Greeting the elements.
You can do this practice standing,
Sitting,
Lying down,
In whatever way feels good for you.
Sense your body,
Wherever it is in space right now.
Notice its solidity,
Its structure.
Perhaps you wish to place a hand somewhere on your body or move your hands across your arms,
Your torso,
Your legs,
To really feel the matter of your being.
Notice the way the body is held and supported by the ground under your feet.
Notice one foot at a time,
Place it back down on the ground,
To really sense the earth under your feet,
The earth of your body meeting the earth right in this place where you are.
Your body made of the same materials,
Atoms,
Elements,
As the world you see around you.
Connecting to the bigger sense of earth,
Our planet,
Our home,
And the earth of this body,
This home for you in your life.
Finding a gesture with your hands or your whole body to acknowledge this connection between this little piece of earth of your body and the vast body of the earth.
Acknowledging earth in all of its forms.
And perhaps finding a word or a gesture of thanks for the nourishment and support we receive from these expressions of earth.
Noticing how your breath moves in and out of your body,
This weaving between inside and outside,
Between the space inside of your body and the space around you.
Letting yourself take in that this breath connects you to all life,
All living beings on the planet.
We are constantly weaving ourselves into the web of life with this breath.
Breathing in and breathing out.
Sensing the air on your skin,
You might even like to move your arms and feel a sense of momentum of the air around you.
See if you can connect to the sense of spaciousness both inside and around you.
Look up or imagine the vast sky above,
Endless horizon,
And find a gesture to acknowledge how the air,
The spaciousness of the sky lives inside and around you.
As we connect to the sky,
We invite an awareness of the sun,
However it shines in the place where you are right now.
Even in its absence,
We can feel it's there in the light that allows us to see in the warmth of our own body,
Which is the sunlight converted into food that we have taken in.
Being aware of the warmth and the light that makes life possible.
Sensing the sun's invitation to stretch and grow like a plant reaching towards the light.
Finding a simple gesture or some words to acknowledge the power and life-giving force of the sun,
The sun outside and the sun inside of ourselves.
And then sensing in your body the waters,
Tasting the water in your mouth,
Aware of the water bathing your eyes,
The fluids in your spine,
In your arteries,
In your veins,
The digestive juices,
The fluids around all the cells.
Many other ways that water is present in our bodies and our beings.
And connecting this awareness to the waters out in the world,
The rain,
The dew,
Rivers,
Streams,
Oceans,
Lakes,
Puddles,
The water you drink and the water you bathe in.
And finding a gesture and some words of acknowledgement for the life-giving powers of these waters.
And then sensing yourself as this elemental being in which all the elements meet,
Earth,
Air,
Sun and water.
Can you sense the elements meeting and mingling inside of you?
What qualities,
What powers of these elements might you like to invite into your day today?
