Air: the element of rhythm
Air qualities are expansion, filling, lightness, rhythm, grace, mobility and thinking. The fundamental expression of air is expansion, opening or extension. Its subtle expression is rhythm. It is embodied in the technique of pranayama.
The arena of air is the thorax, its source is the throat, its medium the joints, and its key the bones. Air is cultivated and expressed by creating space in the joints and organs, particularly the lungs, and creating lightness in action and movement.
The superficial application of air is to breathe completely freely and organically. This gives the breath back to the wisdom of the body, and undermines the tyrrany of conceptual knowledge. Its subtle application is to become intimate with the universal presence and subtleties of rhythm. This releases us from the dualistic impulse to generate conflict between opposites: not least life and death, body and mind, spirit and matter.
Establishing air requires pressure, the sign of its presence is its opposite, openness. Muscles are used to generate stabilising pressure on the bones that opens the joints and cavities of the body. This breathing with and from the whole body releases internal pressure and allows air and prana to circulate more freely.
