Six Elements Meditation (11-28-20)

Using the natural elements of Earth, Air, Fire, Water, Light and Sound to connect to the body, emotions, breath, thoughts, self, others and your environment. A mindfulness meditation with no visualisation required. (Improved audio - March 2021.)

Transcript

Six elements meditation and the first element is earth and the main focus for this element is connecting to the body so connecting to our physical aspect and in particular the first step is to feel the sensations of connection, Of contact with the body so noticing the sensation between the feet and the ground and the floor and any points of contact with the chair or cushion, Whatever you're sitting on or the floor if you're lying down and the contact with clothing, Scanning across the body, Noting on a variety of sensations where there's some contact, Some connection with the body you may even feel the subtle contact with the air and the skin, Maybe on the hands or face so this is a real opportunity to notice and acknowledge that the body is always in contact, Always in connection, It's never in isolation and the second step of the earth element and the feeling of the body, Your physicality is to feel the weight of the body, Which may feel like heaviness or lightness feeling that sensation of weight in your body right now, How does that feel? So as you feel the weight of the body, Allow the ground, The floor and ultimately the earth to take that weight, To support the body, To hold the body we can begin to release the muscles in the body, Relax the body and allow the body to be held, To be supported and as we feel that sensation of weight in the body, Just reminding ourselves what that is the sense of weight is how we experience the pull of gravity so that physical sensation you're feeling right now in your body is literally the earth gently pulling your body towards itself, Towards the earth so experiencing that simple sensation that's always there in the body, With that realization that it's your direct, Immediate and tangible connection to the earth the earth unconditionally holding and supporting every single one of us, In every moment so feel that support so staying with that element of earth, That feeling of the earth pulling gently on the body, Feeling the weight of the body for as long as you choose the next element will be the element of air, And so we connect to the breath and feel the breath in the body sometimes I find it useful to keep hold of the awareness of the previous element as well so I'm still feeling the weight and the connection to the earth whilst feeling the breath in the body or you can just let go of the first element and just enjoy the breath on its own, Just see what's easiest works best for you so this is a mindfulness meditation, So we're going to just allow the breath to be as it is there's no breathing technique to learn or practice or focus on, It's simply about exploring how you are breathing already right now and enjoy that sensation, Really feel what's happening in the body as you breathe in and as you breathe out and the breath, The element of air gives the body life so let's consciously really allow the air into the body as we breathe in notice how that feels allowing the breath in, Feeling the breath in the body and as we breathe out, Just having that intention of letting go and allowing the breath out without holding on, Without restricting the breath in any way still allowing the breath in, Letting go as you breathe out and getting a sense of the flow of the breath, As the breath flows in and out of the body, As the breath rises and falls in the body one breath flowing effortlessly into the next and the final part of the second element of air and the breath is to see if I can have a feeling of not that I am breathing but I am being breathed the body is being breathed by the element of air so I am allowing the breath to happen in the body, I am allowing the air in and out but I don't have to make any effort, I don't have to remember to breathe, I don't have to make a choice to breathe I am just allowing the breath to happen naturally, Organically within my awareness allowing the element of air to do what it does, Giving life to the body giving life to everybody just as unconditional as the support of the earth and the connection to the earth we all experience the same element of air and we are all given life by the air so the third element is the element of fire and I connect fire with the emotions and with the related sensations in the body and with that feeling of being alive, The aliveness we feel in the body so notice how you are feeling, Notice your current emotional state and see if you can connect that emotion to a sensation in the body, To a feeling or an energy in the body maybe dispersed throughout the body or maybe you can feel it in your stomach or chest or throat or head and again with this mindfulness meditation as we did with the breath accepting how you are feeling, Just as it is right now allowing it to be, Being with your reality of this moment, Accepting and allowing so the idea is that if and when you are experiencing positive emotions then we are welcoming and allowing that positive emotion we are not going to restrict its experience or expression we are not going to hold back on that positive emotion so letting that positive fire of feeling, Emotion and sensation burn in the body feeling that energy in the body allowing the emotion to express itself fully and freely and for any negative emotions taking exactly the same approach to fully welcome, Accept and allow that fire to burn being fearless, Open and patient as we give the emotion the time and space it needs, The freedom it needs to resolve itself, To process and to integrate into the self so no suppression or fear or moving away from any emotion taking strength from that grounding connection with the earth and taking strength from the air and the breath feeling that strong connection, That support and using the breath to complete the process of allowing the emotion to do whatever it needs to do and as much as possible just feeling it as a sensation in the body and the more fearless we are with our own negative emotions the more we allow them to integrate into ourselves and so we become whole, Complete the more we can connect with others when they are experiencing negativity and give them support and courage and connection and give them the same space and freedom that we are giving ourselves right now sharing that confidence that resolution is a matter of time and in time those positive emotions will emerge spontaneously and naturally without any pretence or force or superficiality and without effort so when you feel ready we can move on to the fourth element, The element of water and with water we are moving to the mind, To the thoughts and the invitation is to allow your thoughts to flow freely like water, Like a river so it really doesn't matter how fast or slow your river of thought is flowing it really doesn't matter what the content of your thoughts are our only role in this meditation is to allow the thoughts to flow, Whatever they are whatever direction they are going, Whatever speed mindfully allowing and accepting our thoughts just as we mindfully allowed and accepted our emotions, Our sensations and our breath so allowing each thought into the mind just as we allow the breath into the body and letting go of each thought just as we let go of each breath so we are ready to accept and welcome the next breath and the next thought and the more we give freedom and space to our own thoughts the more we allow them to flow freely and that opens up so that we are not just lost in the private world of our own thoughts but if we allow them to flow through us, Again we can connect more easily with others we don't feel as identified or as attached to our own thoughts and just as all rivers flow to the ocean so too I can begin to experience my mind to gradually eventually become more like the ocean, Deeper, Wider and more connected with everyone else so continuing to allow your thoughts to flow freely really liberating your thoughts, Allowing them to do whatever they want to do no restriction, No limitation, No concentration, No force, No effort welcoming, Allowing and flowing so moving on when you feel ready to the fifth element of light and the light of awareness so connecting to the self, To the pure awareness of the self that sense of knowing that I am conscious and aware in this moment that I am alert and attentive and noticing that simple awareness of whatever is happening in this moment it's this simple awareness that we've been using all along as we've been aware of the body of the earth, Aware of the air and the breath aware of the fire of emotion and sensation and aware of the flowing thoughts the river of thoughts so all these things are happening within our awareness so rather than focusing on the experience we're now taking time to be aware of ourselves, The experiencer, The one that is aware and taking that exact same approach, That mindful approach of accepting yourself exactly as you are in this moment just as we didn't try and change the breath or the thoughts, The body or the emotions we're not going to try and change ourselves, We're accepting ourselves, A hold of ourselves just as we are right now and it's only really when we do accept our whole selves, How we are that we can allow ourselves to be fully present in this moment to have that sense of fully arriving, Fully being in this moment, Just as you are and the light of your awareness shines on all your experiences, Whatever they are unconditionally accepting each and every experience and acknowledging, Realising that behind all the unique lives, Individual histories the different circumstances each of us find ourselves in we all share this one experience of awareness we all share this exact same experience of the self as awareness so moving on to the final, The sixth element of sound and beginning to listen to all the different sounds that you can hear in your environment right now so with that same mindful, Open awareness, Welcoming and allowing each and every sound just as it is, Being open, Alert, Attentive, Actively listening noticing the most obvious sounds, The louder sounds and then listening out for any other sounds, Quieter sounds maybe there is a background continuous sound that you haven't really noticed until now and being open and alert and ready for any very occasional sounds or intermittent sounds now see what the most distant sound is that you can hear so really opening up the awareness and the sensitivity and listening far and wide, Broad and what's the most distant sound? And what I notice when I pay particular attention to sound is I begin to get a sense of quietness a sense of a silence that isn't the absence of sound but an ever present silence that is the space from which each and every sound emerges and falls back into so to experience silence I don't need to move away from sound but actually the more I welcome and be attentive to each and every sound the closer I also come to quietness and silence that open, Still space of silence within which the sounds come and go that feeling can go beyond sound, Beyond silence I can get a sense of an emptiness out of which everything emerges, All experience getting a sense of this momentary and continuous creation, The nothing out of which everything is created in every moment just as the sounds emerge out of silence and although all the sounds that each of us can hear will be different in our different places and for each of us in each moment there will be a unique blend of sounds the silence out of which all these different sounds emerge, That silence is one and that silence is shared by all of us right now and it's the emptiness, The stillness, The space of silence that connects us all there is no distance in emptiness, In silence and there is no separation so as we begin to bring this meditation to a close I find it helpful to just go backwards through the elements so from the emptiness, The quietness and the awareness of sound coming back to that awareness of myself, Just being in this moment and aware again of that natural effortless flow of thoughts flowing freely through my mind and the emotion and sensation in the body, That fire of aliveness, Feeling that again in the body just feeling what it is for the body to be alive and watching the breath as it enters and leaves the body and finally coming back to the body and that sensation of connection with the ground, With the floor feeling the weight of the body, Feeling that connection to the earth so as we finish the meditation there, Just take a moment to notice how you're feeling and thank yourselves for giving yourselves this time and space to explore the present moment and all these different things that are happening in every moment within ourselves and in our environment and showing gratitude for allowing ourselves to connect to ourselves, To the environment and to each other just by having that open, Welcoming awareness