by Marcel Hernandez, ND
Healing therapies since ancient times have incorporated the four classic elements of earth, air, fire, and water.
It’s remarkable how firmly this approach has endured over countless centuries. Of course, healing modalities that make use of the elements have found different expression in accordance with the level of human awareness and the available technologies in each age.
Earth is represented in therapies that employ material substances such as minerals, foods, medicinal herbs and plants, mud baths, hot stone massage, etc.
Earth healing is about finding ways to support and restore health by grounding the body and mind, while remaining sufficiently flexible to conform gracefully to the ever-changing movements of wind, water, and sun.
Most healers through the ages have agreed on the importance of pure Air as a therapeutic and preventive medium.
Natural or artificially generated therapeutic air currents, hot or cold, continue to be employed in a variety of intriguing therapies.
Even though air is invisible, we are utterly dependent on it to sustain our existence. The invisible energetic presence of air symbolizes the hidden vibrations that permeate and sustain creation.
Water’s therapeutic applications have a long history, as hot and cold water applications (hydrotherapy), mineral baths, various potable solutions, thalassotherapy (therapeutic sea-bathing), and more.
Because water makes up 45% to 75% of our bodies, it connects us physically and spiritually with our own inner wholeness and with all other living things.
Water also symbolizes the flow of time which brings purification and fresh beginnings.
Fire, in its form as light, is the particular focus of today’s article.
Symbolically, the fires of purification burn away outworn patterns of body, mind, and spirit, to make way for the new.
Many cultures see fire as a symbol of wisdom and higher knowledge. But today we are focusing on fire’s power to heal through its expressions as electricity and light.
Light therapy (phototherapy) is a general term for treatments that involve exposure to a light source. This is hardly a new idea. Therapeutic light applications in various forms have been used for more than a century.
Some examples of light therapies:
- A box that radiates light in the sun’s natural spectrum to address seasonal affective disorder (SAD)
- Ultraviolet light is used in the presence of a skin condition called vitiligo to reduce skin discoloration and restore normal pigmentation.
- Laser light therapy targets skin with light of different wavelengths to remove tattoos, destroy tumors, and restore skin integrity.
- LED light therapy can help with a variety of conditions: acne, inflammatory conditions, wounds, scars, eczema, psoriasis, sun damage, rosacea, and more. LED phototherapy can also reduce the appearance of wrinkles and other signs of aging to make the skin appear more radiantly youthful.
- Far-infrared rays (FIR), invisible to the naked eye, penetrate the skin and gently elevate the body’s surface temperature. FIR is a natural, safe, hygienic, effective and efficient approach to thermal treatment for relief in sports injuries, detoxification, and cancer therapy.
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