H2o Yoga and Meditation Bali Retreat Center is located on a small island off Bali called Gili Air translating to ‘Water Island.’ Throughout our time living in True Nature we have discovered the importance of elemental awareness in our yoga practice and our lives.

Water is the emotional element, and with the similarities of the Earths surface and the human body both being approx 70% water, the influences of the element are quite profound.

Looking at the adaptable nature and ability of water to change in different circumstances taking the form of river, snow, ice, hail, steam, dew etc. can help us apply this principle in our asana practice.

Breathing a harmonious warm breath into the areas that feel tight or locked like ice, can softly relax the muscles bringing us into a sense of body consciousness which is really at the core of our yogic practice. We create stillness of our ocean of peace within giving us clarity and calm.

When we become familiar with the elements within our body, we start to feel the connection with everything and everyone around us, which can lead us to seeing our True Nature.

As Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh says in his book Living Buddha, Living Christ.

“Enlightenment for a wave is the moment the wave realizes that it is water. At that moment all fear of death disappears.”

As we move through a vinyasa (a flowing sequence of postures) with awareness we become sensitive to the currents moving within us. We allow our breath to glide through our being as we start to sense the movement of energy between areas of high pressure and low pressure within us; heat and cool, sun and moon.

Visualizing a stream of water moving within us and a gentle biological tide ebbing and flowing as we gracefully move between postures, can instill a sense of tranquility, leading us to a practice of being very much in the present moment.

The words of Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov on the element water can lead us to perhaps connect with it in a new way; “Because water has such great powers of absorption and conservation it is a treasure house of innumerable secrets. The whole of the history of mankind is recorded in the rivers, lakes and oceans of the world, for everything leaves traces of its existence, and the traces of all beings, all objects, and all events live on in the water. It is the supreme magic medium which permeates and impregnates the universe. If you know how to listen to a drop of water it will speak to you’