Keep the Home Fires Burning
(Photo by Maggie Begley)

Energy is what animates us and gives us life. There are several vibratory components in the body, expressing this Energy in various ways. All of nature is made up of these subtle elemental energies, all with different rates of vibration, from subtle to gross: Ether (Space), Air (Gases), Fire (Transformations), Water (Fluids) and Earth (Solids). In terms of density, Fire is right in the middle. The Elements are also associated with the Astrological Signs. In the case of Fire, that would be: Sagittarius, Aries, and Leo natures. Fire Signs, or those with lots of Fire in their charts, are more vulnerable to Fire issues. Fundamental Field Theory/Therapy applies to animals as well. Your pets have their own problems, and like children, they are energetic sponges for what’s going on around them, in their caretakers’ lives.

In the body, the Fire Element arises from the #3/Solar Plexus Chakra as it spins, carrying a negative electrostatic charge. The Solar Plexus Chakra is located in the region of the solar plexus, with reflex areas at the head, forehead, eyes, umbilicus, mid-back, thighs, liver, gall bladder, middle fingers and middle toes, blood and circulatory system, digestive system (assimilation), metabolism, and the stress response of the conscious mind.

The Fire Element also encompasses the issues of:
How you perceive and deal with authority figures, including yourself; personal power, control, and transformation; will, vitality, enthusiasm, brightness, expansiveness; and physical activity. Psychologically, Fire is associated with anger, rage, frustration, resentment, and forgiveness; it is shaking motion; physiologically, it is associated with the urges of hunger and thirst (i.e. stress-eating, weight gain/loss, anorexia); biochemically, it is associated with the bodily fluid, urine, as well as interference from food, supplementation, drugs, allergies, sickness, and disease that effect the Fire reflex areas/organs; structurally, it is associated with the blood and lymph vessels, arteries, veins and capillaries.

Any depleting activity in this chakra, be it emotional, mental or physical (whether you are consciously OR unconsciously aware of it), will affect these areas in particular, as well as your entire system. The mind/emotions can affect the body. For example, if you are in a situation in which you feel you have no control, it may show up physically as an ulcer or migraine headaches. Your physical body can also affect your emotional body. So, if you are physically stressing your body with overwork, stress and strain, and/or eating too much fatty, acidic food which affects your gall bladders ability to process fats…this might make you more susceptible to feeling vulnerable around other people’s “demands”. This is partly how the mind-body connection works. Of course, each person is different, and the interactions can be a little more complex than that, but Dr. Metz and I have a handle on that in terms of helping you to figure it out. That’s our job!

If you have problems with any of these things, it could be due to blockages in these particular areas, or at any point in the system which reflexes to these areas. Dr. Metz/myself would determine that by using what Dr. Metz calls “Energy Resonance Methods”, which is a skill that one can learn, a “felt sense”, not necessarily a psychic or an intuitive one. (It’s like tuning an instrument, or your voice, to a pitch pipe. You can hear and feel the resonance, whether the two are in tune or not. Anyone can develop this skill with desire and practice.) Similarly, Dr. Metz and I can scan one’s system with a question in mind, and we can feel the resonant pull of energy when we’re in sync with the question. For instance, we could ask, “What is the energy in the system currently dealing with that is most urgent?” We might get verification on our answer by running our hands along the body, and feeling a resonance when we get to the liver, which could mean the Fire Element is being disrupted. That would pose another set of questions, such as: “Is this person stressed and by what? What is draining the energy there?”

Some Fire Issues that could be in question are: Are you experiencing too many physical demands? Not eating enough complex carbs? Angry or frustrated over a situation? Feeling a lack of drive, will, personal empowerment? Or are you too bossy or controlling, and need to de-stress and diffuse? Pride yourself in being a rebel?

After information is gathered, through these means and discussion with the client, bodywork can then begin. There is another set of questions that helps direct the customized protocol, but intuition, in addition to resonance, is now the best way to treat the energetic system, being that it is interconnected in ways that are complex and not linear.

During a treatment, the client’s system takes in the energy being radiated and focused by the polarity and placement of the practitioner’s hands, like acupuncture does with needles (and jumper cables do with a battery). With the intention and attention, of both practitioner and client, towards “Highest Healing Good”, the client’s own innate intelligence does triage and sends the energy to where it’s needed most. After the treatment Dr. Metz/I would again reassess the client again, via Energy Resonance Scan, and make suggestions as to what the client might do to facilitate/maintain an energetic balance appropriate to their system.

In general, these are some of the ways you can keep your Fire Element balanced: Surrounding yourself with, or wearing, the color yellow; listening to, or playing, loud staccato music; engaging in the art of painting; focusing on the sense of sight and bitter tastes; and eating foods that grow from ground-level to 2 feet (grains, legumes and seeds).

The key to keeping everything in balance is not to over-do or under-do anything. “Everything in moderation” is sometimes easier said than done, but it’s important to at least keep ourselves reminded of that fact, and have fun doing it!