The five elements of Nature : Summary
4 min readJun 14, 2022
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Introduction
Our body is made up of five elements present in nature:
Ether, Air, Fire, Water, Earth.
These five elements are necessary for every living creature. The imbalance of any of these elements cause disease in our body.
Our body cannot be maintained merely by taking food. It also needs the existence of other elements.
The qualities of each element are shown in the table below:
We will talk about each element and ways to attain it in our life in the upcoming articles. Taking a brief look at each of them here.
Ether Element
- Most effective of all the five elements.
- The basis of all four elements is ether.
- Mahatma Gandhi has called it as “King of health”.
- Functions of ether element: Sorrow, sex, anger, love, and fear.
- This element is located in the head, throat, heart, stomach, and hip.
- In the head, ether is part of the air, the main medium of “pran”.
- In the heart, ether brings radiance and it exists in bile which digests food.
- In the stomach, ether is a part of water. This makes all activities of the expulsion of foreign matter possible.
- In the hip, ether is a part of the earth.
How to attain this element?
- Fasting and eating lesser than needed.
- Sleeping in the open sky.
- Celibacy and self-control.
- Rest and relaxation.
- Recreation and deep sleep.
Air Element
- “Pran” of all living beings.
- It is the most essential food for all living beings.
- A person breathes 10 to 18 times in a minute. More than one hundred muscles are involved in the process of breathing.
- The air we consume daily is seven times more than the quantity of food and water.
- In our lungs, approximately 60 square inches of air is present all the time.
- The air we inhale comprises different gases like nitrogen, oxygen, and carbon dioxide.
- Our lungs purify the blood by combining it with oxygen inhaled and we exhale carbon dioxide left from this process of oxidation.
Attaining Air element:
- Morning walk
- Exercises like swimming, running, dancing, singing
- Yoga Asanas and Pranayam(Breathing exercises)
Sun or Fire Element
- Sun gives beauty and life to the world. Flowers blossom, fruits ripen and medicinal herbs gain their curative powers because of the sun.
- A body without sun elements becomes lifeless and suffers from many ailments like lethargy, constipation, paralysis, lack of appetite, cold, etc.
- We have fire element inside our stomach called digestive fire.
- Sun rays are made up of seven colors: Violet, Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange, and Red(VIBGYOR).
- Red is the hottest and Violet is the coldest of all the colors in sun rays.
Attaining Fire Element:
- Sunbath
- Use of hot water, steam, earth
- Sun gazing
- Chromotherapy
- Massage
Water Element
- Seventy percent of our body is made up of water.
- Qualities of water are Lightness, coolness, mobility, and purity.
- Water gives nourishment to all living beings.
- It removes impurities from the body and refreshes it.
- Water gives strength and satisfaction to the body.
- There are three types of water — Soft, hard and medium hard water.
Attaining water element:
- Different types of bath
- Wet Packs
- Drinking water
- Enema, Kunjal, Sankh Prakshalan
Earth Element
- Earth is the essence of all other elements.
- Earth has the power to purify water, dissolve other matters, and absorb the heat of the fire.
- It has the capacity to produce food for all beings on earth.
- It has the unique power to cure diseases due to its chemical composition which is not found in any medicine.
- It can remove all kinds of bad smells.
Attaining earth element:
- Sitting and lying on the earth
- Mud bath and clay packs
- Hot and cold bandages of clay or earth
Take off Note
In case you want to study more about the above points, check out this book.
The upcoming articles will be about the types and proper ways of fasting, rest and relaxation techniques, and sleep.
Till then stay tuned.
Thanks for reading!
