Fire is an element that has been revered and explored since the tradition of yoga began over 5000 years ago – from physical fire used in rituals, to the internal flame of the heart, and the digestive fire or agni.

In the ancient Vedic texts, the fire deity (also known as Agni) is mentioned in one of the very first verses. It represents the fire within the sun, lightning, as well as the fires lit within homes and for more specialised sacrificial uses.

As the guardian of the South-East direction, the fire-god Agni was traditionally a much-invoked deity alongside Indra (god of storms) and Soma (god of the moon) within the ancient and elaborate yogic sacrifices to the gods. As time passed, agni came to be associated with the action of transformation in both a physical and spiritual sense, helping transform food into energy, ideas into actions, and offerings into the smoke that drifted up towards the gods.

Fire is one of the most powerful of the elements, and when we tap into its energy, we bring alive a sense of transformation within ourselves.

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