This is why I practice Yin Yoga and Qigong, to cultivate the awareness and intention that allows me to return to center, again and again.

And in that returning, regulation arises naturally.