This traditional mindfulness of the body practice works with the four elements of earth,
Fire,
Water,
And wind.
We bring all the awareness into the body.
So come into a seat,
Whether you're sitting in a chair,
On top of a meditation cushion.
Just make sure you're comfortable and relaxed.
The hips slightly higher than the knees.
Connect to the feeling of the spine rising,
Tall,
Dignified,
Majestic.
With the body relaxed,
Softening the shoulders,
Making sure you're carrying no tension in your jaw.
Relax through the back.
Let the hands be relaxed and comfortable,
Either in your lap or on your knees,
Palms up,
Palms down.
Before we start,
Bring to mind your intention for the practice.
Bring some more awareness,
Compassion into your life.
Also send that feeling out to others in your world.
Sending out that they can cultivate feelings of joy and peace into their lives as well.
So connect with the breath.
We're not trying to control the breath right now or manipulate.
Just being with the inhale and the exhale.
Let your exhales be nice and full,
Remembering that the exhale is intimately connected to the relaxation response.
Inhale,
We oxygenate,
Bringing this life force energy into the lungs and through the body,
Down to the cellular level.
As we exhale,
We just completely let go and relax.
So the first element we bring to mind is the earth element.
The earth element is represented in the body as our physical structure.
So connecting your skeleton,
Your bones,
Muscles,
And tendons.
Feel yourself connected into the earth.
Your feet,
Your buttocks connect into the ground,
Into the seat.
Feel yourself strong,
A mountain-like quality to your sitting.
Feel that strong structure.
The second element we work with is the element of fire.
This works in two levels.
The first level is feeling of temperature.
Connect to the feeling of your body,
The air on the skin.
Noting any warmth or coolness.
And once again,
We're not judging and we're not trying to change.
Just be with feeling,
Be with sensation.
You can note pleasant,
Unpleasant,
Neutral,
But we don't need to attach any emotion to that.
Just be with felt sensation.
The element of fire is also intimately connected with our emotional state,
The heart.
And take note of where you are at emotionally.
Whether you're a little stressed,
Relaxed,
Maybe feeling restless already in the practice.
Just noting.
Just noting sensation,
Noting emotions,
And feeling it in the body.
The third element we work with is the element of water.
And once again,
We work on two levels here.
The first,
Bring your awareness into your mouth.
Note the saliva level.
Generation of water.
Swallow goes down through your digestive system.
And then note the quality of the body.
The body is made up of many different elements.
But it's the majority water.
So bring your awareness into the body.
Is there a fluidity,
A looseness like water?
Or is your body feeling stiff like wood or cement?
See if you connect to this wave-like motion of the breath as you breathe in and out.
This water-like quality to the body as we sit here and breathe slow,
Deep,
And smooth.
Softening the body.
Flowing like water.
And the fourth element is wind.
So staying intimately connected to this breath.
And once again,
We'll work on two levels here.
The physical breath.
Note the body expanding as you breathe in.
And the feeling of relaxation and letting go as you breathe out.
So as you're breathing in,
Feel the whole expansion of the lower belly,
The mid-torso,
The upper back,
And upper chest.
Just expanding like a balloon.
And as you exhale,
Just everything compresses and lets go.
Just ride out the out-breath.
Expanding and releasing.
Feel the change in the body.
Note how the body changes in the torso during the inhale and the exhale.
Noting on the inhale as you oxygenate through the body.
A slight feeling of tension as we fill up the lungs.
And as you exhale,
Connect to this subtle feeling of relaxing and releasing.
And let your exhale go nice and long.
And once again,
This key aspect of mindfulness.
When the mind wanders,
Which it will for all of us.
Not judging ourselves.
Not thinking we're being bad meditators.
We note the mind wandering.
We bring it back to the breath.
Letting go of the expanding and letting go.
And just being with the subtle,
Joyful aspect of the breath.
Connecting to a feeling of calm,
Aware,
And a sense of just simple joy.
Just sitting,
Breathing,
Relaxed.
And sending those same feelings out to the people around you.
Bring to mind,
You know,
A couple people in your life.
They also can cultivate this feeling of calm,
Aware,
Joyful.
Zygobyter day-to-day activities.
Noting that you could always return to this four elements practice or just to the flow of the breath.
As we slowly bring this practice to a close.
Remembering that we could utilize any part of this practice anytime during our day,
For any length of time.
Thanks for joining me.
Have a beautiful day.
Bye.
