For the elements.
I invite you to begin by finding presence in your own body,
Releasing any remaining tension with a shake or a stretch or a wiggle and allowing yourself to come to a place of balance,
Whether seated,
Standing,
Or lying down.
Become expansive,
Yet centered and grounded.
You may repeat the words that I say,
Or simply let them wash over you towards the earth.
Thank you,
Mother.
Gracias,
Madre Tierra.
Gracias,
Pachamama.
Thank you.
Thank you for your substance,
For that which makes up my blood and bones and muscles,
All that creates my body.
Thank you for nourishment,
For nourishing my body with the abundant produce that grows from your soil.
Thank you for nourishing my eyes with the beauty of the landscapes you create.
Thank you for nourishing my ears with birdsong,
The sound of the breeze and the leaves.
Thank you for nourishing my senses of taste and smell with the scent of flowers,
The taste of the delicious foods that I ingest.
Thank you.
Thank you for my life.
May my steps be light.
May I do no harm.
May my path be clear.
Thank you.
I turn my palms out towards the waters.
Thank you to the element of water,
Mami Wata,
The oceans,
The rivers,
The lakes,
The streams,
The ponds,
The groundwaters.
Thank you for the waters that moisten my membranes,
Run in my veins as blood.
Thank you for cleansing my body inside,
Carrying waste,
Carrying oxygen and nutrients.
Thank you for the waters that wash over me and cleanse me on the outside as I bathe in your waters.
Thank you for the waters that cleanse the earth,
The arteries of this green emerald.
May I flow as you do.
May I co-create with the life around me and may I take whatever shape or form life presents while retaining my own pure essence.
Thank you.
I bring my palms to face each other before me.
Thank you to the element of fire,
The campfires and candles,
To the magma at the center of the earth and the sun and the stars above.
Thank you for electricity,
Fire in this harnessed form that makes our lives easeful.
Thank you for the fire,
The electrical impulses that run through my own body in the form of chi,
The electrical impulses that cause my muscles to fire,
My heart to beat.
Thank you for my life.
May the fire that burns within me be transmuted into aligned action.
May I step forward in alignment with my truth.
My light,
My energy might serve to shape the world such that my existence leaves a little bit more beautiful.
Thank you.
And I turn my palms up towards the heavens.
Thank you to father sky,
To the element of air,
To the atmosphere.
Thank you for my breath,
My breath that is life.
Thank you for my life.
May every breath in nourish my body and may my out breath transmute into sound and voice that I might speak my truth,
Speak my boundaries,
Speak my love,
That my voice might transmit love,
To empower,
To inspire,
To manifest.
Thank you.
And I raise my hands with palms towards the heavens.
Thank you.
Thank you to spirit.
Thank you for the spirit that lives in me,
My soul.
Thank you to great spirit,
To God,
The universe,
The heavens above,
The creator and the destroyer,
The infinite and the infinitesimal,
The everything and the nothing between.
Thank you for inspiration,
For vision,
For voice,
For love and all emotions,
For my identity and uniqueness,
The unique expression that I am even as I am one.
I am part of your divinity.
I live in you and your divinity lives in me.
Thank you for creativity,
For intuition,
For safety.
Thank you,
Thank you for my life.
Thank you for my life and all life,
For the trees and flowers and grasses,
For the two-legged,
The four-legged,
The many-legged,
For the creepy crawlies and the winged ones and the rooted ones.
Thank you.
Aho Ashe.
