Embodying the Elements of the Universe

| Earth | Air | Fire | Water |

These four elements bring our planet together in harmony. Each one is needed in balance - but what happens when you embody one or multiple at a time? 

Have you ever been in a conversation with someone and have so immensely felt the energy and emotions they had? Have you ever watched someone perform and felt captivated by their presence? You have most likely experienced one or both of these instances. This is something I love so much about the theatre and the relation to the day-to-day person. 

• Earth - represent patience, strength, grounding, and centering. Promotes stability, warmth, and comfort. 

• Air - Know a little something about everything. Great communicators and ability to reason. Promotes new beginnings, friendship, positive expression, making decisions and carrying them through. 

• Fire - Spontaneous, inspired, full of big passion. Promotes being impulsive and giving people encouragement to act on their desires. 

• Water - Soothing and full of feminine energy. Usually attracted to those who need healing and desire to dive deeper into the unknown messy parts of life. 

You probably relate to one element more than the other. And you probably aspire to be one element more than the other in different areas of your life. 

How to Create Art with the Elements:

I love this tool in creation. Fire for example has so many layers - from the quick strike of a fire and seeing Red for a flash, to the out of control flames, to the settling and over powering air with it’s thick smoke, to then simmering down and creating tiny cracks in the wood while allow you to see pockets of orange and yellow glow. 

Just how polarity of these elements benefit conversations and relationships, it also benefits art and saves it from monotony to give it greater expression. What I love about Chekhov Acting Technique is how you play with moving the center of these elements throughout your internal and external self. How does it feel to move water from the heart center to the pelvis and how are those two characters different? Or what is the difference between putting earth embodiment above your head space while infusing fire to take over the mind. If a painter - how does the image on the canvas change when you embody earth in your feet while air in your brush? A gardener - when do you use controlled fires to offer new sprouts and when do you offer water for continued growth? 

Element Embodiment in Daily Conversation:

The research can begin in conversation with a friend- Notice what kind of element they are embodying with their words and what kind they are embodying with their body language.. What kind of element do you want to embody to benefit this conversion? If in an argument and someone is exuding a lot of passion, maybe try to embody water to sooth. 

It’s easy to allow this research to consume your thoughts and analytics, so try to allow this to be a moment of play and expression. If you are interested in this tool, also look into the different forms of earth elements from other religions and cultures. For some there are 4 elements and for some there are 11. What have you found?