Constitution (Spirit)

         I’ve been in a Symposium all weekend with Jeffrey Yuen, an 88th generation Daoist Priest.  He is a master of Classical Chinese Medicine, Taoism, Acupuncture, Chinese Herbology, Tai Ji Chuan, and Qi Gong.  The main focus was on treatment based on constitution.

         In Chinese Medicine, constitution refers to our inherent and acquired attributes, commonly based off the five elements.  Usually past childhood we have a combination type based off of our inherent and acquired or adopted constitutions.  To me this is a lot like what our spirit is.

         The 5 types are:

Wood- idealists, visionaries, tendency to grow beyond limits (think a tree outgrowing its pot), and they are susceptible to change

Fire- require lots of stimulation and are often very active; charismatic and intuitive; energetic; short tempered; good at fighting tough battles; can burn themselves out

Earth- accommodating; engaging; predictable; loyal; honest; caring individuals; like stability; have issues with stagnating through accumulations or overtax (think consumptive diseases like diabetes)

Metal- based off of upbringing/conditioning; organized and structured; rational; logical; reserved; can adjust easily.  Are prone to feelings of depression, isolation. Can be controlling or dominating.

Water- susceptible to changes in weight; shy, timid; self-reliant; self-contentment/sufficient; good when flowing, but stillness can cause problems (think of dangers of still water versus running water).

          As mentioned, we usually have a combination of these elements.  For me, my main constitution is fire, but I also have wood (wood generates fire), I have adopted metal (built structure), I have adopted earth (health care worker-caring).  Through this, I can see how my Kung Fu would be affected.  That fire/eagerness can get me in trouble because I want to tend to leap into things, but I can adopt other qualities to control that quality.  I know that I tend to more inflammatory diseases, and can burn myself out with too much activity.  Because of this, I know what I need to do to add some balance to these qualities.

          I can write a separate article witch the physical attributes of these elements/constitutions, but I’m curious to know what you think your constitution is.