Exploring our inner ecology – Chapter 2: Taking care of our Water element, feminity and creativity
To you, water, who livens me, swathe me and cleanses me from all my pains,
Rock me like a mother rocks her child, gently, tenderly,
Let me feel within my body, your waves in a graceful and fluid dance,
With you I am in my vital energy, joyful and creative
This month, let’s reconnect to the “Water” element, to the fluidity, to the welcoming of our emotions, to our cyclical and lunar nature.
Taking care of the Water element within us means taking care of ourselves with gentleness and kindness, connecting ourselves to our feminine, creative energy. Without water, we dry out, lose our vitality, joy of life and creativity. Water eases our relationships, cleanses us and frees us from somatized emotional memories. It offers us the power to let go, to welcome life changes in a smooth and graceful dance.
In yoga, the Water element is linked to the second energy center, our sacral chakra, in Sanskrit “Svadhistana”. Located between in the center of the lower belly, in the genital area, the “hara” in Japanese, it is our vital energy center. It represents our agility, creativity but also pleasure and femininity. To balance this chakra, respect and welcome what is sacred (values, deep convictions, body, sexuality, desires…), our capacity to feel, our sensuality, our rhythms and our emotions.
Me and the Water element
Before giving you rituals to take care of your inner Water, I suggest you take two minutes to ask yourself the following question:
What is my relationship with the Water element? Is it an element that I feel very present in me? Not enough?
To help you dig in this question, ask yourself for example:
- Am I listening to my emotions and needs enough? Do I easily find pleasure in my daily life? Do I feel creative and fulfilled?
- Or, on the opposite, do I find it difficult to accept my emotions (I cut myself off from them, repress them or, on the contrary, I often feel overwhelmed by them). Do I have a feeling that I don’t always listen to my needs and desires?
- Do I have a lack of libido? Do I have relational difficulties, difficulty in finding my place, in considering myself, in loving myself or being gentle towards myself?
- Do I find it difficult to feel pleasure and joy?
If the answer to this second group of questions is “yes”, it probably means that it would be beneficial for you to strengthen your Water element and your feminine energy.
Taking care of my “inner water”
4 rituals to connect to your feminine energy
Ritual 1 : Purifying and soothing shower
Being in direct contact with Water is one of the best ways to reconnect with our sacred femininity and creativity. To practice water activities of course, but also to connect in consciousness with Water in our daily life (shower, bath…).
The purifying shower ritual is a moment both sacred and gentle:
Enter your shower, making sure that everything is clean and harmonious. Start showering in consciousness, like a dynamic meditation. Feel the water flowing over your skin, its warmth, its wrap, feel the muscles relax, the feeling of letting go and pleasure settling in. Then feel each part of your body as if it had been purified by the water, washed of all its physical, emotional, energetic pains, mentally telling yourself “my face is purified”, then lower your attention “my neck and throat are purified”, “my arms and hands are purified” etc. Visualize all the negative things you no longer want in your life. Imagine them flowing out, slipping away. Express gratitude for this water that sets you free.
Then think of the things you would like to have in your life, and imagine them flowing over your head like a beautiful waterfall of light. Feel a new energy within. Feel grateful. End the ritual by drinking a large glass of purifying water, with mindfulness.
Ritual 2: the Hulhoop!
An exercise that’s both symbolic of the cyclic life movement but also very effective from an energetic point of view to balance our second chakra and fill us with energy. Standing, feet apart and well anchored, chest straight, do circular movements with your hips, as if you had a hula hoop to spin around your waist. One way, then the other, slowly, then faster. Relax the pelvis and glute muscles to gain fluidity. Close your eyes and let yourself be carried away by this liberating, joyful and energizing movement…
Ritual 3: How about extending this hula hoop movement into an intuitive dance?
With gentle and comforting background music, continue with ample hip movements, eyes closed, listening to every sensation. Now you can let yourself go to a fluid and sensual dance, doing all the movements the body needs. It is the body that naturally leads you towards more liberation and letting go. Let go and enjoy this pure moment of pleasure and softness.
Ritual 4: second chakra meditation
Settle comfortably, ideally near a water source (river, lake, sea, fountain), but it can simply be in a comfortable and quiet space. You can be sitting cross-legged, or with your legs stretched out in front of you with your back supported. Close your eyes, and let your body relax to the rhythm of your breathing.
Concentrate now on your lower belly, a little below the navel, where you visualize a big, warm, comforting orange sun: your vital energy center. With each breath you feel this sun growing a little more in the belly, shining a little more: your creative force and your sacred femininity is activated. With each exhalation you send this orange light throughout the body, so that every cell can be filled with joy, life energy and pleasure. Listen to all the sensations, all the emotions, all the images that pass by, always with care. Stay in this position as long as you want; bathed in this beautiful orange light that wraps you.
Gently end this meditation after several minutes, breathing in and out. Feel the life flowing through you and say thank you with a smile.
Take care and see you next month to discover another of your inner elements.
