April 2016 – Unsettled Frustration

As the spring flowers sing out to us and the leaves unfurl, we enter the season of Wood, the season of growth and creation and new beginnings (and potentially frustration!). New beginnings abound with the Bailey essences business of course! The website is changing – the shopping cart has been improved and looks quite lovely. As things change, there are inevitably little hiccoughs. If anyone notices anything on the website that needs to be addressed, Jenny would love to hear from you. We know that some of the links are broken, and we are working on this.

I will be travelling over to England this May and June and I will be offering a few workshops while I am there. There will be a day on Five Elements and how to use them in daily life. Following on from this will be a day on Supplementary Fire. It will be the season of supplementary fire when I am there and we will work on Heart energy and filling our cup with love. I also plan some work with mandalas and a day of using five element essences in more depth which I will run with Stephen. All of these workshops will focus on Bailey essences that are relevant to the workshop. Please visit my website for more information.

For now though, watch for the wind! In Chinese five elements, wind is considered to bring dis-ease into the body. Wrap up well in those sneaky winds at this time of year in particular…. Keep ears, head and neck covered to prevent the “evil” wind from driving into your body. Remember that although wind can be utterly devastating, it can also bring in positive winds of change blowing away the cobwebs and allowing space for new beginnings.

Vision, planning, flexibility and excellent overview are the hallmarks of Wood energy in balance.

At this time of year, it is quite often the case that our Wood energy is a little in excess leading to feelings of frustration and moodiness.

Our culture tends to disapprove of anger – we’re not supposed to be angry these days. In fact, anger is simply an expression and a part of being human. It is not wrong or unhealthy to feel a rise of anger, but we need to measure our response according to the circumstances. When the anger is excessive and hurtful, or when we push it down without expressing it, then that is not healthy and we might consider that our Wood energy is in Excess.

When continued frustration arises, it is a call to pay attention to your deep inner needs, to make sure that you are on the right path for your deep personal goals and aspirations. In particular, we need to recognise our internal need to express ourselves fully and with integrity.

In addition, we can support ourselves physically by doing a spring cleanse diet for a while and by opening up our doors and windows and physically spring cleaning our environment too.

A simple diet of plenty of fresh greens, steamed rice and clear broths for a few days as well as an olive oil and lemon juice liver flush can set you up for better health during the summer months if Wood Excess is expressing itself.

There are various scenarios that would show Wood is out of balance. We can find ourselves vacillating, planning (but never following through with real action), or being unable to plan effectively at all. It can also be difficult to stick to our plans. We can easily be thrown off by self-doubt and circumstance. Or we might stick to our plans too rigidly, refusing to change even when it is obvious that we need to do so.

When Wood in Excess is the main problem, it can lead to all the other elements being deficient. We might feel angry, resentful, irritated and judgmental and as a consequence, we might be completely lacking joy and passion in life (Fire), we might over-worry and be anxious and hold weight easily on our bodies (Earth), and we may be fearful of change and of personal growth (Water) and we may be unable to maintain our boundaries (Metal).

Thankfully, there are many wonderful essences to help! I have just chosen a small selection. These are all composite essences from the Five Element Set (now available with a new box lid).

ENERGY LIBERATOR is a fantastic essence when energies are stuck. It seems to kick start change and start things moving around the five element cycle. It’s a great essence to use when it’s not obvious what changes need to be made, and also when everything seems so stuck that it’s difficult to start any movement.

WOOD EXCESS is a great essence for when our Wood energy is in excess. When Wood is in excess, we can feel angry, frustrated, irritable, bitter, opinionated, judgmental, stuck and inflexible.

METAL DEFICIENT boosts our Metal energy, which in turn controls the Wood energy and stops it from running rampant. When our Metal is deficient, we may lack boundaries and we might feel disconnected, melancholy and full of grief.