Our Elemental Nature {Earth}

There is a trail near my house; it cuts through the woods, follows along a creek, and makes its way back to an old textile mill from the 1800s.

The mill changed hands a few times and ultimately ended up being run by a woman. This woman also worked to create the first settlement for Eastern European Jewish immigrants in this area. My ancestors are Eastern European Jews.

Even before that, before mills and immigrants, the indigenous people first on this land were here. There are carvings in the rocks along this very river from these First People that we can still see today.

So, a few times a week, I walk this trail. I step over a heart-shaped rock embedded in the ground, and I reach a spot just before the mill... a sandy little nook along the shoreline.

There is a rock that overhangs the water; it is just long enough to lie down on, and so I do. I stretch out on my back, I stare at the sky, and I think about all the other people that might have laid down in this very spot.

People that carried worries, if not identical to mine, than very likely in the same vein:

Worries about making ends meet

Worries about doing the very best by your children

Worries about the community and the ecosystems that support that community

Worries about changes unknown coming around the corner

I lie on this rock, and I allow myself to breathe and to feel, and I stay until I know I’m done. Always past that first inclination to get up... I stay until I well and truly feel held.

Because I always do. When I come here and I lie on the earth, on this stone that has seen eons longer than I ever will, I feel held. I feel supported. I remember that these worries aren’t meant to be carried by me alone.

When we talk about the earth element - absolutely we can talk about what we want to plant. We can talk about nutrients and nourishment and fecundity, but let’s first talk about support. Let’s talk about being held.

For the earth is what has held us {all beings} throughout time.

Join me now for today’s discussion of the earth element, both external and internal, and then a 20-minute guided meditation practice.

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