This practice is called the four elements for stress reduction.
The four elements are earth,
Air,
Water,
And fire.
And this practice is meant to help reduce the overall effects of stress on the body,
Which helping you to return to neutral when stress has become overwhelming.
So the sequence of earth,
Air,
Water,
And fire is also designed to help you follow your body up from the feet to the head.
So beginning with earth.
Earth represents grounding safety in the present.
So take a moment or two to land,
To just begin to be here now.
You might do this in part by placing both feet on the ground and feeling your feet where they make contact with the surface that they're resting on.
Maybe wiggling the toes,
Maybe pushing the feet down a little bit into the ground.
It could also include feeling the chair or surface that's supporting the rest of your body.
So feeling the grounding of the earth in the sense of gravity.
As you look around,
But notice three new things.
What do you see?
Notice three things that you see,
Name them as you feel the ground under your feet and under your body.
The next element is air element.
And this involves using breathing for centering.
So you could use your favorite breathing exercise here if you have one already.
Another option is to breathe in through your nose as you count four seconds,
Then hold it for two seconds,
Then breathe out for four seconds,
Hold it for two,
And breathe in again through your nose as you count for four seconds.
So you can just take this time right now to take some slow,
Deep breaths in this way,
Or in whatever way feels right for you.
So again,
If you'd like to,
You could,
As you inhale through your nose,
Count four seconds,
One,
Two,
Three,
Four,
And then hold for one,
Two,
And then breathe out for four seconds through your nose or your mouth.
One,
Two,
Three,
Four,
And then hold for two,
One,
Two,
And continuing as you breathe in,
Pausing,
And then breathing out,
Allowing your breath to be deep and slow.
Just what feels natural to you.
The next element is the water element.
And water represents calm and control to switch on the relaxation response.
So one way we can do this is you can check to see if you have saliva in your mouth.
And notice how you can make more saliva by moving your tongue around and imagining the taste of something like a lemon or chocolate.
Often if we're anxious or stressed,
Our mouth can dry out because of the stress response,
The fight or flight response that shuts off our digestive system.
And so when we actually encourage our body to make saliva,
We switch on the digestive system again and the associated relaxation response.
And that's a theory why people are often offered water or tea or chewing gum after a difficult experience.
That if you have difficulty making saliva,
Also you might just start off by taking a sip of water and then just moving your tongue around and imagining or actually drinking something with lemon or some other flavor that gets your taste buds going.
And notice how the influence of encouraging your digestive system to work affects the sense of relaxation in your body.
And the last element is the fire element.
And so with the fire element,
We're up to our heads now and we can light up the path of our imagination.
And so in this phase,
What you can do is bring up to mind an image of a peaceful place,
A calm place,
Some other positive resourcing place that you'd like to transport yourself to.
So bringing that to mind and noticing everything that you like to see there,
What you would hear in this peaceful place,
What it smells like,
What it feels like.
Maybe it's warm or soft.
Maybe there's water,
Just whatever feels pleasant,
Calm,
And peaceful for you.
And noticing where you feel that the effects of that in your body,
Just even a little flavor of it.
Maybe it's feeling the warmth of the sun or a cool breeze.
And as you combine all four elements,
Remind yourself that you can continue to feel the security of now in your feet as they're held on the earth,
Feeling centered now in your feet as they're held on the earth,
Feeling centered as you breathe in and as you breathe out,
Feeling calm and control as your mouth produces more saliva.
And you can let the fire light the path to your imagination to bring up an image of a place that feels peaceful and calm and enjoyable.
And so now you have a range of techniques to help you control your stress level.
So these are practices that you can do at any time rather than thinking,
Oh,
I'll take care of myself later.
You can take care of yourself now in this way of activating these different elements in your imagination and in your body that helps to soothe and calm and regulate your whole nervous system and reduce the negative impacts of stress.
I hope that this practice is enjoyable for you and helpful.
