Fire: the element of transmformation
Fire qualities are transformation, purification, power, suddenness, intensity, abundance and inspiration. The fundamental expression of fire is transformation. Its subtle expression is integrity. It is embodied in the technique of bandha.
The arena of fire is the abdomen, its source the solar plexus, its medium the nadis, and its key the muscles. It is cultivated and expressed through the application of the bandhas into the whole body (sarvangabandha). The source of this process is uddiyanabandha, which spontaneously generates both mulabandha and jalandharabandha when suppoorted by hastabandha and padabandha. Their simultaneous activation is sarvangabandha.
The superficial application of fire is to generate heat. The subtle application of fire is to integrate body, mind, energy and awareness. This depends on the recovery of structural integrity by way of functional integrity. This is the process of establishing action and motion in the Dynamics of Integrity.
Establishing fire requires action, the sign of its presence is radiance. The bandhas are in fact nothing other than the Dynamics of Integrity in the whole body. Without integrity there can be no integration. Without integration there can be no wholeness. Without wholeness there can be no unity. Without unity there is no yoga.
