THE LOST WISDOM OF THE FIVE ELEMENTS IN YOGA

Was yoga designed to balance the Five Elements in the human body? I’m talking about Fire, Water, Air, Earth, and the fifth element Space or Spirit. We certainly hear this statement regarding Ayurveda, but what about yoga? Is the concept of the Five Elements of Nature the lost origin of yoga? I would definitely say yes, and there are many clues telling us this. Today I will present one of them that is almost a taboo topic in the world of Yoga.

ESOTERIC TEACHINGS

Let’s examine something you won’t find in most yoga books, at least not until now.

It is a fact that the Five Elements of nature have been a popular philosophical and spiritual topic worldwide, from ancient times to the present day. Furthermore, it is not an exaggeration to say that this concept of the Five Elements is the basis of almost all famous esoteric teachings.

If you read any book on ayurveda, vastu, Chinese medicine, astrology, alchemy, shamanism, and many other similar teachings, you will often find the knowledge of the Five Elements on the first pages. However, yoga is an exception, where the Five Elements are not even mentioned sometimes.

If they are mentioned, authors mostly cite two sources: Ayurveda or samkhya philosophy, which are likely not part of the original yoga, and the chakras. While the chakras could be part of original yoga, and I will address them later, yoga presents something truly unique and authentic about the Five Elements, something we don’t find in other teachings: the five levels or layers of human existence, known as the five koshas.

FIVE METHODS IN HATHA YOGA

Well, I think you will agree that one of the main aims of yoga, or other similar well-being methods, is to balance ourselves. Therefore, if we want to create a practice that serves this purpose, we should create a method, or combine five methods, each specifically working on one of the five levels of our existence.

But luckily, we don’t need to invent new methods, because it has already been done, and it is called Hatha yoga. If we carefully analyse a typical Hatha yoga class, we can find that for every level, there is one main technique or method.

FIVE LEVELS OF OUR EXISTENCE

These are: Annamaya Kosha, Manomaya Kosha, Pranamaya Kosha, Vijnanamaya Kosha, and Anandamaya Kosha. In translation, these are the physical layer, the emotional layer, the energetic layer, the intellectual or mental layer, and the spiritual layer.

The reason why these five koshas are not widely known in yoga, except mostly for yoga teachers, is that there is not much information written about them. However, one can easily understand that they are related to the Five Elements, not only because there are five of them, but also because their names suggest a connection. Of course, many yogis and scholars have reached this conclusion. However, when they tried to relate them to the elements respectively, they encountered a problem that seems like yogis have not managed to resolve, and therefore, they often avoid discussing it.

MOVEMENTS FOR FIRE

For the energetic level, which means the Fire Element, the method is Vinyasa, or more precisely, Surya Namaskar, or Sun Salutation. When you practice these movements, or any physical exercises you definitely activate the energy and heat in your body, representing the Fire or energetic level. Sometimes, other practices, like energetic breathing exercises, also achieve a similar effect. Now is starting to get more sense that Fire is an energetic level.

RELAXATION FOR WATER

The method that works on the emotional level, or the Water Element, is Shavasana, which means a relaxation posture. Among all the elements in nature, Water is the most relaxed. The Water Element is associated with emotions and feelings because when we experience intense emotions, we cry, meaning that extra water comes out of our eyes. Originally in Hatha yoga, shavasana was performed after every posture, even when the posture was not challenging or difficult, because savasana relaxes not only your body but the entire system on each level, including the emotional level. Many teachers will tell you during savasana to observe your feelings and even cultivate pleasant feelings, such as relaxation, joy, or love.

But I believe there is a solution. I also think that this issue is why the Five Elements are not clearly presented as the foundation of yoga.

PRANA IS ENERGY

The problem is that the Pranamaya Kosha is quickly associated with pranayama (breathing techniques), and therefore, related to the Air Element. At first this looks logical but this could be the actual mistake everyone immediately makes, because after that the element fire does not have a proper kosha.

But if we acknowledge that the word “prana,” which means energy, is not only in the air but is everywhere, meaning in all Elements, then we can assign the Pranamaya Kosha to the Fire Element. Why Fire, because among all the elements, fire is the most energetic, and therefore, it can represent energy in many cases. So Fire could easily represent the Energetic level or layer which is Pranamaya Kosha while Air Element can be easily associated with intellect and knowledge, which is Vijnanamaya Kosha.

Once we agree on this, it is easy to assign all the other Elements to their respective koshas using simple logic:

• Annamaya Kosha, physical level, Earth Element;

• Manomaya Kosha, emotional level, Water Element;

• Vijnanamaya Kosha, intellectual level, Air Element;

• Anandamaya Kosha, spiritual level, Space Element; and

• Pranamaya Kosha, energetic level, Fire Element Okay, you might ask, even if this is true, what is the point? Where is the value of knowing that?