Emotional Resonance Clearing: a new modality for treating emotional imbalances

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is an ancient and complex science that takes a fundamentally different approach to the Western world. Crucially it views the human body as a whole. What shows up as dysfunction and disease, is reckoned to be the result of social and natural factors, rather than just the invasion of some kind of bacteria or virus.

The Five-Elements

Central to the theory of TCM is the concept of the five elements. Someone’s symptoms are said to be the result of an imbalance of the aforementioned elements, inside of the 12 organs in the human body.

The elements—fire, earth, wood, metal and water—each have their own specific characteristics, related to the natural materials from which they derive their names.

Practitioners of the ancient art believe that everyone has a congenital defect or, through some kind of trauma, develops an imbalance in the way that the five elements interact within their body. While everyone is made up of all the elements, each person has a primary element that is simultaneously their greatest weakness and their superpower. The primary element is called a constitutional factor or CF. A Doctor who is trained in TCM, or Five Element Acupuncture, may attribute illness or pain to this element. Moreover, the doctor may take the patient’s pulse and ask a series of questions designed to confirm the diagnosis. Each element is said to have a distinct feeling or emotion that can be attached to it. In short, physical ailments are linked with emotional distresses and traumas and are said to evidence themselves through the dysfunction of the body’s organs and meridian systems.

Chinese medicine views the whole of the body’s physiology as the interaction between these five basic elements. Of course, this is a complete divergence from the western way of thinking.

The birth of a new modality

Although Leah Steele, creator of Emotional Resonance Clearing, had been having acupuncture since the age of 12 years, it took her some years to discover the significance of the 5 elements in treating emotional disorders. Steele recalls how her mom, who was an avid advocate of Eastern medicine, introduced her to a range of holistic treatments as she was growing up. But, it wasn’t until Steele experienced a 5 Element Acupuncture session, at the hands of Michelle Patrick, a doctor of Chinese medicine and naturopath, that she began to realize its healing benefits.

The session led to a passionate discussion between Steele and Patrick. Impressed by the rejuvenating effects of the treatment, Steele was determined to learn more. In fact, since both parties were experts in their own domains, they decided the best course of action was to make a ‘trade’, exchanging the knowledge each had built up over the years.

Link between the traditional and the new

Several months into her studies, Steele had an epiphany and co-created, with Patrick, a new emotional clearing modality they dubbed, ‘Emotional Resonance Clearing.’

She recounts, “One of the things that fascinated me in my kinesiology studies, related to emotional clearing work, is why particular emotions were ‘trapped’ in certain organs of the body. There was a discernible link between emotional trauma and certain features within the organs. I had never received training on that. Nothing I had done addressed the ‘Why?’ This was a big deal, right? I had to understand the mechanism behind this.”

Emotions can cause disease

Recent scientific studies on the second brain—otherwise known as the gut—have proven that feelings we experience deep in our core travel up the spinal column and into our ‘higher brain.’ The higher brain, in turn, affects every single organ in our body—how it functions and performs. This helps explain, in part, how stress at work can ‘turn into’ irritable bowel syndrome. What if feelings and emotions were continually interacting with our internal organs?

This was the thought that occurred to Steele, as she deepened her research. In her own words, she started looking at emotions as having disease-causing abilities, instead of merely being thoughts, feelings, or ideas.

She says, “When people have elemental imbalances, (emotional events that cause problems internally and externally) it can wreak untold havoc in their lives. It dawned on me: if we can clear these imbalances, we can change people’s lives. That was the impetus behind Emotional Resonance Clearing. And as far as I know, there is nothing out there in the world like this.”

Steele and Patrick introduced several cutting-edge 5 Element and Emotional Resonance Clearing programs. Becoming Immortal, a six month journey of transformation through self-mastery, takes place twice a year. The program focuses on self-discovery and understanding your constitutional factor. In particular, nourishing and supporting your constitutional factor to create balance and wholeness. Steele describes it as “…a deep dive into behavioral patterns, alchemical psychology, and the spiritual aspects of your constitutional factor. It is through this understanding that we activate purpose and gain the ability to walk our true path.” 

“Nothing on earth or within the Universe is unrelated to The Five Elements and man is no exception.”

-Ling Shu 

“The world is ever growing, changing and evolving and that evolution is headed in the direction of individualized medicine. Alternative approaches to medicine not only heal the root cause of disease, as it presents in the individual’s body, instead of just treating the blanket symptoms, they also empower people to take personal responsibility for their health and wellness and become their own inner physicians,” says Steele.