fire element

Physical fitness is the first requisite of happiness. Our interpretation of physical fitness is the attainment and maintenance of a uniformly developed body with a sound mind fully capable of naturally, easily, and satisfactorily performing our many and varied daily tasks with spontaneous zest and pleasure.
Joseph Pilates

The spirit of the Fire Element is the heart’s Shen. The quality of brightness in the eyes is evidence of the heart spirit radiating into the world. Fire is about play in our movement, enthusiasm, and exuberance. Like all the elements, Fire has a lot of range. It can be a slow steady burning ember or a windy wild fire raging out of control. Fire gives warmth, heat, light and life… and it also consumes. As the leader of the Shen, the spirit, Fire gives every moment great meaning and its balance is held in the relationship with all the other elements.

The Advanced exercises & our Advanced practice definitely manifest through the Fire Element. Exercises like Breastroke, Grasshopper, Candlesticks, Handstands, High Bridges and Big Splits.

The advanced exercises are possible because of the solid foundation build in the Basics (Water) and the strength, flexibility, tenacity and growth through the Intermediate System (Wood) where hard things becomes possible, a steady centered practice (Earth), precision of breath and control (Metal), and a workout really lights up in the Advanced system (Fire).

BACK TO MENTORSHIP HOMEPAGE

“You are a vessel through which the eternal dao detaches from and returns to itself ~ evolving in the process.” LaoTzu

For our journey studying Classical Pilates, the Fire Element is definitely about playing in the advanced work, but it is also very much about bringing the spirit, the heart, the joy, the illumination into full awareness in all levels of our practice and our teaching. Here are a few WRITING PROMPTS to guide you through the months and this journey.
Also get to know the Elements as they relate to your “CF” or Constitutional Factor. We all dance in all Five Elements with aspects of our personalities, but we tend to have a leader that is our true nature, in the present season of life. Which Elements are you, in this season of your life?

WATER ELEMENT (April, May, June)

  • Water reflects inward to our true, authentic nature. Why do you teach Pilates?

  • Whats it feel like when you’re ‘in your flow’? And what does that “flow state” look like in terms of how you spend your days and your time?

  • The emotion of the Water Element is fear. How do you hold yourself back because of fear?

WOOD ELEMENT (July, August, September)

  • How often are you uncomfortable, and why? How do you respond when you’re uncomfortable?

  • Where do you feel stuck? The Liver is the ‘official’ of the Wood Element, and when Liver Qi moves well, we feel ease. When it’s stuck, we feel cranky, frustrated, irritated, and off.

  • The Wood is where our creativity lives. As Classical Pilates Teachers, trained in the ‘art of control’ or the ‘art of movement’, how do you remain creative and still stay true to teaching the Classical Pilates system?

FIRE ELEMENT (Oct, Nov, Dec)

  • In life and nature, the elements are always overlapping along the wheel, the Sheng ‘generating’ cycle. So we find ourselves studying the Fire element classical system, during the more Water element season in nature. Where Basics support Advanced. In your workout, which basic system exercises give you/your body/your practice the solid roots for your advanced training. And, how will you nourish your yin this winter season?

  • What lights you up? What brings you joy?

  • Fire burns brightly, it is max yang. Without enough reserves and yin, it burns us up. At this point in your life, and in your teaching career, how do you ensure you don’t burn yourself out? Where is the yin/yang balance for you with self-care knowing that we are in a ‘giving’ profession and no matter your age or teaching hours weekly, we all have a pivot point of yin/yang imbalance.

METAL ELEMENT (Jan, Feb, March)

  • Metal brings us full circle, the leaves fall off the trees headed towards rot and decay and all the nourishment of that rich compost. What can you let go of? Maybe it’s things, feelings, judgements, or stories you have onto. By letting go, what remains is most true, most real, most clear and pure.

  • We are back to our most yin nature and place of quiet truth. What have you learned about yourself over the course of our training so far? As a teacher, as a student, as a practitioner, as a friend in community?

  • We have been studying this Metal natured Classical Pilates system, it’s clear, orderly, and precise. And yet we have let all the Elements shine, bringing in curiousity, creativity, play, hard work, solid roots and some wild. Now, as we return back to the beginning, what is your relationship like with Classical Pilates in your teaching, in your practice?

The Fire Element, in illuminating the depths of the water element, reveals the nature of the inner truths that serve as the foundation for all insight and correct action in life. This is the inner alchemy that empowers each human being to become an effective agent of change in the world.
~ Nourishing Destiny, Lonny Jarrett

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