The Fire receiver that is our head

Our heads are very interesting places. Four of our five senses are there, and this reflects the preponderance of the Fire element in our heads. Fire is connected to the world around us, but the energetic flow is inward, geared towards reception of qi from the weave around and between us. The classical sense-element correspondences are: Smell is connected to Metal/Lungs, hearing to Water/kidneys, sight to Wood/liver, and taste to Fire/heart.

Senses are, by their nature, receivers of information. They are located at the top of the body. When wood qi rises, it pushes out into the world and connects to the qi around it. Then the Fire receives qi from the connection. The direction of senses is inward.

When we smell, we inhale and activate Metal qi. We take in qi from the outside while pushing our internal qi out to meet it. The respiratory system is one big filter to help us allow good qi in, while keeping bad qi out. Smells are the first part of that system, designed to alert us to danger or nourishment.

We hear with Water. Water is still qi, rooted below. Hearing is most acute in silence and stillness. Though our ears may move slightly, there is no action involved in hearing.

We look out our eyes with Wood qi. Our eyes are poorly adapted to examine things  that are extremely close to us, but prefer to look out into the world for things to interact with. You can watch a baby examining the world and he engages with his eyes and then moves to interact with something based on the visual contact.

When we taste a food, we connect to it. It is the moment when the food ceases to be something outside of ourselves. I had a client who had temporarily lost his sense of taste and he told me he had lost his connection to food. It looked good, but he no longer wanted to eat it or make it a part of him. Without the connection, things remain apart and can never nourish us.

Fire is all about reception and connection, and our senses allow those two things to happen. They are located at the top of our bodies, which is the place of power for the Fire transformation.

Note: I will talk about touch and Earth Qi in a later post, as touch is built into the weave of our bodies and is both reception and nourishment at the same time.

Photo courtesy of gullevek