Balance the Air Element with Dance and Chinese Medicine

So let’s talk about the Air element. In Chinese medicine, the Air element is actually referred to as Metal and is key to maintaining your immune system health.

It governs the organs and meridians of the Lungs and the Large Intestine. The purpose of the Lung and Large Intestine organs is to help us to let go.

The Lung control respiration, the taking in of oxygen and pure qi and the exhalation of carbon dioxide and toxins or impure qi.  They are also responsible for the distribution of qi through the body, sending in down (from the lungs) and dispersing it through the body.

The lung has a special relationship with the skin and its protective functions, helping the skin to work as part of our immune system, the lung circulates qi to just under our skin.

This is called defensive Qi and protects from what is known in Chinese Medicine as ‘External Pernicious Influences’ or colds, viruses and other conditions that can enter the body via the respiratory system and skin.

The Large Intestine is responsible for absorbing water from food and fluids, storing the waste that is left and eliminating this from the body. It governs our ability to let go of impurities and things we no longer need, in a physical way.  Imbalances in the Large Intestine can result in too much fluid being reabsorbed, or not enough, resulting in constipation or diarrhoea. 

This element is important as it gives us the ability to let go of the things that don’t serve us. This includes waste products from our body as well as emotional issues and experiences from the past.  We need to let go of them so we can stay in the present.

The emotion that goes with this element is grief. We are always letting go,  always letting go of  past experience so that we can be in the present. When we are in the present then we are open, receptive and connected to the world around us. When this element is out of balance we may feel depressed, sad, and have respiratory and /or elimination problems.

The Wu Tao Air dance concentrates on stimulating the energy flow through the Lung and Large Intestine Meridians in the body. It will help you to release feeling of grief and sadness.  It can assist in relieving lung and breathing conditions, such as asthma and bronchitis, and help you build a strong immune system.