When I first practiced element awareness, I knew the elements existed outside me, but I was skeptical that I would be able to sense them within me. A teacher I was studying with had introduced the element awareness practice in an indoor setting. This helped me think about experiencing the elements within my body, but it didn’t give me the opportunity to sense them. I decided to explore the practice on my own, in nature. I figured I needed to be where the elements existed organically.
Sitting in my backyard, focusing on my breath, I began to notice that the breath was accompanied by the wind around me. This drew me to attend to air. I sensed the fluid motion of the breath as air moving within me, just as it was moving around me. In my body, I felt, maybe there is something to this practice.
With curiosity—an important quality for this practice—I turned my attention to the water in my breath, and I noticed that my breath was soft and moist. Then I moved to fire, or heat. I noticed that the air I exhaled was warmer than the air I inhaled, and I also sensed that the push of my breath had a warmth to it.
Finally, I shifted my attention to earth. Doubt came back into my mind. Where would I find earth in the breath? Then I brought my attention to the places in my body that were holding the breath: the nostrils, the windpipe, the lungs. I felt my body as a solid, stable container, supporting, surrounding and embracing the breath.
As I investigated space, I felt the opening, lifting and expansion of my lungs, and I felt a sense of spaciousness. As I ended the practice, I offered gratitude for the depth of my ability to breathe and for all of the elements that supported my experience of breathing.
By deepening awareness of the breath, you allow yourself to be nourished by nature, moment to moment. Sensing how air carries oxygen to all living systems and organisms brings an awareness of connection and support. When you feel the heat of your breath, you sense the vitality within you, and you also connect to the fire of the sun, which provides energy to sustain all life, including yours.
As you notice the element of earth in the structures of your body, all supporting and holding your breath and being, you can also sense the forces of the earth around you—ground, trees, plants, animal and insect life—supporting and nourishing you. The presence of water in every breath we take reminds us that our world is made up largely of water and that in many different forms, water sustains all of the natural world.
As you breathe, you also experience a sense of space in the way the body opens, expands, lifts and relaxes while breathing. That space allows you to feel life within you as well as the spaciousness in nature and everyday life. Awareness of space allows us to feel the movement of all the elements within and around us. We realize that we’re not separate: we’re made up of the elements. Each breath we take connects us to all the forces and elements in nature. The elements are here aiding you, caring for you, lovingly providing support and sources of healing.
Element awareness in the body
To practice mindfulness of the elements within the body, you bring your attention to the visceral sensations of each of the elements—earth, air, fire, water and space—as they’re known in your body. You can do this by noticing the connection between the world around you and experiences within the body.
Elements are often experienced in combination. For instance, saliva has an obvious association with water, but it’s also the product of heat, air and earth. We might also notice the element of water when we sense the pulsation, density or fullness of our muscles or our organs.
We become aware of space when we perceive expansion, spaciousness or a sense of openness. When we experience a moment of feeling that the body isn’t static or fixed but unbounded and fluid, we’re open to noticing the vast space that is us. This also helps us to see that everything made of earth, air, fire and water exists in the expanse of space itself.
Awareness of the elements in nature gives rise to a felt sense of the elements within the body. Over time, you can learn to sense your own elemental nature through the experiences of earth, air, fire, water and space manifested in your body. As this awareness deepens, you begin to feel your connection with life itself and to make choices in your life that bring a greater sense of aliveness and well-being. You can learn to trust yourself.
You can practice element awareness both when sitting in nature and in motion. You may find it easier to focus your awareness on these elements within you during everyday activities like walking, eating and doing chores. Typically, we don’t notice the elements as alive and present in our experience, but they truly are!
For example, when you eat, each bite you take requires the water in your saliva to break down food, earth in your jawbones to chew, the fire of the digestive process to break down the food and air to help you swallow it. All these actions take place within your body. And the elements are also present in the food itself: earth, sun, air and water all help plants and animals to grow.
Practice: Element awareness—sitting
Find a place outdoors that is relatively free of distractions and where you can sit for 20 or 30 minutes. Ideally, choose a place that gives you access to all the elements directly, such as near a body of water, in an open landscape, or in a forest or canyon.
Choose a comfortable, supportive posture—sitting, standing, or lying down. Consider what your body needs: perhaps to feel closer to the earth, to have more connection to the movement of air or water, to sense the warmth of the sun, or to have space. As you settle into your posture, become aware of the sounds, light, smells, sights and energy of the natural setting. Invite your body to begin to connect to these experiences.
Now direct your attention to the body. Notice all of the places where it is being supported: beneath you, behind you, in front of you, around you. Notice what sensations draw your attention as supportive—heaviness, lightness, warmth, coolness? Allow your body to relax, open and settle into the support.
Shift now to bring awareness to any aspect of the body that you experience as heavy, solid or stable. Notice these sensations as the presence of the element of earth. Investigate these aspects of the body that are earth—sensing the hardness of bones, teeth and spine, the solidity of muscles and organs. Be curious and open to the felt sense of earth—solid, heavy, stable within this body.
Move your attention now to become aware of any quality of the body that you experience as light, moving or
uplifting. This is the element of air being sensed in awareness. Investigate the expansions and contractions of breath, the air circulating through the lungs, heart and other organs in the body. Notice all the sensations arising from air coming and going in the body. Stay open to the feelings of lightness, movement, expansion and letting go in the body.
Next bring attention to an aspect of the body you experience as warm (or cool) or pulsing. Notice these sensations as the presence of the element of fire. Be curious about the presence of energy and fire in the body—the pumping of the heart, the heat of digestion, the temperature of the body. Be open to awareness of fire as vitality and energy in the body.
Now focus on any aspect of the body you notice as water, moisture or fluidity. Investigate the experiences of the body that are water—saliva in the mouth, sweat on your back, blood coursing through the body. Be curious about the felt sense of water and its role in the cohesion of all systems in the body.
Now attend to any quality of the body that you notice as spacious, open or vast. Notice these sensations as the element of space. Investigate the sense of the space within and around the structures of the body, between the bones, muscles and organs. Open your mouth slightly and notice the space between the teeth, tongue and lips. Let go of needing to visualize or figure out the spaces inside your body, and just notice the feeling of that space.
For the last few minutes of the practice, choose the element that best supports your healing right now. Trust your intuition. Notice this element as it is present both in the body and around you in nature. Slowly shift your attention back and forth between the elemental sensations noticed within you and in your surroundings; allow a sense of interconnection and healing to arise.
As you bring the practice to a close, allow yourself to be present to anything that has shifted in your inner landscape. Be present to the qualities, attitudes and experiences of the mind, body and heart. Offer appreciation for what you have cultivated in this practice.
Afterward, consider writing in your journal about any experiences or insights you had during this meditation.
Rochelle Calvert, Ph.D., is the author of Healing with Nature: Mindfulness and Somatic Practices to Heal from Trauma. She has studied and taught mindfulness for the past 18 years and knows personally the transformational potential. As a licensed clinical psychologist and founder of New Mindful Life, she supports her clients by taking them into nature with the aid of Bertha Grace, a Sprinter van that serves as a mobile therapy office. You can find more about her work at www.newmindfullife.com and
@newmindfullife on Instagram.
From the book Healing with Nature. Copyright © 2021 by Rochelle Calvert. Reprinted with permission from New World Library. www.NewWorldLibrary.com.
