Hello, I am Ivy Ma, a Traditional Chinese Medicine Doctor.
Here I am going to introduce some basic TCM theory – The Water and Fire of our body.
Maybe you have heard about the Five Elements in TCM: Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth. These Five elements work as a system in our bodies.
Water is Fluid
Water means all the fluid in our body. Blood, body fluid, tear, saliva, sweat…
Water contains all the substance we need, and bring all the wastes out. Water can keep energy. The human body up to 60% is water.
But sometimes water becomes a flood. When water stuck at an inappropriate place, which we call this situation as” Wet”, that is flooding.
Flooding messes out things and becomes Chaos.
Fire is Heat
Fire is the heat energy warms our body and keeps our body temperature. Fire provides heat energy to every cell of our body, all the metabolism, nerve reactions, muscle contracts, fluid flows.
But sometimes fire becomes a fever when loses control. Causing over-reaction of the immune system. Lead to dry and painful throat, dry and itching skin.
Water vs Fire
Water needs to work with Fire. Water needs heat energy to warm and flow. Fire needs Water to keep energy and bring substance to all the cells.
At the same time, Water can prevent Fire from overheat, Fire can heat up the “stuck water” to flow. Water and Fire reinforce and counteract each other.
To keep our bodies inside work smoothly, we need to balance the water and fire and to ensure the energy flow and fluid flow smoothly. This is the secret of health.