5 Elements Healing
Throughout the ages, the experience of healers and sages is that underlying the apparent phenomenal world is a more refined realm of energy and creation; this is the realm of the 5 elements. These elements both stand alone as well as mix and blend with each other to create subtle effect.
As those before us did so long ago, so too can we today follow the guidelines of 5 elements healing. We can use these elements – earth, water, fire, air and sky – in our approach to health and healing. Together the 5 elements, in varying degrees, constitute the essence of every living being. It is this living energy in the procedures we recommend for you to do at home, as well as in the services we administer at La Casa Day Spa, that confers onto you their potency and efficacy. We believe that periodic exposure to each of the 5 elements is essential for balance and harmony. In using the elements, we confer upon you their healing attributes: to nurture, restore, empower, cleanse and inspire you.
As you receive your treatments at La Casa, witness the ways in which you can capture the essence of the 5 timeless elements. Each of the elements represents a different kind of energy and impacts on us in different ways. Each element, too, has a specific universal lesson that it can teach us.
- Earth is the element of matter, representing grounding and stability. Earth is the most nourishing as well as balancing of the elements. From earth, we can learn how to nurture. Mother Earth never ceases to share with us her generosity, her valuable minerals and food. On the most literal level, earth lends us her support. On the more subtle and energetic level, it is the most nurturing and nourishing of the elements. And like earth, we can be either verdant and life-giving, or we can become barren and arid.
- Water is the element of bonding, representing our emotional and sexual selves. Water it is the most restorative as well as refreshing of the elements. From water, which is flowing and progressive, we can learn to move forward and grow emotionally. On the most literal level, water hydrates us and feeds all of the fluid systems in our body. On the more subtle and energetic level, it is the most restorative of the elements. And like water, we can be either gentle and soft or we can become ferocious and thunderous.
- Fire is the element of thermodynamics, representing power and intensity. Fire is the most invigorating as well as detoxifying of the elements. From fire, which gives warmth, heat and light, we can learn to see clearly; our insight gives us untold power. On the most literal level, fire provides us with heat and light. On the more subtle and energetic level, it is the most invigorating as well as detoxifying of the elements. And like fire, we can be soft and flickering or we can become scorching and frightening.
- Air is the element of kinesis, representing love and life. Air is the most cleansing as well as rejuvenating of the elements. From air, which is imperceptible and constantly moves, we can learn to be subtle and unattached. On the most literal level, air gives us prana, breath, the essential life force. On the more subtle and energetic level, it is the most cleansing and rejuvenating of the elements. And like air, we can be crisp and clean or we can become stifling and stagnant.
- Sky is the element of space, representing transcendence and hope. Sky is the most purifying as well as uplifting of the elements. From sky, which seemingly changes constantly but in truth is always the same, we can learn to live from our soul, the deepest part of ourselves that represents truth and is eternal. On the most literal level, its vastness — beyond human imagination — receives the universe. On the more subtle and energetic level, it is the most purifying as well as uplifting of the elements. And like the sky, we can be radiant and glorious or we can become stormy and menacing.
From observing all of the elements, we can learn the profound interdependence of all things. We understand that earth is a synergistic combining of all the elements. We understand that the sun represents the fire element, but the sun is comprised of gases and thus has a close connection to the air element. We understand that the water element is closely connected with the sky element, as water reflects sky. We understand that earth and water comprise the basic material of our planet and that these have the umbrella of air. We understand that sky both surrounds all the elements and contains all the elements.
We can learn from our teachers, the five elements, how to live as a human being in harmony with nature, abiding by the cycles of the sun and moon on this, our Mother Earth, sharing her air and her water as part of the infinite cosmos.
Who Are You?
Are you the kind of person who enjoys focusing on your body; you take pride in how you look; you concentrate on activities like eating well and exercise? Perhaps you can’t wait for spring to come so you can get your hands into fertile earth for your annual plantings. Do you experience yourself as stable, grounded, solid? When you’re off balance, do you feel overly vulnerable and become uncooperative in your relationships?
Or, are you the kind of person who is irresistibly drawn to water? Perhaps you feel even more comfortable, more graceful in the water than on land. Do your emotions rule you? Would you describe yourself as being sensuous? Would your friends describe you as accommodating and easy to get along with? When you’re off-balance, do you become fearful or ambivalent?
Or, are you are the kind of person who is decisive and goal-oriented? Perhaps nothing gives you more pleasure than experiencing your sense of excitement and power in mastering a project. You have untold levels of stamina and endurance (you’re the last (wo)man standing for all enterprises). Do you exude self-confidence and inspire others to be the same? When you’re off-center, are you prone to fits of anger and criticalness?
Or, are you the kind of person who loves the sense of expansiveness? You might be more inclined to take a vacation in the mountains than to go to a city you have never seen; you’d rather have an apartment with a vista view than a ground-floor apartment that opens to a well-tended flower garden? Would you say that compassion is your best attribute? Do you honor above all relationships that are true heart-connections? When you’re off-center, do you become like a will-of-the-wisp, blown in any direction, with no sense of real purpose?
Or, are you the kind of person who makes communication your number one priority? Do you have a profound sense of being placed within the universe? Do you go through the day eagerly awaiting your moments of calmness, and you achieve these transcendental states through prayer or meditation or some other ritual that gives you a deep sense of tranquility? Do you feel hopeful about most things? Do you frequently remember your dreams? When you’re off-center, do you feel detached from others or disconnected from your true self?
Can you find yourself in those brief descriptions? Does one description seem more striking as an accurate description of yourself than the other four? Can you see yourself, to some degree, in all of the descriptions?
Why Are You Who You Are
You may have wondered about the origins of ways that you are — your preferences and predilections — aspects of yourself that you carry with you all the time, at times, even unaware of them: scents that you favor; colors you choose, music that resonates with you; whether you’re idealistic or pragmatic, whether you value more your inner life or your social life?
Although many of our deep-seeded characteristics, both physical as well as psychological, can be attributed to genetics, to early childhood influences or to exposure to the myriad of influences that impinge upon us as we mature, there may be some aspects of who you are that seem to defy reasonable explanation. Some of the ways that we are seem to have just sprung up in us, whole-cloth, with no discernible origin. This is because many of our attributes arise from a much more ancient well-spring than the influences we are conscious of. Much of who we are arises from our primordial connection to the universe itself.
Each of the elements is a symbol of timeless human characteristics. You contain the energies of each of these elements. They are present on all levels of your being – your physical body, your psychological make-up and your spiritual self. You embody them in different proportions, and it is the wide range of proportions possible that gives us the splendid and dazzling array of differences between us.
We become who we are without really knowing how. Our preferences and predilections, the many aspects that we carry with us: scents we favor; colors we like, music we love; whether we’re idealistic or pragmatic, shy or social, lay hidden beneath the surface of ourselves.