Air Elemental

Air elemental represents movement and openness, the highest of the four classical elements. Moreover, it is lightness, freedom, and positivity. Undoudfully, it is a vital spirit, swirling freely in and around you. Also, it supplies the power of the mind associated with memory and awareness. Even though ephemeral and inspiring air can’t be seen or captured, we can feel it in many different ways. Most importantly, elemental air alchemy connects ideas and the divine and is a powerful link to the spirit.

Air elemental is associated with the heart chakra energy center, linking two essential sources of intellect, love, and openness. The heart chakra is the merging point of the physical and spiritual chakras. Thus, this heart energy force is often related to love, compassion, forgiveness, and empathy.

For many people with painful life experiences, closing off or constricting their heart chakras can block out the pain or prevent future pain. However, these barriers can make restoring the heart chakra’s balance challenging. The chakra’s connection to the air element may help in these instances. Moreover, some believe using elemental air to help access the blocked heart chakra is a “side door to the heart.” This way, one can more easily open the heart chakra with breath work and other healing meditations, aromatherapy sessions, and yoga asanas.

Using aromatherapy with yoga and meditation to restore balance to the subtle body’s energy centers and connect with the universe’s elements dates back thousands of years. Undoubtedly, it’s still appealing today, providing a tangible link to the elements.

Of course, there are countless ways aromatherapy aids your mind-body connection. For example, it sharpens your awareness of the universe and helps you pursue greater spirituality.

But let’s talk first about your body’s physiological response to essential oils. At their most basic, essential oils are molecules of volatile compounds. Therefore, they quickly vaporize. But before they do, these essential oil volatile compounds float through the air into your nostrils. That happens whether you place them in a burner, spritz them into the air, or use them to anoint the body or put on healing crystals. There, they reach your olfactory system, which, in turn, causes your brain to signal specific physiological responses. Of course, these responses depend on the type of essential oil you use.

Lavender oil, for instance, has an analgesic effect and triggers brain responses that reduce anxiety and depression. Moreover, some people also believe that essential oils’ vibrational frequency helps shift your body’s frequency to be more aligned with the frequency of air elemental.

To summarize, on a more fundamental level, the air is the conduit for essential oils, creating the medium for the oils to do their work.

 As expected, meditations focusing on breathing can help you feel more connected to the air elemental. Thus they’ll also help you balance your heart chakra. As an illustration, here are a few simple breathing meditations:

First Meditation:

• First, imagine that you’re inhaling through one nostril and exhaling through the other as you take in and release each breath. You can use a guided meditation while you practice this breathing technique or quiet your mind.
• Then, think about how the elemental air feels as it enters your nostril; is it cool, warm, soft, or soothing?
• After that, do the same as the air rushes out of your other nostril on your exhale.
• Next, focus only on your breath for 15 to 30 minutes.

Second Meditation:

• Settle into a comfortable position and simply breath normally.
• Now, focus on the air as it enters your body.
• Then think about how there is no delineation between the outside air and the air in your body.
• Next, imagine how your body takes the air in, pulling the oxygen from it to send through your blood to every part of your body.
• Now you may start to think about the transient, impermanent nature of air, but also consider that the air you breathe is the same air your ancestors used for life.
• Finally, feel your breath and the air around you for as long as you choose to meditate.

Yoga is a beautiful way to reconnect with your body, still, and mind, open your subtle body’s energy centers, and heighten your awareness of the air elemental. Some yoga asanas and pranayamas are beneficial in connecting you with the universe’s breath. Here are a few to try yourself:

• camel pose
• cow face pose
• standing bow pose
• locust pose
• supported bridge pose
• ujjayi breathwork