Airbending , one of the four elemental bending arts , is the aerokinetic ability to control and manipulate air. The peaceful Air Nomads utilized this type of bending in their everyday lives.
The first airbenders learned their art from the flying bison. Air is the element of freedom. As a result, most airbenders such as those of the Air Nomads were pacifists who generally tried to value all life. The key to airbending is flexibility and finding and following the path of least resistance. Modern airbending is notable for being almost purely defensive, as well as the most dynamic of the four bending arts, [3] though more aggressive airbending styles existed in the past.
Instead, an airbender strives to use the opponents' energy against them. The air lion turtle would bestow the power to control air onto those venturing into the Spirit Wilds. During the era of Raava , the power of air was temporarily bestowed on the inhabitants who lived on a giant lion turtle while they left the village to stock up on food. After permanently leaving the care of the lion turtle, the former inhabitants eventually learned airbending from the flying bison, an animal that subsequently became sacred in the Air Nomad culture.
These markings symbolize one's mastery of the airbending art and are given to a practitioner once their training is complete. Originally, there were different airbender cultures and airbending communities; some of these were quite martial, [4] [7] [11] and others lived as part of mixed groups alongside other benders.
For instance, airbender groups were not uncommon on the Fire Islands before the foundation of the Fire Nation. Over time, all airbender groups aside of the Air Nomads either died out, were destroyed, or were completely absorbed by other ethnicities. Air ball : An airbender can create a compressed ball of air by moving their hands together in a circular motion.
