Celebrating Earth Month
This post was originally posted on April 3, 2010
In ayurvedic and yogic philosophy everything in and of this World is made of a combination of the five elements: space (Akash), Air (Vayu), fire (Agni or Tejas), water (Jala) and earth (Pritvi).
The attributes of Earth are grounding, heaviness, the connection to Mother Earth – gravity. Earth is stability, permanence and rigidity. In our body we can connect physically with the Earth element in our bones, flesh and muscles – even our teeth!
In our asana practice we can find the connection to Earth through strong grounding posture like the warrior poses, mountain pose, and downward-facing-dog. In every asana we need this relationship to Earth – a grounding which provides stability. When we have this stability we can expand, lift up and grow. For example in mountain pose we feel that the soles of our feet are pressing into the mat and through this connection we can lift up through our chest and the crown of our head – literally growing taller. Another example is in a seated crosslegged position such as sukhasana or padmasana where we instead of grounding through our feet press down through our sitting bones and that way lengthen our spine.
On a spiritual level the Earth element is located in muladhara chakra at the base of the spine. This is also our base for growth and related to our basic needs and our survival instincts such as having somewhere to feel at home, a family/friends support network and being able to feed our selves.
In our anatomy Earth and Water makes up the dosha of Kapha. This manifests as strength, heaviness, soft, cool, oily and sticky qualities. In everyone one of the locations of Kapha is in our respiratory system and too much kapha can become chest infections, colds and a runny nose. People who are predominately kapha will generally have large eyes, strong white teeth, smooth skin and they look stabile and strong often having a larger body frame. They are usually down to Earth, taking it easy and likes to sleep. If imbalanced, Kapha people may put on weight due to their love of tasty food and sweets and may have a tendency to become lazy. We are all made up of a unique combination of all five elements and the three doshas (Vata, Pitta and Kapha) and learning to listen to our body we can create mental, emotional and physical balance – starting from our foundation, our root – the Earth Element!