A journey into now,
There's six different ways of exploring the present moment.
The first element will be earth,
And we're going to connect to the earth in two ways with the body.
Firstly,
By feeling all the points of contact with the body.
Feeling that sensation of connection wherever the body is in contact with something.
I'll give you a few moments just to explore that across the body.
Feeling that contact is a good way to start meditation by feeling connected and present.
Recognising the body is always here,
Always now,
And always in contact with something,
Never in isolation.
You can include contact with clothing and maybe even contact with the air on the hands or face,
As well as the more obvious points of connection.
The second part to really connect to the earth through the body is to feel the weight of the body.
You may feel heaviness or lightness that allow the weight of your body to be completely supported and held.
Then recognising that this feeling of weight,
This sensation you can feel right now in the body,
Is actually the mass of the earth gently pulling on the body,
Pulling the body towards the earth.
So feeling that direct,
Tangible connection with the earth in the body.
Feeling grounded and connected to the earth through the body.
Just moving on when you're ready.
The next element we're going to look at is the element of air and for that becoming aware of the breath.
Really feeling the sensations of the breath in the body as you breathe in and out.
Exploring how it feels to allow the breath into the body and how it feels when you let go of the breath.
And rather than focusing or concentrating on the breath,
See if you can keep your awareness nice and light and open.
So I feel like I'm holding the breath gently in the centre or the foreground of my awareness and allowing everything else to happen around the breath,
Just slightly in the background.
So sounds,
Thoughts,
Other sensations,
All completely welcome.
Just holding the breath in the centre.
So you can stay with the breath or the body as long as you choose.
I'm going to move on now to the element of water and the thoughts.
And the idea here is to become aware of your thoughts and as each thought passes through your mind,
Just allowing it to flow through like water in a river.
So not taking any particular interest in any one thought or another,
Just allowing thoughts to come and go without engaging in them,
Without trying to change them or stop them or slow them down.
Just letting them flow as they are through the mind.
Again,
Keeping your awareness open,
Not blocking out anything else that you're aware of.
You can even combine elements together.
You can feel the breath and the thoughts both flowing freely together,
One in the body,
One in the mind.
You can keep that awareness of the weight of the body if that's helpful.
So it doesn't matter if your thoughts are not about the present moment.
As long as you're aware that you're thinking,
You can only be thinking in this present moment.
So that's all we need to do.
Content of your thoughts really doesn't matter.
So moving on to the fourth element of fire and checking how you're feeling.
Noting what emotions are present for you at the moment.
I find it useful to see if I can connect how I'm feeling to any sensation in the body.
That helps me adopt a more neutral approach so I can just allow the emotion,
The feeling and the sensation just to be there as it is.
I'm not making any effort to change it or to replace it with anything else.
So just being with how you feel.
It can be useful to connect this with the breath,
The element of out.
Fire as well sometimes.
Just checking you're keeping the breath going.
So then you can be processing emotions rather than getting stuck in them.
The air of the breath keeps the fire of the emotions burning and working through and processing.
The next element of sound and becoming a way of all the different sounds that you can hear where you are right now.
So this is an opportunity to really allow the awareness to be open,
Broad and wide and actively listening for all the different sounds in the environment around you.
Noticing the most obvious sounds,
The loudest sounds,
The closest sounds.
Also listening out for any more subtle sounds,
Maybe quieter or background sounds.
And being allowed to hear any occasional sounds that may or may not come into your awareness.
And see if you can notice what the most distant sound is that you can hear.
Maybe very quiet,
Very occasional.
See if you can keep your awareness open and alert.
Noticing any distant sounds.
If you listen really carefully you may be able to sense the presence of a silence,
A quietness.
And for me it feels like a space of silence within which all the other sounds come and go.
So there doesn't need to be an absence of sound to be able to get a sense of this ever-present space of silence.
And we can also experience this space of silence as the space of awareness.
And that brings us on to the final element,
The light of awareness.
And you can think of that light of awareness as a point,
Like a shining star,
Maybe in the centre of your forehead.
And everything else that you're aware of happening around that point,
That centre of awareness.
Or you can experience that awareness to be the space within which everything happens.
Rather than everything being outside of you,
Everything is within you,
Within your awareness.
So just as the sounds come and go within that space of silence,
All our experiences,
All the things that we're aware of,
Thoughts,
Emotions,
Body,
Breath,
All occurs within the space of your own awareness.
So maybe try both of those,
See which one feels right for you at this moment.
So this final element really brings them all together,
As it is the light of our awareness within which all the other things we've been noticing happen.
Body,
Breath,
Thoughts,
Emotions and sounds,
All happening in this present moment,
All happening together.
And our experience of this present moment and all its aspects happening within our awareness.
So for the final few moments,
Just enjoying that sense of just being,
Of being awareness and gently holding this present moment within the centre of your awareness.
Allowing yourself and the present moment just to be as they are together.
So you can allow your attention to roam freely,
Maybe times you notice a sound or feel a sensation in your body or follow a thought or a feeling.
And just allow your attention to move freely from one thing to the next,
As they are all part of this one present moment.
And each and every one of these experiences is happening within that empty space of awareness,
Happening within yourself.
Nothing else you need to be doing,
Nowhere else you need to be.
Just allowing yourself to be and being with yourself just as you are and with everything just as it is.
Okay,
So we'll bring the meditation to a close there.
Thank you.
