Five Stars ... Continued

stars.jpg (6106 bytes)Yang; whereas destruction and fearfulness, their opposites, are viewed as Yin. In addition to representing forces in the natural world, the five elements provide guiding principles for physiology, pathology, diagnosis, and therapy in traditional Chinese medicine. In the human body, the internal organs are divided into two groups: the five Yin or solid organs, and the six Yang or hollow organs. Each of the Yin and Yang organs is identified with one of the elements. The heart (Yin) and small intestine (Yang) are associated with fire; the spleen (Yin) and the stomach (Yang) with earth; the lungs (Yin) and large intestine (Yang) with metal; the kidney (Yin) and bladder (Yang) with water; and the liver (Yin) and gallbladder (Yang) with wood. Chinese physicians began applying the theory of the five elements to the maintenance of health and the cure of illness thousands of years ago. In sensitively evaluating both the effects of medicines and the illness of the organs in terms of the five-element theory, Chinese doctors exemplified an understanding of wholeness and harmony in the body's functioning.

In the founding of the Mi Guk, Grandmaster Nim Ferraro was careful to conform with what Kwan Jhang Nim Hwang Kee referred to as the Sip Sam Seh, or the Thirteen Influences, (the combination of the five elements and the eight directions). As a system of health Tang Soo Do Mi Guk Kwan employs not only Yin-Yang principles but also the five-element theory. Thus in addition to developing a healthy Yin-Yang relationship between mental activity and physical movement, Tang Soo Do Mi Guk Kwan is designed to balance the internal organs and promote harmony in the entire body. Maintaining a dynamically balanced system preserves health by preventing illness and improves the quality as well as the length of life.