Resourcing with the Four Elements
In the world of EMDR therapy, we structure our sessions around different phases of treatment as our relationship with our clients grows. We start off in Phase 1 history taking, not just putting together a timeline of our client’s lives but trying to understand and contextualize the root and beginnings of symptoms and frustrations. As we begin the explore patterns together, we start to move into Phase 2, or resourcing. It’s in this phase that we work together to shift patterns that feel out of balance, begin to tune in and notice sensations in our bodies, and experiment with new ways of being.
I think very often in our modern culture we tune out ancient wisdom and things we know innately. We tend to favor rational explanations and science at the expense of also noticing the world around us or trusting our bodies’ sensations. My friend and fellow therapist Carrie and I were laughing the other day because each of us keeps getting mail advertising something called forest therapy. In a nutshell, this therapy seems to involve inviting clients into the forest and noticing nature. It says quite a lot about our culture that we have to train and certify therapists to teach people to go outside and pay attention! We all inherently know that connecting with nature, our true home, is necessary and beneficial to our whole being. And yet it is so easy to forget that in a world with technology at our fingertips, nature and our bodies are always available to us, calling us to simply tune in and pay attention.
The four elements are a quite ancient way to look at the world and our bodies. Ancient Egyptian, Greek, and many other traditions and cultures have turned to the elements for wisdom and balance. The four elements, earth, water, air, and fire, are the building blocks for all living beings and objects. We need each of these in balance for survival on earth but also to live in health as humans individually and collectively. When we begin to recognize how each of these elements manifests in our own bodies, we can begin to shift what feels imbalanced and out of sync.
Taking earth first, consider the very ground you walk on, the soil, the physical matter that tells you you’re here in this time and place. Do you feel connected to this energy in your own being? Do you need more connection with earth by feeling your own rootedness or digging down deep into the soil? Conversely, do you feel perhaps too rooted in place, so immersed in earth that it feels difficult to move or create?
As you connect to the next element of water, connect to all of the fluid and emotions within you. Connect to your saliva and spend time feeling the sensations of swallowing saliva and the flow of the blood in your veins. Do you feel connected to this energy in your being? Perhaps flowing and fluid energy feels distant for you. Maybe you feel so much of this energy in your being you feel pulled and overwhelmed by your emotions.
Air, our next element, is of course connected to our breath energy and also wind and the space in and around us. Focus on your breath, taking slow inhales from deep in your belly and filling up your whole body cavity with air. Do you notice places of expansion and contraction in your body? Do you notice access to space and openness? Or perhaps you notice so much expansion and vastness it is difficult to connect with the world around you.
And finally, fire. Fire is our spark, our will, our desire to act. Consider all the ways our bodies create energy through digestion, the ways our bodies carry signals and impulses, the sparks of ideas, the inner drive and momentum to act. How do you connect with this energy in your being? Perhaps your connection to spark and drive feel distant or perhaps it feels a little too easy to harness your impulses and aggression.
This week, I invite you to consider the four elements, both inside of your own body and in the world around you. Connect to our ancestral wisdom that invites us to develop a deeper connection with ourselves and the earth.
Peace to you,
Cassie