The Five Phases of the Aging Process According to Traditional Chinese Medicine
In addition to genetic influences and the effects of your lifestyle and natural aging of your cells, energy medicine, and in particular, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), recognizes additional factors of an energetic nature that help to explain aging. Understanding the energetic influences specific to you will enormously assist you to anticipate the likely direction of your aging process.
The Five Element Theory of traditional Chinese medicine is also called the Five Phases Theory and for very good reason. From birth to death we move through five phases of our lives barring a premature and mortal disease or accident.
The ancient Chinese identified each of five typical phases of life as 15 or so years long and each one under the influence of one of the five energies from the five elements of traditional Chinese medicine. This is based on an average lifespan of seventy five years, but in modern times, with our expanded life spans, we can typically add up to three to five years to each phase of life.
The five phases of traditional Chinese medicine are: Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water.
In addition, we must take into account the energetic effects we experience from January to December of every year as we move through five energetic seasons where each season corresponds to an element of traditional Chinese medicine.
As we move from one energetic season to the next we are subjected to the specific energies of each season and its climatic consequences. In addition, the moment of birth—the hour, the day, the month and the year—impart specific energies of those moments forming what is known as our individual energetic biorhythm.
Youth is associated with the energy of Wood, the first phase of life—from birth to about age 15 or a bit older. It is a time when the burst of yang energy drives the growth of the body. During the youthful Wood phase, our vital energy is very alive and needs to be directed.
Wood is also the phase of life when the skin is likely to reflect the Wood skin condition of excessive oiliness and blackheads.
During the Wood phase of intense growth, the young person tends to feel emotions of frustration, anxiety and often anger. It's easy to feel restless in light of all the energy that surges through our very young bodies—all very normal for this initial growing phase of life.
The Wood skin conditions and emotions are addressed by the PHYTO5 Wood quantum energetic line.
Eventually, those who are not the Wood type (meaning they do not have a Wood biorhythm) work themselves out of the natural manifestations typical to Wood as they enter into Fire, the next fifteen-year phase of life. Those who are indeed Wood types, though, will likely tend to express some degree of Wood conditions throughout the rest of their lives. This phenomenon is true of all dominating energies (energies of the individual’s biorhythm).
Fire is the time of young adulthood—the second phase of life beginning around age 15+ to age 30+. During this time we become adults and continue to blossom as we learn life skills and build our lives.
Normally for the Fire skin condition, red blood circulation can be out of balance in its flow creating hot, sensitive, blotchy allergic skin especially during this phase of life.
Our joy can also become unbalanced during the Fire phase of life expressing as inappropriately too much or a marked lack of felt joy. Joy-in-balance would be the ideal goal during the Fire phase of life.
The Fire skin conditions and emotions are addressed by the PHYTO5 Fire quantum energetic line.
Earth is the next phase and obviously one of more mature adults aged approximately 30+ or older to 45+. Many adults have started families and nurturing not only our families but all our relationships is important to us.
With the rigors of life our skin can become toxic. We might notice enlarged pores and blemishes indicating our skin needs purifying and we might also feel a tendency to go into overwhelm as we try to be all things to all people. This keeps us from finishing projects and stagnates our creative expression but it can be brought to balance.
The Earth skin conditions and emotions are addressed by the PHYTO5 Earth quantum energetic line. You can also learn more about the Earth type in our blog on the Earth Type Personality at our sister site here.
It is only a matter of time before we all experience some degree of the elements that mark the most visible phases of the aging process, namely, Metal in our fifties and Water in our sixties and beyond.
Metal, the fourth phase of life begins somewhere around age 45+ and lasts to age 60+, roughly. As well established adults, we're now better equipped to meet life where it is and focus on what’s important including a greater awareness of our true self.
A skin condition we might normally expect to see during the Metal phase would be surface dryness and flakiness. Blue blood circulation and mineralization may be somewhat out of balance, showing up as congested dull lifeless skin and more visible veins, particularly on our legs.
Many people begin to tend to grief and sadness during the Metal phase of life. These negative emotions can be balanced creating a sense of contentment and a deeper knowing that all is well.
The Metal skin and emotional conditions are addressed by the PHYTO5 Metal quantum energetic line. You can also learn more about the Metal Type Personality at our blog on the topic at our sister site here.
Water, the element and energy of Winter, is also the energy of the peak of yin. It’s the fifth and last of the five phases of life (after sixty+ years of age). At this point, we’ve amassed a great deal of wisdom from life experience to the extent that we have remained in energetic balance and many of those living through their Water phase of life can now be called Sages.
The Water phase of life influences body shape and skin condition. During this phase, the body's water circulation tends to be out of balance. Dehydration of the body increases and causes greater loss of skin tone and elasticity. The loss of collagen has also increased since yang energy is at its lowest point. Our bodies develop a tendency to stiffen while our lack of skin tone amplifies the appearance of wrinkles.
The out of balance emotion of the Water energy during the Water phase of life is fear when there is a focus on the inevitable death of our body.
During this phase, our task is to face our fear and ideally reach emotional balance as we strive to achieve a state of zenitude.
The skin conditions and emotions of the Water phase of life are addressed by the PHYTO5 Water energetic line. Read all about the Water Type Personality in our blog on the topic at our sister site here.
As we age we accumulate the effects of our own energetic imbalance according to:
the energetic influences of our biorhythm according to the time of our birth;
how we respond to the effect of each seasonal energy and its climatic effects;
our manner of lifestyle;
how we make our way through each fifteen year+ phase of life.
All these factors influence and affect, to varying extents, our health, our body shape, our skin conditions and our emotions. By understanding the energetic principles of traditional Chinese medicine and how they apply to your personal energetic makeup, you can begin to understand how your age points to where you stand on the cycle of the five phases. This understanding will show you what specific energies are at work during any phase of life and how they will continue to influence your aging process.
When you come to understand the energetic influences in your current phase of life and what might be possible for you in the next fifteen+ year cycle phase, many likely issues can be anticipated and mitigated.
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