“Fire calls us to reveal our true
nature, to open to the unbearable beauty of creation, to risk
the heartbreak of loss in order to love the world more deeply.”
- Lorie Eve Dechar
Hello friends,
I’m really looking forward to sharing this episode of the Element Sessions with you. As we step across into the summer season we are exploring the FIRE element in Chinese medicine. Last week I shared a Deep Dive into the FIRE element which you can catch up on using the link at the end of this post, plus as a paid subscriber you are very welcome to join us for our live journalling and embodiment call next Monday 26 May between 10 & 11am BST. For more info, check out the membership hub on my homepage.
When I was considering who to have a conversation with for this episode,
’s Claire Dabreo came straight to mind - she speaks so eloquently and in such a grounded, practical way about how all of the elements show up in our lives, but in particular she has spoken a lot about what she calls Love Activism, which struck me as a particularly FIRE kind of activity … !
Here’s a little about Claire:
Claire Dabreo is a Five Element acupuncturist with practices in both London and the Isle of Arran. In 2020, she founded The Harmony Principle —a platform designed to help individuals align with the energy of the seasons, harness the wisdom of nature’s Creative Cycle, and support practitioners across all healing modalities in deepening their connection to nature, health, and the healing journey.
You can follow Claire @theharmonyprinciple and @thelondonacupuncturist on instagram and Facebook and sign up to her newsletter via her website www.theharmonyprinciple.com, as well as finding out more about her Autumn / Metal immersion retreat she is running this October.
During our conversation I wanted to hear how Claire approached this season of the year both herself and with her clients, as well as digging deep and exploring how, when there is so much darkness in the world, can we keep our own inner fires burning? I also wanted to ask her what role does JOY play in activism?
I found so much food for thought in this episode, most particularly for me I think around how the FIRE element relates to maturity and to this midlife phase of life I am in right now, as well as the simple yet eye-opening idea that this is the season of BEING rather than DOING !
Below is a summary of our chat, plus some of the tips Claire shared with us for aligning us to this time of year, and a link to an earlier conversation with our mentor Gerad Kite which I mention during the call.
Highlights include:
𓇸 Being v’s Doing: How the summer energy should be about BEING rather than DOING and the need to give ourselves permission to tend to our social batteries
𓇸 Pleasure & Joy: The differences between pleasure (fleeting, often distraction-based, dopamine related) and joy (spontaneous, heart-centred, collective)
𓇸 Navigating heartbreak: How we can learn to allow heartbreak and difficult emotions as normal, transformative experiences that connect us more deeply to ourselves and others
𓇸 Joy as a propulsive force: Its importance as a transformative energy in dark times
𓇸 Inner and Outer Connection: Cultivating local, in-person community as an antidote to digital overload—nourishing micro-connections and supporting one another in tangible ways.
𓇸 Fire, Maturity & Midlife: The parallels between the fire element’s maturity and the empowerment of midlife women, how authenticity, boundaries, and “full bloom” can come with age.
𓇸 Practical Tools for Summer Alignment: Sunlight, essential oils on heart-centred acupuncture points (see tips below), honest assessment of social needs and even writing yourself a heartfelt love letter!
Tips and links mentioned in the call :
1. Here is our Deep Dive into the FIRE element:
2. I also mentioned this conversation with Master acupuncturist and mentor of both Claire’s and mine, Gerad Kite:
3. Here are Claire’s tips for using acupressure and essential oils to help us align with this FIRE season:
Use essential oils like rose, ylang ylang, geranium or frankincense on a point called REN 17, also called ‘Sea of Qi,’ ‘Chest Centre’ or ‘Revealing the Heart’. A wonderful point to help clear anxiety or fear, settle any rising panic and gently send it back into the earth with love. Can help to ‘unbind the chest’, and open us to more easily access love and connection.
To locate Ren 17: On the midline of the sternum, in a depression level with the junction of the 4th intercostal space and the sternum – start under the clavicle and count down the spaces between each rib, then move to the centre of the chest. On a man, it is parallel with the nipple line.
With all essential oils Claire recommends diluting them with a carrier oil before using on acupoints, with these oils a max of 10% dilution is good.On two points known as the Inner and Outer Frontier Gates you can use Jasmine oil, again at same dilution as above. Our Gates are two points that both enable us to allow enough love and warmth and connection in, and also to know when it is appropriate to protect our hearts and keep our selves protected and safe. When our Gates are well oiled and functioning well there can be a warm flow of connection, communication and warmth between ourselves and others.
To locate: These points are located on the outside and inside of the lower arm, in the centre. To find them, place your ring finger on the wrist crease of the opposite arm, and lay your middle and index finger down beside them. The point will be located underneath your index finger, right in the centre of the arm, both inside and outside, opposite each other.
Rose oil can also be used on Heart 7 ‘Great Mound’ to help ease anxiety and open the heart to maturity and give us a sovereign perspective.
To locate: This point is found on the baby finger side of the inside of the wrist, just below the bone that sticks out at that point (the pisiform bone). If you run your finger down the palm from the baby finger to your wrist your finger should fall over the wrist bone and into the hollow of the point.
And this is the beautiful quote that Claire mentioned on the call:
“Fire calls us to reveal our true
nature, to open to the unbearable beauty of creation, to risk
the heartbreak of loss in order to love the world more deeply.”
- Lorie Eve Dechar
Share this post