Welcome,
Friends.
Welcome to this meditation series as we delve into the power of the elements,
The very building blocks of the earth and universe.
Each meditation in this little series will start the same way,
With a chance to relax and unwind before we visit our element.
So take this opportunity to make yourself comfortable.
Allow yourself to be supported by the earth or surface beneath you.
When you feel relaxed in the body,
We can gently close the eyes,
Allowing the attention to settle on the rise and fall of the breath.
Giving yourself the time and space with each breath to fill the lungs on the inhale and empty them on the exhale,
Connecting to that unhurried rhythm.
Drawing our attention inwards towards the breath,
We begin to let go of everything outside of this space with which we live.
We'll let go of the thoughts of work,
Of schedules,
Of deadlines.
We'll let go of the busyness of the day.
For this short time,
We can press pause on the world and spend some time within.
Allow the body,
The muscles,
The joints,
The bones to surrender into the earth.
Allow them to settle and soften.
Invisiting perhaps that with each exhale,
As well as releasing the breath,
You are releasing any areas of tension or tightness,
Anything you're holding onto within the body or mind.
Just taking our time to come to calm,
To let go,
To settle and relax.
Now,
From this place of calm and restfulness,
We will bring to the mind's eye the element of earth,
The great earth mother beneath us,
The ground,
Dirt,
Grit and bone beneath our feet.
And to journey towards the magic of this earth element.
We'll imagine in our mind's eye standing in a great field with green grass beneath our feet.
We are barefoot and the grass is soft and cool underneath our feet and between our toes.
And a great fiery sun shines above us amidst a blue sky.
We feel warm and calm in this place of nature,
This place of green and blue and fiery yellow.
We begin to walk easefully along the grass,
Enjoying the calm space.
We might hear a bird chirping in a distant tree.
Maybe the sound of longer grass whispering in the wind.
But it is a very peaceful place,
A very quiet place within which we wander.
And soon,
As we continue to walk in no particular direction,
We find that the grass begins to dissipate and our feet feel soft red earth beneath our feet.
It is a warm day so the earth is very dry underneath your feet.
It feels warm and powdery.
Maybe you pick up a small handful and let it crumble between your fingers.
You smell that earthy scent of the ground,
Of the earth,
Of soil.
And the scent is comforting to you.
And the earth feels warm,
Baked by the sun.
But then,
All of a sudden,
That blue sky above you fills with grey clouds,
Overcast,
And in just a moment,
It begins to rain.
Great,
Round,
Large raindrops begin splashing around you,
And they feel cool upon your skin.
And those big raindrops bounce upon the dry earth,
Throwing up dust and a beautiful scent of summer days.
That scent is called petrichor.
It is the smell of dry earth and dust and water mixing on a hot day.
It might bring back memories of camping and of playing in the street as a child getting caught in a downpour.
It is a beautiful scent and you stand in the rain,
Letting the cool water drop upon your skin.
The downpour is heavy but brief.
And before long,
The rain has stopped.
You feel refreshed and you see that the earth beneath you has absorbed the water and become much darker,
Thicker,
Like a clay or paste.
And you have so enjoyed the coolness of the water that you pick up a great handful of this newly soft,
Wet mud.
It feels cool between your fingers and just a little bit gritty and grainy.
And what you do with this great handful of mud,
You can't resist.
You smear it over your arm and up onto your shoulders.
You take another handful and cover your chest and tummy.
You sweep the mud over your legs,
Other arm and sweep the mud up over your neck and onto your face like a face mask.
And you are covered in this beautiful cooling mud and it feels soothing and nourishing.
And you can smell that lovely earthy scent on your skin.
It feels fun to play in the mud and cover our skin with it.
So just for a little while we lay down on the ground in the earth and just let that bright sun that has once again peeked through the clouds,
Once again a blue sky is above us,
And we just let ourselves dry.
The earth slowly dries out upon our skin,
Gently lightening and cracking.
It feels so warm and soothing on our skin as if this earth is drawing out any toxins,
Any negativity,
Any stress.
It's just drawing it out through our skin.
It feels like a really cleansing process.
The earth is just drawing out anything that we don't need.
And when the mud upon our skin has completely dried and crackled,
As we stand up this cracked dry earth falls cleanly from our body in chunks and crumbles.
And all at once the earth that was upon our skin has fallen back to the earth,
But that beautiful earth has left its mark upon our skin.
Great swirling patterns like henna tattoos swirl over our body.
Beautiful shapes of nature appear on our skin,
Spirals,
Images of trees and birds and oceans and clouds.
All the beautiful images of the earth and the earth mother are etched upon our skin,
Reminding us that we are all connected.
We leave our mark upon the earth and the earth leaves its mark upon us.
We feel very connected to the earth as we take our next steps into the natural world.
We once more find that green grass beneath our feet as we retrace our steps back to our starting place.
The great glow of the sun above us shines strong and we see that the markings upon our skin begin to fade and disappear.
But this special journey,
This special moment of connection with the earth has left its mark within as we remember the great earth mother.
The great gifts and abundance.
The earth.
The soil.
The grit.
The dirt.
Gifts us every single day.
From the food we eat to the elements that build our houses,
Homes and cars.
The earth gives us everything and it is always useful to remember to treat her well.
And so my darlings,
When you feel ready to leave this meditation,
Perhaps we'll take a few deep breaths.
Maybe we wiggle fingers and toes and take our time to arrive back in the room and back into our body as we return to our day,
Ready to connect to the elements a little more closely and continue to enjoy our journey through the elements with this beautiful meditation series.
So until then,
Have a beautiful day.
