When many of us consider setting goals and sticking to them, we consider external things, like our bank accounts or waistlines. But some experts believe it is best to turn inward when making positive changes.
“Your whole body, down to the smallest part of you, is truly a collection and expression of energy, expressed through digestion, thought patterns, metabolism and lifestyle choices,” says Maria É Garre, a yoga and Ayurvedic teacher and therapist. “Understanding your energy type can help you set and maintain your goals.”
Garre says the first step to understanding your life in a more connected way is to appreciate the qualities and functions of the elements and how they relate to the body and mind. She recommends a straightforward energy quiz from Gaia, a streaming media provider, which offers a guide to living a more aware life, which can be found at www.gaia.com/quiz2016. This quiz is based on historical Eastern teachings to help people discover which of the five basic elements — space, air, fire, water, and earth — has the most influence within them.
With those teachings in mind, Garre offers a little bit of information about each of the elements and their energy qualities:
• Space: Space represents freedom and healing. It is obvious, smooth and expansive. In our body it represents the spaces between joints, organs, skulls, cavities and so on. It is also the space between thoughts and cycles. Space brings mental freedom and possibility, but a mind that’s too inattentive will easily forget and soar in the clouds.
• Air: Everything that moves in the body, from nerve impulses to the movements of the eyes, lungs and digestive tract, is air. Air also represents the movement of thoughts, ideas and inspiration. Within the mind, the air sign brings creativity and concepts, but if overdone, can make us think too much.
• Fire: All our metabolism, enzymatic reactions and transformative processes in the body represent the fire element. Within the mind, this fire mediates our abilities to learn, understand, and analyze. This is our passion for life. The fire of intelligence is useful, but too much of it can make us critical, impatient, and irritable.
• Water: The water element carries moisture throughout the body, allowing smooth movement and circulation of nutrients. It offers tenderness, affection and invulnerability. In the body, it’s the lubrication of the joints, digestive tract, and sinuses. Water holds emotions and so we cry when we are emotional. Too much of the water element in mind can make us overly emotional.
• Earth: Earth is the element that we hold in our skin, muscles, bones, hair, teeth and nails. It is solid and firm and thus gives us density, stability, fortitude and strength. Earth helps the mind relax and become calm and steady. An excess of earth in the mind can make us heavy, stagnant or depressed.
More content, including streaming video and blog posts, about conscientious living can be found at www.Gaia.com and www.MariaGarre.com.
“When you start a new goal, start by looking at the basic elemental types to help you understand yourself,” says Garre.
Content and photography by: Statepoint
