What does the Earth element represent in Traditional Chinese Medicine, and how is it linked to nourishment and balance? Let’s see how the far infrared sauna can support this energy.
“The Earth, with its greatness and splendour, ensures prosperity, nourishment and support for all living beings”
The Earth is considered the primordial element, the emerging part that, with its greatness and splendour, creates the prosperity of all living beings. Its “destiny” is to be sown and harvested, to be nourished and to generously nourish its children. It is a symbol of fertility and the principle of creation.
Just as in the macrocosm of the “universe”, we find the same features in the microcosm of the “human being”.
According to Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), the meridians associated with the Earth element are the stomach and the spleen-pancreas. Their season is late summer (Indian summer), between the end of August and the end of September.
Physiologically, the stomach is the organ of nourishment: it is responsible for assimilating, “bringing in” food and nutrients. The spleen-pancreas helps process the substances taken in by the stomach (as it includes the functions of all the organs that produce digestive enzymes) and makes them available to the whole body through metabolism.
In TCM both are involved in taking in and digesting not only food but everything that “nourishes” us, including information, experiences and sensations.
From an energetic point of view, the stomach regulates our ability to nourish ourselves and others.
This means that the stomach takes charge of acquiring physical or psychological food, storing it temporarily and carrying out its first transformation. It therefore deals with everything concerning the “material” nourishment of each of us, allowing us to master, possess and make our own the matter we have taken in.
The stomach is related to the movements of the limbs for two reasons: first, because taking in nutrients is connected with the gesture of “taking” and bringing inwards; second, because moving the limbs supports the good functioning of the stomach and the whole digestive tract.
The stomach is also related to the heat produced by the body during digestion, as well as to the reproductive function, especially in women.
On a physiological level, its complementary organ, the spleen-pancreas, corresponds to the flesh, the connective tissues and muscle mass. On a psychological level it is associated with thought, memory (the ability to find the right information at the right time), reason and realism, reflection and worry.
It distributes the nutrients from digestion to the whole body, making them available through the process known as metabolism.
An energetic imbalance of the stomach and spleen-pancreas can lead not only to excesses in eating, but also to digestive problems, metabolic irregularities, chronic tiredness, back or knee pain, joint problems, restlessness and excessive worry (mental rumination).
We have already seen, in the article on the Water element, how regular use of Sauna Smarty helps manage stress levels thanks to negative ions, which regulate serotonin, and how exposure to negative ions can have positive effects on anxiety and restlessness by lowering cortisol levels.
In addition, Sauna Smarty is a great ally when metabolism is irregular or sluggish.
In Sauna Smarty, warmth stimulates sweating, heart activity and metabolism
What happens to our metabolism when we use Sauna Smarty?
In the sauna, warmth stimulates sweating and heart activity, relaxes the muscles and opens the pores of the skin.
The loss of fluids also makes us feel lighter and fitter. This helps us overcome chronic tiredness and feelings of heaviness and sluggishness.
We can notice an immediate slimming effect from this treatment, due to how easily the sauna allows us to expel excess fluids, boost metabolism and bring about a consequent weight loss.
A study by a Finnish university followed almost 1,700 people with an average age of 63 for 15 years. Its aim was to observe the impact of the sauna on cardiovascular health, alongside traditional risk factors such as smoking, physical inactivity and socio-economic status. The study showed that more frequent sauna use corresponds to a lower risk of cardiovascular mortality.
Moreover, as the heart beats faster, it helps the body burn more calories.
On average, a sauna helps burn up to 600 calories, much more than an hour’s walk.
A curiosity… The calories burned during a walk can be calculated as follows:
Calories burned in 1 hour = 0.5 kcal × body weight in kg × km walked
The calories you burn walking will therefore depend on your body weight and the distance covered.
The boost to metabolism stimulated by heat, sweating and increased heart activity is an important benefit for anyone wishing to lose weight. Metabolism is the name of the chemical process that turns food into energy to be distributed to every part of the body. The higher the metabolism, the more energy is produced and therefore “burned” by the body. Together with daily activity and exercise, metabolism is one of the main factors explaining how the body burns calories.
Like the earth, the warmth of Sauna Smarty brings another important benefit: by helping to eliminate toxins it also eliminates free radicals, responsible for the ageing of the body. As well as the appearance of the skin, the general condition of the body improves, including the joints and muscles. Stiffness in the mobile joints is not due to the number of years we have lived: time is not toxic. Many joint problems are actually due to the progressive build-up of inorganic minerals, uric acids and toxic crystals that create progressive inorganic calcifications and toxin deposits in the mobile joints.
The joints thus become “clogged”, making it difficult for nutrients and warmth to pass through, which creates inflammation and pain.
Thanks to far infrared, Sauna Smarty 2.0 can not only spread warmth deep throughout the body (including the joints [Far infrared emitting plaster in knee osteoarthritis: a single blinded, randomised clinical trial]), but also relax the nervous system, with an immediate reduction in the sensation of joint and muscle pain.
All these benefits of the far infrared sauna are within reach while staying comfortably at home. A Sauna Smarty 2.0 offers a complete, holistic wellbeing treatment without the need to overheat the room.
Whether our aim is to lose weight, improve the condition of our joints or “train the heart”, there is one piece of advice: have a Sauna Smarty at home.
Read also the articles on the other elements: Water, Wood, Fire and Metal.
To learn more about the origins of this model, you can read the Wikipedia article on the five elements theory (Wu Xing).
