Six Elements Meditation (11-21-20)

Connecting to the natural world through the elements of Earth, Air, Fire, Water, Light and Sound. A mindfulness meditation using the six elements to explore awareness of the body, emotions, breath, thoughts, self, others and your environment. (Enhanced audio - MArch 2021.)

Transcript

Okay,

So we'll make a start.

So you can have your eyes open or closed,

Whichever is most comfortable for you.

And we'll start with the element of Earth.

Okay,

So for Earth we're connecting with the physical body.

So just turn inwards,

Become aware of your body,

Your physicality.

And notice what sensations you can feel in your body right now.

And in particular for the Earth element,

I want you to feel the connection between your body and the ground,

The floor,

The chair,

Whatever you're in contact with right now.

Feel that sensation of connection,

For example the soles of the feet.

The body is never in isolation,

It's always in contact with something.

So we're just bringing our awareness to that sensation of connection right now.

And the other thing that the body is always experiencing,

Whether we notice it or not,

Is the pull of gravity.

And we experience that as the sensation of weight,

Of heaviness or relative lightness.

Get a sense of the weight of your body right now,

Feeling the heaviness or lightness of the arms,

The legs,

The head,

The whole body.

And that sensation of weight is literally the Earth.

The Earth's gravitational pull,

The Earth is pulling you,

Your body,

Towards itself right now.

So every moment of your life,

That force,

That attraction to the Earth has been there,

It's there right now.

You're just choosing to become aware of it,

To really feel that physical sensation in the body.

And in that way connect directly and immediately to the Earth.

So you don't need to visualise anything or conceptualise anything,

You're directly feeling the actual physical sensation of the Earth on your body,

As it is right now.

There's no imagination required,

Just aware of what is.

So feeling that connection,

You can feel grounded,

Safe,

Supported,

Held.

We can begin to relax and let go,

Allow the body to be supported.

Tension in the body can sometimes be our attempt to hold ourselves and disconnect,

Cut off.

So give yourself permission to allow the body to relax and connect and be supported by the Earth,

By the ground.

Another theme running through all the elements in this meditation is that idea of connecting with something bigger than ourselves,

And connecting with something that we all share.

So as I feel the Earth and connect to the Earth,

I acknowledge that it's the same Earth attracting every single one of us towards itself right now,

Unconditionally.

Every moment,

Every person,

Sharing the same experience.

So at any time in the rest of the meditation,

You can always just come back to this grounding sensation of connection with the body.

We'll move on now to the next element of air.

So become aware of your breath right now.

Don't try and change the breath in any way,

Just allow the breath in,

And let go and release the breath as you breathe out.

Allow the breath to find its own rhythm,

Its own flow,

And we're being aware and allowing,

Not making any effort to change.

Again,

Really feeling the physical sensations in the body as you breathe.

Feeling that expansion,

However small,

As the breath enters,

And that contraction,

That release each time you breathe out.

Just noticing where that's happening in the body,

Feeling that sensation.

Just having that attitude of allowing the breath in,

And letting go as you breathe out.

So not restricting the breath in any way.

The breath gives life to the body,

And as with the Earth,

The element of air is something we all share.

We're all breathing the same atmosphere,

The same Earth,

The same element of air.

So getting a sense of the vastness,

The openness of the element of air keeps this body alive.

Maybe get a sense that rather than thinking I am breathing,

That feeling I am being breathed,

The body is being breathed by the element of air.

I'm receiving the breath and allowing the breath,

But the air is doing all the work.

As before,

Feel free to stay with the breath for longer,

Or return to the air.

I'm going to move on now to the third element of fire.

In fire I connect with the emotions and their related sensations in the body.

And connecting to that feeling of aliveness in the body.

The fire of life,

The fire of emotion,

The fire of sensation.

So notice how you're feeling right now.

Notice the sensations throughout your body,

The energy of the body,

And simply the aliveness of your body right now.

Just feeling what makes your body animated rather than an inanimate object,

Feeling that aliveness.

So the invitation for the element of fire is to allow it to burn,

To allow those sensations and those emotions,

Whether they're positive or negative.

The positive emotions,

We're allowing them to fully express themselves,

Allowing ourselves to fully experience them.

Letting go of inhibitions,

Letting go of feelings of not being worthy to experience positive emotions.

Just really allowing that fire of positivity to burn freely.

And for negative emotions,

It's about allowing those negative emotions to work themselves through,

Work themselves out,

To process and resolve.

So being fearless,

Not moving away or suppressing the negative emotions and the negative sensations in the body.

Being open,

Welcoming them,

Facing them fearlessly.

And particularly with negative emotions,

But also the positive ones,

The connection with the air and the breath and the body,

Really useful.

The breath keeps the fire burning,

So it keeps the process going,

Keeps the positive emotions flowing and brings the negative emotions to a more speedy resolution.

And the connection with the earth,

That grounding,

That feeling safe and being held and connected,

Whatever the emotions that are occurring.

So again,

Staying with that element,

If you choose,

With the fire,

For as long as feels right for you.

Connecting back with air and earth,

Breath and body at any time.

Moving on now to the element of water.

I connect water to the mind,

To thoughts,

To the mental world.

And the idea of flowing water,

Free flowing water,

And allowing my thoughts to flow freely.

So just as we didn't try and change the breath in any way,

The invitation is to not make any effort to change your thoughts in any way at all.

Whatever the content,

Whatever the speed,

Whatever the noise,

Welcome your flow of thoughts and let them pass freely through your mind.

So allowing the thoughts to arise in the mind,

Just as we allow the breath into the body.

And allowing the thoughts to pass through the mind,

Just as we release the breath from the body.

We try and stop the thoughts that we're working against ourselves,

Just as if we tried to stop our breath.

And if we allow our thoughts to flow freely,

They'll find their own speed,

Their own rhythm,

Their own depth,

In their own time,

Just as the breath does.

If you've been exercising,

If you've been running,

And then you stop,

The breath will continue to be deeper and faster than normal.

If you shouldn't try and shorten the breath or slow the breath then,

You just wait,

And the breath gradually slows down,

Adjusts to the new circumstances.

And the same with our thoughts,

The flow of our thoughts.

We've been busy and engaged,

Interacting,

Concentrating,

And then we stop.

The thoughts are going to carry on racing for some time.

If we try and stop that,

We're just adding more tension,

More conflict in the mind.

If we allow them to flow freely,

Then gradually in their own time,

They will begin to slow and settle.

Just like the water,

The fast flowing water in a river,

Eventually in time it reaches the openness and the depth of the ocean.

So all rivers,

All streams of private thoughts,

All reach the one ocean.

So you can feel connected with others,

Knowing they share the same stream of thoughts.

However stormy the waters are on the surface,

The ocean always has that depth and that openness.

So in your own time,

When you're ready,

You can move with me to the next element.

This is the element of light.

You may want to open your eyes for a few moments for this one if they're closed,

Or keep them closed.

For me,

The element of light is connected to awareness,

So we can be aware with the eyes open or closed.

So being aware that I am aware,

Feeling my own awareness,

My own consciousness.

So all the other elements so far,

They're all experiences that happen within my awareness,

Within my consciousness.

So I'm aware of the body,

I'm aware of the breath,

Aware of emotions and thoughts,

None of these things are experiences happening within me.

So the element of light,

The light of awareness,

I'm just simply connecting with myself,

A being of awareness and light.

That sense of I-ness,

Of simply being me,

That continuity through all experiences,

The self of awareness.

So allowing myself to be just as I am,

Just as I allow the breath,

I allow the thoughts,

I allow the emotions.

Now I'm going to allow myself to be just as I am.

Being present with myself,

Allowing myself to be fully present in this moment.

And acknowledging that behind everybody's thoughts,

Behind everybody's emotions,

Behind everyone's unique histories and experiences,

In each and every one of us is this pure and simple awareness,

This sense of I.

So if we all just for a moment dropped our histories and we're just present in this moment,

We would all have the same experience of simple awareness.

Another way of connecting with something larger than ourselves and sharing this experience is through the image of the sun and the light of the sun.

It unconditionally shines on all of us.

Allowing that light of awareness to radiate,

Myself and from everybody,

And the sun above us.

Allowing myself and everyone else to be just as they are.

Pure awareness and light.

Okay,

So the final element,

The element of sound.

So become aware of all the sounds that are happening around you right now in your environment.

Notice sounds that are close by.

Notice the more obvious or the louder sounds.

Notice any background,

Continuous sounds.

Open your awareness,

Make it wider,

Broader,

And really listen carefully for any quieter and more distant sounds,

Occasional sounds.

Gently paying attention and being open.

Seeing what the most distant or the quietest sound is that you can hear right now.

As you can become more attentive to sounds,

You can also become more aware of quietness and silence.

You can sense quietness and a silence that is there at the same time as sounds.

It's not the absence of sound,

It's the background of all sounds.

The silence from which all sounds come and go.

Ever present,

Unlimited silence and quietness.

You can be aware of and sense right now as other sounds come and go.

And even know the sounds that each of us are hearing will be different and in each moment the sounds will be different.

Quietness,

The silence is exactly the same for all of us right now.

Sharing the silence as we allow the sounds to come and go.

Recognising the awareness that lies at the heart of everybody.

Allowing our thoughts to flow freely so in time we can experience the one ocean.

Acknowledging the fire of emotions within ourselves and within everyone else.

And feeling the life given to us by the element of air.

The same air that's breathing everybody.

And coming back to the body,

That feeling of weight and connection and the one earth that's attracting all of us unconditionally every moment towards itself.

And just a few more moments,

Just really enjoying how you're feeling now.

Feeling the difference from when you started.

Appreciating this time you've given yourselves.

And knowing that these connections are always there.

Just bringing them into the foreground of our awareness.

The earth,

The air,

The sun,

The silence,

The light of awareness are always there for all of us every moment.

Creating them,

You don't have to make them happen,

You just need to relax into them.

They are already there.

Okay,

So we'll conclude the commentary now.

Reviews

Nice elements practice in a short amount of time. Always gentle voice. Thank you. ☮️💖🙏🖖

The 6 elements of Stephen's meditation helped me to appreciate my pure and light open awareness - it felt so good and calm. I am feeling energised as my connection to these natural elements felt very strong, uplifting and relaxing.

The sensations created during this harmonious space have made me feel very peaceful in both body and mind.

Stephen, thank you endlessly for allowing me to listen to your detailed guidance which has given me the impetus to value more my life on Mother Earth and the unique elements we have in our environment which we are exposed to in every second when we breathe, feel, touch, see and exist. 🙏🏻💫💚👌🏻