Welcome to this guided meditation,
The theme of which is inhabiting the body with deep awareness,
With a focus on the five elements.
The five elements as the ongoing composition or texturing or appearing of the body.
The five elements as a direct experience of the body.
And it's not esoteric,
As you'll see it's something that you have a direct experience of.
And essentially what we'll be doing is just tuning in to what is already the case.
I invite you to find a comfortable position and having an elongated spine and the chest lifted slightly can be optimal for quality of wakefulness.
But whatever is comfortable for you.
And in this meditation you might want to close the eyes.
That sometimes amplifies the sense of somatic sensitivity.
And you may feel safer with your eyes open.
And of course feel free to experiment.
So I invite you to take a full inhalation and holding for a few moments at the apex and then an exhalation.
And softening and relaxing the body to whatever degree feels safe for you.
Letting the inhalation open up tense or closed parts of the body.
Breathing life and awareness into them.
And the exhalation letting a quality of melting of release.
And perhaps you want to just check some common places we hold tension in the body.
Checking the forehead and the eyes.
Letting them be soft.
Perhaps letting the jaw hang loosely.
Letting the shoulders relax.
The arms dangling at rest.
Relaxing the chest,
The belly,
Genitals.
And checking the hands.
You might want to release tension in the hands.
Checking the feet,
Relaxing tension in the feet.
And now I will go through the five elements earth,
Fire,
Water,
Wind,
And space one by one and invite us into an intimate experience of their qualities.
The unfolding,
The texturing of these elements in the body.
So if you like bringing attention to the lower half of the body from the waist down to the toes and tuning into qualities of the earth element.
Tuning into solidity,
Firmness,
Pressure.
And you don't need to look for these qualities or generate them.
Simply tune into whatever way they may or may not be present.
Tuning into the qualities of solidity,
Pressure,
Or firmness.
And now shifting to the fire element.
Tuning into these qualities of heat,
Warmth.
Tuning into these qualities of heat,
Temperature as they are happening in the lower half of the body.
Letting these qualities present themselves to consciousness.
We are simply tuning in.
Tuning into the qualities of heat,
Temperature.
And now shifting to the water element.
In the lower half of the body,
Tuning into the unfolding qualities of moisture or liquidity.
Perhaps felt as pulsing.
Liquidity,
Moisture,
Pulsing.
Letting these qualities present themselves to consciousness.
And now shifting to the wind element in the lower half of the body.
Tuning into the qualities of air,
Gas,
Or breath in the lower half of the body.
Perhaps you notice the breath reaching into the legs,
Feet,
Sexual organs.
Tuning into qualities of air,
Gas,
Or breath in the lower half of the body.
And no need to seek them out.
Simply receiving their arising if and when they arise.
Shifting now to the space element in the lower half of the body.
Tuning into the texturings,
The presence of hollowness,
Openness,
The insubstantiality of the body.
Tuning into these qualities.
Openness,
Spaciousness within the body.
And now moving on to the upper half of the body,
From the waist to the crown of the head.
The earth element.
Tuning into the qualities of solidity,
Firmness,
Pressure.
Acceptive to the presence of solidity,
Firmness,
Pressure.
Shifting to the fire element.
Tuning into the qualities of heat,
Temperature.
Receiving however these are presenting in the body.
No need to invite a creating or a looking mind.
Simply tuning in to the texturing of heat,
Temperature in this upper half of the body.
Shifting to the water element.
Tuning into qualities of liquidity,
Moisture,
Pulsing,
Flowing.
How is the water element appearing at this moment?
Tuning into these qualities of liquidity,
Pulsing,
Flowing,
Moisture.
Perhaps you feel the blood moving through the veins.
Moisture in the mouth or on the skin.
Allowing whatever is there to present itself to consciousness.
Shifting to the wind element.
Tuning into qualities of air,
Gas,
Breath in the upper half of the body.
Tuning into the qualities of air,
Gas,
Breath.
Now shifting to quality of the space element in the upper half of the body.
Tuning into textures of hollowness,
Openness,
Insubstantiality.
To however space,
Openness is or isn't presenting itself in the body.
Now shifting such that awareness encompasses the whole of the body.
I invite you to connect with four points.
So connect with sensation of the crown of the head.
Connect with the sensations of the rear end,
Legs and the cushion or the bench or whatever you're sitting on.
And then connect with your left and your right knee.
Connecting with the crown point,
The seat point,
The left and right knee.
Helping us to open to the whole body as a field of sensation,
Texturing field of sensations.
And taking a few moments to just be with this field like awareness of the body.
No need to adjust or correct or make anything happen.
Simply tuning into the texturing of this field of sensations we call the body.
And now shifting to the five elements with the whole of the body.
Tuning into the qualities of the earth element,
Firmness,
Solidity,
Pressure.
Tuning into qualities of the fire element,
Heat,
Temperature.
Now tuning into qualities of the water element,
Flowing,
Pulsing,
Liquidity,
Moisture.
Shifting to the qualities of the wind element.
Tuning into air,
Gas,
Breath.
And shifting to the space element.
Tuning into qualities of openness,
Hollowness,
Insubstantiality.
And reconnecting with the four points of the body,
The crown,
The seat,
The left and the right knee.
And allowing these four points to simultaneously be presenting to consciousness.
Noticing the shift in state of mind as we open to the simultaneous presencing of these points,
The crown,
The seat,
The left and the right knee.
Letting these points simultaneously be present in consciousness.
And from this connecting with the body as a field of sensations.
Tuning into the simultaneous presencing of the five elements.
Tuning into solidity,
Heat,
Flowing or liquidity,
Breath,
Air,
Space,
Openness.
Letting all these qualities,
Earth,
Fire,
Water,
Wind,
Space,
Present themselves to consciousness.
And present with the body as a texturing,
Presenting field of these qualities,
Heat,
Temperature,
Moisture,
Liquidity,
Breath,
Air,
Openness,
Spaciousness,
Tuning into the whole body as the texturing of these five elements.
Allowing them all to present themselves to consciousness simultaneously.
The body as a field of texturing.
And as we move into the last section of the guided meditation,
I invite you to release all effortful focus,
Concentration or mindfulness and simply do nothing.
Neither meditating nor being involved in distraction.
Simply enjoying the natural presencing of the body.
If you wish,
Dedicating the merit of your efforts.
May all beings realize their true nature and its wisdom,
Its compassion and its interconnection.
