Dear Friends,
Today we bring our exploration of the air element into direct practice.
Over the past few days, we have been invited to notice air as movement, exchange, and shared breath – flowing through bodies and environments, connecting inside and outside. Today’s practice offers a way to experience this directly, through embodied awareness.
I invite you to listen to a guided meditation by Jaya Rudgard, recorded as part of a teaching on the air element. (~35 minutes of meditation – there is a talk in the first 14 minutes and Q&R after)
https://youtu.be/BMO5zVNd4pg?si=_l857d8K8T37m6xD&t=884
(this link should take you right to where the meditation starts)
This meditation begins by allowing the body to settle and arrive, with gentle attention to posture and contact with support. The elements we have already explored – earth, water, and fire – are briefly sensed as a way of grounding the body and orienting awareness.
From there, attention turns toward the air element as the body breathing. Breath is experienced as movement through the body – entering, leaving, circulating – supporting life for a moment and then moving on. Awareness is invited to sense this flow not only in one place, but throughout the body.
At times, the breath may be felt as cool on the in-breath and warmer on the out-breath, or as a subtle wave of expansion and release. The practice also invites a sense of space – both within and around the body – allowing breath and awareness to feel less contained, more connected.
Throughout, there is no suggestion to breathe in a particular way. The emphasis is on finding a way of being with the breath that feels supportive in this moment – allowing breathing to be received, rather than directed.
You are welcome to listen in whatever posture feels most workable today, and to engage with the practice at your own pace.
A brief alternative practice (3–5 minutes)
If you don’t have time for the full meditation, you might try this shorter practice:
- Pause and notice the sensation of breathing anywhere it’s easiest to feel
- Sense air entering, leaving, and continuing on
- Allow awareness to include the space around the body as part of the experience
- You might simply notice: Breathing is happening, breath by breath.
Even a few minutes of noticing can support the exploration today.
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