Facts About fire
A couple months ago, I started to tell you about how my background in yoga and Ayurveda inspire and inform my choices when I design jewelry. How the 5 Elements of these systems— Earth, Water, Fire, Wind and Space—show up in everything we do, touch or see. I shared about Earth Element and how it shows up as the principle of stability and support, and about Water Element and how is shows up as the principle of nourishment.
This week I want to share about Fire Element. As we pass summer solstice in the Northern Hemisphere, Fire Element increases in the environment around us, as the sun heats up and dries out the earth. It’s an important time of the year to make sure that we are staying hydrated and cool
Fire Element is the principle of Transformation.
In the body, this most obviously manifests in the flame of digestion. Fire element expresses as hot, sharp, bright, upward-moving, and spreading.
Fire element also manages all of the transformations that happen in the body—from digestion of food to the conversion of ideas into understanding.
When you express undistorted fire, you have great capacity for affection and compassion. You feel naturally joyful, generous, and enthusiastic. Fire element brings you intelligence, an ability to “cut through” the surface appearance of things, and the capacity to transform what you find to reach deeper understanding.
When fire element is clarified, your hunger matches the amount of your exertion on a given day. Digestion and elimination are regular and easy. The skin has a healthy luster and warmth, and your eyes are bright and clear.
Modern life rewards intensity and ambition. Under pressure to achieve, Fire Element builds up. The hot and sharp qualities of fire may express in anger, irritability, and judgment. With fire in excess, our intensity may be overwhelming to others.
Surplus fire element leaves us feeling hot and bothered all the time. Red, burning skin rashes might appear at the slightest provocation. Often there is an increase in sweat and urination and bowel movements become loose and frequent. Fever and bloodshot eyes are also common expressions of excess fire element.
When fire is depleted, we feel cold, flat, depressed, and unmotivated. The mind can't digest new information. A lack of drive and enthusiasm leads to laziness, and we withdraw into our selves like an animal retreating into its den.
Lack of sufficient fire slows digestion and leaves the skin cold, clammy, and grayish. Food may pass through us without undergoing transformation. The eyes become dull or glassy, and a thick coating may cover the tongue.
Some remedies for excess Fire Element:
Under-achieving and true “team-work” (especially when there is no personal “reward”)
Slow yoga practice with long, deep holds; heart opening postures
Moon Salutation(Chandra Namaskar) asanasequence
Moon-bathing
Some remedies for deficient Fire Element:
Exercise
Sun Salutation (Surya Namaskar) yoga asana sequence
Ginger tea or ginger used in cooking
Light, easily digested food
Media-fasting—minimizing use of media entertainment such as movies, music, internet, etc.
There is so much more to say about Fire Element, and how it expresses, but I’d love to give you more of a FEEL for it. Here is a yoga sequence I recorded a few years back to help you explore Fire Element.
Check out these song links and see if you can sense some of the transformational, sharp, bright and upbeat qualities of Fire Element…
Breathe, by The Prodigy
Nebulous Tango, by Hether
Heretic Pride, by The Mountain Goats
Cinder and Smoke, by Iron and Wine—this one, like the title implies—is more post Fire and kinda Windy