Air element yoga & meditation

In class today we explored the air meditation. Life on Earth is possible due to our atmosphere. Though we may think we are quite autonomous, the truth is that we are completely dependent on what the Earth and other life forms provide for us. Air comes from plant processes and is managed by the oceans, moved around by the air currents. It is what feeds and nourishes our cells, fills our lungs and makes life possible.

At a metaphoric level, air is also about letting go, finding expansiveness, opening the heart, letting go of pain and fears, and opening to a new breath, new possibilities, freshness and serenity. Meditation on air connects us with the heart and our inter-being with the rest of the planet. Yoga with an air focus is light, heart opening, expansive and generous.

The class included sun salutations, and the peak postures was Ustrasana, the camel, which is a back bend that allows the heart to open and the chest to fill with air.

Godrey provided us with this poem after the class:

When I Think Of You
My body goes to rest;
your peace leads me to the light of far away silences

When I think of you my heart smells like lavender,
my soul, a sunflower in a field of spirits
that flutter their petals to the expanse of the silver sky

When I think of you
I become the silence in the navy blue night...

(c)Godfrey C. Luyt, 2013


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