Using Fire and Water to Relieve Stress Easily

Using Fire and Water to Relieve Stress

Using fire and water to relieve stress can help you manage your stress levels and find relief from living in today’s fast-paced modern world.

Did you know that your body is at least 60 – 70 percent water (depending on the source you hear this stat from)? Your heart, brain, lungs, skin and even bones contain significant amounts of water, making water the number one most important life-sustaining nutrient you need to survive and thrive.

Where water is literally a part of each person, fire is humanity’s most significant accomplishment according to none other than Charles Darwin. So, it just makes sense that a close proximity to water and fire can be stress-relieving.

So today, you’ll learn how using fire and water to relieve stress can help you ease your mind, body, and soul from living in today’s fast-paced modern world.

Water, Fire, Earth, Air and Metal: Nature’s Five Elements

Water, fire, earth, air, and metal are recognized throughout history as the five major natural elements on our planet. Truthfully, there are more than just five elements, but it is thought that each of the around 100 known elements listed on the periodic table can be traced back to a relationship with one or more of the five major elements.

In addition, many cultural traditions reference a small core group of major elements. Depending on the culture, the elements may have different names (for instance, the Babylonians called the air element “wind” and the water element “sea”), but the underlying theme remains the same.

In the ancient tradition of Chinese Medicine, each of the five major elements is said to be an aspect of the Qi, or life force. When there is an imbalance in any one element or between two or more elements, this can produce disturbances on the physical, mental, emotional or spiritual levels. When all five elements are balanced, this can produce a state of optimal good health.

There is also a historical connection between anger and fire that shows up clearly in the language we use to discuss feelings of anger.

Bitterness is like cancer. It eats upon the host. But anger is like fire. It burns it all clean.

Maya Angelou

Wise anger is like fire from a flint: there is great ado to get it out; and when it does come, it is out again immediately.

Edward Everett Hale

Anger is like fire, if you let it consume you, you’ll only end up burning yourself, and those around you.

Justin Jones

Same thing with water and our emotions and the relation between them.

Human nature is like water. It takes the shape of its container.

Wallace Stevens

No water, no life.

Sylvia Earle

Emotions are like water. Let them flow.

There are many more idioms – clichés – catch phrases – where these come from. The association between anger and physical flames and between emotions and the flow of water is hard-wired into the traditions of nearly every country and culture around the globe.

Case in point, remember how Pixar’s Anger looks as a character in “Inside Out” – a head that periodically explodes throughout the movie!

In an interesting twist, what quells fire’s fury? Water! So, water and fire are each needed to keep life – all of life and your personal life – in a healthy balance.

How Interacting with Fire Can Relieve Your Stress

When researchers studied participants who watched a video of a fire in a fireplace, they found some amazing stress-relieving benefits! After just 15 minutes of watching the video, the participants’ blood pressure dropped between three and six points!

This is pretty incredible in an age where even blood pressure medications often can’t achieve the same results. Clearly, fire can be healing and stress-reducing.

SAFETY NOTE: To receive the healing benefits of the fire element, you must make sure you practice fire safety, or your fight-or-flight brain system will likely remain stuck on the “high alert” setting.

Here are 3 easy stress-relieving ways to interact with fire safely:

1. Light a candle.
   Did you know that the use of candles has been traced all the way back to the time of the Ancient Egyptians? Perhaps at first, the invention of candles was fully a functional idea, but today, candles are invited guests in nearly every area of human life!
2. Start a fire in your fireplace.
   Researchers continue to theorize about what in our evolutionary background has predisposed people to find fire relaxing. Theories include safety from predators, extra warmth and lowered stress levels.
   
   P.S. Can’t start a fire because you don’t have a fireplace? Power up Netflix instead! Netflix has several options for you to pop up a video to have a unique viewing experience of fire, like Fireplace for Your Home, which gives users the choice between a Crackling Yule Log Fireplace, a Crackling Fireplace, and a Crackling Fireplace with Music.
3. Camp and enjoy a fire pit outside.
   Many campsites permit or even provide outdoor grills or fire pits for campers to use and enjoy. This is a great way to make your vacation even more relaxing because, in addition to enjoying the fire, you are also breathing in lots of fresh, oxygenated air and enjoying nature.

And while the research above was based on a video of a fire and that Netflix fireplace could be a good alternative, nothing really beats the real thing. It’s not just about the view and sounds, it’s about all the senses.

How Interacting with Water Can Relieve Your Stress

Interacting with water can be healing in many ways depending on what your body, brain, and emotional health need at any given moment.

Part of water’s stress-relieving properties relates to its natural cleansing and rehydrating abilities. The next part relates to the visual impact of observing water as it flows and trickles and moves. And lastly, it can also relate to whether the water is warm or cool, which gives water year-round healing potential.

Here are 3 easy stress-relieving ways to interact with the element of water safely:

1. Drink a glass of pure water.
   Dehydration is a major issue for people today. Researchers have now been able to definitively link dehydration to depression, which makes sense since your brain is largely made up of water! And I can’t tell you how many people have said they don’t drink water. Whaaat?! Drink up, my friend!
2. Immerse yourself in water.
   Whether you choose to go for a swim, do water aerobics, draw a bath, sit in a sauna or jacuzzi, stand under the shower or run through the sprinklers, water therapy (hydrotherapy) is a recognized course of treatment for everything from anxiety and depression to physical injuries and chronic illness.
3. Visit water.
   Going to the lake, standing in front of a flowing fountain, or even washing your hands under the tap at work are all ways to enjoy some restorative communion with that most precious of natural resources, water.

Over to you…

Today more than ever, returning to our ancient element roots can work stress-relieving miracles no medication can buy. Through using fire and water to relieve stress and manage your stress levels, you can begin to find find relief whenever you need it.

How are you going to start using fire and water to relieve stress easily? Chime in below!