What does Seven Winds mean?

Seven Winds refers to a place as well as a state of mind.

The place is the shala. Seven Winds Yoga classes are held in a small private studio at the base of my garden. It is a warm and peaceful space, filled with natural light. Patches of sky, the patter of rain and the scent of flowers will infuse your yogic experience with the beneficence of nature even though the shala is only minutes from central Dun Laoghaire. The devoted practice of so many beautiful yoginis (and yogis!) over the years has instilled the space with a powerful energy.

But Seven Winds is more than a physical space. It is a state of mind, a point of orientation, a trajectory. Yoga is about transformation. It begins wherever we are---usually somewhere in the physical body on this earth plane. It leads to the realisation of the deepest truth of our being, beyond time and space and matter.

So what are these Seven Winds all about? Seven is a spiritually charged number, rich in meaning. Wind suggests prana, life-force energy, the breath and power of the Goddess, who is Shakti, who is primal energy, the basis of all manifestation.  Seven Winds appear together as a mandala-- a shifting, pulsating form out of which everything flows and into which everything settles. It is Shakti who brings movement, change, transformation. In one of her guises, she divides things into sevens--seven chakras, seven traditional planets, seven celestial spheres, seven notes of music, seven sacraments, seven days of creation, seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, seven sacred directions of the ancient Medicine Wheel. The list could go on and on.

In another of her guises, she binds things into One. One vast interdependent web of vibration. One Divine Dancing Deity. One indivisible, undifferentiated Source, whose ultimate nature is stillness, eternally unmoving. The dance merely an illusion. An appearance imposed upon the One as much as it emanates from It.

East, South, West, North. These are the directions which orient our journey through material reality. Bound by time and space.

Above. The Upperworld. This is the direction which connects us to infinite sky. Defying time and space. Belonging to Dreamtime.

Below. The Lowerworld. This is the direction which grounds us to deepest earth. Defying time and space. Belonging to Dreamtime.

Within. The deep still centre of Being. Both heart and farthest galaxy. The place where all directions meet. Where all directions disappear. The ultimate reality. Beyond time and space. Where all becomes the eternal face of Sat-Chit-Ananda. Absolute Being. Absolute Knowledge. Absolute Bliss. The ultimate yoga.

Om Shanti - 2003

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