Guided Meditation by Michael Taft
First 15 min – Shamatha with an object.
Then Dissolving with the Outbreath
Then Shamatha without an object
Then the body is deconstructed into earth, air, fire, water, and space.
There are numerous types of deconstruction possible. Here we’re dividing the body up within the imagination, into the five traditional elements earth, air, fire, water, and space. After all these are usually not the fashionable notion of elements, as depicted in a periodic table. The actual word is , and is meant to explain the body (and world) by way of its arising in sensory experience.
On this traditional meditation, we picture each the assorted elements (dhatu) of the body individually, and the parts of the body that it constitutes. Then we allow this element to return to the earth, or to nature. Regularly, we deconstruct all the physical body, and all of its elements are returned to the environment, with no remainder.
We imagine that because the body is totally dissolved into its constituent elements after which disappears into the earth, conscious awareness continues. Doing so helps us to dis-identify with the fabric body because the locus of self.
Ultimately, we imagine a wholly latest and healthy body is assembled out of fresh, vibrant elements.
