The winter solstice on December 21 is the darkest time of the year in the northern hemisphere. The months of November, December, and January that surround the solstice can also be the coldest time of the year. But the harvest has been gathered in, and we have food for feasting. Under these conditions we need fire for heat, light, and cooking.

Fire is one of the classical cosmological elements: Air, Earth, Fire, and Water, to which the yoga cosmology adds Space. I have already written About Wind and Connecting with Earth’s Body. Winter is a time of fire. We live with all the elements all the time, but I see fire in relation to winter and in connection with the Christian Festivals of Christmas and Epiphany. My interest is to connect all of these yoga elements with the natural seasons of the year and with the Christian liturgical calendar and festivals.

Christmas is the central festival of this fire unit of time. It is a time of feasting, but is preceded by a season of fasting (Advent). We may not be feasting constantly, but these months are punctuated by Christmas parties, Christmas Day itself, the Twelve days following, New Years’ Day, Epiphany for some Christians, and finally carnival time before the beginning of Lent (Ash Wednesday, when Lent begins, is usually in early to mid-February).

This season of fire is actually defined by the the feasting that occurs during this time, and therefore is determined also by culture. Precisely because this is a holiday time of eating and drinking, we need to give attention to fire in the belly.

This is where yoga comes in. The old yogis,  who gave much attention to bodily functions, also gave a great deal of attention to food and diet, developed practices related to both digestion and elimination, and focused on physical as well as spiritual transformation. They called the fire practice agni.

Fire and Light

Ancient philosophers marveled at the ability of fire to transform matter from one state to another.  Philosophers pondered the transformative character of fire when applied to the other elements of nature.  It boils water, which generates steam and increases the movement of water. When mixed with air (oxygen), which feeds fire, it increases the movement of air. Fire applied to the earth leads to the scorching of the trees and grass and if the heat is intense enough it melts rock into lava. In the body manifestations of heat are felt as physiological changes such as faster breathing,  increased heart rate, increase in glandular secretions, the “flames” of desire, and a higher rate of semen discharge.

No wonder yoga has been interested in fire—particularly the internal fire that breaks down food and creates fuels for the body through the digestive system.  The yoga of fire creates heat in the belly which transforms the food we take into our bodies into energy. Perhaps the yoga of fire also raises the question of how we are being transformed in our daily lives. Modern yogis ponder the transformative character of agni yoga on our minds as well as our bodies.

The agni yoga practice goes back about 4,000 years to the Vedic ritual fires (vedi means a sacrificial altar). Of course, yoga has internalized the ritual fires in the body. But fire ceremonies are still maintained by Hindu families today and play an integral part in daily worship. They are used as a way of communicating with and honoring the gods. Everything offered into Agni, the sacred fire, is believed to reach the gods.

The same concept applied to the Jewish sacrifices in the Old Testament. Animals burned on the fire would either be shared with Yahweh (the God of the Hebrews) in an act of communion or be given to God entirely (the whole burnt offering).

Christmas traditions

Christmas is also called Yuletide. It comes from the burning of the yule log. This tradition began in Norway, on the night of the winter solstice, A giant log was hoisted onto the hearth to celebrate the return of the sun each year. The Norsemen believed that the sun was a giant wheel of fire which rolled away from the earth, and then began rolling back again on the winter solstice.

As Christianity spread through Europe, the tradition became part of Christmas Eve festivities. The father or master of the house would sprinkle the log with libations of mead, oil or salt. Once the log was burned in the hearth, the ashes were scattered about the house to protect the family within from hostile spirits. In time it simply became a comforting experience of Christmas or Yuletide joy.

Other flames and light associated with Christmas include lighting candles on the Advent wreath to mark the countdown to Christmas.

Both the Advent wreath and the Christmas tree are of German Lutheran origin, although both are now observed globally in Christian homes and churches. The origins of the Christmas tree are traced to the evergreen tree on which fruit was hung to serve as the prop for the tree of life in the paradise garden for the Adam and Eve mystery play performed on December 24. It’s said that Martin Luther put burning candles on the tree to proclaim Christ as the new Adam and the light the Word coming into the darkness of the world of sin and death. Today, of course, we use electric lights as a safety measure.

At the end of the twelve days of Christmas, on the Feast of the Epiphany, the Christmas trees are gathered into a big heap and are burned. Epiphany is called the festival of light, although this is more related to the star that the wise men (magi) from the East followed to Bethlehem to find the Christ child.

Before and during and sometimes well after the Christmas season homes and cities are decorated with displays of Christmas lights. In a time of darkness this brightens the landscape. It’s origins may be traced to the custom of placing lighted candles in the windows as a gesture of hospitality and welcome. Electricity now enables us to brighten the darkest and longest nights of the year.

Mid-winter Stillness

Winter is a time when many animals hibernate. Humans may also be drawn to a time of deep winter stillness after the Christmas holidays and New Year’s celebration before we are aroused again by the carnivals that precede the penitential season of Lent. It is time of retreat from busyness and claiming a rest that eludes us for much of the rest of the year. The best thing would be to curl up in front of a fireplace with a good book.

Carnival

The final burst of lights and feasting belongs to the Pre-Lent Carnival. While Carnival ends on Shrove Tuesday, the day before Lent begins, it actually was an extension of the Christmas season that went on for several weeks before the beginning of Lent (thus from late January into early February).

Carnival means “farewell to meat” and this time of feasting and celebrating before the austerities of Lent made sense in terms of consuming the meat and food items one abstained from during the great fast. Carnival has been one of the great festival times in many countries.

Carnival is a big celebration throughout Latin America before the beginning of Lent and it has an explicitly Christian origin. Carne vale means “farewell to the meat,” and refers to the beginning of the Lenten Fast. That’s why Carnival occurs on the days before Ash Wednesday. Especially in the warmer climates costumes are very skimpy as well as very elaborate.

Probably the biggest Carnival in the world is in Rio De Janeiro. It is a huge money-making extravaganza for the city attracting millions of visitors. But former evangelical bishop and current mayor, Marcelo Crivella, isn’t a fan and he slashed funding for the 2019 parade. Not to be stopped the city’s famous samba schools have been at work on their sewing machines. Anyway, the costumes don’t require a lot of cloth. As anthropologist Edward Muir says in Rituals in Early Modern Europe, carnivals are festivals of “the lower body” (that means, focused on food and sex). Popular festivals don’t depend on government permission or support.

Mardi Gras is actually the last day of Carnival is Mardi Gras, the day before Ash Wednesday. “Mardi gras” means “fat Tuesday.” It was a day on which to consume all the fat in the house. For us it has become a day of pancakes and sausage and merrymaking. There are a number of Mardi Gras celebrations around the world, of which the one most well known to us is in New Orleans.

Alcohol is the more typical consumption at Mardi Gras than real food, and this lowers inhibitions. Carnival, as social historian Edward Muir observed, is noted for lewdness and nakedness and overt displays of sexuality. In any event, there’s plenty of need for yogic detoxification after Carnival, as well as the austerities of Lent.

Fire in the cosmos

At roughly the center of this season of fire is the winter solstice. At this point the amount of daylight has decreased to to its fullest extent and after the solstice the daylight grows longer. The sun is our planet’s source of both heat and light. The ancient yogis saluted the sun.

The time of the winter solstice seems like the appropriate time for the traditional sun salutation that can also be used as a warm up for the rest of the yoga practice. The solstice occurs before Christmas, which is a time of moderate fasting. If the body has been fasting, it is ready for the more vigorous vinyasa (flow) of the sun salutation.

We need to stir up prana (the life force usually identified as the breath) to energize the body. The asanas (poses) are ways of expanding the body in twists and stretches to receive and contain more energy. I will discuss those below. The sun salutation (surya namaskara) in its variant sequences is a way of stretching, folding, and extending the body to receive the energy which ultimately derives from the sun. It is regarded as a solar practice. Here is a diagram of a sun salute sequence that I included in my book, Embodied Liturgy, p. 107.

To what sun deity is the salute given? For Christians, why not to Christ, proclaimed as the sun of righteousness? In my book on Embodied Liturgy I broke up the words of the Gloria Patri to be chanted aloud or silently in the flow (vinyasa) through the twelve positions (p. 108).  In Frank Answers About Christmas as a Solar Festival I aligned the twelve poses of the sun salute with the twelve articles of the Apostle’s Creed.

Bhakti (devotion, worship) can be shown to any deity. Yoga in itself is not a religion. It is a mind-body-spirit practice that can be applied to any worship. Our mind decides to do this movement and directs the body. The body in motion is assisted in its efforts by the energizing prana (spirit). The breath (inhaling, retaining, exhaling) provides the energy for movement. All three are needed in yoga practice, as in life: mind, body, and spirit (energy). To me that suggests a trinitarian reality. The salute can be made to a Trinitarian God.

Fire in the Belly

At this time of the year there’s always a lot of debris to burn off, whether in the fields or in our bodies.  We have a lot of internal debris to burn off from this more sedentary (and sedimentary) time and heavier eating during winter. The Christian season of Advent that precedes Christmas features the call of the prophets to repentance, to changing our minds and our lives as a purification for welcoming the presence of among and within us. It is a time of fasting before the feasting of the festivals.

When I went to Indonesia in June 2014, I was worried about how Indonesian food might affect my digestive processes. I had a private lesson with my yoga teacher, Nick Beem, co-owner with his wife Lela of Grateful Yoga, Evanston, IL  (see http://www.gratefulyoga.com/).  He gave me a simple sequence for tonifying and soothing that I could take with me to central Java and do in my room. I used it during my stay in Indonesia. Because the floor of my room was hard and cold (uncarpeted), I found I could use it on my bed (hard mattress).

Even though I was in Indonesia in summer, my angi or fire sequence may be commended to this time of the year that is punctuated by feasts with lots of eating and drinking, including the U.S. Thanksgiving, Christmas and its aftermath, New Years’ Eve and Day, and the Carnival time in many countries that precedes Lent. This agni practice is comprised largely of abdominal and twists and turns that wring out the intestinal tracks and expels toxins. This practice create heats (tapas) in the belly. In the Vedic literature tapas refers to heat in the sense of generating energy. But it also refers to austerity, penance, and pious activity. Taken in its literal sense of “to burn,” it can refer to overcoming the lethargy that follows overeating by lighting a fire in the belly.

The practice of Agni sara combines elements of pranayama (breathing exercises) and asana (posture) training, which makes it a quintessential practice of hatha yoga. With its deep contractions of the abdomen and pelvic floor and work on strengthening the core, agni sara targets the abdominal organs and the centers of consciousness (chakras) responsible for regulating and carrying out the essential life of the body. It therefore affects not only our physical health but also our vitality and emotional life. Ultimately it facilitates spiritual growth and transformation. The name itself tells us this: agni, meaning fire, is the element responsible for digestion and the transformation of food into energy, and sara, meaning essence, has to do with practices that harness this energy for the physical and spiritual life.

In yoga’s esoteric anatomy, the element of fire is located at the navel cakra. The cakras are centers of energy and consciousness in the yoga anatomy that are located up and down the central axis of the body or sushumna.

In this diagram the agni cakra is the third center up from the root cakra at the perineum and the sacral cakra at the genitals. The root cakra relates to issues of security and survival. The genital cakra relates to sexuality and creativity. The solar plexus or fire cakra relates to confidence and self-definition.

The fire practice that follows serves to strengthens the musculature of the pelvic floor and the abdominal wall that supports the proper placement of the main organs in the torso. It counters the downward force of gravity on the viscera and cleanses the digestive and elimination systems.

We don’t need to get into the physiological complications of the workings of the bodily organs. What’s important to know is that regular practice of Agni Sara increases our capacity to manage emotional distress and prompts a sense of spiritual confidence. The heat and light provided by fire also impacts physical and spiritual energy. The fire practice is not unlike going through the rituals of the festivals of this season for the transformation and enlightenment they have the potential of conveying to their devotees.

Agni Sara Practice

I like to begin my home yoga practice with a seated side bend (half moon), demonstrated here by my yoga friend Patrik Bitter of Essen, Germany. Back and forth on each side about a half dozen times stretching at the apex.

Then the “Lord of the fishes,” a seated twist that wrings out the gut.

After this comes bellows breath (bhastrika). This is a kriya or cleansing action. Sit up straight with legs crossed and press down on one’s knees. Breathe in and out forcefully through the nostrils. During inhalation the abdomen moves outward. During exhalation the abdomen moves inward. As you are breathing you will see your belly moving in and out. Actually, moving the belly in and out will cause inhales and exhales. This can be done slowly at first and then build up speed. Do about 30 inhales/exhales. Rest. Then do another 30. This is a vigorous pranayama.

Then cat and cow to limber up the body.

From cat and cow move forward into a lunge (low or high) and do a side twist by placing the elbow on the opposite leg and twisting into prayer position.

The same side twist may be done in chair pose.

Patrik here demonstrates a twist in revolved triangle.

Then lay on your back. Bring your knees to your chest. Take hold of them with your hands; bring them in and extend them out five times. Inhale as you bring your knees toward your face; exhale as you push them away. This is apanasana, which expels prana.

Put your hands behind your thighs. Raise your legs straight up and lower your knees to your chest five times. Inhale as you raise your legs; exhale as you lower them.

 With your legs straight up, circle them like a windmill five times in one direction and five times in the reverse direction. This will really churn the abdominal core.

You could add to this sequence navasana—boat pose—which is a great core strengthener. (Don’t forget to breathe. The breath like the wind provides the energy that supports the poses.) For abdominal strengthening you could also move toward the floor, hold the pose, then return to the upward position.

While on the ground, a great hip opener is the pigeon pose. During the winter months it’s important to keep the body limber. Pigeon could be a good penultimate pose in this sequence.

Now do a supine spinal twist. Place your feet on the floor behind your buttocks, body-width apart. Stretch out your arms in a T.  In one  version of supine spinal twist stretch out one leg on the floor and rest the foot of the opposite leg on the thigh of the extended leg. Grab ahold of the knee of the leg resting on the thigh of the extended leg and with the opposite arm pull the knee toward the floor. The whole body may turn slightly in that direction so that the knee reaches the floor. The arm extended in the T position presses on the floor to keep the torso from completely rolling over. This tug of war between the arms pulling the knee downward and pressing into the floor on the opposite side intensifies the abdominal and spinal twist.   

In another version of supine spinal twist extend arms into a T, bring knees to chest, and twist legs to the side keeping the knees together, either holding them up off the floor or resting the legs on the floor, as shown here. 

Or accomplish the same supine spinal twist face down.

Roll over onto your belly for low cobra.

 Place your hands alongside your ribs and raise your chest for a low cobra. It is important to press the tops of your feet and your pelvis into the floor. (Your knees will then not be on the floor.) Inhale as you lift your chest , exhale as you lower—five times. Then hold cobra pose while you breathe in and out of your belly. In low cobra lift one leg and lower it back down—five times for each leg.

Raise both arms and legs off the floor (locust pose) and hold for five breaths. Breathe in and out of your belly. (If space allows arms can also be extended forward  or sideways or along the body, but off the floor.)

Then Uddiyana Bandha (the abdominal lock).

A bandha is a lock—in this case an abdominal lock. It is created by exhaling completely, chin down to lock out more incoming breath. Without inhaling, suck the abdominal muscles in and up, pulling the navel toward the spine. Pull the abdominal organs and diaphragm up into the cavity of the rib cage. This can be done in several poses. I prefer doing it in a bridge pose or a standing position.

In bridge pose extend arms overhead while inhaling. Exhale completely and  pull up abdominal organs. Hold your breath and the lock as you lower down while leaving your arms overhead.  Unlock the  abdominal lock, inhale , and exhale as you bring your arms back down to your sides.

Or in a standing position bend over with your hands resting on your thighs. Exhale and pull up the abdominal organs as shown below. In all cases , and hold the lock as long as it is comfortable.

Do some form of uddiyana bandha a few times, slowly. Then relax.

OR do Tadagi Mudra

Sit up with legs extended forward. Inhale. With straight back fold over legs while exhaling. Lower chin to chest and suck in the abdominal muscles, pulling the navel toward the spine.  Hold as long as possible. Then inhale as you sit up. Repeat several times.

Lay on your back and prepare for a brief savasana (corpse pose). Extend arms and legs in a V formations. Allow feet to flop sideways to the floor. Turn hands upward, which will help to bring the shoulders to the floor and open the chest. Inhale to the belly, exhale, and resume normal breathing. Just sink into the floor and let go of everything. The point of savasana is to absorb the practice.

My little sequence served the simple purpose of helping with the challenges of digesting an unaccustomed diet. I included it in my book, Embodied Liturgy: Lessons in Christian Ritual (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2016), p. 162, in a section dealing with fasting and feasting, and I share it here. The book is based on a course I taught at Satya Wacana Christian University in Central Java and I included some yoga sequences in the class and in the book as a way of helping students and readers get in touch with their bodies.

Did I say it is best to do this agni practice before breakfast? Well, it is. Perhaps as you get out of bed in the morning. But having burned up some of last night’s meal, enjoy your breakfast now.

Yogi Pastor Frank Senn

Wringing out the gut after a party the night before. Lighting agni in the belly.