How To Create Balance and Purify With The Five Elements

The Ayurvedic principle is based upon the idea that each person has one or two elements that dominate their body, which in turn affects their personality traits and their overall health. For centuries Indian medicine relied on this theory of the elements and they based their health practices on healing not just the body, but the mind and soul, as well. The idea is that your diet and your emotional state are connected to the natural world and your environment, and when you don’t feel well, you need to balance and purify one of the elements within you.

The elements are also associated with the chakra system, which plays an important role in Ayurvedic philosophy. The traditional chakra system represents the seven points of energy within the body, and each chakra has a corresponding color that is associated with it.

Beginning with the base of the spine up to the top of your head they are as follows:

Every person is born with one or two dominating elements, which is represented in what the Aryeveda system calls your dosha. The doshas are Vata (air and spirit), Pitta (fire and water), and Kapha (earth and water). The environment that you live in influences your dosha and when it is out of balance, you experience certain disruptions in your body. Once you understand what your dosha is, you can keep the dominating elements within your body balanced through lifestyle practices and dietary changes. The following is a representation of how each element behaves in the body and purification techniques for holistic wellbeing:

When you think in terms of water, imagine anything that is liquid or fluid, both in your own body as well as in the external world. If you have water as a dominating element, you are creative, sensuous, and you embrace change because you are constantly in motion. Your chakra is the sacral chakra, which is located at your belly button and is the color orange.

When you are overnourished you can be overly emotional, have a tendency to indulge in too much alcohol, and can have problems with digestion and difficulty sleeping. When you are undernourished, you can be insecure, inconsiderate of the feelings of others, and you can have repressed emotions.

You can channel water in a healthy way by soaking in the bathtub, having a good cry when you are feeling undernourished, and taking a long, soothing shower. It is especially imperative to drink plenty of water and herbal tea to ensure that you stay hydrated. Swimming in a natural body of water is another excellent way to bring the water element back into balance.

If your dominating element is fire, you tend to be confident, motivated, and charismatic. The sacral chakra is associated with the fire element, its corresponding color is yellow and it’s located in between the belly button and heart.

When the fire element is overnourished, you feel stagnant and can have low self-esteem. When it’s overnourished, people with fire as the dominating element tend to be quick to anger, get jealous, and can have controlling or perfectionist behavior. They tend to have red, irritated skin, digestive issues and have sharp hunger pangs, and inflammation within the body.

If fire is one of your dominating elements, you can bring yourself into balance by doing a candle visualization. Watch the flame burn and imagine a peaceful white light in your sacral chakra spreading all through your body up to the crown of your head. If you have an actual fireplace or fire pit, that’s even better. The idea is to feel warm, but not burned. Also, avoid spicy foods like chili and cayenne peppers, and watch your red meat and alcohol consumption.

The earth element encompasses not just the ground, but everything that is made of solid matter. If your dominating element is earth, you need to feel secure, grounded, and stable. This element is closely associated with the root chakra, which is the most foundational chakra of all because it is connected with fertility and co-creation. It’s located at the base of the spine and it’s associated with the color red.

Earth elements need to find stability and nourishment above all other elements. That’s because the energy that earth elements have comes from mother nature, which is the fundamental core of all life on earth.

When the earth element is overnourished, you tend to have skin and hair issues, lethargy, brittle bones, and are emotionally apathetic. When they are undernourished, they feel out of focus, unstable, and often experience appetite loss. The best way to bring the earth element within yourself back into balance is to get out in nature, walk barefoot in the soil, otherwise known as grounding, or get your hands in the dirt with a gardening project.

The air element has anything to do with breezes, smoke, and all other gases.

The personality traits of someone who has air as their dominating element is loving, energetic, and compassionate. You tend to be highly intellectual, your chakra is the heart and the corresponding color is green.

When you are feeling overnourished, you overthink things, are anxious, and can be indecisive. When your air element is undernourished, you feel foggy, have relationship problems, and are generally disconnected from the world around you.

Air elements often suffer from poor circulation, hormone imbalances, and tremors.

To bring the air element back into balance, you can light some incense and sit and watch the smoke curl upwards. While you are doing this you can say a repeated affirmation to help ground you back on earth again.

When your element is the spirit or ether, you tend to be highly intuitive and have the capacity to connect deeply with the consciousness of the universe. The chakra is the throat chakra with the corresponding color of blue and represents communication and self-expression. It’s also associated with the crown chakra, which is located at the top of the head and corresponds with the color indigo.

The spirit element is the most elusive of all the elements as it connects the other elements together - water to the earth, fire to the air. When your dominating element is spirit, you have a tendency to be able to channel your intuition more easily than other people. You have a deep connection to the spirit world and people who have spirit as their dominating element are often empaths and visionaries.

When the spirit element is overnourished, you are disillusioned and not connected to reality. When you are feeling undernourished, you lack purpose, or your sense of self, and you feel lost or like you don’t have enough time to get things done.

You can bring the spirit element back into balance by doing meditation or yoga. Pranayama yoga is especially helpful because it’s a type of yoga that focuses specifically on breathing techniques to help you find a sense of self-reflection and peace.

There is a unity between the five elements that connects everything on earth, and when you understand how they operate within yourself, you have knowledge in self-healing that not many people have. Through the ancient practice of Ayurveda, you can experience a way of life that brings you in harmony with health and happiness. It’s holistic wellness at its finest, and it’s a deeply empowering way to live.