Meditation To Deepen Connection With Air Element

This is a meditation to honor and deepen our sacred relationship with air. Once you befriend this powerful element you will never feel alone. There is some background information so if you want to go right to the practice, start at 8:30. Blessings.

Transcript

Welcome to this meditation to honor the element of air.

There are many meditation practices that focus on the breath as an anchor for our attention.

There are also many mind-body practices that teach us how to manipulate the breath for health benefits,

To energize,

Or to relax.

All of these are important practices,

But what we're intending today is different.

This practice is more like an offering dedicated to honoring and deepening our relationship with air as a living being with whom we are in a sacred relationship.

Air like the other elements of fire,

Earth,

And water is alive and has its own wisdom and history.

Air is the first being who greets us when we enter this world as we take our first breath.

Air is with us for each and every moment of this lifetime,

Day and night,

Until the moment we leave our bodies.

Humans' relationship with air goes back a long way.

Breathable air today originated with tiny organisms who lived over 2 billion years ago.

The elements birthed all of life onto this earth,

Including humans.

That you are sitting here today with ears to listen to my voice,

A voice carried to you by sound waves in the air,

That you are sitting in a body made up of air and water and earth element,

A body warmed from the inside and from the outside by fire element,

Is a testament to the miraculous and ongoing relationship we are in with the elements.

Many people also believe in an overarching divine force orchestrating all of life,

And this way of looking at the world is not intended to diminish that divine perspective in any way.

We are simply getting a bit more granular with our reverence,

Including the very foundations of life.

To really embrace this practice and this worldview,

You may have to suspend some skepticism.

It may help you to understand that steps have been taken throughout the course of history to deliberately separate humans from being in a reciprocal,

Respectful relationship with the natural world.

A relationship that our ancestors certainly did understand.

If you can allow yourself to relax into this possibility,

Inviting yourselves to remember,

It may be like welcoming home a long-lost friend.

And as you continue to transform your relationship with the elements,

You may find that everything in your life is transforming for the better.

Here Eir is a wise ancestor,

An ally,

A wisdom keeper,

A being who we can relate to with humility and respect and even playfulness.

Eir is an ever-present friend who can play with our hair or caress our cheek.

When we cultivate this relationship on a regular basis,

With curiosity and respect,

Asking questions like,

How can I honor you?

Or what can I learn from you?

Our whole lives start to expand and deepen.

As you continue to cultivate a more intimate relationship with the elements,

It will be impossible for you to ever feel alone again.

You will likely lose that sense of feeling separate,

Which can lead to so much despair.

Modern-day humans have filled our lives up with all kinds of ways of trying to feel connected through social media,

Food,

Our jobs,

Accumulating things,

Always thinking the next fix will fill the hole.

But it never does,

And we are left with a continual sense of longing.

What if some of the most fundamental building blocks of connection are missing and there is no job,

No amount of stuff that can fill the hole that we feel?

I'm inviting you to really slow down,

To get back to basics,

To reconnect with the most enduring and vital aspects of life,

To insert yourself back into the circle of life in the most deeply connected and beautiful way.

When we do connect with the foundations of life in this loving,

Personal way,

We always feel held,

Always seen,

Always in love.

As you deepen your relationship with the elements and really fall in love with them,

You get to see how much life loves you back.

The human brain may have trouble understanding this concept of being in reciprocal relationship with the elements,

But that's because of our modern-day conditioning.

The heart understands this deep connection,

As this relationship is woven into our very DNA.

So it's not actually something new,

But more of a remembering of an ancient covenant,

Which also involves other life forms.

Each breath we take is a reciprocal dance with the trees,

A gorgeous back and forth,

An ongoing give and take with mutual benefit,

Another reminder of how connected we are to all of life.

There is so much that is miraculous about our beloved ally air.

The air we breathe is perfectly balanced with gases to keep us alive.

If the balance of gases gets even slightly disturbed,

The air is no longer compatible with human life.

Air is delivering to us a perfect recipe,

If we're lucky,

For each moment of our lives.

The sun warms the air,

So it can be gifted to us at the perfect temperature.

Water moistens the air.

These are examples of the elements working together.

Air delivers to us exactly what we need every moment,

Day and night,

Of our lives,

Without us asking for it or doing anything special to receive it.

It's one continuous,

Ongoing gift.

And as one of my teachers likes to say,

If we're breathing,

There's more going right with us than wrong with us.

We don't own air.

We can't hang onto it or hoard it.

We can only borrow it for a few moments at a time.

In this way,

Air teaches us how to let go.

We can't hold on tightly or we will die.

We can feel into this right now.

The effortless inhale that's happening in your body.

And the natural release.

At just the right time.

Each exhale another lesson in letting go.

Air can be gentle and subtle,

As she usually is with us,

But she can also be fiercely powerful,

As in a hurricane or tornado.

And she is deceptively strong,

As she is when she is holding a giant airliner high in the sky.

Air is also a remarkable helper in many ways,

Such as when the winds usher in water in the form of snow or rain.

Air is a necessary co-conspirator with fire.

Whenever we light a fire or a candle,

We need air to keep it alive.

Air supports plants and animals as it blows a milkweed pod to the perfect spot on earth for a flower to grow that will sustain a monarch butterfly.

Without air,

None of this would happen.

Air is also a necessary partner to carry vibrations of sound for our ears to hear and scents for our nose to smell.

And a million other unseen miracles that have been happening for millennia and without which life as we know it would not exist.

With all of that said,

Let us drop into a practice where we take some time to honor our dear ancestor and beloved friend,

Air.

As we settle into this practice,

Inviting your body to find a comfortable position and letting this be an embodied practice,

A heart-based practice,

Allowing your eyes to close or your gaze to soften if that's safe and possible for you right now.

And starting by taking a couple of slow,

Deep breaths,

Inviting air to move into our body a little bit more deeply and flow from our bodies a little bit more deeply emphasizing this relationship that we are in,

Feeling it,

And letting us take some time to bow down to air after a lifetime of receiving this gift will take a few precious minutes to honor,

To give thanks,

To feel into with gratitude.

And using your imagination,

Your intention,

And your ancient cellular memory of being in relationship with Air,

Connecting in with all of your ancestors who were also in relationship with Air,

Many of whom remembered more clearly than we do now.

And as we rest here in this moment in time,

As with every moment of our lives,

Being kept alive by the grace of Air,

Feeling,

Feeling the air on the outside of our bodies.

Where can we feel the air caressing us?

Maybe on the face.

Noticing the temperature.

It's probably pretty close to being a perfect temperature for you.

Sure,

It may be slightly warm or slightly cool,

But only slightly.

It's pretty perfect.

Noticing the nose,

How the air finds its way into our body so easily,

Does its job so effortlessly,

Delivering vitality to us,

Just in a moment,

And removing from us what we no longer need,

Delivering it back to the trees,

So easy and effortless.

Maybe a smile comes to your face as you really feel into this immense gift happening right now.

Feeling as this air element goes deeper into the body and expands the chest wall.

Happens so gently we normally don't even notice it,

But for now noticing with appreciation.

With wonder.

Taking a few breaths to see if there are any other parts of the body where you can feel the stance happening.

We can offer up some intentions to air.

May you be my ally as I choose to ally with you through my awareness and my respect.

And if you like,

You can repeat to yourself after me,

Saying to air element,

May you balance yourself within me so that I may know inner peace and full vitality.

Thank you for each in-breath,

Which delivers to me freshness,

Vitality,

And exactly what each cell needs to stay alive.

Thank you for each exhale,

Which removes from me,

Which is stale and no longer needed.

We can also ask for forgiveness from air for all the harm that our species has done.

All the pollutants we have expelled into the air.

All the trees we've cut down.

May we move forward in a way that honors this relationship.

And taking another minute or so to just rest in this grateful,

Reverent awareness as we let the focus of our awareness be on air element.

And after a lifetime of receiving gifts from air,

We'll take a few more moments to close out this practice with great appreciation in our hearts and an intention to move forward with more of a knowing of how deeply connected we are with air.

And as you continue to cultivate this relationship through regular check-ins and opportunities to say thank you,

You'll never feel lonely.

Remembering that a beloved is always with you,

Supporting you.

And if you choose to continue to deepen this relationship,

You may find yourself feeling ever more supported and loved.

Letting go of the need for the mind to understand and just resting in the mystery of this dynamic dance and continuing to feel into how blessed we are by virtue of our relationship with air.

And as this practice comes to an end,

Considering how you can incorporate this relationship into your daily life,

Maybe you start or end the day by greeting the air,

Thanking air,

And having touch points as you move through your day.

Just noticing the breath in perhaps a more intimate and loving way.

May this relationship serve you and may you be a gift to the collective.

Thanks to you and thank you for being here.