5 Element 1/19
Acknowledging the Elements
Tattwa Shuddhi Sadhana

photo:
5 Element altar with a handmade Belgian beeswax candle
.
Teach me
Earth’s sincerity
Water’ curiosity
Air’s immensity
Fire’s audacity
Akasha’s gentleness
and home is everywhere.

Basic Breath

Dear Anahata Yogi,

This passage covers the opening movement of the form called ‘Acknowledging the Elements” and introduces the foundation of the energetic practices; breathing up and down the body.

Inhale, imagine energy rise up the body.
Exhale, imagine energy move down the body.
The FULL body from the soles of the feet, legs, pelvis, torso, arms, neck, crown of the head and back the other way. It’s that simple.

You can imagine the energy to be strong or subtle. If you can’t feel the energy yet, visualize the energy with a color of your choice (color is also energy). If you like you can just observe the natural flow of energy rising and falling with the breath without imagining it. Once you are comfortable doing that you can allow, or imagine the energy coming from the earth to flow up into the body and down again into the earth.

The Elements in the body

Acknowledging the Elements is usually only performed once to open the sequence. It is intended to acknowledge and awaken all the elements in the body in preparation for the following movements. But for the sake of learning the movement the instructional video will show multiple repetitions for you to follow along with.

These are the qualities of the elements we connect with, and activate in ourselves during this level 1 course.

Earth – strength. stability, support
Air – communication and vitality
Fire – creativity and transformation
Water – flowing around obstacles
Akasha – connection to all and the mystery

Our body is like a library. We practice storing these elemental qualities within our physical body (for easy access and balance). We do this by using the movements, our intention and breath.

Inhale, breathe in the quality of the element into the area.
Exhale store the quality in the area and release everything that is not needed.

Earth – strength, stability support is breathed into and stored in the legs
Air – communication and vitality is breathed into and stored in the chest, arms, hands and throat.
Fire – creativity and transformation is breathed into and stored in the belly
Water – flowing around obstacles, movement is breathed into and stored in the pelvis
Akasha – connection to all and a sense of mystery is breathed into and stored in the head

When learning the form, we practice all the elements.
Later on, when you use the form to balance and support your personal, unique daily life you can choose to focus on the element with the qualities that you need. For example, if you are feeling stuck you can choose to play the form with the element of water, breathing in fluidity into all the movements and more circulation into the hips and joints. If you are feeling fear and weakness, you can play the form with earth, breathing strength and support into your body and legs.

Full TATTWA SHUDDHI SADDHANA

To Do

This week, practice the basic breath (inhale energy rising, exhale energy descending breath) even when you aren’t doing the 5 Element movement. As you grow and strengthen this way of breathing through repetition and practice, later down the line you can infuse or layer this breath/energy with a myriad of intentions of your choice.

Practice the movement ‘Acknowledging the Elements’ while connecting with the quality of the element and corresponding location in the body.

Mantra : ‘The 5 Elements are within me.’

Going to your Nature Spot is optional.

Breathe in your nature spot

Go to your nature spot and practice the energy rising, energy descending breath. If you like, allow each breath to carry an element and its quality.

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about open anahata

Open Anahata is a dedication to the Anahata Tradition and lineage, past and future. The Anahata system of practices offers a holistic foundation to self-care and soul-evolution grounded in yoga ethics and trialed through many generations.

Our hope is to maintain an open, oral tradition connected to nature and to grow trauma-informed methods of practice, self-inquiry and community on the paths of radical self understanding, cosmic awakening and kundalini rising.

Teachings, philosophies and inspired stories are shared through journal posts on this website. Sign up for the newsletter to receive updates. See the calendar for classes, courses and events.

We explore mindful ways of connecting through digital technology and prefer to share posts via this website, newsletter and telegram.

5 elements

Like many ancient philosophical traditions Anahata yogis observed primal elements. Earth, fire, air, water and akasha (aether) are the five used in the Anahata Five Element Philosophy. They inform a nonverbal language that connects to nature and the subtle energies of reality, setting the foundation to grow and ground psychic perception.

In yoga experience is knowledge, so philosophy is practiced. It is not just an intellectual activity.

The Five Element Purification Practice or Tattwa Shuddhi Saddhana is a system of holistic moving and detoxifying meditations for shifting and balancing physical, energetic, conscious and unconscious mental patterns.  It is an integral part of the Anahata tradition. The movements and philosophy are woven into the classes and daily life. Tattwa Shuddhi Saddhana is often taught as a system on its own as it is suitable for all levels and all shapes of human. See the calendar for upcoming workshops or classes.

Anahata tradition

In the ancient Himalayan foothills of northern India, a lineage of yogis lovingly developed a holistic self care practice inspired by life immersed in mountain-scapes and nature.

Rocky crevices where one misstep meant death, formed ergonomic asanas to improve stamina, agility and stability. High altitudes shaped breath work for optimizing oxygen retention and reinvigorating energy. Night skies illuminated by stars and campfires invoked dream exploration and methods for navigating states of consciousness in trance. Living self-sufficiently nurtured healing techniques that harness the body’s regenerative processes. But above all, the yogis observed that by tuning into their heart intelligence ALL of their life sustaining qualities improved. They became more connected with their environment as well as with themselves. They called their system of practice, Anahata Yoga. Anahata, named after the energetic heart.

Without books or libraries, knowledge was shared through an oral tradition of experiential learning and body memory. Emphasis was placed on inner awareness and meditation filled movements referred to as the dances of Shiva and Shakti. The dances of duality. 

Unlike most hatha yoga traditions popular in the west, Anahata yoga evolved through a lineage outside of the higher priestly castes. Maintaining a tradition devoted to our unique Human Path and journey of individuation.

Your Subconscious

You have a deeper mind, called the subconscious. It is like a hard-drive that stores and connects all your experiences, associations, projections, emotional triggers and unquestioned beliefs. This information influences your behavior, how you think and what you feel. True inner change takes place at this deep and fundamental level of the psyche. Accessing it consciously requires openness to self-inquiry, body connection and a shift in awareness through practices such as meditation, trance, or self hypnosis.

Inner-processing and hypnotherapy sessions facilitate inner transformation and growth through accessing the subconscious mind.

Anahata practices based in yoga psychology offer a holistic system for processing and releasing subconscious patterns through meditation and movement.

astrology aligned with the stars

Sidereal means ‘determined by the stars’ or ‘star time’.

Sidereal Astrology aligns with the real sky, the location of the planets in the stars (zodiac) as they really are NOW.

This means that a Sidereal Astrology reading can include the
energetic influences of stars such as Sirius, the Pleiades and the
powerful 13th zodiac, Ophiuchus. In ancient times, these star energies have guided our connection to cosmic consciousness.

Doesn’t all Astrology align with the real sky? No, and here’s why:

The sky changes overtime. Most western Astrology does not take note of these changes and is stuck to template of an outdated sky.

2000 years ago the constellations in the sky matched the seasons. The Sun rose in Aries (the first sign of the zodiac) during the first day of spring. But since then, the stars have changed position due to something known as the ‘precession of the equinox’. Today when you look at the sky on the first day of spring, the Sun rises in a different zodiac sign : Pisces.

Most western astrology uses ‘tropical astrology’ which was developed 2000 years ago and is based on the seasons and Sun (spring starting with Aries) and NOT what is really happening in the stars and sky now (spring starting in Pisces). There is now a growing difference of one to two zodiac signs between tropical western astrology and the real, visible sky.

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