So the first element is earth and for this I invite you to become aware of your body and connect to your physicality.
And in particular see if you can feel the weight of your body.
So you may feel that as you feel the weight of your body,
And as you feel the weight of the body,
And notice the point of contact and connection with the body,
Where that weight is being held and supported.
So for me,
I can feel the contact with the chair that I'm sitting on.
I can feel those points of pressure,
Warmth,
And I can feel the rope with my feet.
I feel that sensation of contact.
And then as I feel that connection,
And I feel that as support for the body,
And I can begin to allow the body to relax a little,
Realising I don't have to hold the body up all by myself with the muscles of the body.
I can allow the chair,
The floor,
The ground,
And ultimately the earth to completely take the weight of my body and support and hold my body.
So spend a few moments connecting with your body,
Feeling the weight of your body,
And the connection with the ground that's supporting your weight and supporting your body.
So starting this meditation with the earth,
With the body,
Allows us to feel grounded and supported.
And I like to remind myself that this feeling of weight is actually the pull of gravity on my body.
And that pull of gravity comes from the earth itself.
So I'm feeling the attraction of the earth in my body right now.
So it's not a case of imagination or visualisation or creating an experience of connection to the earth,
But literally,
Physically,
Feeling the pull of the earth on my body right now.
And knowing that that's happening every moment,
Unconditionally,
Whether I'm bringing it into my awareness as I am now or not,
It's always there.
And everybody is experiencing the same pull of the earth.
And this is a theme we'll return to throughout the meditation,
Of starting with an awareness of something within myself,
And then noticing how we can use that to connect with something bigger than ourselves and to connect with others.
So firstly,
Noticing the sensation within my own body,
And noticing how that is a direct connection with the earth,
With something much greater than myself.
And then acknowledging that everybody has that same experience.
The earth is attracting everybody towards itself in every moment.
OK,
So when you're ready,
You can join me with the next element,
Which is the element of air.
And to begin with,
I simply become aware of my own breath.
And I feel the sensation of air as it enters through my nose or mouth,
And as it leaves,
Feeling my own connection with the element of air through my breath.
And just as with the earth,
Realising that it's the same element,
The same air,
That we're all breathing together,
And another experience that we all share.
And I feel the physical sensations in the body as I breathe in,
Feel that expansion,
And as I breathe out,
Feeling that contraction,
That release in the body,
Building on that sense of being grounded and connected from the element of air,
Connecting still to the body and to the present moment through the breath.
And we can introduce the second theme of this meditation through the element,
And that of allowing,
Allowing and letting go.
So as I breathe in,
I just have that thought,
That intention,
To really allow the breath in without restraint,
And enjoy that feeling of the air entering the body.
And as I breathe out,
Having that intention,
That thought,
That I'm releasing the breath,
I'm letting go of the breath,
And just noticing if I'm holding on at all to the breath,
And instead just allow the breath out in its own time.
And again enjoying that feeling of release,
Of letting go.
So I'm allowing the breath in and letting go as I breathe out.
I'm not making any effort to change the breath in any way.
I'm allowing the breath to find its own rhythm in its own time,
Its own speed,
Its own depth,
Its own rhythm.
I know that I could choose to change the breath,
But I'm choosing not to.
I'm choosing to allow the breath.
And now I'm going to see if I can shift my attitude towards the breath,
And see if I can feel as if my body is being breathed by the breath,
Rather than I am breathing.
So I am being breathed by the element of air.
So it's a subtle change in approach to the breath.
It allows me to begin to experience the breath as a very natural flow,
Like a wave rising and falling in the body.
So just allowing the breath to flow freely.
And I'm feeling ready now to move on to the third element,
Which is the element of fire.
And this element for me,
I connect to the emotions and to the sensations in the body,
And that sense of the aliveness of the body,
So the fire within,
Fire of emotion,
Sensation and aliveness.
So I scan through the body and get an overall sense of the energy of the body,
The sensation running through the body,
And that experience of being alive,
And the aliveness within the body.
And I compare that with,
Say for example,
The chair as an inanimate object,
And what makes this body different is that aliveness I can feel right now in the body.
And it's a time for me to check my emotional state to get a sense of how I'm feeling.
I don't necessarily have to name the emotion.
I think often we're feeling a mixture of different energies and emotions.
And as much as possible,
I like to try and connect that emotion with the sensation in the body,
To feel my emotions in the body,
And just allow them to be as they are.
Again,
That idea of allowing as we did with the breath.
And similarly with the breath,
We can sometimes choose how we breathe,
And we can allow the breath to be as it is.
Often we may want to choose how we're feeling,
And to choose to feel happy or peaceful.
But with this mindfulness meditation,
It's an opportunity for me to become more aware of how I am already feeling,
And not to try and create an emotion,
Or choose an emotion,
Or suppress an emotion,
But to really explore and experience the feeling,
The emotion,
The sensation that is already there,
And giving it time and space to do what it needs to do.
Being truthful to my current state,
And doing so without fear.
I can be fearful of my positive emotions,
I can feel inhibited to allow myself to fully express my love and joy and happiness.
I can be fearful of my negative emotions,
Fearful that they may harm me,
Or harm others.
So this is a space where I have courage,
I have that intention of being fearless,
And I allow my emotions,
Positive or negative,
To be just as they are.
I allow positive emotion to be expressed freely,
And I allow negative emotion to resolve itself,
Give it time and space to integrate and accept it within the wholeness of myself.
The breath,
The air and the earth are really helpful with this.
The earth,
The grounding to the earth,
Helps me feel safe and secure and connected.
And the breath keeps the fire going,
And allows whatever process needs to happen to reach completion and resolution.
I'm going to move on to the fourth element now,
The element of water.
And that's the opportunity for me to become more aware of my thoughts,
And to see if I can really allow my thoughts to flow like water,
To flow like a river.
And to do this again,
I have that intention to allow and to let go.
Just as with the breath and the emotions,
I allow my thoughts to be just as they are.
I don't try and change them in any way.
I become aware of each thought as it enters into the mind,
Just as a breath enters the body,
And I let go of each thought just as I let go of each breath.
And I know that I could choose to try and change my thoughts,
But instead I'm choosing to allow them to flow and be just as they are,
To give my thoughts space and time to set them free.
And as I do that,
I can get a sense of the flow of thoughts,
And I can enjoy the flow of thoughts just as I can enjoy the flow of breath.
It really doesn't matter what the content of the thoughts are,
They are completely irrelevant to the experience of the flow of those thoughts,
Just allowing one thought after the next.
I don't need to attach myself or identify with any particular thought.
And as with the breath,
I can begin to get a sense that the thoughts are happening to me.
I don't have to decide which thought to have or make an effort to have a thought.
I just wait and watch and listen,
The thoughts just come on their own,
Naturally,
Spontaneously,
Just as the breath does.
What I tend to experience is if I allow my thoughts to flow,
Then I don't feel trapped inside my private world of thoughts.
I begin to feel that I can step outside of that and allow those thoughts to flow.
And the mind begins to feel more open,
Broader,
Wider and deeper,
And perhaps more like the ocean than the river.
So the private internal thoughts are flowing like a river,
But they are always connected and flowing towards the ocean.
So beginning to feel my mind more like an ocean,
Vast and deep.
So I'm not in any conflict with my thoughts,
Because I'm not trying to change them in any way.
So I'm not adding any mental tension,
Just allowing my thoughts to flow freely,
Just as the breath is flowing freely.
So I'm going to move on now to the fifth element,
The element of light,
And the light of awareness.
This is where I become more aware of myself,
Rather than any particular experience.
So the body,
The breath,
The emotions,
The thoughts,
They're all experiences happening within myself,
Within my awareness.
Now I'm just going to notice and appreciate the awareness that I am,
The simple fact that I am conscious in this moment.
The real beauty of simplicity,
And just allowing myself just to be,
To be that awareness,
To be conscious that I'm conscious.
And really allowing myself to be fully present,
Fully arrived in this moment,
Is just pure awareness.
That awareness can shine like a light,
Like the sun.
It enables me to see,
To experience everything.
And it's the one thing that's constant,
So my experience is always changing moment by moment.
But the experiencer,
The awareness,
The self,
That's where I find continuity.
And even a sense of timelessness.
This time and everything that changes happens within my awareness,
And my awareness is constant and continuous.
And I can hold everything within my awareness,
Welcoming and accepting all my experience.
And I can acknowledge and recognise this awareness in others,
And know that behind all our differences,
Our different experiences and histories and circumstances,
That behind all of that,
Every one of us shares this experience of self,
Of awareness.
And that's where we can really connect.
So finally,
Moving on to the last element of sound.
And I begin to become more aware of all the sounds I can hear right now.
I listen to the nearest sounds and the loudest,
Most obvious sounds.
And something I can begin to notice if I'm paying really close attention to sound,
Particularly distant sounds.
I can begin to get a sense of the quietness,
The stillness that's present,
Even as other sounds come and go.
So it's an experience of a silence that isn't the absence of sound,
But a silence that is always there,
Between,
Behind every sound.
And moving around to all sounds,
The silent space within which all sounds come and go.
So just spending a few moments just enjoying that sense of quietness,
Of silence,
As I listen and allow sounds to come and go.
And every moment has a unique blend of sound.
And each of us will be experiencing a different experience of sound,
A unique blend of sounds for each person in each moment.
The quietness,
The silence that is present with and behind all those different sounds,
That silence is one.
And that experience of silence we can share with everyone.
So to complete the meditation,
I like to come back down through the elements.
Sometimes I can feel a bit spaced out.
So there's a gradual easing back in,
Just to come back from the silence to that awareness of the self,
Of just being with myself,
Being present,
Allowing myself just to be as I am.
Being attentive,
Aware,
Conscious,
Alert.
And coming back to the thoughts,
Being aware of the flow of thoughts through my mind,
Just flowing like a river towards the ocean.
And then coming back to the body and the sensation and the emotion of the body,
The fire of life,
The feeling of aliveness in the body.
Then connecting back with the breath,
The element of air,
Really feeling the air as it enters the body.
And acknowledging that it's the air that gives life to the body.
So welcoming that air into the body and really feeling the sensation of the breath in the body.
And finally coming back to that feeling of connection and contact between my body and the chair,
My feet and the floor.
And feeling the weight of the body,
Feeling that gentle pull of gravity as the earth attracts my body towards itself.
And then I come back to earth,
Come back to that grounded connection.
And then coming back to the body.
And then coming back to the body.
And then coming back to the body.
And then coming back to the body.
And then coming back to the body.
And then coming back to the body.
And then coming back to the body.
And then coming back to the body.
And then coming back to the body.
And then coming back to the body.
And then coming back to the body.
And then coming back to the body.
And then coming back to the body.
