The Five Element Medicine Path
“The Medicine Path” as a unique approach to healing was developed by Jaki Daniels, whose healing practice is rooted in the traditional ways of Indigenous medicine people. Medicine people served their community through intimate connection with the land, the plants, the animals and a deep understanding of the nature of medicine and the laws of healing. Jaki has trained a group of practitioners to continue in this tradition.
In this context plants and other healing agents are understood to offer more than what their physical chemistry denotes; their colour, shape, root system, texture, and the conditions required to thrive all create a profile or character that can be drawn upon to bring an ill person into balance. Medicines are not simply ‘taken’, they are received through a process of opening to wellness by treating the root cause, which can lie within the body, mind or spirit.
Key Features
By assessing the quality and quantity of life-force energy that flows through each meridian, via the meridian ‘pulses’ which can be felt at the wrists of the patient, a Five Element practitioner can detect imbalances that may not yet have reached the symptomatic level, and can therefore be corrected before the onset of illness.
Because our life-force energy powers all functions; body, mind, and spirit, this form of healing can be utilized for symptoms that are not physical, and appear at the level of the emotions, the mind, and/or the spirit. Invisible and hard-to-reach conditions such as depression, anxiety, or feelings of isolation and unworthiness, are as available to amelioration via balancing the meridian pathways as physical symptoms, thereby allowing for ‘balanced wellness’.
While most people who have been introduced to Chinese medicine are familiar with acupuncture and the use of needles, Jaki and her trained practitioners use a gentle touch combined with a highly developed art of subtle sensing.
As this system works to correct and restore wellness through the laws of nature and the inherent functioning intelligence of the body, it can be used to complement other therapies. It is not only illness that compromises our well-being but also medications and other stressors that have their own side effects. This Five Element system, through its emphasis on ‘restoration’ can help to support the body in its capacity to cope with these sometimes challenging situations.
Please see The Medicine Path: Five Element Healing for further details.