Our world is made of rhythms and curves. These rhythms of our earth — the seasons, tides, night and day — come about from an interplay of the elements — water, air, earth, fire and light (or Ether/Space). Any changes in each of these elements brings about changes in the rhythms of our earth, which affects all life.
In Theodor Schwenk’s book, “Water — The Element of Life” (1. Water: The Element of Life), he talks about water being the heart of the earth — it is what keeps the rhythm and sustains life.
“Water is the primary organ of rhythm, the heart of nature, the element which we can discern nature’s heartbeat.”
It has become very clear that nature is out of balance and that we are the cause. We can’t go a single day without being reminded of this. How does this make you feel? Guilty? Helpless? Depleted? None of these emotions are going to help motivate us to do what needs to be done to change our course.
One motivating statistic that I read was that it only takes 9% of the population to change their ways to have a noticeable positive impact on the earth (2. Living in the Environment). Only 9%! That’s not a lot. So, if you’re with me on this, let’s start to make up that 9%. That’s doable.
Now what do we do? How do we make a difference? Let’s start by going within. Our internal world is no different to the world around us. This is that whole microcosm = macrocosm thing. Let’s consider our heart — the organ that gives our body rhythm, that keeps everything circulating around us, keeping us alive. When we give somebody CPR, more important than the mouth-to-mouth, is keeping that rhythm (3. St Johns Ambulance). That is what keeps the body alive.
So that’s primarily on the physical level. Now let’s give some more consideration to the heart and our spirit. We’ve heard so many times how we should ‘listen to our hearts’ if we want to find the right answer. Even science has proven this intelligence that resides in our heart energy(4. HearthMath).Science has proven what the ancients knew centuries ago. In Traditional Chinese Medicine, the mind resides in our heart, which circulates this ‘intelligence’ throughout our body (5. Foundations of Chinese Medicine). To be able to tune in better to our hearts, we need to quiet our minds. We need to tap into this rhythm and we’ll find the answers.
That brings us back to what we can do to help restore the balance on our planet. Let’s reconsider Theodor Schwenk’s quote about water being the ‘heart of nature’. Let’s think about the rhythm that water keeps on our planet — conducting the moon’s cosmic energy in the tides; waves travelling from one continent to the other, bringing cold, heat, rain; rivers bringing nutrients inland and then back out again (1. Water: The Element of Life). Combining this rhythm of water with the changing of the tilt of the earth to the sun, brings about the overriding rhythm of our seasons. It’s these rhythms that sustain life on earth. It’s our destruction of these individual elements, specifically water in this scenario, that’s breaking the earth’s rhythm. We’re straightening rivers, stopping their natural path; we’re channelling rainwater underground; we’re using up natural groundwater; we’re trying to push back the ocean. Then on top of this, we’re polluting this very same life-giving flowing element, further stunting it’s free expression.
Notice the correlation in our own bodies? Polluting our blood with toxins, living in our stressed out heads, not moving freely, not moving at all! If we can’t see how we’re blocking our own rhythm, how are we to see clearly how we are blocking the Earth’s?
“When we have transformed the inner scene,
the outer one can be restored to order.” — Theodor Schwenk
In Masaru Emoto’s controversial research in “Hidden Messages in Water” (6. Hidden Messages in Water) he showed us how the power of prayer could transform bodies of water that had become toxic. He also showed us how words, music and the energy of our thoughts impacted water and, in turn, ourselves because we are in effect around 70% water. Therein we find the answer. We need to change our thoughts, connect with our heart energy to re-establish our internal rhythm and energise our inner streams. This will help us to reconnect to the rhythm of our earth and guide us to what we need to do to bring back the curves of Mother Nature’s rhythms.
What does this all mean in practical terms? What can we actually do on day-to-day basis to restore our rhythms, and that of our beloved planet? I like to put the basic practices into little ‘E’ packages — Eating, Exercise, Energising:
Let’s Eat to not only nourish our bodies, but also being mindful of where our food has come from and how it’s been produced. Let’s connect with the rhythms of our appetites, our moods and our body’s changing needs, and let that tie in with the seasonal rhythms and availability of food.
When we exercise, let’s connect with our fluidity and feel the flow. Connect your breath with your movement, with your heartbeat. Knowing that your heart rhythm guides you and connects you to the rhythm of our earth and its life element, water.
Connecting our eating and exercise practices, we combine energy practices which include meditation and breathwork. These practices help to calm our stressed minds so that we can connect with the wisdom of our hearts and truly hear what it is guiding us to do.
At Surf Yoga Happiness we have resources to guide you to, and through, various practices to help you find your flow and rhythm. In doing so, we will become part of that 9% that is going to make the changes that are going to reconnect us to our beautiful planet Earth and help bring us back into balance with her.
“… blood, itself a liquid and therefore still unformed, bears these archetypal images within it and materialises them anew at every moment, out of its streaming movement. The blood is indeed the archetypal organ of liquid flow. As a liquid it has all organic formation potentially within it. As ‘blood’ it is the expression of the spiritual being according to whose idea the various organs are moulded and assembled to form a total organism — the body in which this being may live.
If therefore blood is an expression of the being ruling over it, may we not ask if there is a similar higher being of whom water, the ‘blood of the earth’, is the physical expression?” — Theodor Schwenk
