I woke up in the middle of the night on Saturday with a sore
throat and stuffed up nose.
“Must be allergies” I told myself.
The following day I was
tired and irritable. My head felt slightly disconnected from my neck. My
hearing became muffled as if underwater. I was clearly coming down with
something. Out of either optimism or ignorance, I turned
to my partner, Sean, and announced, “I refuse to get sick! I don’t have the
time.”
Of course, I was sick with a cold. I had a choice to
either continue to ignore and deny this truth or turn my attention towards my physical discomfort. I spent all day Monday paying close
attention to my body, listening to its needs, giving it lots of water,
vitamins, rest, and immune boosters. One moment I would think, “Ahhh…I’m
feeling much better” and the next “I think I might die.” I had very little control
over how my body was reacting. All I could do is be present with what was happening and respond with
care.
Whenever I get sick I find it to be a perfect demonstration
of how little control I have over my experience. It also directly points to
the nature of change and impermanence. One day I’m feeling fine, the next I’m in bed
with a box of tissues. These are the teachings our body has to offer.
I’m currently co-teaching mindfulness meditation to a small
group of middle school students. When asked to talk about when they feel most out of control, many of them referred to experiences involving the body. This took me by surprise as I thought they
would refer more to emotional experiences but it was their physical experiences
that seemed to stand out most for them.
Our body is a wonderful teacher. It gives us the opportunity
to become comfortable and familiar with things that are not in our control. It teaches
us how to let go, how to accept, and be compassionate towards ourselves. It
shows us the changing nature of experience as well as its impermanence. It
challenges our sense of “me” and “mine”.
Often we are wrapped up in our mental experience of things.
Our thoughts are often in the driver’s seat and the body is forced to sit in
the back. Mindfulness meditation calls our attention and awareness to the body. The body grounds us in present because it is always in the present moment. It is the seat of our instinctual knowing (gut instinct) and wisdom of how to live a balanced life (wellbeing).
The following meditation is a Buddhist practice that is
taught to help us become more aware of the body as well as challenge our perception
of what the body is. In this simple practice, you are asked to observe the
characteristics of the four elements in your body. Take your time to explore
each element. This can easily be taught to students but be sure to try it out
for yourself first to best understand how it works and how to adapt it to the age group you’re working with.
4 Elements Meditation
Sit in a mindful
posture; relaxed and alert. Take a few deep breaths to settle yourself into
your body. Bring your attention to the breath. We’ll start with the breath to
notice the air element. As you breathe in notice the movement it creates within
your body; rising and falling, pushing and pulling. Take a few minutes (or as
long as you’d like) to notice the breath in this way. You can then notice
movement in other areas of the body which might include tingling, vibration,
pulsing, and swaying. This is the air element.
Now pay attention to the
sensations of your body on the chair or on the floor. Notice the heaviness of
the body and the sensations of hardness. Take some time to notice similar
sensations in other areas of the body. Notice any stiffness, solidity,
roughness, and smoothness. These are manifestations of the earth element.
After spending some
time with the earth element, move to sensations of temperature. These are
manifestations of the fire element. Notice heat or the lack of heat. Scan the
different areas of your body with your attention to notice how the temperature differs,
where it’s felt strongly, and where it’s more subtle.
