Gilles Marin is director of the Chi Nei Tsang Institute, longtime OPEN EXCHANGE lister. Here Gilles establishes an important connection between spiritual, emotional, and physical health.

Spirit is from the heart and a tribute of our inner Fire. From the Taoist perspective, there are five elemental forces: Water, Wood, Fire, Earth, and Metal, with five corresponding vital systems and five emotional states with their positive and negative aspects. There are also five mental aspects. The mental state we are most commonly aware of in this culture is the thinking state, an attribute of our Inner Wood that allows us to understand, analyze and clarify things, and solve problems. However, there are also four other mental aspects. There is the Inner Earth aspect of the mind that allows us to be functional, practical, and spontaneous, that makes us think of the right idea, at the right time, and connect with the right people.

Earth has the capacity to harmonize and bring peace to our life. There is the Metal aspect that makes us emotionally aware, that makes us connect and enjoy the more abstract sides of life such as music, esthetics, and relationships. Metal reflects our ability to feel and look good. There is also the Water principle of dream and creativity that gives us the will and drive to pursue our goals. And there is the Fire aspect of the mind, our spirit, which gives us intuition and guidance, makes us connect with our life purpose and is responsible for us making the right choices in our life. Our Inner Fire also gives us our sense of humor and brightens our life with laughter.

Spirit has traditionally been the domain of religions, philosophical and psychological societies, mystic schools, and other institutions in charge of making people more comfortable with their inner world, its abstraction, irrationalities, and fears of the unknown. Because of problems in management and leadership of some of these institutions, people have often lost faith in spiritual guidance and have been more and more in need of spiritual nourishment.

In Traditional Chinese Medicine, spirit is an entity that can be seen in people's eyes. It is such an important part of the healing process that a traditional Chinese doctor might refuse to give treatment to someone whose eyes don't show spirit (Shen). Such a person might die at any time no matter how benign the symptom, or might never be able to recover, and will get symptom after symptom without ever getting well.

The vocabulary of the spirit is very succinct and can easily be missed by people used to listening to the long inner conversations with their rational mind (Wood), or the incessant fluctuation of their feelings (Metal). The spirit language is either yes or no, "I like it, or I don't like it." It is the language that guides our appetites, our choice of friends and lovers, and guides us in taking our major decisions in life.

Because our heart meridian system connects our eyes, our heart, and our tongue together, our heart is where we speak from. An eye to eye conversation is one where people show their spirit and sincerity. The heart cannot lie, only the calculating mind (Wood) can. When we do lie, because of the interconnection between our heart and our tongue, our spirit is shut out and our inner Fire is held back. This raises the pressure in our chest and we damage our heart. Paradoxically our heart is not only hurt by our lies but also by the lies of others. Anytime we are misled, anytime our sense of direction in life is misdirected our spirit suffers.

The spirit revolts in an attempt to bring us to our senses, in a fit of rage or act of rebellion, sometimes without a cause or apparent rational meaning. This rebellion can manifest in our behavior but also as physical symptoms and illnesses. From this perspective most chronic illnesses are an attempt from the spiritual body to make us pay attention, heal, and change. These illnesses are healthy reactions to unhealthy situations. Without such reactions from our spirit, we fall off the way (Tao) that serves our life purpose. Enthusiasm disappears. When we live a dispassionate life, there is only senseless depression with its inner message saying that since we are not enjoying life, we don't deserve to live!

Emotional healing addresses our spirit in our heart. Any healing modality is not complete unless it addresses our spirit, both the spirit of the client or patient and the spirit of the practitioner. Emotional healing is about cultivating our inner fire to make individuals connect with the importance of their life purpose. Life is to be enjoyed and spiritual healing has to help restore the enthusiasm and passion of life, which is our most fundamental birthright.