6 your notebook.
Take a walk on a grassy area, barefoot if possible. Compare the feeling of the earth against your bare feet with the feeling when you are wearing shoes. Write your responses in your notebook.
Lie on the grass letting as much of your body as possible rest on the ground. Close your eyes and listen not just to the sound around you but to the sounds you can hear going on in the earth beneath you. Now write in your notebook about your experiences.
Work your garden if you have one. If you don ' t have a garden then purchase some compost, a few pots and some seeds, herbs are good for this kind of planting. Place them on your windowsill and watch the seedlings grow, nurturing them and loving them too. You can even talk to them if you wish. Note the date when the shoots appear and when the leaves first appear.
Now it is time for a longer exercise, a meditative journey with the element of Earth.
Imagine walking along the top of a moor. The path is quite wide and you can see the landscape around you for many miles. There are wooded valleys and rocky outcrops.
Ahead of you, just off the path, is a large group of rocks close together. You feel drawn towards them so you pick your way carefully across the springy ground, moving closer to the nearest rock. It glistens and you stretch out your hand to touch it. It feels warm and you decide to lean against it. It is a comforting rock and you close your eyes for a few moments.
When you open you eyes, you move around the rocks until you see a narrow opening. You squeeze through the opening and find yourself in a circular space, open to the sky. In the centre of the space is a smaller rock, just the right size to be used as a seat. You go over and sit on it. It is just the right shape for you and so comfortable that you close your eyes again.
You sense movement around you and hear whispers. Have the ancients returned here to talk to you? You listen to the sounds and sense everything around you. There is a feeling of peace and of healing and you allow the messages of the ancients to sink into your unconscious mind.
After a while, you realise that it is time to go. You stand up and stretch, looking round for the last time. Just before you enter the opening to the moorland you stop, turn, and say ' Thank you '. Once you are through the gap and on the open moor again, you find somewhere to sit, get out your notebook and write down all you experienced.
By this time you should be feeling quite connected to the elements of Air and Earth and also be able to see how they connect with each other.
So let ' s turn to the element of Water now. It should be easy to write down 10 facts about water so that is your first task. Do it now.
Water is another element that we need in order to live. We can live without food but not without water, so it is extremely important to us and to all living beings on the planet.
I always feel a sense of awe when I see how everything is interconnected, for example, we need water, so do plants and other animals; water helps to produce our food from crops and it helps the trees and bushes to grow often providing food for us and small animals as well as providing shelter. For now, let ' s continue to consider the element of Water. Water is cleansing and soothing. After a bath or shower your body feels fresher and more relaxed. You have washed away all the negative energy from around your body.
On a spiritual level, Water is the element of emotion, the force of self-healing and the power of inner knowing.
Your first exercise with water is to go and sit near running water – a stream or river- or if it is not possible to find these, then a pond or lake will do.
If you are by a stream or river, look to see which way it is flowing. Is it moving fast or slowly? Is it clear or murky? What can you see in and around the water? Close your eyes and listen to the sound of the water. What kind of sound is it? How does it make you feel?
If you are by a lake or pond, then look for ripples on the surface. See if the water is clear. Can you see reflections in the water? Close your eyes and try to sense the water and any movement in it.