Yoga Technique Asana

Earth is the fundamental secondary element. Earth qualities are stability, firmness, maintaining, grounding, and doing. Its fundamental expression is form, or structure, and it is embodied in the technique of Asana.

Earth is cultivated, and expressed by establishing structural integrity in the body. This is done by practicing Asana according to the principles of alignment (asana). The arena of earth is the spine, its source is the foundation of the body, its medium the muscles, and its control the pelvis.

The superficial application of earth is to approach alignment in a linear manner, losing oneself in the detail. The subtle application is an intuitive approach, whereby the energy of opposition is utilized to activate emptiness. Establishing earth requires the utilization of pressure; the sign of its presence is the opposite, emptiness.