Dear Friends,
Today we pause our exploration of the elements to cultivate kindness, a quality that can steady and support everything else we are exploring this month. This a way of staying grounded and resourced, so investigation is balanced by care.
Insight Meditation teacher Rachel Lewis will sometimes start a meditation with this reminder: “Gravity is the earth’s way of letting you know it likes having you around.” This is a playful way of pointing to something simple and profound: the earth is always offering support. We don’t have to earn it. We don’t have to get it right. We are already held.
Loving-kindness can be understood in a similar way – not as something we force or generate, but as a way of recognizing what is already here. A willingness to meet the body, and our experience, with friendliness rather than critique.
When we explore the body as earth – bones, weight, contact – it can be easy to slip into judgment. This feels comfortable; that doesn’t. This part cooperates; that part is annoying. Kindness invites a different relationship. It says: This, too, belongs.
The invitation today is to practice befriending the body just as it is. Not the body you wish you had, or the body you think you should be more grateful for, but the one that is here, resting on the earth, shaped by conditions, doing its best.
Optional 3–5 Minute Kindness Practice
If you would like, you could try a short, simple practice:
- Settle into a comfortable posture and notice the points of contact between your body and the ground or chair.
- Feel the natural weight of the body being held by gravity.
- Bring to mind the phrase: The earth supports me without asking anything in return.
Then, gently offer a few phrases of kindness to the body:
- May I meet this body with care.
- May I be gentle with what I feel.
- May I rest in the support that’s already here.
You don’t need to repeat the phrases many times. One or two sincere offerings are enough. If words don’t resonate, simply staying with the felt sense of support is itself a form of kindness.
Loving-kindness does not float above experience. It grounds us in it. It helps us stay present with what is solid, imperfect, and alive.
You are welcome to share a brief reflection about how kindness showed up today. You can reply to the email or comment below. Your reflections may encourage others and help us stay connected as we practice together.
Tomorrow, we will return to the earth element, deepening our exploration of stability and non-reactivity.
With good wishes,
Andrea
The friendliness of Rachel Lewis’s idea that gravity is earth’s way of letting you know it likes having you around appealed to me and helped me let go into the full weight of my seat. I appreciated your rminder that the earth supports us without asking for anything in return and your 3 phrases of kindness for the body, too, Andrea–thank you!
Hi Susan, Thank you so much for your thoughtful reflection! I am glad Rachel Lewis’s playful insight and the kindness phrases resonated with you. It is lovely to hear how you were able to let go into the full weight of your seat and feel that support. May this gentle kindness continue to nourish your connection with your body and the earth.
Wow! So much of practice is letting go. And to just now discover, when we let go, the earth holds us dear. Amazing concept and a new experience after 72 years of being held and somehow not recognizing it. Very cool!
Hi Jim, Thank you for sharing this – what a beautiful discovery. I love how you put it: after all these years of being held, recognizing it freshly can feel amazing. It is never too late for the practice to reveal something new and tender. I am glad this landed for you, and I hope this sense of being held continues to support you in the days ahead.
Really enjoying this noticing, this exploration of the earth element already within me. The kind support of gravity, of Mother Earth. That’s a great phrase from Rachel Lewis that I may quote in other groups.:) Thank you for the reflections!
Hi Roberta, I am glad this exploration is resonating with you. It is lovely to hear how you are connecting with the earth element within your own body, and how the support of gravity is showing up as kindness. I am delighted Rachel’s phrase speaks to you – it’s a favourite of mine too! Wishing you continued ease and groundedness as you explore.