Vayu (Air) and its Qualities
Vayu – Movement
(Air) – Touch
In popular discussions of five-element theory, the element of vayu is often translated as air or wind, but this is only a figurative interpretation. The Ayurvedic classics clearly explain that movement is the essential organizing principle behind this bhuta. Since movement always implies direction, these two qualities are closely associated. Vayu originates and gives direction to all motion and change, and, as a result, to all processes and functions in creation.
This principle governs the movement of everything in the universe, from the tiniest subatomic particles to the most immense, swirling galaxies. It gives the wind its direction. It causes the earth to quake and volcanoes to spew fire. Vayu impels blood to flow through our veins, food to move through our intestinal tracts and neural impulses to be carried at lightning speeds to and from our brains.
Movement also generates a drying influence, which in turn produces separation or disintegration, another important aspect of vayu. This will be more clearly understood when we discuss the elements of jala and prithvi.
The Sense of Touch
Just as the sense of hearing is intimately associated with the principle of akash, the sense of touch arises out of the principle of movement or vayu. The skin, functioning as the organ of touch, is capable of detecting movement in the form of subtle or gross changes in pressure, friction or vibration. Movement against the skin can be registered as hard or soft, rough or smooth, blunt or sharp and fast or slow. This information is encoded in neural impulses and transmitted to the brain to be interpreted by the mind as good or bad, something to be enjoyed or avoided.
The following examples show the intimate connection between the sense of touch and the principle of movement. “When a friend rests his hand lightly on your arm, you perceive his touch because you suddenly experience a difference in the pressure against your skin. If his hand doesn’t move, you will soon forget that he is touching you. Any movement on his part will again remind you that his hand is there.
If you sit perfectly still in hot water, you stop feeling the wetness and warmth of water against your skin until you move again, stirring it into motion. The same is true for the clothes you wear. When you first put on a shirt, you feel it by virtue of the movement of the cloth against your skin. However, if you remain motionless for a time, the lack of friction causes you to forget about the shirt. Either the skin has to undergo movement or whatever contacts the skin must move. Without movement, there is no sense of touch; it is the difference in movement that produces the sense of touch.
Just as the element of akash governs those organs in the body that require space to function, vayu governs the organs whose functioning requires movement in the form of contraction and dilation, especially the colon, uterus and urinary bladder. The heart, with its constant pumping action, is also a major organ of vayu. Muscular movement, the blinking of the eyes, the transmission of nervous impulses to and from the brain all happen as a result of vayu.