Let's begin by finding a comfortable posture and shape to practice in.
You could be seated,
Standing,
Laying down,
Or walking.
It's your choice and it's about tuning inside to see what would be most nourishing for your body in this moment.
And once you've established your shape,
Allowing your eyes to close or just lowering your gaze.
We'll begin just by getting a general sense as to how and what the body feels like right now.
And whatever shape you're in,
Seeing if you can allow yourself just to be held and supported by whatever you're on.
It could be a chair,
It could be the floor,
The couch,
Or the bed.
This is an invitation to let go and to soften and to allow your body to be at rest.
Opening space on your forehead,
Making a little more room between your eyebrows,
Allowing your eyes to nestle into their sockets,
Unclenching your jaw,
Softening your tongue,
The sides of your mouth,
The roof of your mouth,
Feeling the release of your neck and throat.
Giving your shoulders permission to melt downwards along with your arms,
Elbows,
Hands,
And fingers.
Softening your belly,
Softening your chest,
Softening your heart.
And now just checking in to see how you're feeling in this moment.
What would be the word that would describe your emotional landscape?
And what is your intention for your practice in this moment?
And there might be more than one.
Just creating some space to align with your intentions.
I invite you now to let go of these intentions,
Trusting that they have been set.
No need to hold on.
In this meditation,
I'll be guiding you on a journey sensing into the four elements.
The invitation here is to bring curiosity,
Maybe a sense of wonder and awe,
And just seeing what you can feel.
And we'll start with the earth element.
And here we connect with this sense of heaviness,
Perhaps feeling the weight of the body against whatever surface is supporting you.
You might notice the points of contact.
You might also notice the sense of density within the body,
Having this felt sense of muscle and bone,
Perhaps a sense of firmness.
Okay.
And we can also connect with a sense of stillness of the body.
As life continues to move around us,
Here we are in this moment,
A moment of stillness.
And even if the mind is racing,
The body can be still.
And now I invite your attention to the wind element.
You might notice this in the form of your breathing.
There might be an expanding and contracting of the belly.
And maybe there's a rising and falling in the chest,
Things in place.
Okay.
You might notice this wind element traveling against the back of your head.
You might notice this wind element traveling against the back of your head.
You might also notice this in your nostrils.
Notice this sensation in that area between your upper lip and your nose.
And maybe you can have this felt sense of the air in the space around you.
This open spaciousness.
Now I invite you to become aware of the water element.
You might notice this in your mouth.
The presence of saliva,
Moisture.
You might notice moisture in other areas of your body.
Maybe in the hands.
And then what about the eyes?
This natural lubrication that keeps your eyes from going dry.
And then recognizing that our bodies are made up of so much water.
This fluidity within us.
And then bringing our attention to our heart space and center.
Is it possible to feel the sensation of your heartbeat?
The heart that with every beat is pumping more of this water element throughout your body.
And now we turn our attention to the fire element.
Here I invite you to explore and get a sense of any heat that you can feel within your body.
Maybe there's warmth in the feet.
Maybe warmth in the chest area.
You might notice in your nose on the exhale how the sensation is warmer than on the inhale.
And then sometimes this fire element can be a little more subtle.
You might notice it by finding its opposite.
Examining your hands for a moment.
Comparing the palm to the back of the hand.
Just seeing if there's a different sensation of temperature on one side compared to the other.
Let's open this up.
And we'll begin to bring our practice to a close.
Having explored the earth,
Wind,
Water and fire elements,
Just tuning inside and seeing for a moment how you're feeling now.
Noticing your feet,
Wherever they're connected to,
Opening up to the sounds around you.
And taking a deeper breath if you'd like to signal the end of this practice.
