Harmonizing the Five Elements Within Yourself: A Hidden Key to Enhanced Well-Being, Creativity & Prosperity

‘Energy’ is a buzzword used these days to describe the aspects of our life which are often difficult to comprehend from a strictly materialistic point of view.

Yet, many ancient cultures and spiritual traditions understood energy from a very visceral and practical perspective.  They ‘tuned in’ to the flows of energy, both in themselves and in the environment around them. 

Known as the ‘elements,’ these energy forms are described similarly across many ancient traditions.  Plato proposed that our physical world is composed of the four elements of fire, earth, air and water.  Both the Tarot deck, and our modern playing cards, contain four elements: fire (wands), earth (pentacles), air (swords) and water (cups).

Bon, the native spiritual tradition of Tibet, says there are five elements: fire, earth, air, water and space.  The Chinese I-Ching, which informs the art of Feng Shui, works with a slightly different set of five: fire, earth, water, metal and wood.  Many other cultures also include a version of the elements in their mythology.

Why are these elements such an important aspect of these diverse spiritual traditions?  My understanding, informed by decades of study, as well as experiential inclusion of the elements into my spiritual practice, is that these elements are unique energy forms that make up the very foundation of this reality. 

Tibetan Buddhism and Bon view the elements as aspects of consciousness itself – not simply material manifestations.  This may be a quite surprising perspective, as we’re quite used to thinking of them as material objects or simply chemical processes.  However, this western view denies that consciousness may exist through all aspects of our world, not just in sentient and corporal beings that we recognize.

Let’s look more deeply into the fire element as an example.  First, we know it primarily as a hot flame that appears when combustion of some type occurs.  Our sun is also an example of the fire element, providing heat and light for our planet.  We can observe that heat, energy and light are primary characteristics of the fire element. 

Does the fire element exist within ourselves?  At the most materialist level, we know that our bodies produce heat and energy for our cells to be alive.  Without either, the body dies.  At the level of our psyche, we associate having ‘fire’ with passion, energy, movement, and innovation.  Someone with too much fire can be ‘fiery’ or ‘hot-headed’, and another who has too little fire can be described as their ‘fire having gone out.’

Personally, I discovered the power of the elements when my fire, or life force, was at its weakest point in my life.  In 2005, my older and only sister committed suicide, and I travelled from Australia where I was living back to the U.S.A. to support my brother and help deal with the aftermath of her death.  After 2 weeks of packing her house, moving stuff and feeling completely flattened by the whole experience, I returned to Australia. 

My entire being was drained, and even though I slept 8-10 hours each night, I’d wake up feeling exhausted and this went on for over a month. As a practicing Buddhist, I implemented all that I knew to help myself through meditation, yoga, good food and long walks.  Still, my mind, body and spirit were adrift and without a strong life force (called Qi in Feng Shui). 

One day, I picked up a book that I had bought the year before called ‘Healing with Form, Energy and Light’ by Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, a Bon and Dzogchen spiritual teacher.  I began a spiritual practice of the five elements — focusing on the fire element at first, and then the other four elements, so as to bring them back into balance.  After a week of doing this elemental practice several times a day, I began feeling like I was a person again instead of a zombie.  This gave me a profound introduction into the power of the five elements.

What I’ve learned over the years of working with the elements both internally, and in my practice as a Feng Shui consultant, is that our existence is underpinned by the five elements – not just physically, but also spiritually and emotionally.  Each element also relates to the emotions, as we discussed above regarding the fire element.  If one element goes out of balance, then this often influences the other elements too.  For example, if one is too ‘fiery’ then their water element is likely depleted and they lose touch with their emotional nature, becoming analytical and dry. 

Not only are our emotions and physical being deeply connected with the elements, but our creative nature – our genius – is also influenced by the unique combination of elements that are dominant in each of us.  This ‘elemental signature,’ as I call it, is determined by Chinese/Tibetan astrology and a form of numerology called ‘Nine-Star Ki’ associated with the Feng Shui school I practice (Black Sect).

When we understand our own elemental signature and allow its powerful forces to inform our lives, then an internal alignment happens within ourselves that creates greater ease and access to our natural abundance.  How?  Just like magnets that line up, the elemental forces ‘line up’ and create a flow of Qi. 

Allow me to illustrate with another story from my own life. As a young adult, I choose to follow a science career and for the first decade it was fulfilling in terms of my desire to innovate through research, and to connect with young people as a university lecturer.  However, my inner spiritual life felt completely left out of my daily work life. As that aspect of myself became more developed after I met my spiritual teacher in 2003, I increasingly felt unbalanced and unhappy in my work.

At that time, I didn’t know how much my water element (intuitive and feeling aspect) was important to my well-being, but as I mentioned in the above story about healing myself through the elemental practice, I was exploring the importance of the elements through my Buddhist study.  My science training had reinforced my ‘metal’ (thinking, analyzing, and communicating) element and ‘fire’ (passion, drive), but my primary element of water, which is significant in my elemental signature, was definitely not being expressed in my career.

Now, after learning how to maintain inner balance over the last 15 years, I’ve finally come to appreciate that my water element is a profound aspect of my being.  Its expression comes alive in me as a mystic, intuitive and Feng Shui practitioner while being in balance with my metal (strategic thinker) and fire (innovator) aspects.  My genius is being an ‘intuitive strategist’ for spiritually motivated creatives and entrepreneurs.

What elemental aspects of you are perhaps waiting to be brought forth more fully into your being and into your life and work?  By tapping into, and aligning with the natural flow of Qi through your elemental nature, you too may enjoy the full bounty of your holistic nature!  These elements are alive, and speaking to us all the time, if only we tune in and listen, we’ll discover an entirely new reality filled with power, insight and beauty.