Somatic Practice for the Earth Element
Take a few breaths and invite your belly soften.
Feel your contact with the floor and the ground below you offering your body support.
Feel gravity, how your body is relating to the gravitational pull of the earth.
Move around a little bit and adjust to make yourself more comfortable.
You might look around the room and notice what helps you feel safe, grounded, calm.
Cultivate a sense of safety, of home, of “I belong here.”
*
Place a hand on your naval and/or on the upper abdomen.
Use your breath to soften from deep inside of your body.
You could picture a balloon or ball of light inflating and deflating with your breath to help you expand, softly, in all directions.
Feel the space inside, front to back, back to front.
*
Make space for the organs of digestion and the processes of transformation within you.
Allow your organs to rest into the bowl created by your two pelvic bones and sacrum at the base of your spine.
Relax into this practice for several breaths.
*
Now, notice your midback
You might touch here with the back of one of your hands.
With a hand on the front and the back around the area of the naval,
Allow the breath to gently fill this area.
*
Next, feel along your ribs until you find the tips of your floating ribs.
This area can be tender.
Make gentle contact.
*
Rub your hands together to make them warm, and massage your jaw, cheeks, forehead, and hairline.
*
Turn your head slightly side to side, nod “no” and then “yes” slowly.
Feel the powerful neck muscles that turn your head left and right.
Gently rub your hands down your chest and rib cage and belly.
*
Rest your hands on your thighs, belly, or anywhere that allows you to feel comfort.
*
Notice what and how you feel when you connect with your center, your belly, your earth.
*
Take in the feeling through your hands and through the part of yourself that you are touching.
Allow room for any thoughts, feelings, and emotions to surface.
*
Reflect upon your experience.
What did you learn about your earth element?
