Chinese Five Elements (五行 wǔxíng) or 5 Phases

From YMAA.com http://ymaa.com/publishing/qigong_DVD/five_animal_sports_frolics_chikung_DVD 5 Elements theory is the basis for many Chinese disciplines, including traditional Chinese medicine, and Qigong exercises, such as the Five Animal Sports. The interdependence of the internal organ functions (Zang Fu networks) was noted to be a circle of five things, and so mapped by ancient Chinese doctors onto the five phases. For instance, the Liver (Wood phase) is said to be the "mother" of the heart (Fire phase), and the Kidneys (Water phase) the mother of the Liver, ie. kidney deficiency affects the function of the liver. In this case, the "mother" is weak, and cannot support the child. However, the Kidneys control the heart, so the Kidneys are said to restrain the heart. Many of these interactions can nowadays be linked to known physiological pathways (such as Kidney pH affecting heart activity). Zang Fu (脏腑 zàngfǔ) is a concept within traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) that describes the functions of the organs of the body and the interactions that occur between them. Zang 臟 refers to the yin organs - heart, liver, spleen, lung, kidney, pericardium - whilst Fu 腑 refers to the yang organs - small intestine, large intestine, gall bladder, urinary bladder, stomach and San Jiao. Each of the twelve zang-fu organs listed have a corresponding organ, except the pericardium and san jiao which both describe functions that are not related to a single physical organ, by Western definition. The function of the pericardium is like that of a radiator to an engine - it is a sac around the heart that regulates excess energy. This function is important enough to qualify as an organ by Chinese definition. San Jiao (triple burner) refers to the interrelation and harmony of all the organs. As convention, the names of the zang fu organs are often capitalized to highlight the fact that the organs being referred to are not equivalent to those of western medicine, despite the similarity in names. Each zang is paired with a fu, and each pair are assigned to one of the Wu xing. The Five elements are also the basis of some Chinese martial arts styles, such as Xingyiquan: http://ymaa.com/publishing/dvd/internal/xingyiquan_hsing_kung_fu_DVD