Diane Dunn

Andean Healing

Andean Healing and the Four Elements

The Sacred Andean Tradition is one that works primarily on an energy level. By tuning into the refined energy of the apus (mountain spirits) and Pachamama (Mother Earth), Andean practitioners can harness that powerful energy to heal and transform people and situations.

Illness and well-being are understood not only on a physical level but also on an emotional, psychological and spiritual level. There is no way to separate those parts of ourselves. We require healing when one or more of those levels are somehow out of balance. When I practice Andean Energy Healing, I work with the energy just above and around the body, to cleanse and balance the energy of all the layers. As I pass my hands over the physical body, I can sense where there are blocks in the energy field. Sometimes I receive messages about the root causes of those blocks, which I share with the patient at the end of the session.

This offers the patient an opportunity to do the necessary adjustments that will assist in his or her own healing process. I can release the block and restore balance but if the root causes of one’s “illness” continue to operate in the behavior patterns of the patient, the same problems could reoccur.

It is my belief that the source of all healing comes from Divine Creator. As we open ourselves to that energy (sometimes with the aid of a practitioner), healing, balance and transformation are possible. There are many ways to connect with the energy of Divine Creator but the one I have found to be the most simple and direct is by working with the four elements of Earth, Water, Air and Fire.

These elements are what connect us to nature and creation. We are them and they are us. By learning their ways, we tap into the laws of nature, the creative force. To know the elements in an intimate way, we can access the power of the apus and Pachamama – and through them, the power of the Divine Creator.

The Earth element is the densest of all the elements and therefore the most accepting and forgiving. When we sit or lay on the ground, we can give all of our heavy energy to Pachamama. She receives and welcomes all of our “shit” like a gift, because for her it is fertilizer that enriches the soil and enables her to give us back new life.

This is one of the laws of nature. Everything has a purpose – a mutual exchange. There is a Quechua word “Ayni”, that means reciprocity. As we give, we receive. As we receive we give. We breathe in the oxygen produced by the trees and the plants. They are sustained by the carbon dioxide that we exhale.

To Andeans, Pachamama is not simply the earth element. She is our living, breathing, life-giving mother who loves us unconditionally. We plant one kernel of corn and she gives back to us hundreds. We give her our heavy energy and she gives us back new perspective and new life.

The Earth element cleanses and transforms. When we work with this element, we have the opportunity to tell Pachamama all of our concerns, our hurts, our pains, our frustrations. Perhaps in our homes, we have a closet or a space under the bed, where we store all the things that we no longer use but aren’t quite ready to get rid of. When we work with the Earth, we get to clean out that closet that resides within ourselves, where we have hidden away all the wounds of our past.

To cleanse and transform them, we lay on the ground on our bellies. We put our hands on top of each other forming a round whole with our thumbs touching. We then tell our loving mother everything, the whole story of who did what to us when. We tell her all the secrets hidden in our interior closets. We can feel free to cry or scream or just speak silently to our loving mother who receives all of our heaviness with love and understanding. For her it is a gift for which she is deeply grateful. When we finish, we then turn our ear to the ground and listen to what advice or message she has for us.

At first you may not hear anything but just like any relationship, as you develop it, she will begin to share more of herself with you. She will offer you advice and assistance. Messages come in many forms so open your heart and intuition and pay attention to sounds or songs or images that come to you. Trust that she is using the “fertilizer” you have given her, to offer you growth and nourishment.

The Water is our next element. The Water washes and balances us. The Water is the ruler of our emotions. The planet earth is more than 70% water and so are we. For this reason my teacher Regis says that our extraterrestrial brothers and sisters call us “intelligent bags of water”. The waters of this planet are ruled by the moon, which also has a significant effect on our emotions.

Our emotions are what make us human but we need to make sure that we don’t let our emotions rule our behavior. The Water can teach us balance and adaptability. Water adapts itself to whatever container it is put into. It always seeks its horizontal. If a flowing river encounters a rock or other obstacle, it easily finds another route – over, above or around.

 

When we work with the Water, it can wash away our heavy emotions to restore our balance and equilibrium. The Water can teach us to be adaptable. If you are lucky enough to live near a river or a stream or the ocean, you can go spend time there, with your feet in the water or sitting on the shore where you can hear the sound of the water flowing or the waves breaking. With your eyes open, yet softly focused, you can release your emotions into the Water and watch them float down stream or out to sea.

If you don’t have time to go to a natural water source, you can turn on the water tap. Put your hands under the water, close your eyes and breathe, letting the water wash away your frustration, anger, guilt or pain. Feel how it soothes and relaxes you, teaching you adaptability, restoring inner balance.

The Air, a subtler element than Earth or Water, purifies and enlightens us. It is the element connected with knowledge, communication and connection. Air is the most basic and primary element of our existence. As we emerge from our mother’s wombs we begin life with our first intake of Air and we leave this earthly plane when we expel our last breath. And for every minute of every day of every year in between, we are sustained, nurtured, and purified by Air.

I was told that most human beings only use 10% of the capacity of their lungs to breathe. 10%. Yet Air, through our breath, is one of the best healing regulators that we have at our disposal. If we take three deep breaths in and out, we can relax away anger, tension, fear and other heavy, energy-sapping emotions. Intentional deep breathing can also relieve physical pain in the body.

Air is the primary conductor of communication. When we speak, it is Air passing through us that allows our words to have sound. It’s Air that allows those words to be delivered and heard by those around us. Microphones, stereo speakers, radios, telephones, televisions all use the airwaves to deliver their sound and image. And in our generation, we have the most amazing technological use of the airwaves to date: the Internet and World Wide Web.

Imagine it – millions of messages and downloaded information flying through the airwaves in split seconds continuously throughout the day, every day, rarely missing their intended destination. There is something innate built into the system that moves messages in the quickest most direct route. If the most probable and direct route is blocked for some reason, the message is immediately transferred to the next most direct route and continues in this fashion until it reaches its desired destination. This happens without anyone working on a message-by-message basis to decide which is the most direct and open route and how it should be sent there. It just goes there in a split second.

The Internet is not only a wonderfully practical way of communication but it is an apt metaphor for our own ability to utilize Air and energy, not only for communication, but to discover ways of knowing we have only begun to tap. I imagine some internet-like network in the universe – the one that is always conspiring to assist us – that takes our clear intention, our stated desire, and shoots it out toward manifestation in the most probably and direct route. If the intentions of others should block the most direct route then another is found and the desire continues on its path.

Air is energy and moves freely through time and space. When we know Air, travel with it, move freely on its wings, then we can also tap into its deep wisdom and knowledge of the ages. It broadens our perspective. The more we learn to know and work with this energy, the stronger power we will have to be instruments of transformation in our own lives and the world at large.

To learn from the Air, become more conscious of your breathing. Breath more deeply and more slowly. Feel your breath filling all the areas of your body, not just your lungs. Imagine this energy entering your system and purifying all your organs and expanding your consciousness.

If you have a place you can go outside on a hilltop or a mountain, sit and meditate there. Feel the breeze on your face and your skin. Call the wind and see if it comes to you. Engage in conversation with the wind, with the Air. Give thanks for its life giving breath, its refreshing breeze. Imagine that you are part of this vast cosmic internet and ask for assistance with your ability to communicate with it and through it. Ask, “Expand my consciousness. Amplify my awareness. Elevate my vibration so I may see and know as you see and know.”

Fire is the most powerful of all the elements, connected with love and passion and compassion. The Fire sanctifies and transmutes. The power of the Fire is what changes coal into diamonds. The Fire changes iron ore into gold. The power of the Fire is alchemy. Transmutation. It has the power to change hate into love, darkness into light, ice into water, water into vapor. Working with the Fire, we can learn how to transmute our anger and rage into peace and compassion.

The source of Fire on this planet is the Sun and for this reason the sun was revered by the Inkas and many other indigenous traditions. The movement of the sun and the stars was followed closely by the ancient wise ones who knew that our lives depended on this Fire-ball in the sky. That same spark of Fire, which exists inside us, is what gives us life and sustains us every day.

The Fire element is what enables us to dare, to move beyond our comfort zone in order to expand our horizons, our awareness, our consciousness. It is the Fire that inspires us to be more than we think we are, to discover the wonders of being alive.

The Fire burns away our fear, our rage, our shame and transmutes it into love and confidence. One of the best ways to connect with Fire is to catch the first ray of the sun as it rises each day. When the sun is low on the horizon, we can look directly into it without injuring our retinas. The power of the sun as it rises, goes straight into our hearts, energizing our whole being, sanctifying any dark corners, releasing any fear that resides in us.

With great anticipation, I love sitting in dawn’s gray light, waiting for the sun to break the horizon. This open eye meditation is enhanced as I watch the sky changing colors, from gray to pink and orange and purple. The wonder of where and when the sun will pop up, brings me back to the simple joy I knew in my childhood when so much of nature was a source of delight for me. The actual moment when the sun breaks the horizon is breathtaking and awesome. The birds join the celebration with their chirps and songs. And it happens every day! Try it.

Another powerful practice is to make a fire outside as the sun the setting. Stare into the flames and let the Fire within you connect with the flames. Listen to the sounds the Fire is making. Let the Fire converse with you. Take a small stick and with your intention, put into the stick all that you want to transmute, as well as what you want to manifest. When it feels right to you, put the stick in the fire, trusting that your intentions will be made manifest. Let the Fire inspire you.

When I first learned to work with the four elements and nature, it seemed strange to me. Lying on the ground meditating with my feet in the water or talking with the wind, I felt a bit self-conscious. However, the more I developed my relationship with the four elements and the forces of nature, the more I began to know and experience things on deeper levels. I began to know what the elements know. The elements and nature communicate through image and energy and I have been able to learn that from them.

We of course, are part of nature and have the capacity for this innate knowing but it is a language and ability that most of us haven’t learned or practiced. The elements are energy and move freely through time and space. When we know them, converse with them, interact with them, then we can also tap into their deep wisdom and knowledge of the ages. They broaden our perspective.

By working with the elements of nature, we increase the awareness of our senses— our five physical senses (sight, touch, taste, smell and hearing), as well as our sixth sense (perception). These practices will open our awareness in the routine of our everyday lives. We will learn to see beyond the familiar. This knowledge is held in the heart and the soul and the cosmos, beyond time and space, not only in the mind.

Each one of us present on the planet at this moment has the opportunity to make a difference. Let’s expand our consciousness and discover all that is awaiting us.