Welcome to Five Elements, a podcast featuring voices of wisdom on the things that matter most.

I’m Hong Gwi-Seok, and I’m a Korean American mother, grandmother, Iyengar Yoga practitioner and teacher, caregiver, and activist, rooted in Detroit, MI. You can find me at halmonipower on Instagram.

Each episode will consist of a conversation with someone who is centering transformational practices. 

Especially in these times of upheaval, we need to lean on and learn from each other. These conversations will center voices of Black and Brown, justice-oriented folks who are steeped in both inner and outer work to heal and transform themselves as well as to create the more beautiful, equitable, sustainable society we need.

Each conversation will be structured around the 5 elements, as defined by the yoga tradition: earth, water, fire, air, and ether.

Earth:

How do you find stability?

What is grounding and centering you these days?

What boundaries are you setting?

Water:

What is flowing, moving, and shifting in you lately?

What is cleansing and refreshing you?

Fire:

What is burning in you? 

What are you currently passionate about?

What within you is going through the fire of transformation?

Air:

What is as yet unsettled?

What choices are still up in the air?

What are your unanswered questions?

Ether:

What do you have a sense of that is not yet on the horizon?

What is your larger, expansive vision?

What do you not yet have words for?

What is as yet unmanifest?

General:

What element is predominant right now?

What element do you need more of?

What specific practices are you leaning into these days to create inner and outer well-being?