Vāyu - The Cosmic Air Force

Recently, a very dear and wise friend of mine was talking to me about the Vāyus.

 

As she spoke, I realised that I hadn’t really thought about this beautiful Ayurvedic and yogic concept for some time.

So I went home and began reading again.

And, as so often happens when I return to these ancient teachings, something that I had learned many years ago suddenly felt completely new.

I thought I would share my interpretation of Vāyu with you here.

Vāyu - The Cosmic Air Force

 

The Sanskrit word Vāyu means wind.

But, as with so many Sanskrit words, its meaning is much richer than its simple English translation.

Vāyu is movement.

It is the invisible force that moves through us and through the natural world.

The wind moving through the trees.

The breath moving into and out of the lungs.

Blood moving through the body.

Food travelling through the digestive tract.

Thoughts moving through the mind.

Words moving from somewhere deep within us and out into the world.

Even the movement of birth, menstruation, elimination and eventually death.

Life, when we really look at it, is constantly moving.

And the ancient Ayurvedic and yogic teachings recognised that there is an intelligence within this movement.

I like to think of Vāyu in the way David Frawley explains -as a kind of cosmic air force - invisible currents moving life in particular directions.

Ayurveda describes five primary Vāyus within the human body.

Prāṇa Vāyu - receiving

Prāṇa Vāyu moves inward.

It governs our inhalation and our ability to receive — not only oxygen, but also sensory information, ideas and experiences.

It makes me think about a question we perhaps don't ask ourselves often enough:

What am I allowing into my life?

What am I reading?

What am I watching?

Who am I listening to?

What impressions am I continually feeding my mind?

We are not only nourished by food. We are nourished by everything we take in.

Samāna Vāyu - digesting

Samāna gathers inward toward our centre and is closely associated with Agni — our digestive fire.

It helps us digest food, absorb what is useful and distinguish it from what we do not need.

But perhaps we are digesting much more than food.

Every day we are attempting to digest conversations, relationships, experiences, emotions and enormous amounts of information.

Some experiences are easily assimilated.

Others sit within us for years.

Samāna reminds me to ask:

What am I still trying to digest?

Vyāna Vāyu - circulating

Vyāna moves outward from the centre and throughout the entire body.

It is associated with circulation, movement, coordination and distribution.

Something comes in.

We digest it.

And then it becomes part of us.

Nutrients become tissue.

Experience becomes wisdom.

An idea becomes action.

Love felt within us becomes kindness expressed outwardly.

Vyāna is the movement that carries something from the centre into the whole.

Udāna Vāyu - expressing

Udāna moves upward.

It is associated with the voice, speech, expression, enthusiasm and our ability to bring something from within ourselves out into the world.

There is something beautiful about this.

We all carry thoughts, creativity, wisdom and truth within us.

Udāna asks:

What wants to be expressed through me?

Perhaps that is a conversation.

A song.

A business.

A piece of writing.

A truth we have been afraid to speak.

Or simply the courage to live more authentically.

Apāna Vāyu - releasing

And finally there is Apāna.

Apāna moves downward and governs elimination, menstruation, reproduction and childbirth.

Its movement is one of release.

Nature understands this perfectly.

Trees release their leaves.

The body releases what it no longer needs.

The earth receives what has died and turns it into new life.

Yet we humans can become remarkably good at holding on.

To possessions.

To identities.

To relationships.

To old beliefs.

To versions of ourselves that we may have outgrown long ago.

Apāna gently asks:

What am I ready to let go of?

The intelligence of movement

What struck me most as I revisited the Vāyus was how beautifully they describe the rhythm of being alive.

We receive.
We digest.
We distribute.
We express.
We release.

And then the cycle begins again.

Perhaps health is not simply about what we eat, what supplements we take or how perfectly we follow a wellness routine.

Perhaps health also depends upon allowing life to move through us.

To receive what nourishes us.

To digest our experiences.

To allow what we have learned to move through our lives.

To express what is true.

And, importantly, to release what is finished.

When movement becomes stuck, life can begin to feel stuck too.

I have found myself thinking about these five movements ever since that conversation with my friend.

Not as another thing to master.

Just as something to notice.

What am I taking in?
What am I digesting?
What am I sharing?
What am I expressing?
And what am I finally ready to release?

Ancient teachings have a wonderful way of bringing us back to very simple truths.

We are part of nature.

And nature is never still.

Life moves.

Perhaps our work is not always to control that movement, but to learn how to move with it.

May we know when to receive, when to express, and when to let go.

~ Carly