The Six Elements Meditation

Journey through six dimensions of mindfulness. Feel the connection between your body and the Earth; allow your body to be breathed by the element of Air; feel the Fire of emotion; let your thoughts flow freely like Water; explore Sound to discover silence, and radiate the Light of your aware self.

Transcript

The first element is the element of Earth.

And to connect to this element,

To connect to the Earth,

Firstly,

Become aware of your body.

Be aware of the energy and the sensations within the body.

And I'd like to invite you to pay particular attention to that feeling of weight of the body.

So getting a sense of your whole body and the heaviness or the lightness,

That feeling of weight.

And allow the weight of your body to be completely held and supported.

So for me,

That's the chair and the floor.

So I feel that contact with the chair and the floor.

Feel that pressure,

That warmth,

That connection.

And I allow the full weight of the body to be held by the chair,

By the floor.

So I can let go of the body,

Allow it to relax,

Release and sink down a little.

Really feel that grounding connection through those points of contact.

And feeling the weight of the body being supported.

So ultimately,

The body is being supported by the Earth,

By the ground.

And that feeling of weight in your body is the pull of the Earth on your body,

The pull of gravity.

So let's spend a few moments feeling that connection to the ground,

To the Earth.

And feeling the pull of the Earth on the body,

Feeling that direct energetic connection between your body and the Earth.

Now quite naturally,

I notice my awareness move to the second element of air.

As I start to become aware of the breath in the body.

So I can just add this awareness of the breath.

So feeling the weight of the body and feeling the breath in the body.

See if you can really allow the breath in with each in-breath.

So not restricting the breath at all.

And completely release the breath with every out-breath.

Not holding on to the breath at all.

Allowing the element of air to breathe your body,

To flow in and out of your body.

So while we continue to just enjoy this simple grounding experience of being present with the body and with the breath.

We can also meditate upon the fact that by connecting the body to the element of Earth and by connecting the breath to the element of air,

We're connecting to something beyond ourselves and greater than ourselves.

And something that is shared by all of us.

So we all have our own breath,

We all have our own bodies.

Each of our bodies is connected to the same Earth,

Feeling the same pull of gravity.

Each of our breaths may differ in speed and volume.

But we're all breathing the same element of air.

We're all being given life by this one element of air.

So being aware not just of your body,

But that your body is always in connection,

Always being supported by the Earth that supports us all.

Not just being aware of your own breath,

But appreciating that your breath is the element of air giving your body life and giving every body life.

So this awareness of body and breath,

Earth and air,

Really grounding us and connecting us,

Providing the foundation for this meditation.

Let's build a little more on top of that foundation.

Let's also notice that we are thinking,

That thoughts are occurring within our mind.

So I'm thinking and breathing,

And both things are happening in this moment.

I'm going to see if I can allow my thoughts to flow freely,

Like water flowing in a river or a stream.

As the breath flows freely with the element of air,

Similarly the thoughts flowing freely,

Like the element of water.

So it doesn't matter what I'm thinking,

I allow all thoughts,

I don't want to build any dams or try and divert the flow of this river.

I'm going to let all thoughts flow wherever they need to flow.

So even with our own internal private stream of thoughts,

Eventually with patience we can also have this feeling of connection with something greater than ourselves and with other people.

As we allow our thoughts to flow freely,

We can begin to experience the mind within which these thoughts flow.

And the mind is a space much more like the ocean than a river,

There's real depth and openness with the mind.

The more we allow that stream of thoughts to flow,

Gradually we begin to experience the broader,

Wider,

Open ocean of mind.

All rivers and the individual thoughts of all of us all eventually flow to this one open and deep ocean of mind.

Three flowing thoughts through the mind.

Three flowing breaths through the body.

I'm going to move on to the element of sound next.

There's no strict order to the elements.

If you practice this in your own time you can go with the flow to see which element pulls you next.

If you'd like to join me now in listening to all the sounds you can hear in your environment around you right now.

This is a real opportunity to allow your awareness to be open,

Broad and wide.

Allowing all the different sounds to come and go within your open awareness.

Noticing quiet sounds,

Louder sounds,

Near sounds and the most distant sounds.

Continuous sounds and occasional sounds.

Actively listening with easy,

Alertness.

Attention but without any tension.

So we'll all be listening to a unique blend of sounds,

Each one in their own environment.

With their own sounds coming and going.

But again,

Let's see if we can connect with something beyond ourselves and something that we all share.

I find this easiest if I first of all really listen out for the quietest and the most distant sounds.

These may be very occasional but seeing if I can open my awareness so that if there is a very quiet,

Very distant sound I will be ready to hear it.

Then after a while you may get a sense that you can actually listen to quietness,

Listen to a silent presence.

For me it feels like a silent space that's always here within which all these different sounds come and go.

A silent space out of which each sound comes and back to which each sound goes.

So listening attentively with an open awareness,

Just seeing if a sense of quietness,

Of silence,

Emerges within your awareness.

The sound that we hear from moment to moment will change and the environment of sound for each one of us will be different.

There's silence that is behind and between every sound.

That silence is exactly the same for all of us.

There is only one sound of silence.

So it is within silence that we can really be together and share the experience.

The silence is the same for all of us.

So next we can move to the element of light,

The light of awareness.

So all the other elements so far have all been experiences,

Aspects of the present moment of our inner and outer environment.

The light of awareness is that which allows us to experience all these different things.

So this is about being with yourself,

Being present with yourself,

The self of awareness,

The conscious self,

And allowing yourself to be just as you are.

This element of light,

Of awareness,

Also brings together all the other aspects into one experience of the wholeness of this present moment,

The body,

The breath,

The thoughts,

The sounds.

All of these things happening moment by moment within the light of your awareness.

Just as sounds can be heard within silence,

All our experiences can be experienced within the space of our own awareness,

The silent,

Still,

Empty space of awareness within which all sound,

Movement and form emerges.

We'll have a few minutes of silence without commentary and see if you can just get a sense of yourself as this space of awareness,

The place where all your experience occurs,

Lightly,

Gently holding this present moment within your awareness.

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Reviews

Very nice. Thank you for sharing this practice. ☮️💖🙏