In the shamanic world view of the highland Maya of Chiapas, Mexico, the five elements of earth, water, fire, wind and space are understood to be the sacred, fundamental energies of existence.  

These are accessed through the raw powers of nature and through non-physical beings associated with the natural world.  In Maya medicine, the elements are recognized as five types of vital energy in the body and are balanced with purification rituals, breathing exercises and visualizations.  These vital energies move as currents through the channels, energy centres, organs and tissues of the body which form the basis of our physical, mental and emotional health. 

This is a series of sessions, that can be taken as a 6-session healing journey, or participants can drop in to any of the sessions independently. The sessions will give participants an opportunity to strengthen their connection to the sacred aspect of the natural world and explore the healing potential of the elements to help restore the life force energy, overcome spiritual obstacles and transform negative forces. 

Practicial Exercises 

Each session will include practices to activate and realign the elements in the body, including: 

• Purification rituals
• Free movement
• Breathwork
• Shamanic healing
• Meditation
• Comprehensive Q & A.  
• Individual egg readings + cleansings

The practices and theory will be presented together in order to encourage participants to cultivate a direct and intuitive approach to working with the elements, so they can be applied to daily life with ease and confidence.  Individual egg readings and cleansings will be offered to participants each session to determine their basic elemental constitution, and help work through imbalances and emotional processes throughout the duration of the course. 

ALL LEVELS WELCOME

About the 6 session series - AN INTRODUCTION TO MAYAN SHAMANISM:

20 September: Earth

Earth is the basic building block of life, the most substantial of all the elements.  Traditionally it is located in the east and associated with the colour yellow.  It represents the supporting, strong and stable quality of mountains; the bones of the earth and the bones of our body. The earth-bounding quality is the vital energy that binds us to this body, this earth and all its inhabitants, both physical and non-physical.  Life is really about this relationship, because all relationships originate from our primordial relationship to earth. Earth is cultivated through our daily spiritual practice, our home and family, our sense of being grounded and connected to all living beings with warmth and compassion.  In this session we will take a deep dive into the Earth element and our relationship to it, how to identify imbalances and heal old wounds relating to our birth and family, and unite with the earth Goddess and the wisdom of equanimity.

27 September: Water

Water is the precious river of life that flows through everything, moving from high to low. It is blue in colour and located in the southern quadrant of the five element mandala. It represents the emotional and energetic flow of life, always fluid, always changing, purifying and cleansing. Formless by nature, it fills the form of that through which it flows; a riverbed, a tea cup, a human body.  Its qualities are clarity, fertility, spontaneity and cohesion. In this session we will explore how to develop the fluid body – a continuously free-flowing body of energy moving through the channels, energy centres, organs and bloodstream – essential for a happy and healthy life. Working with the water element is essential in order to feel through and process emotions and release deep-seated trauma. In this session we will invoke the water Goddess and cultivate her mirror-like wisdom. 

4 October: Fire

Fire is the creative spark of life that initiates, catalyses and ripens through its joyful flames, burning through fear, doubt and negativity.  Arising in the west, fire is associated with the colour red and the energy of transformation, turning aggression into compassion, pain into joy, disease into health.  Fire moves from low to high, so in this session we will connect to this element through the inner heat rising through the central channel, cultivating a feeling of warmth and wellbeing.  At this stage we will introduce karmic cleansing exercises and journeying into past lives to help clear away the ancestral debris that underpins our habitual patterns and self-sabotaging behaviour.  We will embrace our anger,  seeing it simply as fire, and learn how to transmute its destructive and consuming qualities through powerful mantras and purification rituals.  We will invoke the Goddess of Fire and the wisdom of discriminating awareness. 

11 October: Air

Air is associated with the colour green in the northern quadrant of the mandala.  It represents the life force that flows through all living beings, the element of change and growth, ventilation and communication.  Every time we breathe in we take in the cosmos; when we breathe out, we give it back. The air element acts as a messenger between the inner and outer worlds, and the vehicle through which we unite the two. In this session we will explore how our breathing is fundamental to our health and wellbeing, our emotional processing and our ability to move through challenges and difficult moments in our lives. Most of us breathe poorly, as we are in too much of a hurry. Healing is a long journey and takes a lifetime, so the sooner we slow down and learn to sit with our breath and the totality of our experience, the sooner we can begin to free ourselves from our fear and disempowering beliefs. The Goddess of wind and the wisdom of all-accomplishing action will be our guides for this session.

18 October: Space

Space is known as the queen of the elements, or the great Sky mother, because she gives birth to the other four elements and their manifestations. She is the background, the place where everything happens. Without centre or circumference, space is the great emptiness that allows civilizations to come and go, galaxies to be born and die.  Although she is without substance, she cannot be said to be a void, as she is imbued with divine energy. She is located in the centre of the five element mandala, and represented by the colour white.  Her qualities are transparency, formlessness and expansion.  Space symbolizes the true nature of the mind; empty and luminous. In this session, we will explore meditation as the system that allows us to cultivate the space element through breathing, expansion and openness.  The space element must also be activated in the heart, so that we can breathe into the emotions, the anxiety, the pain, whatever we may be holding, and find the space to be able to let go.  The space Goddess is the teacher and the wisdom of all-encompassing space is the teaching.

25 October: Integrating the Five Elements into our practice

Each element will bring out a different aspect of our being and present us with unique challenges, as we learn more about our resistance and defence systems, and how to unravel them from the core.  The elements coexist in a continuous dance, sometimes harmoniously, sometimes not.  The problem lies in the capriciousness of the elements.  As soon as the elements come into balance, they go out of balance again. So we need to be aware of the impermanence and interplay of the elements, their interchangeability and transformational power.  We are all born with certain elemental and energetic imbalances, and by learning to live and work with the elements we can gain a much greater understanding of how to work with ourselves, our shadows and the world around us.  Our relationship with the elemental deities and the non-physical beings that inhabit our psychic space lie at the heart of shamanic practice, and in this final session we will bring together all that we have learnt on this course and integrate this into a cohesive practice to apply in our daily lives. To support our future relationship with the elements we will conclude the session making medicine bundles with herbs to offer up to the five Goddesses.  

About the Maya Medicine:

Maya Medicine is an integrated system of natural medicine and healing that has sprung from Mayan civilization for over 2,500 years.  The Maya medical system centres around restoring and maintaining health between the five elements of earth, water, fire, wind and space, and balancing the relationship between the seen and the unseen worlds.

About Roland:

Roland Torikian has practiced as a Maya healer for 28 years in Mexico and the UK.  He trained in Maya Medicine with Lauro de la Cruz in the Maya highlands of Chiapas during the 1990’s.    

To read more about Roland, click HERE.

Important:

• Please note that our classes take place in our Alchemy studio downstairs. Unfortunately, we are not able to offer wheelchair access at this time.
• Please only take part in the class if you are physically able. If you are unsure for any reason please contact your doctor or mental health professional first for advice.
•  Please purchase mindfully as we do not offer refunds or class credits.  However, if you can no longer attend and wish to gift your ticket to a loved one, we honour name changes on tickets - please just email us with the name of the new attendee in advance of the event.
• We want to ensure you have a safe and comfortable, experience with us - if you are pregnant, or suffering from any chronic health conditions, please let us know in advance.