Earth - Part One Of The Six Elements Meditation

Deepening our experience of the present moment by connecting to the Earth through mindful awareness of the body. A simple and effective meditation to feel truly grounded and connected. Part one of six. Starts with a five minute introduction to the Six Elements.

Transcript

The six elements are earth,

Air,

Water,

Fire,

Sound and light.

So the first four elements are the sort of common four elements that you'll be aware of and then I've added sound and light as well.

Over the six days you can build up the full experience.

Okay,

So all the meditations for each element are mindfulness meditations.

For me that means becoming more aware of what's already there,

What's already happening,

Becoming more aware of the present moment.

And this six elements meditation is just a way of breaking that down into different aspects so we can explore the variety and the depth of the present moment in different ways.

And I find it can be quite balancing as well to realise that as you go through the elements you may notice that you're more familiar or spend more time in one rather than the other.

For example,

For myself I'd say I spend more time in thoughts which is the element of water in this meditation.

So by regularly becoming more aware and more attentive to all aspects,

So that includes the body,

Emotions,

Breath,

Sounds and awareness,

It helps me realise that I can have a more balanced approach to what I'm aware of and where I put my attention and my time.

So that's one benefit I think of the six elements meditation is that balance and that holistic approach to all the different aspects of ourselves and of our experience that we can become more familiar with.

So the mindful approach for me can be summed up in four words.

Awareness,

So being aware of what's happening internally or externally.

Then acceptance,

So accepting what you become aware of.

If we don't accept then it's difficult to maintain that awareness or deepen that awareness because we'll be wanting to move away from or suppress in some way or distract ourselves from what we are becoming aware of.

So that idea of unconditional acceptance,

Non-judgmental acceptance.

And then the third word is to allow.

So that idea that these things that we become aware of,

The things that are already there,

That are already happening,

We don't have to make them happen.

So that sense that we're allowing something to happen rather than creating it ourselves.

That's more obvious I guess with things like the breath,

Which is the element of air,

Where we know that we don't have to remember to breathe.

We know that breath just happens on its own,

It's an autonomic function of the body.

But actually realising we can apply that also to our emotions and our thoughts for example can be really beneficial for the mind.

So we'll look more at that with the elements of water and fire when we look at the emotions and the thoughts by applying these same principles of mindfulness in all the different areas.

So we have awareness,

Acceptance,

Allowing and then the last stage of letting go or letting be.

So that sense of really relaxing into the experience.

And this idea of letting go moves us on to the other part of the six elements mindfulness meditation,

Which is it's not just about the mindfulness of myself,

So my own experiences.

But it's about connecting,

Letting go of that sense of isolation,

Of it being just about me and becoming aware of something greater than myself.

So that's where the idea of the elements come in.

So for example,

The element of earth is about mindfulness of the body,

But then taking it beyond just the body and connecting that to an experience of the earth.

Going beyond just yourself and exploring that relationship between yourself,

Your body and the earth.

And then also adding that dimension of realisation that that experience of the earth is shared by all of us.

So it's also connecting and sharing that with everyone else as well.

So that's another theme that goes through all the six elements is connecting something greater than yourself,

Starting with your own experience.

And then realising that that's shared by everybody as well.

OK,

So that's sort of an introduction in a sense to all six sessions.

That it's mindfulness based,

Awareness,

Acceptance,

Allowing and letting go.

And it's also about going beyond yourself,

Connecting to the element and realising that that element is shared by all of us.

OK,

So this evening is the element of earth.

So we'll start with the earth.

And this is about connecting to the body.

So I'll do a mindfulness meditation commentary on the body,

And then we'll develop that to see how we can connect that to awareness of the earth.

OK,

So for all the elements,

All the meditations,

There's no particular posture you need to be in.

So you can be sitting,

Standing,

Lying down and you can have your eyes open or closed also.

The first part of the six elements meditation is the element of earth.

And to begin with,

We can connect to the awareness of the body.

So we're connecting to the physical element and that experience of our physicality in the body.

I think this is a useful place to start,

The six elements,

As the earth and the body is the perfect place to feel really grounded and connected.

Starting with that immediacy of the body,

A very tangible connection with the present moment.

So each element is a way to connect to the present.

So feeling the body,

The awareness of the body,

And feeling that connection to the present moment through the body.

So we can feel that very tangible and literal connection to the present through the body by feeling the sensations of contact and connection.

And noticing the feet connecting with the floor,

Noticing all the points of contact with the chair.

You can also feel the connection with our clothing.

And the sensation of connection can really help to end that feeling of the body being separate or isolated.

As we feel the body is always in connection,

Always in contact with the world,

With the present moment.

The body is never in isolation.

So beginning to really enjoy that feeling of just settling into being present with the body.

Allowing yourself to fully arrive in the present moment by fully arriving within the body and really feeling the sensations of the body and those points of contact.

And then if we begin to feel the weight of the body.

So rather than feeling a particular sensation in one part of the body or another,

Getting a sense of the whole body and feeling the weight of the whole body.

And notice how the weight of your body is being completely supported and held through those points of contact.

So now we can begin to connect this experience and this mindfulness of the body with the element of earth.

So as you feel the weight of the body now,

Knowing that that experience of weight is the force of gravity.

So we feel the heaviness of the body because gravity,

The force of gravity is gently pulling on the weight of your body.

And that force of gravity is there because of the mass of the earth.

So that feeling of weight,

A very tangible,

Immediate sensation in the body that you can feel right now is the earth exerting its influence upon you.

It is the earth gently pulling your body towards itself.

So experiencing that direct physical connection to the earth.

So without any need to conceptualize or visualize,

We can feel in our bodies this direct connection and relationship to the earth.

And this attractive pull towards the earth that we feel in our bodies is always there every moment,

Whether we notice it or not.

It is an unconditional attraction,

An unconditional support of the body.

And it's the same for every single one of us,

For everybody.

The earth is holding and supporting all of us equally in every moment.

So by being present with my body,

I can feel connected to something greater than myself,

Greater than the body,

Feeling that connection to the earth.

Feeling that support and contact,

Feeling grounded,

And also knowing that I share this experience with everybody on the planet.

So connecting to the present moment through my body,

Connecting to the earth through the body,

And connecting to everybody else.

And one more aspect of mindfulness of the body that we can explore is really feeling that sense of aliveness in the body.

Recognizing that feeling in the body of being alive.

This body is physical,

It's also animate,

It's a living body.

Feeling that connection with all the living bodies of nature,

All sharing this experience of aliveness.

Feeling your physical presence,

Aliveness,

Brings that feeling of presence,

Physical presence of your body.

So getting a sense of your presence,

Your location in the space around you,

Allowing your awareness to broaden and widen.

And getting a sense of the wide open space that's always around the body,

Feeling the alive presence of the body in the center of that space.

And getting a sense again that we all share that space.

One space and all these alive physical organisms sharing that space and all connected to the one earth.

Being present with the body,

The connection to the earth through the weight of the body,

Holding that experience within the vast open space of your awareness.

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Allowing yourself to be fully present with the body,

Connecting to the present moment through the body.

Feeling the connection to the earth through the weight of the body,

Feeling the connection to all of nature through the aliveness in the body.

Experiencing all of this within the one space of awareness.

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Just being fully present with the body and feeling connected to your environment through the body,

Feeling the living presence of your body,

Holding your whole body within your open awareness.

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Simply being present with the body.

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Okay,

So if we bring the meditation to an end there.

Just taking your time,

No rush.

Maybe feel like taking a few deeper breaths into the body,

Maybe bringing some movement into the body through the hands and feet or having a bit of a stretch.

Although we're ending the formal meditation,

There's no reason at all not to maintain this easy,

Natural connection to the body and to the present moment as we start to come into action and expression.

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Reviews

Simple and effective way of connecting to the moment and the earth through body awareness. Long-ish talk to start, non-defined end.

Beautiful meditation so calming and grounding thank you 🙏❤️🦋☘️