Aramaic Elemental Healing Meditation

This series of breathing meditations is from the native Middle Eastern tradition as originally taught by the Sufi Pir-o-Murshid Hazrat Inayat Khan in the early 20th century.

Below you will also find a link to a published article about the links between these patterns of breathing with body awareness practices and methods in various world spiritual and somatic tradtions.

German, French, and Spanish versions are also available as  downloads below.

I began to teach this sequence with with body awareness attunements in the early 1980s. In his native language Aramaic Jesus uses the words below to refer to the elements as they were perceived in his time (and previous times) as living beings, forces of the divine creation.

One can best do the practice in the morning, near a window, taking five of each breath. Later, one could return to explore particular breathing patterns, as well as their combinations.

There are other ways to perceive these elements as living beings in an ancient native Middle Eastern way; for instance, through the senses or as connections to the natural beings created before us. These are indicated below, but I would advise one starting out to begin simply, try individual variations and then add. Or subtract! One can with familiarity attune to the elements and their combinations with no particular pattern of breathing and with a simple breath and heart connection.

EARTH: Inhale nose, exhale nose. Focus on rootedness, the feeling of support of the earth through the bones and ligaments. Standing, siting, lying or walking, ask inside: “how do I feel my support? Could I feel more supported anywhere?” Release “burdens,” let the earth support. Honor all creation by feeling the bones of our ancestors, upon which we walk. As we deeply receive the gifts of the earth, earth as a living being becomes more conscious through us. Inhale feeling and breathing “ALAHA” as the Source of healing; exhale “AR`AH” (earth, particle, individual being). (Here we can also connect to the mineral world, inside and outside of us. The sense of touch could also be explored and healed.)

WATER: Inhale nose, exhale mouth. A spring rises from the depths and is drawn up through you to the top, then showers down, over and through all the muscles, connective and digestive tissue–anywhere more flexibility is needed. Stretch and move into any areas of tightness. Consider: “how could I allow more flowingness to be felt there, less holding on?” Honor the water by feeling it return to its source with purity. As we deeply receive the gifts of the water, water as a living being becomes more conscious through us. Inhale ALAHA; exhale MAYA (water, flowing life). (Here we can also connect to the plant world, the world of greening, growing things, as well as our sense of taste.)

FIRE/LIGHT: Jesus’s Aramaic only has one word that stands for both fire and light. Inhale mouth, exhale nose. Awaken the heart-lungs area, feeling the inhalation loosening the solar plexus/diaphragm and the exhalation invigorating the heart. Consider at some point the pulsation of your heart and blood, bringing the old to the heart to be released and carrying the new to all parts of the body. Consider your own sense of purpose: “towards what am I pulsing? What gets my blood moving?” Honor the fire by using it properly–to clarify, not destroy. As we deeply receive the gifts of the fire, fire as a living being becomes more conscious through us. Inhale ALAHA; exhale  NUHRA (fire, light, the fire of consciousness, one’s purpose in life). (Here we can also connect to the world of all warm-blooded ones as well as to our sense of smell.)

AIR/BREATH: This breath includes what is usually translated “spirit,” the breath that contains us rather than we containing it. Inhale mouth, exhale mouth (all refined). Feel air passing over and as if through you. Allow the pores to open and feel the whole envelope of skin with just air inside and outside. Consider: “how could I feel more lightness and freedom in my being, more ability to change?” Honor the air by moving with it to communicate the child within to all creation. As we deeply receive the gifts of the air, air as a living being becomes more conscious through us. Inhale ALAHA; exhale RUHA (air, breath, connection to ruha d’qoodsha, holy breath). (Here we can connect through our soul, that is, ruha-connection to all other human beings as well as to our sense of hearing.)

ALL TOGETHER: In the ancient Middle East the unity of all the elements as living beings could be felt as both a fulness and an emptiness. Inhale and exhale all the elements together for a few breaths (no particular pattern, or in and out through nose and mouth together), feeling fully embodied. The combination of all the elements is more than the sum of their parts: sometimes they are felt in unison, sometimes their individuality disappears in lucidity, like the rainbow and clear light.

As we deeply receive the gifts of nature, through our own natural breath, nature as a living being becomes more conscious through us. Inhale and exhale ALAHA. (Here we can also connect to all of the beings created before us, in the combinations of all the elements, as well as to our sense of sight. This can be a direct connection to what Jesus calls Hakhimta, Sacred Sense, often translated as Holy Wisdom–the sense to which all of our senses return and a doorway to the experience he calls I-I, the experience of our small self within the only Self of Alaha.

The series can be followed by saying any prayer asking for one to serve the divine purpose in the day ahead, including the Aramaic Prayer of Jesus. Originally the practice was done with a healing prayer of Hazrat Inayat Khan: “Beloved Lord, Almighty God, through the rays of the sun, through the waves of the air, through the all-pervading life in space, purify and revivify us and we pray, heal our bodies, hearts and souls.” Amin.

If done in the morning, consider what you need to do this day. Ask for any clarity and understanding that you need. “We thank the elements and we thank their Source.” Amin: “May this sense of connection be the ground from which our new growth will spring.”