Light - A Six Elements Meditation

Deepening our experience of the present moment by connecting to the element of the light of awareness and realising that all experiences happen within our consciousness. A simple and effective meditation to feel truly connected to the now. Part six of six.

Transcript

Okay, So when you feel comfortable and ready, We'll make start. So this is the sixth part of this series of six meditations on the six elements. And the sixth element is the element of light and the light of awareness. But before we get there, We'll just do a brief review of the first five elements, Five different aspects of the present moment that we can be mindful of. First element is the element of earth and mindfulness of the body. Many different ways we can be mindful of the body. But for the element of earth, The primary one is to feel the weight of the body. So feel the weight of your body now and feel how that weight is being held and supported. Either chair, The floor, The ground, And ultimately the earth itself. So a nice way to start off feeling grounded and connected for the meditation. Feeling that gentle pull of gravity as the earth attracts your body towards itself. And we feel that in the body as that sensation of weight. And as we become present with the body, Connecting to the present moment through the body, Naturally we'll also become more aware of the breath. So spending a few moments really feeling the physical sensations of the breath in the body. Not trying to change the breath in any way. Just accept your breath as it is. Allow the breath in, Let go as you breathe out. And as we breathe, Connecting to the element of air and getting a sense that we're all breathing the same breath. Even getting a sense that it's the element of air, The atmosphere of the earth that is breathing the body. As we continue this brief summary of the first five elements, For those who haven't experienced them so far, We'll move on to the element of water and mindfulness of our own thoughts. So allowing your thoughts to be in the foreground or the center of your open awareness. Allow the body, The breath, Sounds, The environment around you to just be in the background. And allow your thoughts to flow as freely as water in a stream. Noticing that you don't have to make any effort to think, You don't have to choose your thoughts. Just allowing your thoughts to flow with complete freedom into your mind. And as we do that, Maybe getting a sense of the wider mind within which the river of thoughts flows. Enjoying this open, Vast and deep mind. So the thoughts like a river, The mind like the ocean. Then noticing how we're feeling, Notice what emotions are present for you at the moment. Acknowledge them. Accept them just as they are. Allow them to be there. That feeling of release, Letting go, Letting be, Relaxing into however you're feeling. Maybe connecting the emotion to sensation and energy in the body. And feeling that living energy of the body like an inner fire. Giving it all the space it needs to give warmth and light from its flames. And finally before we move on to the main element of this meditation of light, Take a few moments to listen to all the sounds that you can hear in the environment around you right now. The element of sound. Listening to all the nearest, Loudest, Most obvious sounds. Listening any continuous sounds. Then spending some time listening out for any distant, Quiet, Occasional sounds. Really allowing your awareness to be open, Wide and broad. And even if there aren't any at the moment, Being ready to hear any distant or quiet occasional sound. And as we listen with attention but without tension, With an easy, Light, Open awareness, You may be able to get a sense of a quietness and a silence that is always there between and behind all the different sounds. Maybe getting a sense of a silent space within which all the sounds come and go. And although all the different sounds that each of us will be listening to right now will be unique, That silence, That silent space will be one and the same for all of us. And enjoying that silence together, That one experience of silence. And moving on now to the sixth element of light and the light of awareness. So become aware of yourself. So up until now we've been aware of experiences, Whether they're internal experiences of emotion and thought or external experiences of sounds and breath. And now see if you can get in touch with yourself as the experiencer, The one who experiences all these different aspects of the present moment. Aware of the observer, The witness. Aware of your own awareness, Conscious of your own consciousness. One way of experiencing the self of awareness is to experience yourself as the space within which all your experiences happen. So just as we were experiencing all the sounds, Experiencing within a space of silence, So too all our thoughts, All our feelings, The body and the breath are all being experienced within the space of our awareness. So rather than thinking of things being outside of yourself, Being open to the experience that everything is happening within yourself, Within your awareness. So we can allow our attention to wander freely throughout the present moment, Whether we're noticing a sensation in the body or we take a slightly deeper breath in and feel the breath, Or we notice a particular thought or feeling, Or noticing a novel sound in the environment around us, Just allow your attention to wander freely without choice. Knowing that everything we're aware of is a part of the present moment, We can't experience anything at any other time, And feeling that experience, Whatever it is, To be within the open space of your awareness. So the thoughts are flowing freely through our open awareness. The breath rises and falls within our awareness. The body is present within our awareness. How we're feeling is held within our awareness, And the sounds we can hear coming and going within our open awareness. So just allowing each moment to come and go, Allow your attention to wander freely within this present moment, A sense of holding the present moment within the space of your awareness, Allowing it to unfold within your awareness. So just before I leave a few minutes of silence without commentary, So we can continue to explore this experience, This present moment, And our own awareness, We can just investigate some of the qualities of this space of awareness. So one we've looked at already, And it's a silent space, As it's the space within which sounds come and go. So that space itself must be silent. It's also the space within which all movements take place. So therefore the space itself must be a space of stillness. And it's a space where all form, All objects are, Our body and all other objects around us. So the space itself is an empty space. And it's a place where time passes by, Where all change happens. So the space of our awareness is changeless and timeless. And all the experiences that happen within our awareness are limited and finite. The space of our awareness within which all these limited and finite experiences come is itself infinite and unlimited. So holding the simplicity of everything that's happening in this present moment within the space of our awareness, Within that silent, Empty, Still, Changeless, Timeless space. And experiencing that space of awareness to be ourselves, Our experiences come and go. But the one constant is that sense of self, The self of awareness, The experiencer, And the space within which all the experiences come and go. So coming home to the self, Being mindful of yourself and all our experiences happening under the light of our awareness. And the final thoughts for a few minutes of silence is that all our individual experiences, Thoughts, Feelings, Sounds, Breath, Body, All unique, All different. But this space of awareness, This empty, Silent space of awareness is one, One space within which all our different experiences are happening. So connecting with everybody beyond our individual experiences by connecting to this one silent, Empty space of awareness, This one light of awareness shining on all the different experiences. Just like the sun shining on all the different lives on Earth. S striafiballa MikaT plays. . . . . .