Elemental Play:
Encouraging Children to Connect with Earth, Wind, Water, and Fire
Published in A Place to Play: The Companion Volume to the Film, Where do the Children Play
Whether we live in a densely-populated city or a remote forest, nature is as close to us as the water we drink, the air we breathe, the food we eat, and the sun that shines every day even behind the clouds. Because we are nature, because the elements circulate inside our bodies, our children can play everywhere. Earth, Wind, Water, and Fire are with us in every time and in every place.
Ancient Andean Wisdom
In l999, I met an elder from the Kichwa* people of the Andes Mountains who came to the United States to teach pre-Columbian traditions that restore physical, emotional, and spiritual energy. My teacher, Don Alverto Taxo, a Taita Iachak or ‘Father Wise One’, is descended from the Atis people, ancient Root Masters who taught simple but profound practices that open the channels of communication between people and the elements. These practices, which pre-date the Inca, can entirely revitalize our connection with nature. In l989, Don Alverto was asked by his elders to begin teaching these practices to those outside the tradition who wished to learn in order to help the Earth move harmoniously through a time of great transition that the elders perceived coming—a time they call the ‘Nushukpacha’—the era of the Dawn. For the Kichwa people, that time has now arrived. For them, the warming of the climate, the melting of the glaciers in Peru and elsewhere on the planet, and the increasing drought in their land are all confirmation of the ancient prophecies. These prophecies tell of a very beautiful dawn arriving after a time of danger and difficulty that human beings successfully address. The prophecies are not ‘doomsday’ prophecies. Rather, they reflect a deep recognition of the cyclical nature of life and of the Earth’s ability to cleanse herself.
From the Andean perspective, the healing of the planet will be accomplished by forces that are larger than the human but that will include the efforts of human beings. It is through remembering and re-making our connection with nature that we can participate positively in this process and, thereby, help usher in the ‘Nushukpacha.’ The first step in this process is re-establishing direct communication with the Earth, our mother. Through remembering to treat the planet with the same respect that we give to our human mother, we begin the process of restoration. This is accomplished through deceptively simple, but profoundly effective practices that open the channels of communication between ourselves and the elements.
The practices include 1) greeting, 2) feeling, and 3) thanking. You can begin these practices right now, and you can immediately teach them to young children in a very playful way.
Stop reading for a moment and allow water to run over your hand or quench your thirst. Light a candle and place it close to you. Open the window and breathe in the fresh air –no matter how cold or inclement. Find a house plant and bring it close to where you sit or take a bite of an apple—now in this moment. These experiences will convey more to you about the elements than any words.
To include children in a daily practice of connecting with the elements, we can begin with the sun—the fire element. Every day an event of extraordinary magnitude happens: the sun rises. In the Andean Mystical Tradition, the children greet the sun with their parents and their community every day. They stand outdoors feeling the warmth of the sun’s rays as it rises above the mountains (Tazto, 23).
If we want our lives to be in accord with the rhythms of nature, we need to notice the rhythms of nature. To connect your child with the sun, take a few moments every morning to go to the window together or to go outside and look for the sun. Ask your child a simple question, “Where is the sun now?” Let your child find the sun. You are not “teaching;” you are playing. Once you and your child have noticed the sun, even if it is behind clouds, greet the sun. Say, “Hello Sun!”
Consider what happens when you greet the sun at the beginning of your day. When we greet an element, we open the channel of communication between that element and ourselves. It is the same process that happens when we see a friend and wish to communicate with him or her. We greet each other. This act of greeting is a powerful way of saying, “I see you. I notice you. I would like to know more about you. I would like to be in relationship with you.”
We are familiar with the “Namaste” of the Hindu tradition–the greeting that is given when one sees another person, be it family or stranger, friend or enemy. The “Namaste” combines a spoken word with a bow or nod of the head with the hands folded at the heart. In the “Namaste”, we are greeting the one who has appeared with a word that means, “I see the Divine in you”. Greeting the elements of nature opens our awareness to truly seeing them and prevents us from taking them for granted.
The next step in the practice is to feel deeply the effect of the sun upon us. When we stand by the window or outdoors with our child being aware of the sun, we invite the child to feel what the sun is giving. It only takes a few moments to greet the sun, to become quiet, and to feel. As we stand in the sunlight, we may be surprised by what we feel. These feelings may be physical sensations, such as the awareness of light and warmth, but we may also experience emotions or unexpected insights.
The third step is to give thanks for what we are receiving. This step helps us restore our relationship with the Earth. Sometimes our minds are so busy with projects, with ideas about what we can contribute to heal the environment for example, that we become very worried and tense. When we remember to give thanks, we put things into perspective. This relieves our minds of anxiety, makes us happy, and enhances our ability to contribute actively rather than to be trapped in anxiety.
This, then, is the simple way of the Andean Mystical Tradition: greet, feel, and give thanks.
After you and your child have greeted the sun, you can go to the bathroom or kitchen and greet the water. Use the same three steps. Say “hello” to the water, touch the water and feel how it is assisting you; then give thanks to the water. You will be amazed by what happens in your morning shower if instead of running through all the busy-busy thoughts that come into your mind, you begin your day with a practice of greeting the water, feeling the water as it touches your body, and giving thanks to the water for its cleansing effect. When you pour water into a glass or a tea kettle or coffee maker, take an instant to realize that you would not live long without water. Perhaps you are very casual with water and allow it to run down the drain without even noticing it. When you greet the water, when you feel the water, when you give thanks to the water, you and your child will develop such an appreciation for water that you will take much better care of it.
Next it is time for breakfast. The food we eat comes from the Earth. It is composed of the Earth element. In the Andean Mystical Tradition, the kitchen is the most sacred room in the house, and the preparation and eating of food are extremely important spiritual activities. Don Alverto says, “When we eat, we are practicing the greatest ritual of all, for that is when we commune with the Mother.”
Involve your child in the preparation of the food. Talk with her about where the milk comes from that she is pouring on her cereal. Tell her what the cereal is made of and explain where the bananas come from. Then playfully, greet each food as you and your child prepare them. Children love this. They feel so happy, saying “hello” to the milk and remembering the cow, saying “hello” to the cereal and remembering the grain, saying “hello’ to the banana and realizing that it carries the Earth element with no human interference—it is pure Earth. Then, as you are eating, feel the food, just as you felt the sunlight and the water. Perhaps talking a lot will distract you and your child, so it is good to be silent even for a few minutes while you feel the food you are eating. Then give thanks.
Don Alverto says he often notices people saying a prayer before eating but then eating mechanically, talking all the while, and not even noticing the food. In the Andean Mystical Tradition, the food is greeted, felt, and thanked, and the Great Force of Life is thanked as well.
The fourth element is the air. In every moment you and your child are connected to the natural world through your breath. Our bodies cannot live without air. Before heading out into the world to school or to work, it is good to take a deep breath, to greet the air, to feel the air, and to give thanks to the air for your life. If we befriend the air, if we open the channel of communication between ourselves and the air, we will be less likely to pollute it.
In our fast-paced modern culture, we sometimes believe we must have very fast-paced, modern devices for helping us learn. This is not so. What we genuinely need is a slow pace with enough quiet and time to reflect. If we give our children the gift of connecting with the elements in the simple ways described above, we renew our own and our child’s bond with the natural world. Gradually, as one engages in these simple practices, the mind relaxes, and the heart opens. A great joyfulness begins to emerge as, more and more, we notice beauty all around us in very simple things—the sun rising over a parking garage, the rain washing the sidewalk clean, the beautiful salad a friend has made for us, or the refreshing breeze that cools us on a summer’s day.
Perhaps our minds fear that we are forever divorced from nature. That is not possible. Our physical bodies are nature. Even if we were sealed up in a prison chamber with no window for light and little access to food or water, we would have all four elements with us, in our bodies. The fire element is the heat inside us that keeps us warm; the water element flows in every cell of our bodies; the air element enters us every time we inhale; and the earth element is in our bones and flesh. Our bodies are a wonderful gift. As Don Alverto says, “We are Earth walking!” We are not separate from nature. So before we go to sleep at night, we can greet the elements in our bodies, feel them, and give thanks.
Why do we think it is difficult to connect children with nature? They are naturally and inevitably connected. Watch any young child sitting on the ground outdoors with no tools and no toys. He will naturally begin to connect with the Earth around him. Perhaps it is not the children who need to be taught how or where to play in nature. Perhaps the children are our teachers, and we need to learn from them. Go outside with your children, watch them, join them, and you will remember how and where to play. And then, give thanks.
Let’s not wait for the day when all our work is done to, finally, play with our children. Let’s begin now, in this moment; here, in this place, to live life fully with great joyfulness and pleasure. The joyfulness that we feel when we live this way is the awakening of the fifth element, which in the Andean Mystical Tradition is called the Ushai. The Ushai is a spiritual element, what we in the North might call an “etheric” element. Through mystically connecting with the elements of nature, we bring our hearts and minds into balance. This permits the Ushai to grow. We then feel a very great truth in our hearts. We are intimately connected to the natural world that lives within and around us. Anything we do to nature, we do to ourselves. There is no longer any fragmentation or separation. We are whole, and we are home. A ho.
(*This is Taita Alverto’s spelling of Quichua.)