Welcome to our mindfulness practice,
Our embodied anti-racism mindfulness practice.
Now we're live,
It's Thursday morning,
You may be listening to this in an afternoon or an evening,
But welcome to our space.
Our space where we take time to take care of our body,
Mindfully.
We are to do the work of the anti-racism work,
If we are to be in the world in more resilient ways,
In ways that we have been strengthened to have difficult conversations,
To be in difficult situations.
We continue to do our own healing work.
We continue to do our own paying attention to our body because that's where our woundedness lives,
Is in the central nervous system.
That's where we pay attention to the body so that we can bring a body into the world that is more compassionate,
That is more loving,
That is more focused and settled in order to be the love and justice that we long for in our world.
The last couple of weeks I have been unavailable because of,
I said illness,
Not quite illness,
But I'm recovering from a very bad knee injury that required surgery and it's working me out.
So my embodied practices have been very much directed in healing that so that I can return to healthy walking and sitting and reducing pain,
Not just in my body,
But reducing pain in the world.
So today's mindfulness practice is about actually the elemental body,
The elements that make up our body,
Earth,
Air,
Water,
Fire.
And we're just going to move those space in between.
You know,
We've heard,
Many of us have heard,
Throughout our education,
The Africans and the Greeks,
And I'm sure many,
Many ancient people spoke of the universe being made of these basic elements that included earth,
Air,
Water,
And fire.
And so our bodies are made up of those same elements as well.
Most every spiritual path at some point acknowledges the four elements and connecting them to our body,
Connecting them to our journey of healing,
Connecting them to our groundedness,
Connecting them to our relationship with the divine,
With God,
With the higher self,
Whatever words you may use.
You know,
Our bodies are made of these elements.
Our bones are calcium,
And many people don't know that the fifth most abundant element on our planet is our bones are calcium.
And many people don't know that the fifth most abundant element on our planet is calcium.
It's part of the earth's crust.
So our skeleton,
Our bones,
Are made from this element that is very abundant on planet earth.
Let's pause for a moment and do what I call a collective act of solidarity by breathing in and breathing out.
Don't change the pace,
Just follow the breath.
Follow the inhale,
Follow the exhale.
Oftentimes when I do a mindfulness practice that's specifically about the body where all of the focus is really on the elements of the body,
I often find myself rocking.
I find that soothing.
As you listen to this practice,
As we move through each of the elements,
You may find yourself rocking.
Continue to focus on the breath for a moment.
That constant inflow and outflow of air,
Breath is the element of air.
And our blood is an ongoing,
Incredibly complex flow of water.
And our blood is an ongoing,
Incredibly complex flow of water.
But our blood continues to flow throughout the body just as water flows throughout the earth.
And our entire body,
Like every warm-blooded creature,
Is a 24-hour day,
24 hours a day,
And seven days a week earnest.
We are generating heat.
Continue to focus on the breath.
Settle more into your space,
The chair that you may be sitting on,
Maybe you're lying down.
Maybe rocking,
So very soothing,
So very comforting.
So now we're just going to move through each element more intentionally.
Spending just a few breaths on each element.
Inhale,
Let's focus on bone,
Earth.
Take a part of your body that the shape of the bones are visible,
Like the knuckles.
Close your hand into a light fist,
You can really feel the knuckles.
Maybe the forehead,
Right above the eye you can feel the brow ridge or the chin,
Elbow.
Take a part of the body where the shape of the bones are visible and just tap,
Tap lightly.
Feel that,
Feel the bone that is earth.
And continue to breathe.
Inhale,
Exhale.
Notice the shape of the bones.
Now let's move to the air,
To our breath.
As you breathe in,
You breathe in through the nose,
Feel how cool it is.
Feel the,
As it moves into the nose,
The difference in the temperature.
Even if you breathe in through your mouth,
You might feel the coolness of the breath outside of you that's moving into you.
This is the element of air.
Follow the breath down the windpipe,
Follow the breath into the lungs and the belly.
And then feel it back out again.
Feel the air,
The element of air,
Breath,
Moving in,
Feel it through the nose or the mouth,
Feel it move down into the lungs.
Move it further down into the belly.
And then release it back out again.
Let's move our attention to our heart.
You put your hand right on the middle of your chest.
And feel the heart beating.
Knowing that the beating of the heart is the heart squeezing,
It's a muscle that squeezes and releases.
Squeezes and releases blood.
Remember that blood is a very,
Very complex flow of water.
It's entirely made up of 70% of it is water.
So our blood represents that element of water.
As it flows through the body,
Leaving the heart,
Moving out,
Down the limb,
To the hands,
Down to the feet.
And then back again to the heart.
Your hand on your heart.
Feeling the beat.
If you can sense that,
That flow of blood that is radiating from the heart to the rest of the body.
Take a minute.
Be with that flow.
Feel the heartbeat.
And then finally,
Finally the element of fire.
Which is the heat.
That we all generate.
So put your attention on your skin.
Put a hand on your other hand.
On your cheek.
On the thigh,
But feel the skin.
Notice any heat.
Maybe emanating from the skin.
The skin that you touch.
It's cool from the outside environment.
Feel the other hand actually giving it heat.
Feel the floor of your body 24-7.
And as you feel heat,
Wherever you're touching your skin,
Shift your attention slightly.
If you can notice the heat that's emerging from within.
If you can notice the heat that emerges from within.
If you can notice the heat that's emerging from within.
This is a practice that you can do at any time during the day.
With all mindfulness practices,
It begins with a pause.
It begins with stopping,
Turning the attention to yourself.
And then you can walk yourself through earth,
Which is your bones.
Through air,
The breathing in and the breathing out.
Through water,
Is the blood flowing,
Feeling the heart.
Feeling the heart sending that flow outward and receiving it back.
And fire,
Heat,
Your own skin,
Heat from your own body.
Do this body practice.
You will discover,
Perhaps little by slowly,
Expanding your awareness of the care for your body.
And as we spend more time,
We care for our body,
We bring our better selves out into the world.
Thank you for joining.
May you be well,
May you be happy.
Namaste.
