Wk 108 – 5 Elements – Air/Wind

This Vinyasa Practice is like doing Pranayama disguised as Asana. We will be moving in a variety of standing poses using different Pranayama techniques to connect with the wind element and utilise the delivery of Prana, (life force to heal, inspire and transform our physical, energetic and mental forms) to find our way back home at our true centre, our heart.

The element of Wind is Vayu in Sanskrit. The movement of Wind that carries the sacred symbolism of communication, breath and life across that planet and within us. Our life force, Prana uses the breath as a vehicle, as we breath in and out. We all know Yoga is more than just flexibility or strength in postures; it is the management of Prana, the vital life force that animates all levels of being. Prana enables the body to move, heal, regenerate as well as enables the mind to think. Prana is said to be the intelligence that coordinates our senses and helps digest information and release that which doesn’t serve us any longer. 

We inhale oxygen and then exhale carbon dioxide, this is call respiration. Yogis experienced this as the Prana Vayus, direction of winds that move life force within the body.

• Pran Vayu – receiving Prana
• Samana Vayu – digesting, absorbing & assimilating that Prana
• Vyana Vayu – distributing & circulating that Prana
• Apana Vayu – eliminating the byproduct, waste 
• Udana Vayu – the positive effects of the other Vayus, uplifts, inspires & ascends in the form of epiphanies, awakening and enlightenment

Open these channels of communication so your Life Force, Prana, can deliver essential information to maintain the homeostasis of the Physical, Energetic and Mental Bodies. Asana is a great tool to improve the quality of your breath and effectively move Prana, tapping into the Vayus enhancing and directing the flow of winds throughout your embodied practice. As a result, you should feel invigorated, energised and find access to an expanded inner awareness that opens you to your higher state of consciousness, specifically within your own centre…your heart. The abode of the wind element is said to be in the, Anahata Chakra, the heart centre. This is where it is said that the winds carry our curiosity, wonderment, our joy to experience life as well as love, delight, kindness, tenderness, compassion, gratitude, contentment and empathy. When the winds are like a Rajasic tornado or a storm, we feel jealousy, possessiveness, obsessive, co-dependency, very critical, judgemental, resentful and suffer from a lack of empathy. When the winds are stagnant we feel that lifeless, motionless Tamasic energy of sadness, loneliness, grief, hurt, sorrow. This is one reason why the movement of breath is so important to the practice of Yoga. To manage the flow of Prana, opening the channels of winds to carry your heart-mind into a place where you feel safe, loved, belonged and connected to source and leads you to your own awakening at your centre.

Vayu Mudra – Thumb pins the index finger down

Bija Mantra – YAM

Sense organ of touch – Feel that air upon your upper lip as you breathe, air upon your bare skin, the subtle breeze that stimulates the body and opens you to the winds that carry your unique expression of your living experiences