The Vital Force:
The vital force is a term used to describe the intelligent living energy that is responsible for maintaining our healthy equilibrium and enabling our life. This life force is acknowledged in many systems of medicine particularly Traditional Chinese Medicine and acupuncture where it is referred to as ‘Qi’. You may be familiar with the acupuncture meridians which are channels for this energy. Yoga and Ayurvedic medicine also refer to this energy through the term ‘prana’. All these systems are describing the same intelligent energy which maintains health and vitality.
While seemingly intangible, the effect of the vital force is readily apparent in your day to day energy and ability to engage dynamically with life. In all, this ‘energy’ can understood as a subtle, electro-magnetic flow of currents essential in the maintenance of the body-mind system.
Five Dimensions of Life Force
As a client it is beneficial to understand that there are five dimensions to this energy – they are often termed the “Five Elements”. I use the Chinese system as it focuses on its relationship to five principal organs that are known and understood in biology which is familiar to modern societies. Those organs and their nominated elements are:
Heart
Element: Fire
Primary Function: Circulation of blood
Spleen / Stomach
Element: Earth
Primary Function: Digestive power
Lung
Element: Metal
Primary Function: Intake of air and expelling toxins
Kidney
Element: Water
Primary Function: Control and circulation of fluids
Liver
Element: Wood
Primary Function: Purification and storage of blood
Diagnostics
Diagnosis of the nature of the disturbance of the life force is a primary consideration in my practice. You may well receive a provisional diagnosis about the quality of these aspects of the life force during the consultation e.g whether one or the other is ‘deficient’ or ‘stagnant’ or has ‘excess heat’.
Western diagnostics may also be needed through the regular tests and examinations performed by the orthodox medical system of general practitioners and specialists.