Ayurvedically, the ether element is empty space; it is the void allowing the other four elements a time and place to exist, expand, and dissipate. The Vedic Age is long over, however, and we now know that there is no truly empty space.
The ether is a sea of energy, teeming with spirits, thoughts, dreams, emotions, and other forces that can be felt but not seen without the aid of the third-eye. The ether is where the collective unconscious resides, and the human mind is very capable of clearly seeing everything in the ether. Perceptual defenses develop over time that protect our brains from seeing everything that we could see, filtering out things that we could not rationalize or fully understand. The subliminal mind, however, is capable of seeing all things, at all times, in both the ether and material world. By extension, everyone essentially knows EVERYTHING. We are all omniscient, divine creatures of light who are inherently clairvoyant (clear-seeing).
During adolescence, our pineal gland (the physical third-eye) partially calcifies. The calcite crystals then become little transmitters of energy, capable of being a medium through which the individual sees and communicates with the ether. Living in touch with the ether in a meaningful way affords us a more comprehensive, authentic view of reality. Moving through the third-eye gate (via meditation, divination, etc.) is an exercise in freedom, as it allows us to break through boundaries of the material world and challenge the persistent inner mantra; if we don't see it, it's not there.
During a studio yoga-practice, the closest most of us come to the ether is savasana. Even seasoned practitioners, however, spend their five-minute savasana time enjoying a tired body, processing the practice, or, on our less-enlightened days, thinking about post-class to-do lists. Living in touch with the ether means being open to the sea of energy off-the-mat.
Light, movement, and other traits of the material world are grounding; necessary but grounding. Darkness and stillness facilitate the ether-connection, but most of us need longer than the post-practice five minutes.
The sea of energy that surrounds us is vast and eternal, far more enduring than the material reality with which most of us maintain a constant connection. Yoga creates a channel through which the ether and the other elements can co-exist, a living practice of transcending the ego and moving toward a more authentic, cohesive reality.
Saturday, December 10, 2011
Sunday, October 16, 2011
When the Smoke Clears....
A yoga practice is a living, body prayer. After the grounding and creative forces of Earth and Water have facilitated the fire-space, the flames take over and purify the practitioner's whole being, burning through fears, anxieties, and other barriers to Living in the Flow.
But then what?
After the fire, the air is cleaner and freer. The energy still moves but to a subtler rhythm; the rhythm of the heart.
Air in yoga practice feeds the closed heart, creating and maintaining a force that will break through a walled heart and restore the balance. Heart-work paves the way for transcendence and liberation, forging two, key connections- that between the body and mind of the practitioner and that between the practitioner and the rest of the universe. Metta meditation, vinyasas involving extended arms with gently squeezed shoulder-blades, and meaningful pranayama all flourish soooo much better when the body-mind-spirit-space has been cleared by the flame first, making room for the heart to open.
When the smoke clears, the heart-light shines.
Thursday, October 6, 2011
(em)Power Yoga and the Elements
I sing the body electric....
~Whitman
A yoga practice, at its best, fuels positive self-transformation. The yoga mat is your own, personal 72" X 24" change-space, in which a journey through the elements catalyzes healing, growth, and empowerment. ALL five elements are necessary in order to create this change.
In ayurvedic philosophy, every meal should contain varying degrees of the six tastes in order to create a sense of fullness and facilitate well-being. Similarly, a yoga practice should contain all five elements in order to afford you, the practitioner, a space for personal evolution. If you miss the grounding aspect of Earth, you start a practice without a baseline. Absence of water is an absence of creativity, usually caused by a need to over-control and dominate a practice. If you miss the purification of fire, you are not letting go of the little fears, anxieties, and stresses that act as barriers to growth-in-practice. Finally, lack of air and ether is a lack of liberation, a total ignorance of the role of the spirit generated by an overemphasis on the body and mind.
The energy wave you ride during a yoga practice is an elemental one, beginning with the grounding force of Earth and ending with the Ethereal mind-space of savasana. The elements do not all have to be balanced in order for transformation to take place, but they DO all have to be present on some level. If any one of the five is not a part of your journey on the mat, the result is a disempowered body, mind, or spirit.
Yoga should not be a weakening, energy-depleting practice; it is the ultimate path to transcending the ego, becoming responsive rather than resistant to change, and liberating the higher self, the atman, from the confines of an inflexible body, a closed mind, and a disconnected spirit. Earth empowers through stability and grounding, giving you a foundation from which to work. Water empowers through fluidity and freedom, releasing rigidity in the joints and forging a connection between breath and movement. Fire empowers through destruction of old habits and purification of the whole being. Air empowers through compassion, lightness, and a sense of the internal, pranic force. Finally, ether empowers by highlighting the spiritual connection between the practitioner and the Source, the universal energy.
A sense that something is missing from your yoga practice likely comes from a rejection, either self-imposed or because of your teacher's choices, of one or more of the elements. Think about embedding all five into your on-the-mat experience, and sing the body electric.
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Carrying the Torch
Summer embodies the fire element. The sun is hot, the days are long, and the world vibrates with agni.
With summer's end weeks away, and fire slowly being doused in autumn's water, we are charged to carry the torch between now and next June. In a yoga practice, fire is purifying, core-empowering, and cardiovascular; it's the element that's emphasized in a power class and muted in a restorative class. Plank, boat, arm-balances, yogic push-ups, and, most glaringly, sun salutes all honor the fire in a practice. The heat purifies us, we sweat, and we overcome the initial urge to react negatively to the fire element, resisting it as too hard, too exercise-y, too unyogalike.
The purpose of any yoga practice is to create a space for self-transformation and self-transcendence. Fire destroys that which no longer serves us- bad relationships, damaging inner mantras, etc.- and opens up room for change. Fire is not only a destructive force, however, as it also generates light and warmth. Humans gravitate toward fire, unconsciously recalling how integral the flame used to be to our lives before it was harnessed in bulbs and wires. Fire is primal, and it feeds our souls.
Carrying the torch throughout the year in our yoga practice means cultivating the bandhas, invigorating the core, allowing solar energy to fuel our surya namaskar, and relishing the sweat. Fire is a key element to integrate into our sadhanas, but it becomes even more valuable in autumn and winter. The seasonal fire is dying for now, and so we must stoke our inner embers to maintain the balance.
With summer's end weeks away, and fire slowly being doused in autumn's water, we are charged to carry the torch between now and next June. In a yoga practice, fire is purifying, core-empowering, and cardiovascular; it's the element that's emphasized in a power class and muted in a restorative class. Plank, boat, arm-balances, yogic push-ups, and, most glaringly, sun salutes all honor the fire in a practice. The heat purifies us, we sweat, and we overcome the initial urge to react negatively to the fire element, resisting it as too hard, too exercise-y, too unyogalike.
The purpose of any yoga practice is to create a space for self-transformation and self-transcendence. Fire destroys that which no longer serves us- bad relationships, damaging inner mantras, etc.- and opens up room for change. Fire is not only a destructive force, however, as it also generates light and warmth. Humans gravitate toward fire, unconsciously recalling how integral the flame used to be to our lives before it was harnessed in bulbs and wires. Fire is primal, and it feeds our souls.
Carrying the torch throughout the year in our yoga practice means cultivating the bandhas, invigorating the core, allowing solar energy to fuel our surya namaskar, and relishing the sweat. Fire is a key element to integrate into our sadhanas, but it becomes even more valuable in autumn and winter. The seasonal fire is dying for now, and so we must stoke our inner embers to maintain the balance.
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Honoring the Water
The water element in a yoga practice is what makes you break the rules. Water forces you to roll your neck and bend your knees when you're not supposed to, just because it feels yummy. Water is fluid and spontaneous. On the mat, water is what drowns alignment and generates an uncontained, liberating flow.
Water is the fuel of vinyasa, the creative force.
Honor the water by letting go of everything you think you know. Get on the mat and just flow. Forget the perfect pose; there's no such thing, anyway.
Water is the fuel of vinyasa, the creative force.
Honor the water by letting go of everything you think you know. Get on the mat and just flow. Forget the perfect pose; there's no such thing, anyway.
Thursday, July 28, 2011
The Medicine Wheel of Yoga
Native Americans, Celts, Druids, African and South American Shamans, and Tibetan monks all acknowledge and make use of some version of the Medicine Wheel. In a yoga practice aligned with Earthly energies, the Medicine Wheel is a means of framing connections between directions, chakras, elements, ayurveda, and, of course, asana.
The Earth element corresponds to North, the color red, the winter season, and the full moon; it is the dimension of manifestation and grounding. Earth is embodied in the root chakra and root bandha.
The Water element lives in the West, corresponds to vibrant orange, the season of autumn, and the waxing moon. Water is creativity, flexibility, and spontaneity concentrated in the sacral chakra.
Fire is the Southern, yellow element that is most pronounced during the summer months. Corresponding to the new moon and solar plexus, fire is uddiyana bandha and surya namaskar in yoga.
Air is emerald green and hails from the East. In the spring season, air is created by the space between winter's heaviness and summer's fire. Air is breath and heart-opening asana, fueled by lightness and intangibility.
Finally, ether exists above, below, and all around. It is in all seasons, and corresponds to blues and violets. In yoga practice, ether is throat-opening chants, third-eye opening visualization, and crown-opening meditation.
Similar to Ayurvedic philosophy's contention that a complete meal contains all flavors, a complete, universe-aligned yoga practice contains all five elements. The practitioner seeks and finds elemental balance on and off the mat by engaging in the Living Mandala [of] Yoga.
The Earth element corresponds to North, the color red, the winter season, and the full moon; it is the dimension of manifestation and grounding. Earth is embodied in the root chakra and root bandha.
The Water element lives in the West, corresponds to vibrant orange, the season of autumn, and the waxing moon. Water is creativity, flexibility, and spontaneity concentrated in the sacral chakra.
Fire is the Southern, yellow element that is most pronounced during the summer months. Corresponding to the new moon and solar plexus, fire is uddiyana bandha and surya namaskar in yoga.
Air is emerald green and hails from the East. In the spring season, air is created by the space between winter's heaviness and summer's fire. Air is breath and heart-opening asana, fueled by lightness and intangibility.
Finally, ether exists above, below, and all around. It is in all seasons, and corresponds to blues and violets. In yoga practice, ether is throat-opening chants, third-eye opening visualization, and crown-opening meditation.
Similar to Ayurvedic philosophy's contention that a complete meal contains all flavors, a complete, universe-aligned yoga practice contains all five elements. The practitioner seeks and finds elemental balance on and off the mat by engaging in the Living Mandala [of] Yoga.
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Yoga for the Dying Fire
Lughnassadh is August 1st, marking the Celtic celebration of harvest's bounty. The days are still boiling and belong to winged, bitey things.
But change is riding the summer wind!
The end of the month will bring subtly cooler nights, earlier sunsets, and the promise of fall.
The dying fire of summer is autumn's welcome, however, and we move away from the heat of the flame and toward the purification of water. The changes that come with fall mark the most drastic of seasonal shifts; one week in early September it's 75 degrees, and the next it's 50. From shorts and flippies to jeans and Uggs in seven days.
Honoring the dying fire early in August eases the transition from fire to water, summer to fall. Moving along the chakral path of manifestation, downward on the solar nadi, the movement from the fire chakra to the water chakra is a movement from rigid, ego-driven action to fluid, creative movement.
Yoga for the dying fire aligns closely with the elements of fire and water, bidding farewell to summer and welcoming the creative changes fall brings. Honor the fire through core-energizing kriyas and heated pranayama. Move from plank to down-dog and back again. Join archer with some kapalabhati!
Bring balance to the fire element with fluid vinyasas and spinal liberation. Wave the spine in down-dog and table. Roll the neck in a low cobra.
Acknowledge the turning of the wheel by practicing outside while you still can!
Playlist recommendations for a dying fire practice: Jai Uttal's "Night on the Ganges;" Jimi's "Red House;"
Happy Lughnassadh!
But change is riding the summer wind!
The end of the month will bring subtly cooler nights, earlier sunsets, and the promise of fall.
The dying fire of summer is autumn's welcome, however, and we move away from the heat of the flame and toward the purification of water. The changes that come with fall mark the most drastic of seasonal shifts; one week in early September it's 75 degrees, and the next it's 50. From shorts and flippies to jeans and Uggs in seven days.
Honoring the dying fire early in August eases the transition from fire to water, summer to fall. Moving along the chakral path of manifestation, downward on the solar nadi, the movement from the fire chakra to the water chakra is a movement from rigid, ego-driven action to fluid, creative movement.
Yoga for the dying fire aligns closely with the elements of fire and water, bidding farewell to summer and welcoming the creative changes fall brings. Honor the fire through core-energizing kriyas and heated pranayama. Move from plank to down-dog and back again. Join archer with some kapalabhati!
Bring balance to the fire element with fluid vinyasas and spinal liberation. Wave the spine in down-dog and table. Roll the neck in a low cobra.
Acknowledge the turning of the wheel by practicing outside while you still can!
Playlist recommendations for a dying fire practice: Jai Uttal's "Night on the Ganges;" Jimi's "Red House;"
Happy Lughnassadh!
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