The Earth Element

Throughout March we're exploring the elements in honour of the change in seasons, the bloom of new life & the flourish of new found motivation & inspiration many of us feel at this time of year. We've recently entered into the Astrological new year too, with Aries season being well under way.

Last week we focused our attention on the Earth element which is deeply connected to our Mūlādhāra (root) Chakra. This is a real primal energy that many of us tend to avoid, forget & neglect, & then we wonder why we perhaps lose our sense of stability, our sense of safety, our sense of security.

Many people may not appreciate my comparison of the Chakra system to Maslow's hierarchy of needs but for those amongst us who have never heard the word Chakra, never mind know of the 7 Chakra within us, having a basis for comparison such as this can actually be very helpful in developing a basic understanding that may well develop into further research of one's own.

We have 7 Chakra points within the body that are believed to connect to different organs. For example, Anāhata (heart) Chakra is deeply connected to our anatomical heart, Svādisthāna (sacral) Chakra is connected to our reproductive organs & therefore our sexuality, sensuality & creativity. It's very easy for many of us to really focus our attention on our heart Chakra because it's all about love & compassion. But there is an argument that we cannot truly enjoy the full & beautiful benefits of our heart Chakra if we haven't first laid the foundations by working on, & through, the 3 Chakra that come before it, including our sacral Chakra, which a lot of us avoid & quite consciously too.

Maslow's hierarchy of needs is somewhat similar in that so many of us want to achieve self actualisation & happiness without actually laying the groundwork to get there. We don't truly want to, or even know how to, work on creating a safe environment. We want to bypass the real, hard work & get to the good stuff. But how can we fully enjoy it or even achieve it if we don't first develop & establish our needs for safety, security & stability.

This is why I personally believe it is so important to consciously work on our sense of grounding, our sense of connection to the Earth by centring our attention on our Mūlādhāra Chakra before we choose to focus on any of the higher Chakra. The elements are connected to our Chakra system so beautifully with the primal energy of Earth being connected to Mūlādhāra (root) Chakra, the fluidity of water being connected to Svādisthāna (sacral) Chakra, the blaze of fire being connected to Manipūra (solar plexus) Chakra, the lightness of air being connected to Anāhata (heart) Chakra, & finally ether or spirit being connected to Ājñā (throat) Chakra. Some believe the third eye & crown Chakra have no elemental connections & some people believe they are connected to a higher power.

Everything on Earth is so deeply & intricately connected. Just thinking about what we're made up of; for example, carbon is found in all living things & carbon atoms are known to move from the Earth to humans to the air to animals to plants & to the sea. Hydrogen molecules make up most living things on this Earth with humans being made of 9.5% of it. Likewise Nitrogen gas is used to make amino acids in the body as well as DNA & RNA. It is also found in the earth we walk upon & in the water we drink.

Come & join me for this grounding vinyasa practice. Roll out your mat & let's explore the Earth element together.

It pairs beautifully with Brahmari (Humming Bee) Breath too.

I'd love to know how these practices felt in your body, let me know in the comments below.

Stay Well

Samantha

xoxo