Water: London Acupuncture

Water is the element of winter. In nature, the exterior of winter appears so still. Bare trees silhouette crisp cold skies. Nature withdraws into herself to prepare the ground for the coming year, with all its demands. It is the time of year to lie low, to survive the winter months, to build up reserves for the coming spring: the start of the new cycle of growth that will eventually lead to a new harvest.

Not one seed that lies in the ground can burst into growth in spring without water. The earth dries up in summer without adequate supplies of water underground to moisten and cool it. No plant could bear any fruit without water to feed it and give it form. There could be no animal life without plant life to feed it, and no animal could survive without water to drink. In short: there is no life without water.

The organs governed by the Water element are the Kidney and the Bladder. The Kidney is in charge of the distribution of fluids throughout the body, mind and spirit.The Bladder’s task is to separate and eliminate the unwanted and toxic waste that the Kidneys have passed to it, whilst retaining water in the reservoir. This is an expandable reservoir of water and energy for us on all levels of body, mind and spirit. If the reservoir is too full, we become saturated, or waterlogged with oedema. Too little water and we become parched, like a desert, and suffer from dehydration.

Water gives us our will and determination, it powers our ambition; no river would reach the sea over all the obstacles it meets without the strength, the will power and the ambition to do so.

Water’s emotion is fear and our basic instinct to survive is driven by this powerful element.