Touching the Earth Element

Sit or lie comfortably and settle into a comfortable posture. Take three slow deep breaths, inhaling slowly and then exhaling fully. Then let your breath find its natural rhythm. Spend a few minutes simply coming home to your breath.

To begin, Bring your attention to the stillness of your body as you rest the body. Bring your attention to the silence of your speech as you sit quietly. Bring your attention to the openness of your mind as you sit in non-judging, open curiosity. Allow this stillness, silence, and openness to quiet any restlessness, agitation, or distracting thoughts and bring you to a deepening state of peace. Rest in this peacefulness.

For connecting with the earth element, contact with the physical earth is important but it doesn’t have to be elaborate. We can do the practice sitting in a chair, sitting on the ground, or even lying down. However you are right now, feel the ground beneath you. Feel the stability of it, the immensity of this planet, the gravity that holds you to it. Connect with the raw element of this earth. If we want we can place our hand on the ground. Or we can place our feet firmly on the ground and feel the ground through our two feet. Let yourself experience the ground for a few moments. Let yourself be affected by it. Feel the stability and bring it inside. Bring it in through your skin; through the contact. Feel it in your flesh, your bones, your heart, and your consciousness. Let it pervade your experience, and simply merge with this stability and groundedness.

Be with the earth element. Feel its energy entering your body. As you breathe in, you can imagine you are inhaling directly into your heart the pure energy of the earth. From your heart, feel the earth energy expand to every cell of your body. As you breathe out, release any uncomfortable feeling or sense of lack. Each inhalation becomes medicine to heal your well-being. Each exhalation releases physical, and mental constriction. 

This stability is always present and available and can be internalized whenever it is needed. The next time you are feeling ungrounded, scattered, insecure, or weak, connect with this earth. If you are knocked off balance in your relationships or at work or in your internal processes, make the decision to immediately feel grounded, focused, solid, and balanced by connecting to earth. 

Your body is very earthy: the feeling in it is the life of the earth. Bring your awareness there, relax, and connect. The elemental energy of earth is already in you. It is you; it’s simply a matter of bringing it to awareness, connecting with it, and remembering it.

If any uncomfortable feelings or sensations arise, simply be a good host. Smile to whatever arises. Regard these feelings without judgment and with openness and warmth, as you would a friend in need. Feel how this earth element also lives in your body, your emotions, and your mind. Bring your attention to your physical body, to any part that feels pain or is weak. Send the energy of the earth to that part of your body, nourishing it with solidity and stability.

If thoughts and stories arise, you can simply allow your thoughts and stories to come and go, and maintain a connection with the stillness of the body. We can cultivate a sense of gratitude for the earth element that we are experiencing and recognize how essential it is for our own well-being and the well-being of the world. How wonderful to be solid and free in this moment. May all beings be solid and free.

Let your experience be spontaneous and uncontrived. Allow time to rest in whatever you have received from the earth. Everything is okay right here. Just be natural. Just be present. Just be.