Finding Support in the Elements

From Healing with Form, Energy and Light by Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche

Here are a few brief excerpts – heart advice from Rinpoche's book Healing with Form, Energy and Light  – that give a glimpse into some of the wonderful connections we can have to the five elements of earth, water, fire, air and space. The sacred connections to the natural world offer us so much, and in that recognition we can offer so much back!

We also are pleased to share the news that two upcoming October retreats with Rinpoche will focus on the five elements, one on Zoom and one through Ligmincha Learning. Read more about them in this issue.

We hope you enjoy the pictures, too, which are inspired by and connected to the elements!

Earth

The next time you are feeling ungrounded, scattered, insecure or weak, retrieve 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. Use the natural environment to develop these positive qualities. Visit places in which you feel grounded and internalize the quality.

Water

Feel the comfort of water, the relaxation, the ease as it flows around rocks, opens and accepts what falls in it, rests in whatever holds it.

Water is comforting. Like earth, it gives a feeling of stability. It is accepting of others, of events, of self. Water also has to do with elimination, purification and cleansing. It is associated with feelings of peace and comfort and gentle joy.

Fire

When you feel uninspired, dull or flat, connect with fire. When working with a negative habit or tendency in yourself, burn it in the fire of your practice. Use your mind to bring fire into areas of your body that are sick or wounded; use it to purify what is there and to invigorate the healing process. When you feel weak and uncertain, connect with fire for its strength and its creative vision. When you are weary or uninspired, draw on fire to give strength to the will.

Air

Air allows flow and movement. When a strong wind arises, let it blow away your negative karma. When a gentle breeze arises, let it carry away discomfort, fear and negative thoughts.

Air lifts the spirit, lifts the mood. When you're feeling down or depressed, connect to air. Air is light, unbound, pervasive. Internalize that.

Space

When you integrate with space, healing occurs. The tight, constricted knots of anger and fear, of desire and worry, dissolve. Tensions dissolve. Thoughts dissolve. Your many identities start to dissolve. The more you integrate with the space element, the clearer and more expansive your awareness becomes, unstained by whatever arises in it.

(Healing with Form, Energy and Light by Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche is available at Ligmincha's online store here.)