Earth Element

"If we surrendered to earth’s intelligence we could rise up rooted, like trees.” - Rainer Maria Rilke

The earth element is a vital part of bodily balance. It is present in our bones, muscles, teeth, hair, and adipose tissue (fat). It gives us shape and creates a stable container to hold our organs, brain, fluids and circulatory, respiratory, endocrine and nervous systems. It's essentially what makes us strong, grounded and able to physically, mentally and emotionally handle life's challenges. The earth element gives us minerals, vitamins and essential nutrients to keep our blood alkaline (pH 7.3-7.45 is the optimal range).

Here are some facts about the earth element according to Ayurveda:

Signs of Deficiency:

• Weak nails, teeth or bones

• Fly away or brittle hair

• Lower back or hip joint pain

• Osteoporosis

• Spaciness or inability to focus (ADHD, monkey-mind, losing your train of thought, short-term memory issues)

• Dizziness or vertigo

• Insomnia or tired, but wired

• Anxiety and/or fear

• Joint popping and/or lack of muscle tone

• Inability to complete tasks

Signs of Excess:

• Depression

• Lack of motivation and/or lethargy

• Heavy, dull feeling

• Obesity and/or eating too much

• Inability to wake up energized

• Bound muscles, bone spurs, tumors or growths

• Inability to start tasks

• Inflexible or immoveable - inability to change or adapt to circumstances

Note: If you are feeling an excess or deficiency the below practices will help with light imbalances. However, for severe imbalance, please contact me (info@ascendingspiritwp.com) to schedule an Ayurvedic consultation.

Last night, May 1st, we worked on ways to invite more of the earth element into our lives. We did a light yoga asana series followed by pranayama before we settled into a guided meditation. The goal was to demonstrate how to utilize a combination of natural therapies to reduce an excess of the air element which would be categorized as a deficiency in earth.

Recap:

• Asanas to bring in more earth: balancing poses, inversions, tadasana (mountain pose), makarasana (crocodile), and supta bhaddha konasana (lying down butterfly).

• Marma therapy: sphij (points at the gluteal fold); karnapala (tops of the ears); ostha (point between the nose and the upper lip) & sakthi urvi (tops of the thighs)

• Mudras: bhu, wisdom & smile

• Pranayama: altered nostril & brahmari (humming bee)

• Bija (seed sound) mantra: Lam

• Practice: visualizing your roots deeply grounded and interwoven with all creatures spiritually connected to the earth

• Sounds: Primordial and tribal drumming, didgeridoo, shakers, & percussion instruments

• Aromatherapy: Sandalwood incense and sage smudging