Water - A Six Elements Meditation

So this is the third element in the series of six for the six elements meditation and the element of water.

And this will be a mindfulness meditation on our thoughts and on our mind.

So with each element the idea is not to feel you need to focus exclusively and concentrate just on that aspect,

But to keep the awareness nice and open.

And although our main interest this evening is on our thoughts,

See if you can keep your awareness light and easy and open to everything else that's also happening in the present moment.

So you'll still be aware of sounds,

Sensations in the body,

How you're feeling,

The breath,

Still aware of the environment around you.

But the invitation is to just allow the thoughts and that experience of thinking to occupy the center or the foreground of your open awareness and allowing everything else to happen just as it is in the background around the thoughts.

So let's just practice that for a few moments.

It's like if you had a photograph of the whole of the present moment,

That you're paying interest to one particular subject of the photograph,

But you're not going to try and block out and pretend you can't see the rest of the photograph.

It's just the pit that you're particularly interested in.

So I'm aware of my body,

My breath,

How I'm feeling and sounds.

And now I'm also aware of my thoughts.

And now I'm going to really explore with interest what it feels like to be thinking in this moment and thinking with awareness.

It really doesn't matter what the content of your thoughts are.

It doesn't matter if you're thinking about the past or the future,

Because you can only be thinking in the present moment.

As long as you are aware that you are thinking,

That you are having thoughts,

Then you must be present.

So being disinterested in the content of your thoughts and just experience the process of thoughts arriving in your mind and how that feels to be thinking whilst noticing that you're thinking.

This can feel a little strange to begin with if it's something you're not used to doing,

Because often we identify so closely with our thoughts and what we're thinking.

So just taking some time to find that part of yourself that can observe,

Listen,

Witness,

Notice your thoughts as you think them.

So really resist any temptation to change your thoughts in any way.

Don't try and slow them down or stop them or redirect them.

Don't try and think calm,

Peaceful or positive thoughts.

Just allow any thoughts at all to come into your mind.

Give your thoughts,

Your mind complete freedom.

So we're going to use the element of water now to help us with this practice.

So imagine that your thoughts are flowing through your mind,

Just like water flowing through a river or a stream.

So allowing one thought to follow the next.

And as the observer of our thoughts,

We're sitting on the riverbank by the side of the river or stream.

So we're not following one thought all the way down,

We're just watching it go past.

And then we're there to catch the next thought that goes past.

So just see if for a few moments you can experience your thoughts to be passing through your mind,

One after the other,

Flowing like a river,

Not following up on any particular thought,

Disinterested in the content,

Just enjoying the flow.

Okay.

So allowing our thoughts to flow freely in this way can really help ease tension in the mind.

And by accepting any and all thoughts and not making any effort to change our thoughts in any way can also help ease any sense of conflict.

And we can notice that thinking is actually quite an effortless experience.

Our thoughts will just come whether or not we remember to think,

Whether or not we make any effort to think.

And we can have absolutely no idea what our next thought is going to be.

And we can just wait and watch and notice it as it arrives.

So watching,

Experiencing the flow of thoughts.

Even if we allow the thoughts to flow freely,

If there are a lot of thoughts,

If they feel like they're noisy or negative thoughts,

Then we may still feel a little tense and crowded in our minds.

So the second way we can use the element of water to help with this experience,

As we allow the thoughts to be like a flowing river,

We can think of the mind as being like the ocean.

So the thoughts are the activity of the mind.

The mind itself is the arena,

The theater,

Or the space within which this flow of thoughts takes place.

So just imagining how vast and deep and open the ocean is,

And how relatively small and insignificant the flow of the river of thought is,

In comparison to the depth,

The vastness of the ocean.

Getting a sense of that unlimited mental space of the mind within which the thoughts come and go.

And using this idea of there being a foreground and a background to your awareness,

We can actually begin to bring the mind,

The ocean,

More into the foreground of our awareness,

And allowing the stream of thoughts to gently move more into the background.

So our experience becomes predominantly that of the open space and the depth of the ocean.

And the thoughts just become like a background sound,

Background activity.

Having actually no impact on this experience of depth and openness of the ocean.

So we'll do each of our thoughts,

And how each of our individual streams of thought will be unique to ourselves,

Our own private inner dialogue with ourselves.

The ocean,

That vast unlimited ocean of mind,

Is something we can share.

It's an experience that we can share with everybody else,

Or rivers leading eventually to the one ocean of mind.

So no matter how different our thoughts,

We can still connect and feel connected with others,

Through this experience of one mind.

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Okay,

So I'll leave a few minutes of silence without further commentary,

Just to give you an opportunity to really become familiar with this experience of giving your thoughts complete freedom to flow freely,

Without any interruption or involvement,

Just allowing them to be and do whatever they want to do.

And then seeing if you can get this feeling of the thoughts flowing through the vast open space and depth of the ocean of mind.

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Okay,

So the final few moments,

Just keeping your awareness nice and light and open,

Still aware of body,

Breath,

Sounds,

Emotions,

Just holding the thoughts gently and lightly in the centre of your awareness,

And allowing them to flow through the mind,

Flowing freely,

Not getting involved in the thoughts,

Disinterest in their content,

Enjoying that feeling of spaciousness and depth in the ocean of mind.

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Okay,

So when you feel ready,

We can start to bring the meditation to a close,

Connecting with those other aspects of the present moment,

As well as the thoughts,

Noticing how you're feeling,

Noticing any sounds from within the room,

Taking a few deeper breaths into the body and really feeling the breath in the body,

And feeling all the sensations in the body,

Feeling the weight of the body,

Feeling all the points of contact with the body,

And when you're ready,

Start opening your eyes,

No rush.