Yoga for the air element in Maui
Open your breath and lighten up.
Air classes take vayu, the air element, as their theme, one of the five great elements of Indian philosophy and yoga. In practice that mostly means breath: plenty of pranayama, chest openers and light, easy movement.
No classes scheduled in the next two weeks.
What Air does for you
You spend real time on your breath: how it moves, where it goes, how slow it can get. Chest openers and side bends make space around your ribs, and many people leave feeling lighter and clearer. It suits anyone who has been holding their breath all week without noticing. The pace is lively but never heavy.
It suits you if
- you catch yourself holding your breath
- you want to learn simple breath practices
- you like light, open movement more than heavy holds
- your chest and shoulders feel tight
Read the full guide to AirWhat a class is like, your first time, history and the words you will hear
What a class is like
Classes run 60 to 75 minutes, mixing movement and breath. Expect side bends, chest and shoulder openers, gentle backbends, perhaps a balance pose for lightness, and a block of pranayama: ujjayi, alternate nostril breathing and counted breaths with short pauses. Some facilitators talk about the five vayus, the 'winds' of prana in yogic thought. Some classes tie the theme to the heart chakra. Sweat is light; the focus is on breathing.
Your first time
- Wear something that does not squeeze your belly or ribs.
- Arrive a few minutes early so you can settle your breath before class starts.
- Tell the facilitator if you have asthma or any condition that affects your breathing.
Good to know
- If a class includes breath holds or fast breathing and you are pregnant or have epilepsy, a heart condition or high blood pressure, check with your doctor first and keep your breath natural.
- Breath practice makes some people light-headed; stop and breathe normally if that happens.
Where it comes from
Air, vayu in Sanskrit, is one of the pancha mahabhuta, the five great elements alongside earth, water, fire and ether. Its qualities are movement, lightness and dryness, and in Samkhya philosophy it arises from the subtle element (tanmatra) linked to touch. Vayu is also the Vedic god of wind.
In yoga, air connects to prana, the life breath. The Upanishads and later yoga texts describe five vayus, or winds, of prana (prana, apana, samana, udana and vyana) that move in different directions through the body, and pranayama, the regulation of breath, is the fourth limb in Patanjali's Yoga Sutras and a major practice in hatha manuals such as the 15th century Hatha Yoga Pradipika. In the chakra system of tantric texts such as the Sat-Cakra-Nirupana (1577), air belongs to Anahata, the heart chakra, shown as a six-pointed star.
Ayurveda pairs air with ether to form vata, the dosha associated with movement, and links vata to the dry, windy weeks of autumn and early winter, which is when many studios schedule air themes. Others run air as one week of a five-element series. The Chinese five phases, which some yin facilitators use, have no air element at all; metal, linked with the lungs and autumn, takes a roughly similar place.
In Berlin, air themes overlap with the city's busy breathwork scene and with gentle evening classes built around pranayama.
Words you will hear
- Vayu
- Sanskrit for air or wind, one of the five great elements.
- Prana
- The life breath or vital energy that breath practice works with.
- Pranayama
- The practice of shaping and slowing the breath.
- Nadi shodhana
- Alternate nostril breathing, closing one nostril at a time with your fingers.
- Vata
- In Ayurveda, the dosha made of air and ether, associated with movement.