Observing The Five Great Elements of Ayurveda

You can adopt the mudra of placing your thumb on your radial artery so that you can feel your pulse under your thumb.

And directing your awareness inward,

Closing your eyes if that helps.

Direct your energy inward,

Sitting with a straight spine.

Taking a moment to observe the breath,

Withdrawing the senses into the body,

Placing your awareness on the pulse under your thumb,

Radial artery,

And with each heartbeat,

Blood is moving through your veins,

Through your arteries,

Circulating the life force that moment to moment keeps your body animated,

Gives a home for your consciousness.

And now consider the earth element.

Solidity,

The nutritive essence of the food that you eat comes in through your digestive system,

Is absorbed into your body,

And is circulated through your blood vessels.

And after a while,

The earth element leaves your body again,

So we can feel under our thumb how the earth element comes from outside of us,

Comes into our body,

Becomes a part of us,

Circulates around,

And then leaves our body again.

Consider the water element,

The fluidity of the blood,

The fluidity of the body,

The lubrication of the joints,

Saliva,

Digestive juices,

Hormones,

And neurotransmitters,

And we can feel under our thumb how this water element comes into our bodies,

Circulates,

And leaves again.

The fire element,

The heat of our body,

Comes into our body from the foods that we eat,

Plants which have absorbed solar energy,

Transformed it into their body,

Which we take into our body,

And that energy is released in the form of heat and mechanical energy,

Allowing our body to move and function,

Creating the light of our consciousness,

And the air element.

The oxygen that we breathe in is absorbed into our blood,

Circulates,

Is used by our body,

And with each exhalation,

We release the air element back into the environment.

And the channels of space,

The structures of our body,

The system of organization,

The four billion or more physiological activities that are happening in our body every instant that we're not even aware of,

All mediated through the channels of space.

We can imagine that the boundaries between our inner environment and outer environment dissolve,

That the surface of our body is just a membrane as we continually take in the elements from outside,

They circulate around inside,

And then leave again.

And so we are in continual interchange with the environment.

And letting the visualization go,

Returning to the room,

Opening the eyes as you're ready.