The Five Elements or Wisdom Energies Seminar
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What was in Buddhist Left Hand offers guidance for the participants in my workshops for how to use the five elements to awaken their own wisdom and create a more authentic life. Please check back for dates for the next workshop.
According to the Buddhist tantric teachings, our thoughts, emotions, behaviors, the quality of our relationships, our confusion as well as our sanity can be grouped into five Buddha families, associated with the five basic elements of earth, water, fire, wind, and space. These five energies are arranged in a mandala, a circular design that reflects our intrinsic wholeness, embracing all dimensions of our human life. The five elements or wisdom energies offer a system of personal transformation that guides us in transmuting our problematic aspects into their naturally elegant expressions. This involves communication with parts of ourselves that may be underdeveloped, inflexible or aspects of ourselves that we’ve denied. Walking the path of the 5 elements is like walking a spiral. It reflects our evolving movement inwards, towards greater depth, complexity and profundity, as well as our expansion outwards, into progressively more intimate connection with our world. A distinguishing feature of this method is that each step along the way can be experienced as complete, with nothing lacking at that moment. We can't be anywhere other than where we presently are at any given stage of our journey. This is the fruition of meditation practice. To be a true individual is to not be divided within ourselves. Working creatively with the elements, we transform them into their elegant and sane expressions. Space: our tendency to space out is transformed into a refreshing sense of unguarded openness. Water: our overly conceptual mind is transformed into mirrior-like awareness that is clear, precise, and yet fluid. Earth: our hunger to either fill our emptiness or inflate our self-worth, is transformed into a healthy sense of equanimity and enriching presence. Fire: our neurotic desires and craving for attention is transformed into compassionate relationship and intimacy with everyday life. Wind: our compulsive, competitive, and goal-oriented behaviors are transformed into a deep trust of our own natural rhythms or inner winds, so that we can draw to ourselves all will that support our values and life purpose. |