FIRE ELEMENT - Sun Salutations aka Surya Namaskara

(from Jennifer and Nya's 40 Days to Optimal Health)

“People are like stained - glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within.”
 - Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

The sun symbolizes our spiritual consciousness and has been worshipped from the beginning of time. In yogic philosophy, we all have own our personal internal sun at our solar plexus.  The solar plexus are the seat of the third chakra and lie deep within the abdomen.  The solar plexus is complex of ganglia and radiating nerves of the sympathetic system. They are our source of personal power.

The fire element is about change and transformation. We invite the fire element into our yoga practice to increase our determination, drive, commitment, passion, intensity, radiance and inspiration. There are many different ways to bring the fire element into your yoga practice, from a continuous flow through the poses in Surya Namaskara, abdominal exercises like plank and boat poses, and restorative and/or aggressive twists, such as revolved triangle and ½ Lord of the fishes pose. Specific breathing techniques such as the breath of fire also activate the fire element.

Today let’s explore the postures, mantras and meanings involved in Surya Namaskara. Surya is Sanskrit for sun and Namaskara means salutations. Surya Namaskara is often simply called Sun Salutations. Surya Namaskara is a complete spiritual practice (sadhana) because it includes asana, pranayama, mantra and meditation. Surya Namaskara vitalizes the solar energy in the body which flows through pingala nadi (the pranic channel which carries the vital, life force).

The sequence can be practiced any time of day but the ideal time to practice Surya Namaskara is at sunrise or sunset. Whenever possible practice outside facing the sun. Always practice on an empty stomach. Surya Namaskara is more often called Surya Namskar without the final A sound.  The final A is usually dropped in yogic names when they are changed from Sanskrit to Hindi.

Position #1:  Pranamasana (Prayer pose)
Mantra: Om Mitraaya Namaha
Meaning: Salutations to the one who is friendly to all
Breath: Normal
Physical Awareness: On the Chest
Spiritual Awareness: On Heart Chakra

Position #2: Hasta Uttanasana (Raised Arms pose)
Mantra: Om Ravaye Namaha
Meaning: Salutations to the shining one.
Breath: Inhale while raising the arms
Physical Awareness: On the stretch of the abdomen and the expansion on the lungs
Spiritual Awareness: On the throat chakra

Position #3: Padhastasana (Hand to Foot pose)
Mantra: Om Suryaya Namaha
Meaning: Salutations to the one who is the dispels the darkness and brings activity
Breath: Exhale while bending forward
Physical Awareness: On the back and Pelvis
Spiritual Awareness: On the Sacral Chakra

Position #4: Ashwa Sanchalanasana (Low Lunge/Equestrian pose)
Mantra: Om Bhaanave Namaha
Meaning: Salutations to the bright one who illumines.
Breath: Inhale while stretching the right leg back
Physical Awareness:  On the stretch from the thigh through the lower back.
Spiritual Awareness: On the eyebrow center

Position #5:  Dandasana (Plank pose)
 Mantra: Om Khagaya Namaha
 Meaning: Salutations to the one who is all-pervading, one who moves through the sky
Breath: Exhale while taking the left leg back
Physical Awareness: Stretch through the Achilles tendon, the back of the legs, shoulders and throat
Spiritual Awareness: Throat Chakra

Position #6: Ashtanga Namaskara  (Salute With Eight Parts Or Points)
Mantra: Om Pooshne Namaha
Meaning: Salutations to the one who is Giver of nourishment and fulfillment
Breath: Hold the breath out
Physical Awareness: Arch of the lower back and the abdominals
Spiritual Awareness:  On the solar plexus chakra

Position # 7: Bhujangasana (Cobra pose)
Mantra: Om Hiranyagarbhaaya Namaha
Meaning: Salutations to the one who has golden color brilliance
Breath: Inhale while raising the torso and arching the back
Physical Awareness: Relaxation of the Spine
Spiritual Awareness: On the Sacral Chakra

Position #8: Parvatasana (Downward Facing Dog)
Mantra: Om Mareechaye Namaha
Meaning: Salutations to the giver of light with infinite number of rays
Breath: Exhale while taking the left leg back
Physical Awareness: Stretch through the Achilles tendon, the back of the legs, shoulders and throat
Spiritual Awareness: Throat Chakra

Position #9: Ashwa Sanchalanasana (Low Lunge/Equestrian pose)
Mantra: Om Aadityaaya Namaha
Meaning: Salutations to the son of Aditi – the cosmic divine Mother
Breath: Inhale while stretching the right leg back
Physical Awareness:  On the stretch from the thigh through the lower back.
Spiritual Awareness: On the eyebrow center

Position 10: Hasta Padasana (Hand to Foot pose)
Mantra: Om Savitre Namaha
 Meaning: Salutations to the One who is responsible for life
 Breath: Exhale while bending forward
Physical Awareness: On the back and Pelvis
Spiritual Awareness: On the Sacral Chakra

Position 11: Hastauttanasana (Raised Arms pose)
Mantra: Om Aarkaaya Namaha
Meaning: Salutations to the one who is Worthy of praise and glory
Breath: Inhale while raising the arms
Physical Awareness: On the stretch of the abdomen and the expansion on the lungs
Spiritual Awareness: On the throat chakra

12 Tadasana
Mantra: Om Bhaaskaraya Namaha
 Meaning: Salutations to the one leads us to enlightenment
Breath: Normal
Physical Awareness: On the Chest
Spiritual Awareness: On Heart Chakra

REPEAT using the opposite leg to lead to complete one round
Position #4 now will have the left leg back
Position #8 now will have the right leg back

There lots of videos on youtube demonstrating sun salutations with mantras. If you are interested in a restorative practice for connecting to the fire element visit my blog for a Yin Sequence concentrating on the Solar Plexus Chakra use the following link.

http://www.nyapatrinos.blogspot.com/2015/08/chakra-series-yin-yoga-solar-plexus.html

Journaling
1) Each round of Surya Namaskara describes a different aspect of the divine. Each of these aspect has its own name.  What are the different names people call you by? What are your nicknames, pet names, childhood names? Do you have a spiritual name? What aspects of your personality do these names describe?  How do you feel when you are called by these different names?

Activity
1) Practice 3 to 7 rounds of Surya Namasakara.  Remember one traditional round includes one cycle on both the right and left side of the body therefore one round may feel more like two..

FIRE ELEMENT – RELEASING THE FIRE THROUGH THE SKIN – THE TAO OF SWEATING

“Sweat, sweat, sweat! Work and sweat, cry and sweat, pray and sweat!”
- Zora Neale Hurston

I first started practicing hot yoga in 2004.  I was working in San Diego on Veronica Mars and the only yoga class near me that started after 8pm was at the Bikram Yoga Studio in Old Town.  I wasn’t interested in Bikram yoga.  I didn’t like the idea of being in a hot room with lots of sweaty people.  To me it seemed nasty and foul.  But, I felt I needed a yoga class, and I didn’t get off of work until late so I decided to try it.

I remember my first class very well.  It was an absolute struggle and much of the class I was gasping for breath.  When it was over I could hardly walk or think.  On the way home, I pulled over to a convenience store, I had only driven a block or two. I drank two naked juices for energy while sitting in my parked car.  But, the next day I felt great, so I decided to do it again.  Soon I was hooked.  In the beginning, my body didn’t know how to sweat.  I never had been a person who sweated very much.  But after a few sessions my body released and I was sweating away.
When the body sweats it releases liquid from the sweat glands. Sweating helps regulate the body temperature.  The health benefits of sweating include detoxification, improved skin tone, stress relief, and improved blood circulation.  Sweating also helps kill pathogenic bacteria and viruses.
You do not have to do hot yoga to sweat. In most kundalini, hatha or flow classes you will work up a great sweat.  You can also visit a steam room or sauna to passively sweat.  I love using the heated pools, steam rooms and saunas at Olympic Spa in Koreatown.  I find taking a few hours to soak and heat bathe brings me to an incredibly blissful state.  I also enjoy applying therapeutic heat to my body by having a hot stone massage.

Purification ceremonies using heat and sweat are employed by many cultures and traditions. The sweat lodge is used by Indigenous peoples of the Americas for ceremonial steam baths and prayer. Indigenous people around the Bering Strait, ancient Greeks, ancient Romans, northern Finns and Laplanders, are just a few of the cultures who used or use ritual baths and heat bathing. As you explore the fire element this week take some time to purify, pray and release your inner fire by sweating.

JOURNALING QUESTIONS
1) Have you sweat this week?
2) What is your relationship to your own sweat?

ACTIVITY
1) Connect to the fire element by taking a sauna or steam bath or a having a hot stone massage? If you can’t make it to a spa take a long warm soak in your tub. Set up the bathroom for a purifying ritual by added bath salts and lighting candles. Journal about how you felt doing this therapeutic heat bathing?

THE FIRE ELEMENT

(from Nya and Jennifer's - 40 Days to Optimal Health)

“Everything becomes fire, and from fire everything is born.”
- Herakleitos 

The domestication of fire is one of the most pivotal events in human history. For hundreds of thousands of years, familial and/or tribal bonding have taken place by the fire. Across varied cultures, torches, bonfires, burning embers and ashes are symbolic of transformation, growth and well being.

There are both internal and external fires in the human experience.  Flames and fire are symbols of passion, anger, excitement, vitality, and inspiration. But they are more than symbolic because we feel heat and energy traveling through our body when fiery emotions are accessed. Sometimes our emotions get so hot that others need to stand back in order not to be burned.

Fire can bring transformation, purification and destruction. Fire of transformation can be seen when we cook our food to aid digestion. Fire of purification is expressed by a fever which is a sign that the body is burning toxins and bacteria to purify itself. Fire of destruction, as seen in wildfires in California, that destroy everything in their path.

The Fire Element is associated with the solar plexus chakra which is depicted as a sun between the navel and the heart. Each of us have are our personal sun burning at the core of our body. The solar plexus is where we find our confidence, self esteem, will power. self discipline and personal warmth. When the solar plexus chakra is overactive, we can have emotional outbursts and feel stressed out. If the chakra is blocked or deficient, we become passive and inactive. When the solar plexus chakra is healthy and strong, we have the ability to move forward in life with confidence and power.

The ram is the animal associated with the air element. The ram is a symbol of determination, action, initiative, and leadership. It’s horns represent our need to keep our mind stimulated. The ram reminds us to be assertive, act without hesitation, find our personal strength and be independent.

The Zodiac fire signs are Aries, Leo and Sagittarius. Fire signers are passionate,  enthusiastic, creative, energetic and combustible.The trendsetters of the zodiac, fire signers are born leaders, because, others are drawn to their personal heat and natural sparkle. Like any fire, fire signers are usually the center of attention.

Take this week on the fire element to work on transformation and purification, as well as an opportunity to observe and cool off any destructive tendencies. A successful relationship with the Fire element means knowing when to add kindling to make it stronger, when to let it fizzle out, and when to get out of its way.  This week remember  to tend your personal personal embers, enjoy the warmth of your internal sun, and celebrate your inner sparkle.


Journaling Questions

What is your relationship to fire.  Do you have any pleasant memories of being around the fire with family or friends?
Are there any behaviors or attitudes that you need to transform, purify or burn?
Are there any people in your life that trigger fiery emotions in you? Do you experience these emotions as warm?  Where do you feel them in the body?
How would you describe the state of your solar plexus chakra? Overactive? Blocked? Healthy? Why? Expand on this question.
The ram is symbolic of our personal determination?  What are you determined to do this week? Is there anything that your are feeling hesitant about?
If you didn’t look last week.  What element is your zodiac sign?

FIRE ELEMENT – INNER LIGHT

I wanted to post some things I wrote from 40 days to Optimal Health Program that Jennifer Kelly and I wrote and conducted at the Yogi Tree this January and February.

“The light that shines beyond this heaven, beyond all, in the highest worlds beyond which there are none higher, is truly the same light that shines with the person.”

- Chandogya Upanishad

As we spend this week at the Yogi Tree investigating the Fire Element I would like to explore the concept of inner light. Light and Fire are two aspects of the same basic energy.  In many traditions there is the idea that every human being has an inner light or a divine spark. Once our inner light is illuminated our personal  transformation speeds us enormously.  We become all fired up. We are full of enthusiasm. The word enthusiasm  means “to be infused with god force”

As humans we can be considered radiate sources of light or walking stars. Sometimes I have a moment in drawing session where I feel like everything I make is somehow turning out beautifully.  Many refer to this as in flow but I have always called it being on fire. I know all the moves to make.  I am unconsciously creating with a divine spark.  Seeing all the details.  Knowing how to translate from the model to my page. I feel connected to the universe. No longer are my hands making the art, the art is making itself.

These experiences are when I feel closest to God,  I feel God inside of me.

My seeing has changed from ordinary vision.  In yoga we speak of three eyes.  The left eye is lunar, night, feminine, receptive, the right eye is solar, day, masculine, dynamic expression. The third eye, in the center of the forehead, and is the seat of inner vision, intuition, perception and clairvoyance. In these drawing sessions when I am on fire I feel as if I am seeing through my 3^rd eye.

JOURNALING QUESTIONS

1) Do you feel as if you have an inner light or divine spark?

2) What would you like to rapidly transform in your life?

3) Have you ever had an experience of being on fire or in flow?

4) Are there moments when you feel as if you are seeing through your third eye? Elaborate