wood element
The wood element is the seed turned to sprout in spring time.
It takes a lot of hard work to grow, get stronger, and remain flexible all the while.
Organized per apparatus, here are workouts for building your practice.
Wood is the outlet for Water — out of deep reflection comes action, movement, and growth. Where Water holds wisdom, Wood is the general with a plan: vision, direction, and the drive to move through challenges toward goals.
Spring is Wood season, and its energy is expansive. Like a sprout pushing through soil, growth here demands both tenacity and flexibility — obstacles are part of the path, and strength is found in bending without breaking.
Bamboo offers a perfect model of healthy growth in nature. It derives its strengths from its emptiness, rootedness, and flexibility. When a wind blows, bamboo bends in exact proportion to the strength of the wind blowing it. Its rootedness allows it to yield without falling over, and its emptiness represents nonattachment in the moment to its goal of rapid directional growth. Hence it is “empty” in the sense of not trying to fight the direction it is being momentarily taken. We may resist and become frustrated when faced with obstacles while pursuing a goal. To emulate the virtue of bamboo would be to remain calm and unattached to momentary deviations from our course while maintaining a steady view of the big picture. As the wind subsides, bamboo springs up to immediately reassert its purpose and pursue its path. Exhibiting the virtue of benevolence, bamboo carries no grudge toward the wind that has temporarily waylaid its progress. It continues unencumbered in its journey toward heaven.
~ Nourishing Destiny, Lonny Jarrett
