Element Awareness

This element awareness meditation practice supports exploring the elements within and around us. Take time to explore how you can deepen your connection to the elements to feel a greater sense of well-being. The elements are a beautiful way to feel into our interconnection to all things.

Transcript

Settling into this practice,

This particular moment.

And beginning by allowing yourself to attune to the particular place that your body is sitting and residing with the elements.

So allowing yourself to begin to attend to maybe the qualities of light,

Sound,

Temperature,

The way forms of life are with you or present around you.

And I'll invite you as you begin to attend in this way to really get a 360 sense of what's here as you settle in.

And what's above you,

In front of you,

In the sides of you,

Behind you,

And below you.

So allowing presence to sensitively connect in this expression of life,

The expression of the elements ebbing and flowing all around,

Supporting their sitting,

This practice.

And taking the time to feel your posture,

Allowing for a posture that allows you to feel supported,

Awake and alert and relaxed.

So this posture invites a sensitivity of intimacy to connect to these elements within and the elements around.

So I'll invite you to begin this practice by just studying the attention with the breath.

Studying the simplicity of experiencing an inhale and an exhale.

In this breath,

We can get curious about feeling the element,

Sensing their presence within us.

Often most vividly or immediately,

This can be the element of air as it's what's traveling in and out of this body.

You might be able to sense the moisture or the aridness,

Presence of water as we feel it,

Or the air.

You might sense the element of fire or heat as we observe the cooling and warming of each breath.

And the element of earth,

This breath being supported by all of the structures that it traverses through,

Circulates within.

And the element of space,

The breath isn't tangible,

It often has a spacious quality of witness as it travels into the body and releases from the body.

And so as we sit and practice attending to the elements,

You may choose to just simply rest with experiencing this in the breath.

And if you choose,

You can also begin to explore this in the sense of the body,

Mind,

And the heart.

So widening the awareness to be present in our landscape as it's moving,

Shifting and changing within you.

And beginning to allow yourself to get curious about the sense of the fire element,

Often experienced as energy,

Warmth,

Coolness,

Vigor.

And so maybe you see and experience what this is like,

The sensations of the body,

Particular emotions that might be here that feel warming or energizing.

And the quality of the mindscape.

And the sun is the most immediate direct sense of fire element around us.

The star of our universe is here with our planet.

And so allowing yourself to feel and sense the radiant warmth,

Energy,

Vitality of life that's around us.

We can hear this in the life of a song of a bird,

Vitality of their heat to sing a song.

The way the light might caress some part of our body or for us warm.

And so you might feel and sense this movement between feeling what's around us as the fire element.

Something within you,

This fire element.

Maybe moving the attention back and forth a bit to see what it's like to be present with them.

And yet there's always that inner discoverment on your own.

Now we'll shift from higher element to the air element.

And allowing yourself to rest inward into this inner landscape.

And tuning to the ways in which the air element is known.

The air element often expressed as movement,

Circulation,

Vitality.

And so maybe you feel this simply as the breath as it moves through the body.

And the way in that mind might engage thought moving around.

And I feel this in the way that the heart pumps,

Lungs inflate,

Contract.

The emotions of air can sometimes be joy and uplift and expand.

You're not trying to figure this out,

Just simply resting in presence inwardly to feel the way the air element is present in this moment.

And then allowing yourself to attune to this element that is here present around you,

Offering support to each breath we take.

And so attuning to the qualities of the air element around you,

If it's still.

Maybe pulsating or vibrating energy movement.

And again,

Seeing if you choose to be curious about what it's like to just move the attention gently back and forth between what's around and within as air element.

There is the intimate connection to our life force.

Envelopes and circles,

Supports every moment of our lives.

And our own being offers this back out as a part of the circle of expression of this element of air.

Supporting our life.

Now shifting from this element of air to the expression of the element of water.

Allowing yourself to rest inwardly with the sense of the way the water element is being felt,

Experienced.

Water represents and is felt as fluidity or cohesion.

Maybe we feel this in the way that the body can digest regulate or simply maybe we feel it in just the way we can feel saliva or airiness,

Moisture as it moves through the breath.

Again,

Being curious about all the ways the body might feel that sense of water,

Sensations,

Emotions,

Mental movements of the mind.

And then to become aware of this element around us,

The way water is permeating through the depths of the ground,

The skies,

The oceans,

Rivers,

Streams,

Lakes,

Vital life force.

So sometimes we just sense this in the way the air is around us and we can subtly detect the moisture in the air.

Maybe we have a more embodied sense of the way water is present,

Moving through every expression of life.

Maybe you choose again,

Feeling how it is around us and within us.

Maybe getting the sense it's not separate.

Remembering some elements are more accessible in awareness.

So whatever experience you're having,

Just let it be that.

Water pumps,

Moves,

Flows.

Feeling into that quality of the element within you and around you,

Supports the way we move through life.

And now shifting from the water element to the earth element,

Beginning by feeling this within the inner landscape.

Maybe felt in solidity,

Density,

Weightiness,

Sturdiness.

Maybe there's a feltness to this,

Not just in sensation,

But also the way the heart or the mind might experience this too.

Lots of different experiences of the element of earth come together to make this form,

This body,

This being.

And so attuning to that element around us as well in the same way,

So many things come together to create form.

Earthness can be sensed around us often in the way we see plant life or trees.

And the solidity of the earth,

Remembering beneath the earth many different minerals,

Types of rock,

Crystals even.

And the amalgamations of this form of the element of earth.

So again,

Letting the attention just shift between the sense of what's around,

This element of earth and what's within.

And the beautiful unique forms and expressions of earth.

Made of the same types of matter,

Minerals.

Now exploring the last element of space.

Space actually holding,

Supporting,

Allowing all of the elements to be held,

Be experienced,

Be shaped.

And sensing within you the way the element of space may be making itself known right now.

Maybe this is simply to just feel there's spaciousness in a part of the body,

The way the mind feels and the heart feels.

And then feeling into the sense of space that's all around us.

The vastness that that space is that travels not just in the immediacy of what we can feel or sense the space that surrounds our body but extends out above us,

Far out into the universe.

Vastness,

Openness,

Spaciousness.

And all of the elements,

All of life.

And choosing to feel this outer and inner sense of space.

And so as we come into the last few minutes of this practice I invite you to just rest.

Just rest.

Whatever element that supports you now.

And sense how you're knowing which element to choose.

Maybe we'll want to bring and support the inner landscape to feel more energy.

Or more ease or more solidity.

And just rest.

And so resting in element awareness.

And choosing what feels best for you in these last few minutes of our practice together.

Shootings.

And I'll close this morning with a poem from Mary Oliver called Why I Wake Early.

Hello,

Sun in my face.

Hello,

You who make the morning and spread it over the fields and into the faces of the tulips and the nodding morning glories and into the windows of even the miserable and the crotchety.

Best preacher that ever was,

Dear star that just happens to be where you are in the universe to keep us from ever darkness,

To ease us with warm touching,

To hold us in the great hands of light.

Good morning,

Good morning,

Good morning.

Watch now how I start the day in happiness and kindness.

I would love to hear or see some chats about any observation of an element moment that we could share to the group.

That poem is called Why I Wake Early from Mary Oliver.

I know that every time I practice elements I feel like there's a little awakening of some new little gift that comes.

And this morning as I was sitting,

Offering the earth element,

I had a lovely sense of all the mineral goodness,

Strength of the earth and our unique form that is within us coming up.

And that was really a supportive moment so sometimes just sharing those little things can be helpful so if you'd like to do that for the community that'd be lovely.

And also just to,

It blew up like a helium balloon like Macy's J-frame,

Such a great image.

When we offer these too,

Just know they're just lovely ways to just invoke the imagery that helps support our practice too,

Yes,

And the fire elements from Carol.

Yeah,

And you know they're so quickly accessible,

Right,

We just,

It's like literally here if we choose to sense and connect to that,

Yeah,

Separate air and space is endless,

Yes,

Warmth inside on a cloudy day.

So this is the goodness of remembering where we can take and point these practices in intentional ways,

Right,

Either remembering maybe we're strongly,

You know,

Embodying some of them but maybe some of them we may need to nurture a little bit more which might bring balance and ease and the elemental sense of our own being.

Lovely,

Lovely to hear and see the chatting,

And so Melanie is going to help me by putting up some links.

I've got,

I think,

Three things to tell you about.

One,

Just a reminder,

Donations are appreciated because they support what we're doing on the weekends,

All of us are doing this from the generosity so we build community and ways to keep moving these teachings to people in different directions.

The second thing,

So she'll put that up.

The second thing is to share that I do have a book coming out called Healing with Nature,

That will be out in June.

And I am offering a mini online retreat on that book on the 27th of March,

If you're interested,

It'll be a Saturday morning from nine to 12.

And what I intend and that will be with a dear colleague of mine,

Natasha.

She is a lovely filmmaker and has great interview skills and we're going to practice and share and experience content around what's in the book.

And so I'll be covering in that three hour retreat.

Some healing with nature practices.

So would love to invite you all to that and so Melanie put up a link for that.

And then the book won't be out till June but you're welcome to pre order it.

And,

Yeah,

So I'm with,

You know,

My site is new mindful life so I'm always doing things there with in around the book so if you want to join me there,

Please feel free.

And then next week.

Melanie it's Jordan correct.

Jordan will be with you next Saturday I believe Mark will be back.

I think he said Tuesday.

So I'm not sure who's teaching tomorrow,

Somebody will be.

And,

Yeah,

So please continue to come because this community,

You know,

I know for myself,

As life has gotten busy in different ways it's so nice for me just to know I can jump on the call at any moment and you all are sitting here.

And I just so greatly appreciate that the song to hold the space every day.

So,

Really is beautiful to be together.

So,

Okay,

And tomorrow should be Miriam Thank you for that.

Lovely so Miriam will be sharing with you tomorrow.

And I will see you all when we meet and are sharing in this forum together or as saga.

So,

Have a beautiful rest of your Sunday.

Reviews

Thank you so much for sharing this beautiful meditation on the elements 🥰

The guidance was a lovely walk through experience both within and without. Exceptional for gently quieting the mind and pulling it back from a drifting moment. So very happy that I was guided to this in a sea of so many delightful choices. Namaste 🙏