Six Elements Meditation (12-12-20)

Effortlessly experience the depth of the present moment. 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 quality - March 2021.)

Transcript

So firstly then just becoming aware of your body and in particular notice the sensations of connection the points of your body that are in contact with something else So this is a good way to begin and ground ourselves by feeling that very real sensation of contact and connection with the body settling into the body, Becoming fully present with your physicality So noticing the connection between your feet and the floor feeling that sensation and noticing all the points of contact between your body and whatever you are sitting on feeling the variety of sensation there feeling the contact with your clothing on the skin scanning across the body, Noticing all the different sensations, Feelings of connection and maybe noticing the air on your hands or face that subtle contact that subtle contact and then feeling the weight of the body, So just notice how heavy or light your body is feeling and allow all these things that you are in contact with to support and hold the weight of the body allowing you to begin to relax, Let go of the body, Allow it to be supported we can often hold tension in the muscles of the body, Feeling we need to hold ourselves but if we feel that connection with the ground, Feel that support from the ground then we can begin to let go of the muscles, Allow the body to relax allow the body to relax and the idea of the element of earth is actually quite a literal one because as we are feeling the weight of the body, We are feeling the pull of gravity of the earth that sensation of weight is the sensation of the earth pulling the body towards itself so feel that direct, Immediate, Physical sensation and connection to the earth the second element is the element of air, So becoming aware of the breath feeling the air, Enter and leave your body so making no effort to change the breath in any way, Just notice the rhythm, The movement of your breath as it is and as much as possible really feeling the sensations in the body so when you breathe in, Feeling that expansion, That movement of the stomach or chest and as you breathe out, Feeling that release, That contraction and again that movement and see if you can have that feeling of really allowing the breath in with each in breath not restraining, Not limiting the breath, Allowing in freely and fully really feeling the oxygen enter the body and as you breathe out, Really letting go of the breath, Releasing the breath, Not holding on to the breath in any way allowing the breath to leave the body fully and freely so as we allow the breath in and let go as we breathe out we are allowing the breath to flow freely through the body and we can enjoy the rise and fall of each breath in the body so we don't have to make any effort to breathe, We don't have to remember or choose to breathe just allow this natural process to happen to the body, The body is being breathed by the element of air okay so moving on to the third element and the element of water and for this becoming more aware of your thoughts and see if we can begin to allow our thoughts to flow freely like water in a river or a stream so really copying our approach to the breath so allowing each thought to flow into the mind just as we allow the breath to flow into the body and allowing that thought to flow through the mind, Releasing the thought just as we release each breath and with each thought we let go of, We are creating that space for the next thought to arrive so don't try and change your thoughts in any way, Don't try and redirect them don't try and slow them or stop them, Don't try and think one thing or another just be open to receiving your thoughts just as the body receives the breath allow any and all thoughts to come, Doesn't matter how fast or slow, How positive or negative, How relevant or random just notice a thought, Welcome it, Give it time, Give it space then be alert and attentive and wonder what the next thought is going to be and be actively open to receiving the next thought so in this way we can allow our thoughts to begin to flow freely by allowing the thoughts in, Allowing them out and always waiting for the next to come so one thought after the next just as one breath comes after the next so moving on to the fourth element, The element of fire and connecting that with your emotions, How you are feeling, The general energy, Sensations in the body and particularly that feeling of aliveness, Feeling the presence of your living organism and again not trying to change anything, Just becoming more aware, So however you are feeling, Whatever the prominent emotions are for you right now allowing them to be just as they are, Welcome them, Give them time and space, Making no effort to change them and wherever possible connecting that emotion, That feeling with the sensation in the body and whatever emotion and sensation and feeling we are having now is just a part of variation, Variation of that foundation of just feeling alive that basic energy of aliveness in the body, So feeling the raw emotion, Connecting that with an energy in the body just allowing it to be there as an aspect of being alive, A manifestation of that energy of aliveness so rather focusing on the outer flames and the smoke, Really going into the center, The depth of the fire and the aliveness that lies behind every emotion, Whatever it is so coming to that core, That inner flame of simply being alive, Your living presence so giving your emotions time and space and accepting them exactly as they are gives us that opportunity to maybe begin to get this sense of the energy that's behind that particular expression of emotion, The basic raw energy that's driving all our different emotions and for me that essence is this feeling of aliveness, Of that living presence and we can feel that in the body, It can be very tangible, Very real and we can be less attached and less affected by the particular expression of that energy, The particular emotion, By being with the essence, The core, That living energy this can allow our positive emotions to express themselves without limitation, Without restriction and it can allow our negative emotions to work themselves through, Resolve themselves and integrate themselves so we can feel whole and complete allowing your emotions to be just as they are, Just as you find them in this moment allowing your thoughts to flow freely through the mind, Just as your breath is flowing freely through the body and at all times connected to the body, Feeling that connection to the ground, That connection to the earth, Providing that stability, That grounding beginning to really enjoy just being present, Being with what is, Enjoying the variety of this experience body, Breath, Thoughts, Emotions, Giving them all equal importance, Equal weight, Equal space we can often find our energy and attention is perhaps a lot more focused on one rather than the other for me it's the thoughts that are usually prominent, So by going through these different elements I find I can begin to get more of a balanced approach the thoughts become less dominant as I give space to that awareness of the body, The breath and the emotions allow things to reach a balance if at any time you find yourself being overwhelmed by thoughts or emotions or maybe discomfort in the body, Just remembering you can always connect to these other elements using them to become more present and more whole, More balanced so the fifth element is the element of light, This one is a little different as it's about connecting to yourself, To the awareness that's at the core of yourself, The light of awareness to all the other elements are all experiences, All things that come and go, Many varied aspects but your awareness, Light of your awareness is the one constant it's about becoming aware and getting in touch with that sense of continuity of the self, That sense of I, Of me so whatever my individual experiences are, Whatever my thoughts and emotions are throughout the day all the changes, All the variety, All the different experiences and sensations in the body they are all experienced by me and they all happen within my awareness and by paying attention to all those other elements and allowing them to flow, Allowing them to come and go that really helps us to be able to relax and sit back into just being, Into experiencing that pure awareness the space within which all these other experiences happen, They all come and go, Change from moment to moment but that space of awareness within which they all happen, That remains constant so just notice that you are aware, That you are conscious being aware of your own awareness, Conscious of your own consciousness just as a mirror reflects the body, You can be aware of your own awareness reflecting upon your own experience of being the experiencer, The observer, The witness the simplest way I think to express and experience this is just to have that thought to just allow yourself to be just as you are just give yourself space to be just yourself I'm giving myself time and space for me just to be me, It's really that simple and just as we made no effort to change the body or the breath, The thoughts or the emotions don't make any effort to change yourself, Just allow yourself to be exactly as you are give yourself that freedom, That space, That time just to be allowing yourself to be fully present, Fully in this moment, Fully aware of all that's happening there's two ways you can experience or approach this idea of awareness you can think of yourself as like a point of light, A point of awareness and everything is happening around that point or you can think of that awareness as unlimited space and everything that's happening is happening within your awareness so everything is happening inside you, Inside your open awareness OK, So we'll move on to the final and the sixth element, The element of sound so become aware of all the sounds that you can hear in your environment right now really open up your awareness, Actively engage your sense of listening what can you hear? Explore your soundscape with an open attention, A relaxed awareness, An easy alertness simply noticing all the sounds that fall within your awareness, Within your experience and as we've done throughout this meditation, Allowing and welcoming every sound, Every experience if you feel yourself react to a particular sound, Then notice that reaction don't try and block out any sounds listen to the near sounds, The louder sounds listen to the continuous sounds, Any background sounds and the occasional, The intermittent sounds and then begin to really listen out for the quietest and the most distant sounds so really opening, Widening, Broadening your listening, Your awareness just see what the quietest, Most distant sound is that you can hear and it's when I do this, I begin to get a sense that I'm actually listening to quietness, Listening to silence just as I can sense sounds, In the same way I can sense the absence of sound and that they can coexist, Sound with silence just as objects coexist with space, Sounds exist within silence, Within that space of quietness so I allow all the sounds to come and go and feel and sense that they are arising out of silence and falling back into silence and that silence is always present, Always there, Behind and between every sound the silent space within which sounds occur and all the sounds that each of us are hearing are going to be unique and different there's going to be real variety from moment to moment for each of us but the silence is exactly the same for each and every one of us it's with that sense of that stillness, That quietness and that silence that we can really connect to one another and that's a perfect analogy for our awareness so each of our experiences are so different and unique, Our thoughts, Our feelings, So varied but the awareness, The experiencer behind all that variety you can also experience as being one and the same, Like that silence that space of awareness is again something we can all share that feeling of I, Of me, We all have that exact same experience experiences vary but the experiencer, Space of awareness is one and to begin to experience that awareness, That silence, That shared oneness all we need to do is to notice and allow our own thoughts and feelings and sensations to just flow freely just be present with ourselves as we are, Allow the thoughts to come and go allow the breath to flow freely, Allow our emotions to be just as they are be in connection with your body, The sensations in the body, Just as they are and if we do that, Then we are being that space, That space that allows everything to happen within it and that space is the same for all of us so to conclude the meditation, Let's finish how we started by feeling the weight of the body and feel those points of contact and connection coming back to the ground and to that feeling of physicality, Your physical presence so notice how you are feeling at the end of the meditation notice if there has been any change from the beginning and really give yourself some thanks and gratitude for giving yourself this time and space to really explore these different elements of the present moment and the benefit that brings to mind and body and that connection you can begin to feel with others

Reviews

Really useful and clearly explained, thank you 🙏

So good. Thank you. I feel profoundly connected to life.