"The system of the Five Elements began with acupuncture, a healing practice that grew out of a four- to five-thousand-year-old Asian medical tradition. In The Inner Canon, a two-thousand-year-old medical text, Chinese physicians and scholars theorized that the universe is composed of forces represented by Water, Wood, Fire, Earth, and Metal – the Five Elements. They proposed that human behavior, emotions, and health are influenced by these elements and that people's personalities can be distinguished by them.

"One of the reasons that this system is hard for us to comprehend in the West is because the innate energy, intuition, and personal rhythm that we are born with is often destroyed by family, school, and society.

"Professor J. R. Worsley (1923 – 2003) is credited with bringing Five Element acupuncture to the West. After receiving his doctorate in acupuncture in Asia in the fifties, he founded the College of Traditional Chinese Acupuncture in England in1956 and, by 1975, also had a location in the United States. Worsley taught that every human being is born with an imbalance in the Five Elements and that that imbalance is the underlying cause of illness. If you can find the imbalance, you can cure the illness and prevent other illnesses. He also taught that imbalances in the five elements could influence more than just physical health – they had an impact on the extent to which one grows socially and emotionally to become more self-aware and, ultimately, happier. He was clear that he was passing along a system that was practiced for thousands of years in China and was based on laws that do not change and will not change. He also warned that we are more complex than just five types and that it's important not to draw conclusions based on categorizations. Judgments and labels based on categorizations lead to faulty conclusions.

"Worsley taught that ultimately it was possible to recognize the authentic self through an understanding of the Five Elements. Understanding this system and how your elemental combination affects your life can bring enlightenment and freedom because it can lift you out of judgment. He wanted his students to love one another and think beyond separateness to the true heart and soul of the person."