Some Words on Water
A few weeks ago, I started to tell you about how my background in yoga and Ayurveda inspire and inform my choices when I design jewelry. How the 5 Elements of these systems— Earth, Water, Fire, Wind and Space—show up in everything we do, touch or see. I shared about Earth Element and how it shows up as the principle of stability and support. You can read the full post here.
This week I want to share about Water Element. As we enter the summer in the Northern Hemisphere, Water Element is in decline in the environment around us, as the sun heats up and dries out the earth. It’s an important time of the year to make sure that we are staying hydrated and cool
Water Element is the principle of Cohesion.
In the body, this emerges as nourishment, growth, and lubrication.
Water element cools, moistens, adheres, soothes, softens, smoothes, dulls, and spreads.
When you express clarified Water element, you feel nourished by, and connected to, your community. It helps you feel content, express yourself calmly and smoothly, and allow things to “roll off your back.”
Water allows for assimilation, permitting your food and experiences to become part of you. Healthy Water element also insulates your body with a healthy layer of fat, lubricates your joints and mucosa, and produces clear, smooth skin. It gives you open and non-judgmental eyes, and smooth, fluid motion in your limbs.
Two of the most prevalent flavors in the average diet these days—sweet and salty—both predominate in Water element. The tendency to over-consume these flavors leaves you heavy and bogged-down with wet, sticky dullness.
When water over-accumulates, your digestion slows down, and you may become dull and insensitive to the situations around you. Excess water leaves you sticky, bogged-down, heavy, excessively emotional, or depressed.
Some remedies for excess Water Element:
Exercise—work up a bit of a sweat.
Eating dry, light or raw foods.
Cooking with spices like ginger, pepper, clove, cumin, coriander, and fennel.
Spending time in the sun or a dry climate.
Sun Salutation (Surya Namaskar).
Twist yoga postures.
Deficiency of Water element can leave you feeling dried out and inflexible in your body and mind. You might feel constipated, emaciated, and bitter. A depletion of the sticky and smooth qualities of Water element can lead to a loss of the ability to connect with others, or with nourishment in general.
Some remedies for deficient Water Element:
Hydrating fluids such as cow's milk, coconut juice, and coconut milk.
Healthy fats such as ghee.
Sweet foods such as wheat, root vegetables, peeled almonds and red grapes.
Spending time in person with loved ones.
Yoga Nidra—guided relaxation. This is a recording I made a few years back.
Moon Salutation (Chandra Namaskar).
Moon-bathing (think sun-bathing, but under the light of the moon).
There is so much more to say about Water Element, and how it expresses, but I’d love to give you more of a FEEL for it. Here is a yoga sequence I recorded a few years back to help you explore Water Element.
Check out these song links and see if you can sense some of the nourishing, cohesive, fluid qualities of Water Element…
Glory Box, by Portishead
DNA, by Ludovico Einaudi (also a good measure of Earth Element in this one)
Draw Something Beautiful, by Ganavya
Compassion, by Laura Inserra
Tune in next week, for some words on Fire. And if you have any questions as you sit with Earth and Water Element, or some song recommendations that you think might fit into an element category, send me a note!