As you are sitting here reading this allow your awareness to turn inwards into yourself. We are going to discuss the five elements and see how they interact in our lives.

A good place to start is with a simple example. Just imagine that you are going to do a little gardening. The first thing one does is loosen the soil. By digging the soil what we are doing is breaking the soil up or should I say mixing the Air Element with the Earth Element.

The next thing a good gardener will do is plant the seed or introduce the Life Force Element. He will then water the seed or introduce the Water Element.

The gardener has learned that the spring is the best time to plant seeds as the Sun is getting stronger or the Fire Element is being introduced to complete the balance of all five elements. As we know from experience at growing plants, if all five elements are in balance the life of the plant grows strong and healthy.

Our life also relies on the balance of the five elements. In humans the life force is introduced at the time of conception and over the first 9 months the mother’s womb provides everything the foetus needs to develop. When the baby is born the five elements come into play as the baby takes its first breath.

So it is easy to see the Air Element coming into the body through the breath. The Earth Element comes in from the fruits of the Earth in the form of the food we eat.

The heat of the Sun provides the Fire Element and to a certain extent we also have an internal fire in the form of the Digestive Fire.

The Water Element comes into the body by what we drink and the Life Force Element keeps entering the body by our internal connection to the divine.

As we know, the mix of the five elements varies depending on where we are on the planet. At the North and South Poles the Fire Element is quite weak. On the Equator the Fire Element is quite strong and the Water Element may be lacking, as in the deserts. So our environment may influence the Five Elements within us.

Also the food we eat. Each type of food will have one dominant element. For instance the Water Element will dominate a watermelon. The Fire Element will dominate a chilli pepper. Onions may contain a lot of the Air Element. All growing plants contain the Earth Element and the Life Force.

The point of this discussion is to bring to your awareness the interplay of the Five Elements that is in everything we experience, from the changing seasons to the change of balance in the elements within us, as we grow older.

Certain animals have adapted themselves to one of the Elements. Fish from the sea and the rivers have adapted to use the Water Element. Birds fly through the Air Element. Moles burrow in the Earth Element. Most animals enjoy lying in the Sun, soaking up the Fire Element.

Each day just see how the five elements are working in your life. Do you have a good balance of all five?

Are you taking enough time to go for a walk on the beach and just enjoy the play of the five elements in your life? The heat of the Sun, the ebb and flow of the waves, the sea breeze on your face. Take time to see and appreciate life itself and its interplay.