Getting Underway

Practice 11 – Mindfulness of the Body: Mindfulness of the Elements

Recognising the fundamental materials of our raft

Deconstructing the body into qualities

“I see that this body—made of the four elements—is not really me, and I am not limited by this body”

Thich Nhat Hanh

As we continue to expand our practices in the service of Recognising what it is to be human, we move from observing the body’s parts and reality to contemplating its fundamental composition through what is traditionally called Mindfulness of the Elements. This ancient practice, the fifth lens offered within the first anchor of mindfulness, invites us to see our physical form not as a solid, separate entity, but as a dynamic interplay of primary qualities shared with the entire natural world. 

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Practice 12 – Mindfulness of the Body: Contemplating change, ageing, and death

Recognising the impermanent nature of our raft

“All conditioned things are impermanent. When one sees this with wisdom, one turns away from suffering”.

Gotama – The Buddha

We now arrive at the sixth and final exploration within the First anchor of mindfulness (mindfulness of the body), serving to help us recognise what it is to be human. This practice delves into the profound and often challenging territory of the body’s ultimate impermanence, looking at the body through the lens of ageing, sickness, death, and decomposition. Traditionally, this includes the contemplation known as mindfulness of death.

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