Yoga Poses for Meditation
Understanding the five elements—earth, fire, air, water, space—and their effects on your body can help you keep them balanced within yourself, leading to a healthier, happier life.
In previous articles in this series, I discussed how to better connect to the fire element and earth element through a series of yoga poses. Next up is the water element, or Jala.
The water element is associated with the second chakra, Svadhisthana or Sacral chakra, and is located in your pelvis region. This element and chakra are associated with emotions, passion, pleasure, creativity, fluidity, and sexuality. When the water element is balanced, you are able to connect easily to others, feel content and calm, let things go, be open to joy and pleasure, and express creativity. An unbalanced water element may lead you to feel emotionally unstable, dehydrated, low libido, tense, and stuck.
Water nourishes the body and connecting to it during your yoga practice will allow you to strengthen and relax your hips, release tension, and become more flexible and fluid. There are many ways to bring balance to the water element during your yoga practice, including the following:
- Focus on deepening your stretches, as well as releasing tension and unprocessed emotions
- Include flow (think “waves”) in your sequence
- Include poses that target your pelvis (see below)
- Learn breathing techniques, such as the Ujjayi breath—to mimic the waves of the ocean
- Practice the poses and meditation below that directly support your connection to the water element
1. Sequence: Cobra Dance
Creating a continuous and deliberate flow of movement through the following poses is a great way to connect to the water element. It also increases the flexibility, mobility, and lengthening of the spine, and can help relieve menstrual cramps.
