The Six Elements Meditation

An exploration of six dimensions of mindfulness. Feel the connection between your body and the Earth; allow your body to be breathed by the element of Air; feel the Fire of emotion; let your thoughts flow freely like Water; explore Sound to discover silence; and radiate the Light of your aware self.

Transcript

So there's no strict order you have to do the six elements in But I usually start with the element of earth and the body As I find that gives a good grounding to the meditation a good place to start So becoming aware of the sensations in your body Keeping awareness nice and open Allowing the body to be in the foreground of your awareness And for now just allowing thoughts,

Sounds,

Etc.

Just to be in the background So after you've spent a few moments just familiarizing yourself with how your body is feeling And the main sensations that you can experience And the most important thing is to be aware of the sensations in your body And to be aware of the sensations in your body And to be aware of the sensations in your body And the main sensations that you can become aware of throughout the body Then for the element of earth to connect to the earth we're going to focus on two aspects Two particular physical sensations And the first is that sensation of contact of connection So feeling the connection between my feet and the ground And with whatever you're sitting or lying on So feeling the warmth,

The slight pressure That sensation of touch and contact I find this a nice reminder that the body is never alone,

Never in isolation It's always in contact with the rest of the world really Through these points of connection of contact This feeling of connection can be enough on its own to start to trigger that relaxation response in the body Stress in the body is often about withdrawing,

Isolating,

Distancing yourself So to consciously move your awareness to this idea of connection and contact Sends a signal to the body to leave behind the fight and flight response And move into the relaxation response And the second aspect of physical sensations connected to the earth is feeling the weight of the body So get a sense now of the heaviness or the lightness however you're experiencing the weight of your whole body And how that weight is being supported by those points of contact and connection with the ground So feeling that the weight of the whole body is being held and supported by the ground and therefore by the earth helps deepen that feeling of connection and relaxation throughout the body It can begin to really let go of the body and allow it to be held and supported Now each of these elements can be a meditation in themselves but for this evening because we'll be going through all six we won't be spending too long on each But feel free to remain with an element that you're enjoying that you're getting benefit from You don't have to move on at my speed The last part I'll share about the element of earth and the body is just a thought that the feeling of weight in the body is the earth pulling gently on your body The sensation of weight is the sensation of gravity which is the earth attracting your body towards itself So as you feel the weight in the body you are actually directly feeling the earth and the earth's relationship to your body and that very physical,

Very real connection to the earth And we're all experiencing that same sensation as everybody is being pulled equally and continuously towards the earth by the earth So I'll move on next to the element of air and become more aware of the breath So gently bringing the breath into the foreground,

The centre of your awareness Allowing the sensations of the body,

The weight and the contact to just gently move into the background along with your thoughts,

Feelings and sounds Still keeping that awareness nice and open Feeling the breath enter the body and releasing,

Letting go of the breath If you can really get a sense of allowing the breath to happen,

Of allowing the breath into the body without restriction and really letting go and releasing the breath without holding onto the breath at all with the out breath And after a while you can get a sense of the flow of the breath,

The breath flowing in and out of the body like a wave rising and falling And after a while longer you may be able to get a sense that you're not doing the breathing,

That the breath,

The element of air is doing the breathing Your body is being breathed by the breath The breath is effortless,

Natural,

Spontaneous,

Simply allowing the element of air to do the breathing,

To breathe into the body And we release and allow the element of air to flow out of the body,

Being breathed by the element of air And perhaps just having the thought that we're all sharing the same element of air,

We're all breathing the same air We're all being given life by the same oxygen So the breath isn't an individual thing,

It arises from the environment around us,

We become part of that and we all share the same experience of the breath Maybe getting a feeling of there being one breath that's breathing all of us,

Just as there's one earth holding all of us So the breath,

The oxygen of the air gives us life So next let's move to the element of fire and feel the living flame in the body,

Feeling that basic sensation of aliveness in the body Just noticing what it feels like to be a living organism,

Being animate and alive,

Feeling that in the body Whatever emotions that we're feeling from moment to moment If we can connect to this foundation of aliveness and this sensation of aliveness in the body,

It's like dropping deeper So that we can allow whatever emotions are on the surface to just be as they are and work themselves through We can stay connected to the root of this living energy,

This inner flame Feeling the alive presence within the body Allowing any and all emotions to flow freely from that basic foundation,

That feeling of aliveness So staying with each element as long as you feel is useful and helpful for yourself I'm going to move on to the element of water and the thoughts,

So bringing the thoughts into the centre,

The foreground of my awareness,

Allowing everything else to just be in the background I'm going to allow my thoughts to flow freely through my mind,

Just like water flowing in a river or a stream So allowing and accepting any and all thoughts,

Doesn't matter what your thoughts are,

We're just interested at this time in experiencing them flowing one after the other,

Just allowing each thought to come after the next,

Into your open awareness What I find is if I really give my thoughts this complete freedom,

Then eventually I identify more with the mind,

With the arena in which the thoughts are flowing The arena in which the thoughts are occurring and less with the thoughts themselves So then the experience of the mind is more like the ocean than a river,

So it's broad,

Wide and deep So allowing the river of thought to eventually flow into the ocean,

Experiencing the depth,

Breadth,

The vastness of the ocean of the mind All our individual inner monologues,

Eventually meeting together in the ocean of mind So a couple more elements to go,

And the next element is the element of sound,

So spending some time actively listening and being alert to all the sounds you can hear where you are right now Listening to any sounds that you're making,

Maybe with your breath or any movement Listening to any sounds within the room that you're in,

Listening to any sounds coming from elsewhere in the house,

Maybe a few Greeks here and there Maybe other people Noticing any sounds coming from outside,

And the environment just around where you are Maybe voices,

Maybe cars,

Maybe some animals,

Depending on where you are,

Your environment,

What time of day it is We'll each have our own unique blend of sounds in this moment And see what the most distant sound is that you can hear,

Maybe very quiet,

Very distant,

Very occasional Allowing your awareness to be broad enough,

Wide enough,

Open enough to be ready to catch any distant sound as and when it appears After a while of really being attentive to sounds,

Really being open particularly for quiet and distant sounds,

I usually begin to get a sense of quietness,

Of silence A space of silence within which the sounds are coming and going,

So silence that doesn't require the absence of sounds,

But coexists with the sounds And the sounds are coming out of the silence,

Falling back into the silence Although all the sounds that each of us are hearing are going to be different from one another,

If we do get a sense of that silence,

That quietness,

That silence is going to be exactly the same for all of us So one silence where we can all share the one silent space within which all the variety of sounds of each of us is coming and going So connecting in silence So we can move into the final element,

The element of light and the light of awareness By building on this idea of sounds happening within silence,

And realizing that actually all our experience happens within the space of our awareness,

The light of our awareness So the sounds we experience,

We experience within our awareness,

Our thoughts and feelings happen within the space of our awareness And the body and the breath,

Every experience of the body,

Every sensation,

We experience within our awareness So the awareness is the space within which all our experiences in this moment are occurring So that space of awareness is silent,

The sounds coming and going within the silence That space is still,

All movement coming and going,

Taking place within the stillness Of objects or shape,

Or occurring existing within empty space This space is timeless,

Changeless,

Eternal,

As all time,

All change happens within that space So for the last few minutes connecting to ourselves,

To ourselves as that conscious being,

To ourselves as that awareness Still,

Silent,

Empty and timeless space of awareness,

And allowing each moment of this present moment to come and go within our awareness And each of us will have unique contents of this present moment,

Unique thoughts,

Bodies,

Sounds,

For that empty,

Still,

Silent space This space of awareness again is exactly the same for all of us,

So one awareness,

One space within which all our present moments are taking place This space of awareness is timeless,

Changeless,

Eternal,

As all time,

All change happens within that space of awareness So let's bring the meditation to a close just by reconnecting briefly with each element So within our open awareness,

Listening to the sounds,

Maybe listening now to the loudest or closest sounds to you Being aware of your thoughts,

Just noticing what thoughts are occurring in your mind right now Aware of how you feel,

Feeling the breath in the body,

Feeling the weight of the body,

And feeling those points of contact and connection Coming back down to earth Okay,

So when you're ready you can finish that

Reviews

Thank you Stephen 🙏 I love your approach to open awareness. The six elements ties the body, breathe, thoughts, emotions, sound, and space together with the awareness of all. Love this meditation. I will share and recommend.
🙏✨💛💫🕊

Very relaxing good to know all the elements. Thank you 💫

I feel very relaxed and grounded listening to the commentary following all the elements of Earth - my sensations felt very connected to the earth and my self-awareness was very nicely felt throughout. I almost went back to sleep as the Earth energy felt so beautiful and calming.

A brand new day has started and I am feeling good about myself and my inner peace helps me to live another precious day✨

Thank you, Stephen, for making me feel blissfully happy and your commentary has a special touch element to the entire practice. 🙏🏻👌🏻✨😍♥️🧘‍♂️

Very nice moving through the six elements. Very mellow. Thank you. ☮️💖🙏

Beautiful thoughts. Thank you 🙏.