Welcome.
Thank you for joining me.
Today we'll be doing a short grounding meditation,
Looking at the wheel of self-care,
Diving into the four elements and how they impact our body and our self-care.
This practice is an adaptation of an alignment I learned from Maria Bruna Sirabella in the School of the Origins.
We'll be looking at the four elements of fire,
Earth,
Water and air,
Arranged in a circle or wheel.
So as we prepare,
Find yourself in a comfortable position,
Either seated or laying down.
I think you'll find seated a little easier to follow the visualization,
But do what's best for you right now and what your body is calling for.
So as you find your comfortable position,
Feeling yourself supported by a cushion or a chair,
Feeling your spine straight and upright and just beginning by locating your breath,
Noticing this faithful companion.
The breath that's always in the background,
Adjusting to our every need,
Moment by moment.
Just riding the waves of the in-breath as the chest rises and the out-breath as the chest falls.
Allowing the details of your day to just melt away and sinking into the rhythm of the breath.
And on the next out-breath,
Allowing your attention to fall down towards your knees or feet,
Whenever it's contacting the floor,
The cushion and visualizing as best you can some roots extending out from this lower portion of your body.
Down through the cushion or chair,
Down through the floor,
Extending downwards towards the crust of the earth,
Through the soil and the layers of rock,
Allowing the roots to sink downwards toward the center of the earth.
Feeling them root down,
Connecting you to this very earth,
Grounding you.
And if this visualization of roots feels like a strain or a challenge,
Even just imagining the feeling of being supported and grounded by the surface of the earth.
And on the next out-breath,
Allowing yourself and your attention to rise slowly up through the layers of soil and silt and rock,
Up towards the surface of the earth,
Up through the floor and back into your body.
And on the next in-breath,
Breathing your attention up to the top of your head.
And now imagining branches extending from the top of your head and breathing them upwards,
Up towards the ceiling and past the roof,
Imagining them effortlessly growing and branching out towards the sky and gently piercing up through the clouds all the way through the atmosphere.
Imagining the earth below and these branches extending upward into the spaciousness and darkness above.
And again,
If this image is challenging or causing you to strive in any way,
Just imagining this feeling of floating in the atmosphere,
The endless expanse and spaciousness,
Just resting in these heights.
And on the next out-breath,
Allowing yourself to slowly descend past the planets,
Back towards the atmosphere of the earth,
Floating effortlessly downward through the clouds and down towards the space in which you are seated.
Until your attention reaches again the top of your head,
Allowing it to sink now down into the chest at the level of the heart.
And breathing in this experience of both the depths and the heights,
Feeling both grounded and spacious and limitless at the same time.
Allowing these two energies to dance at the level of your heart.
And on the next out-breath,
Allowing these energies to go back to the heights and the depths.
And bringing to mind an image of a circle.
And imagining that circle divided into four quadrants.
In the lower left quadrant,
We'll assign to the element of fire.
Fire representing our spirit within our spark.
And seeing if you can bring to mind the color red.
As you sit with the element of fire and its creative spark.
And how we can care for ourselves by spending time wondering of our purpose and meaning.
Feeling that intense color of red fill our chest as you breathe in.
And on the next out-breath,
Releasing your attention on this lower left quadrant,
Fire spirit.
And moving upward into the next quadrant of the circle,
Earth.
Our body.
And imagining the color green as you breathe in.
Breathing in the intensity of this green and life.
And everything that we do to care for our body.
Nourishment,
Rest.
Imagining this color green,
Breathing in with all its healing and resting capacity.
Filling your body with the elements of earth.
And on the next out-breath,
Releasing your attention on earth and the body.
And moving to the next quadrant to the right.
Our heart and our emotions,
The element of water.
Breathing in the color blue.
Allowing the waves of emotion and blue to wash over you.
Making space for how we care for ourselves in relationship.
How we allow ourselves to both receive love on the in-breath and give love with the out-breath.
And on the out-breath,
Releasing your attention on the color blue,
The emotions and water.
And welcoming in the last quadrant,
Air.
Bringing to mind a golden light.
Breathing in that yellow,
Bright light into your lungs.
And bringing in the care of the element of air through space.
Spaciousness and freedom.
Through our freedom of thought.
Our freedom to be drawn to learning what lights us up.
And breathing in consciousness.
And on the next out-breath,
Releasing your attention on this last of the four elements,
Air.
And bringing your attention back to the area of your heart.
And allowing any of these gifts to be deeply absorbed at the level of the heart.
Both the gifts of groundedness,
Of the depths and the solidity of the earth.
And the gifts of the heights,
The mystery,
The spaciousness,
And the expansiveness.
And bringing in the swirl of the wheel of all four elements.
And how we need all four to care for ourselves fully.
And perhaps taking this moment to set an intention for yourself today.
Whatever your heart is calling for.
Something simple.
And if nothing in particular comes to mind,
Being okay with just the intention to care for whatever needs arise in your day today.
And as we bring this short centering to a close,
Expanding your lungs with one last deep breath,
Energizing yourself.
Letting go of anything that's no longer serving you.
And slowly when you're ready,
Knowing that your seed of intention has been planted at the level of your heart.
Letting go of any of the details needed and trusting at this time that you've spent to nourish yourself.
We'll nourish that seed of intention.
Whenever you're ready,
Opening your eyes.
And coming back into your space.
Thank you for joining me for this meditation.
I wish you well the rest of your day.
