This practice provides a different lens through which you can examine the body.
Give yourself space to drop in and deeply investigate the four elements in your body.
Be sure to bring an open mind and see what you can learn about yourself.
Remember,
Mindfulness is about seeing clearly and looking at things from a new perspective can often bring that clarity.
We'll begin by settling into a relaxed position,
Allowing the gaze to be soft or bringing the eyes to close.
Take a moment and bring your awareness to the places in the body where you experience contact,
Such as the feet on the floor,
Perhaps the hands in the lap,
Or the body sitting in the chair.
Allow your awareness to gently scan over these contact points.
We'll begin this practice with the element of earth or solid form.
Without thinking too hard about what this means,
Take this moment to openly examine where and how you can feel solidity in the body.
Perhaps this might be the structure of your skeleton,
The sensation of the chair you're sitting on,
Any places of tension in the body,
Or the weight of your muscles as they relax.
And we'll take a moment here so as not to rush through these sensations or trying to force them.
Just taking a moment to explore the earth element in the body and staying with it for a few deep breaths.
Continue this seeking,
Recognizing,
And feeling.
If the mind begins to wander,
Simply bring it back to the breath or the physical sensation of the earth element in the body.
And now we'll switch to the element of air or wind.
And a place to start here is in the form of the body breathing,
Just taking notice of where can you feel the air of the breath.
You may also allow for the awareness to wander into the spaces of the body where you might feel empty space,
Perhaps the nostrils,
The openness of the mouth and the ears.
Each of these places can offer insight into the air element.
And so just taking a moment to allow the awareness to wander throughout the body,
Seeking,
Feeling into the air element.
And now we'll gently shift our awareness to any sensation of liquid in the body that you can feel.
Maybe the moisture in the eyes,
Saliva in the mouth,
Or sweat on the body.
Fluidity can also be associated with the flexibility of your muscles,
The flow of your breath in and the flow of your breath out.
And the pulsing of blood circulating throughout the body.
Gently allowing the awareness to scan the body for the liquid element present in sensation and vibration.
Next,
Bringing your awareness to heat or fire in the body.
This element can be open to interpretation.
So take this time just to look for yourself seeing what you notice.
Maybe it's the temperature of the air touching your skin,
Or certain parts on the body that are warmer or cooler than others.
Internally we often associate the fire element with digestion.
And so just take a moment to watch for any experience of temperature either externally or internally.
And as we begin to bring this practice to a close,
We'll take just a few moments and awareness of the body as a whole.
Taking this time to allow your awareness to scan through the element of earth,
Of air,
Water,
And fire.
As you breathe in,
Feeling the four elements working together to support and fuel your body.
And as you breathe out,
Settling into this support,
Can begin to bring the eyes to open.
Mindfully taking in light into your experience,
Introducing light movement throughout the fingers,
Throughout the toes.
Thank you so much for taking the time to practice with me.
