Written by Li-Lan Hsiang Weiss L.Ac. September 15, 2020
Graphic by Paget Fink of Paget Fink Designs
“Deep relaxation and listening for the Water element, guided visualization for the Wood element, taste and connection to the Heart for the Fire element, voice and food connection to Earth element, smell and touch for the Metal element”
As an ongoing blog series on the Chinese Five Elements, the current third edition of Tones for your Bones virtual series is geared towards Empaths, Sensitives, and Energy Workers and uses the Five Senses woven into Qi Gong, acupressure, and meditation practices set to live acoustic music. This is the most channeled series as of yet. What does that mean? I guess I’m moving into another realm with teaching and my practice.
Tones for your Bones is a work in progress between Alex and I. Creating art together is like life: one is constantly learning from each other, communicating, practicing, discussing, impatience at times, exasperation at others times (mainly on my part), letting go, being in the moment, having fun, discipline, diligence. Thus, maybe with this pandemic and different way of doing things, our co-creation and what we worked on thus far seems to have catapulted me into another realm of teaching and sharing.
I am listening to the universal message of slowing down, listening more acutely, holding my heart to react less while allowing it to be open, allowing the mystery to inform me, allowing the Divine to guide me as there is much not in my control, being with starting over but with more experience, more support, and hopefully some more wisdom. I feel like I am flowing rather than fighting the current, thus this channeled series has a sense of ease.
After teaching two 5 week virtual series of Tones for your Bones this past spring and summer, I felt like I had the technology and set up down: I had my weekly teaching material templates organized, I got a lot better at using zoom, we got our sound quality as good as it can be for now, we were finally able to buy a new webcam (they were out of stock a lot and choosing one was overwhelming), we set up our music room quickly with Chinese screens to create a less wild backdrop (we have a lot of color in our house). So towards the end of the second virtual series, I realized that as I have always resonated with working with clients who are sensitive and empaths as I am one myself, the way I teach a class is probably best appreciated by those who are similar in that way.
Why? People who are sensitive and empaths tend to FEEL the body and the emotions, sometimes too acutely and that can be overwhelming. So the beauty of Qi Gong, acupressure, and creating order thru the Five Elements and focusing on a particular sense in it’s various relationships brings the nervous system to a state of calm and clarity. I find that empaths and energy workers benefit from movement, but a little of everything goes a long way. So a flow of body movement, breath awareness, guided meditation, creativity, and acupressure; generally going from yin activity to yang and then back to yin, leaves one feeling the embodiment of the element and complete. Tones for your Bones is not a high impact Zumba or Kickboxing session, the empaths in tune with themselves need more than just Yang type activities, the practice is about moving inwards deeper into ourselves to embrace the diamond within.
It’s felt great to channel ideas, see where they lead, and create. Everything I do continues to influence all aspects of my life, including what is unfolding in Armonia Health LLC with our services…to be continued.
For more on the Chinese Five Elements, check out these other two blogs Intro to the Chinese Five Elements and Chinese Five Element Personality Types
For more on Judith Orloff MD extensive writing on Empaths, start at her website: https://drjudithorloff.com/how-to-know-if-youre-an-empath/