The Autumn Equinox: The Metal Element and the Art of Letting Go

I'm Bronwyn Ayla, L.Ac. — a licensed acupuncturist and Reiki Master Teacher who has trained over 1,000 practitioners since 1998.

The autumn equinox marks the season of the Metal element in Chinese medicine. Metal governs the lungs and large intestine, and its movement is contraction — an inward, downward turn that mirrors the natural world as leaves fall and light recedes. The lungs take in what is purest; the large intestine expels what is no longer of value. Together, they define the essential work of autumn: receiving what nourishes and releasing what does not.

What Does the Metal Element Govern?

Metal has the energetic quality of solidity, congealing, and moldability. Its elemental associations are value, conductivity, strength, and precision. Metal can change its state and yet return to its former structure.

In the body, Metal communicates and connects with the environment while differentiating that which is not ourselves. This is the work of boundaries — not rigid walls, but permeable surfaces capable of absorption and secretion. We are separate from the universe but connected by the constant flow of universal qi.

The Metal element is associated with the breath, the lungs, grief, and the season of autumn. It also guards what Chinese medicine calls the three treasures: shen, qi, and jing. Strong and flexible boundaries — membranes, belief systems — support and regulate our lives and create harmony between our inner and outer environments.

The Lungs, the Corporeal Soul, and the Breath

The lung houses the Po, the corporeal soul. The Po's action is non-verbal and non-conceptual, yet extraordinarily vivid and vital. It governs our ability to touch in with our innermost feelings, to respond to bodily sensations and sense impressions, and to register smell and memory.

The lungs are a tender organ, vulnerable to pernicious influences. Stretching and yawning opens up the lung meridian. Rotating the torso opens up new possibilities and new perspectives.

Healthy breathing is central to Metal's function. A reluctance to initiate exchange with the environment tends to produce shallow or restricted breathing — a reduced exchange of information and energy. With pain, we learn to restrict our breathing, further weakening our connection with others and the qi exchange of the universe. The diaphragm reflects the state of Metal: a healthy diaphragm signals abundance within and without, while lack of movement leads to less peristalsis and constipation — the body's own version of an inability to let go.

The Large Intestine and Letting Go

The large intestine is the other face of Metal. Its work is letting go: old behavior patterns, people, situations, change. An inability to release disappointment can lead to recreating that pattern again and again — what Chinese medicine calls the spirit in exile. Stagnated areas of the large intestine are equivalent to lifeless areas of the body-mind.

Healthy Metal includes the ability to encompass change — death and loss — and to allow loss to make room for new intake. This is the movement of autumn: inward and downward, a time necessary for inward reflection. It is the opposite of wood's outward expansion in spring.

Grief as the Emotion of Metal

Each element carries an associated emotion. For Metal, that emotion is grief. Grief is not a pathology to be eliminated; it is the appropriate response to loss, and loss is what autumn asks us to acknowledge.

The Metal element's gifts lie in the reverence it brings to every task. Metal-type people exist in a sacred space in life, though they may not be religious at all. They are meticulous, precise, and hold things as precious; their voices tend to have a lilt that sounds almost like weeping. When Metal is imbalanced, there can be a refusal to let go — a holding on past the season of holding.

The Autumn Equinox as a Time for Inward Reflection

The autumn equinox is not only an astronomical event. In the framework of the five elements, it is the moment when Metal's energy is most present — when the natural world itself demonstrates contraction, release, and the beauty of what remains after letting go.

A balance of yin and yang requires all five elements. Metal gives us the boundaries — internal and external — appropriate to guard the three treasures, and it works within us through the breath. The question Metal poses at the autumn equinox is not dramatic. It is quiet and precise: what is still of value to me, and what am I ready to release?

Frequently Asked Questions

What element is associated with the autumn equinox in Chinese medicine?

The autumn equinox corresponds to the Metal element. Metal governs the lungs and large intestine, and its movement is contraction. Its elemental associations are value, conductivity, strength, and precision.

What does the Metal element have to do with letting go?

The large intestine — one of the two organs governed by Metal — is responsible for letting go: old behavior patterns, people, situations, change. Healthy Metal includes the ability to encompass loss and allow it to make room for new intake.

What emotion is associated with the Metal element and autumn?

Grief. The lungs are a tender organ, vulnerable to our feelings. Grief is the emotion that moves through Metal when it is functioning well — the appropriate response to loss, not a sign of imbalance.

How does breathing relate to the Metal element at the autumn equinox?

The lungs take in the purest qi through the breath, and the breath is the primary action of Metal in the body. Restricted or shallow breathing reflects a reluctance to exchange with the environment. Autumn is a time for inward reflection, and conscious breathing supports that inward turn.

If you'd like to keep these teachings alive in practice, join me live each week as we move through the entire Tong Shu calendar in Sanctuary.