Spring Time! Welcome Balance into Your Life with The Four Elements: Fire, Earth, Air, Water.
Learn how the harmonious existence of the four elements can benefit your life, skin, and immunity. Reconnect with nature for your health.
I want you to get out to a green space, your garden, park, forest, find a little oasis near you. Are you there? Now, close your eyes and go within and feel the warmth of the sun on your skin, feel the wind gently blowing through your hair. Take a couple of steps forward feeling of the earth between your toes, the pull of gravity, as you stepping over the grass with your bare feet. Now pose, feel the temperature of your skin under your soles, open up your senses, feel the texture, moisture of the grass you just stepped over. Feel the gentle wind on your cheeks, skin and take a deep breath in, and feel the air fill your lungs, hold it a little to expand within your body and exhale. Repeat that 3 times and observe your body functions, heart beat, breath rate, change of body temperature, tingling in your fingers or feet. Now, imagine drinking a cold glass of water on a hot summer day. The way it brings clarity to your mind, hydrates and provides you with energy.
As you may have noticed, the four elements: fire, earth, air, and water are the essence of our very being. We are part of nautre and we need learn to reconnect with it. Nurture your nautre in your every day life. In a lot of simple ways, we can bring, energy, skin, and immunity back into balance by harnessing these four elements. Traditional Chinese Medicine teaches us that ill health is an imblamance of enrgy i.e ying and young , and to achive Chi we need both enegiers working in symbiosis. These 4 elements support and bring blalance to our body, they souround us and are within us, so let’s unplug from the modern lifestyle a little more and just be with nature, reconnect.
Use of the four elements in wellbeing dates back to ancient Greek and Persian traditions. The ancient Greeks and Persians believed that all matter was created from the four elements. Once you welcomed and mastered all four elements, you essentially gained the ability to live a life of peace and balance. Interestingly enough, this form of thinking can actually be found in various cultures and traditions across the world. Traditional Chinese Medicine, Auyrevda both have the elements as part of its phylosophy. Now let’s get into each element.
The Benefits of Each Element
Earth
The earth as we already know is full of various rocks and minerals that provide nutrients to the soil—allowing plant life to flourish. In the same way that rocks and minerals provide nutrients to vegetation, they also provide human beings with various benefits. If our soils are mineral rich , these are absorbed by the plants and the food we eat, making our meals nutrient dense. Health specialists state that minerals are extremely important elements for keeping our bodies strong and healthy including “keeping your bones, muscles, heart, and brain” function optimally. We can achieve this by eating a well-balanced diet that is rich in fresh fruits and vegetables. Not only this, but a healthy diet will help keep your skin “looking, working, and feeling good” all year round. Your skin can also benefit from mineral masks, mud and clay, as they provide extraordinary soothing and fortifying benefits, so book yourself nourishing spa treatment or a seaweed bath. In addition, minerals are present in drinking water nourishing us from outside in. Geothermal waters are renowned for its benefits for the skin especially with sufferers or psoriasis and other skin conditions, pain, arthritis. Volcanic rocks can aid in exfoliating your skin –leaving you soft and radiant.
We possess a natural affinity with Earth. Our ancestors walked bare foot allowing their feet to provide, stability, feedback, develop better coordination, feel the environment. Of course we moved on since then, but you maybe hearing more now about earthing , barefoot walking being good for you. Science tells us that our planets vibrational energy operates at 7.8 htz therefore Theta waves. Theta waves are believed to be good for us. Researchers are pointing out that Bare foot walking can strengthen our feet and improves body alignment, balance, improves our sensory experience of the world, develops our brain and nervous system, through exercising the muscles and receptors within our feet we bound to increase blood circulation in the lower legs. Emerging scientific research points out to environment can be a barrier to our wellbeing, therefore as humans increasing contact with the Earth surface (magnetic field) we positively respond to that energy and those who practice earthing reported benefits such as better sleep, reduction of pain, our cortisol levels drop therefore we become more relaxed and that grounding our body with Earth alters the immune system activity and pain and allows us to recover quicker from typical inflammation.
The point I am making is reach out for the products that are natural and embrace and welcome natural world more into your life. Sometimes , you don’t need a product, simply take your shoes off when you can and reap the benefits from nature.
Water
You’ve heard me talk about the benefits of water before, and that is because water has so many essential and powerful properties –not to mention that our body is actually made of up to 60% to 70% of water and our blood ( plasma) is made up of 90%! When we drink enough water daily, we are feeding our body energy and ensuring that our organs are functioning properly. Not only does drinking water aid in boosting the health of your skin, it also helps maintain your blood pressure and deliver oxygen throughout your body. Water is also known to have a calming effect throughout the body. There is evidence that bathing in natural mineral springs decreases the stress hormone cortisol, decreases the feelings of anxiety, and promotes general relaxation of the body. Ask yourself this simple question: How long can I stay alive without a drinking water? Surely water and the amounts we drink can positively impact on our wellbeing. Just listening to the stream, bathing in the sea, all these activities make as feel energetic and alive.
Air
One of my favorite things to do when I feel like I’ve been stuck in the house all day is to step outside and breathe in a deep breath of fresh air. As simple as it sounds, breathing in the fresh air can actually provide you with relaxation when life gets too crazy –trust me I’ve been there! A lot of times when we practice mediation, the key to relaxing and releasing tension in your body is to focus on your breath. As I’ve said before, when we focus on the breath, we ground ourselves back into our environment and reduce our stress, anxiety, and depression. Wim Hof method is a clear example of this and Whim also known as Ice Man (26 times Guiness Book of record holder) keeps proving the scientific and medical community the power we hold within our breath. Breathe deeply. Fresh air also strengthens our immune system as the “increase of oxygen helps our white blood cells function properly by fighting and killing bacteria and germs.”
Fire
Bring on the heat! One of the easiest ways to incorporate the element of fire into your everyday life is to soak in the heat of the sunlight on a beautiful spring or summer’s day. Sunlight has been proven to help boost your mood, energy, and levels of vitamin D. Of course, you’re probably wondering, well what about in the winter? Well, get out, no matter the weather, enjoy the elements. Vitamin D is crucial for our immune system functioning, so you you may have read a few studies relating to vit D deficiency and Covid19. Another solution to your problem is to reap the benefits of saunas! As you may remember, saunas are a great way to strengthen your immune system by increasing your white blood cell count, help provide chronic pain relief, and improve your mental health. Just remember to stay hydrated!
Reconnect and enjoy the natural world around you , after all that were our routes began.
