Dear Friends,
Today we bring our exploration of the air element into direct practice.
Over the past two days, we have been getting familiar with air as movement, motion, and pressure – how it animates breath, posture, and subtle shifts in the body. The practice today offers a way to sense this element directly.
I invite you to listen to a guided meditation by Ying Chen:
Guided Meditation: Air Element (40 minutes, but the first few minutes are troubleshooting sound – so skip to 11:30 to get to the start of the meditation)
https://www.audiodharma.org/talks/14630
This meditation begins with an arriving sequence – settling into the body, the present moment, and a sense of availability. From there, attention is gently oriented to the earth element as a stable background, before turning toward the air (wind) element as movement within that steadiness.
Air is sensed primarily through the breath: the rising and falling of the belly, the expansion and contraction of the torso, and the subtle vibrations and motions that accompany breathing. The invitation throughout is not to change the breath, but to be available to movement as it already is.
As the practice unfolds, the air element is experienced in relationship to stillness – movement supported by stability. Breath comes and goes. Sensations shift. Awareness receives these changes without needing to lean in or push away.
We are encouraged to let go of figuring things out conceptually and to rest in direct sensing. The body is treated as an organ of perception, capable of knowing movement without commentary.
Feel free to listen in whatever posture feels supportive, and to engage with the practice in a way that feels manageable today.
A brief alternative practice (3-5 minutes)
If you don’t have time for the full meditation, you might try this simple practice:
- Pause and notice the natural movement of the breath
- Feel expansion and contraction without adjusting the rhythm
- Sense how movement continues even in moments of relative stillness
- You might simply note: Movement is happening.
Even a few minutes of noticing can support today’s exploration of the air element.
Let us know what you discover. You can reply to the email or post a comment to share a brief reflection.
With good wishes,
Andrea