There may not be much difference
Between you and me
If we show our dreams
We’re all water from different rivers
That’s why it’s so easy to meet
We’re all water in this vast, vast ocean
Someday we’ll evaporate together.
– Yoko Ono
I just realized that this coming Sunday is New Moon. March is a very special month because we are blessed with 2 New Moons … So exciting! I also celebrated my birthday teaching 90 minutes Vinyasa yoga this week … and realizing that I still love sharing my Vinyasa yoga practice too – setting an intention on my actual birthday with a class full of students of all ages was especially gratifying. Then my Persian goddess friend (more on her later as it would take a whole post) took me out to lunch – Pear salad shared was so delicious. It’s a birthday month for the Aries and we get to hope and dream on New Moon days – TWICE! So blessed !
We will move into reservior of our luminous self Sunday evening to relax, restore and renew.
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I wrote this before maybe in my Japanese blog as I was struck by the thought of cycles and how we are all connected to this universe in an unseen cosmic way – there’s gravity and entropy all at once; there’s this Equinox energy unfurling the season of Spring as flowers blossom and we come out of hibernation to face life full of … hopes, dreams and …love.
We are affected by the pull of the tides the moon generates since we too have great oceans within us. The waves crash and Flow and Ebb as with moon Wane to nothingness then to wax to full brightness. We are aware — for some, subconsciously —of the lucid brightness during a full moon, and the deep mysterious darkness of a new moon night – the darkness that cloaks the hidden light…but we know it’s there – the brilliance is there but unseen. Reminder to have faith in all those things we cannot see with our naked eyes but.. it’s there. It’s not forsaken.
Physically,
We tend to feel more tired during the new moon and the full moon. In yoga, there’s a tradition to rest on New Moon and Full Moon days from practicing Ashtanga yoga … and such wisdom must be based on an intrinsic understanding about us vis-a-vis nature that surrounds us.
We tend to draw inward during the new moon, and a pulling outward during the full. It’s not just poetic but real, this “moon” phase we find ourselves in synchronicity like resembling the rhythm of life itself.
In yoga mythology, the goddess of the moon is Lalita Tripura Sundari. Her name means “she who is lovely in the three worlds.” The three worlds are consciousness, unconsciousness and the dreaming state as we learn in Yoga Nidra – all are part of our identity, our existence. Learning that Lalita has 16 manifestations for each phase of the moon through the 16 nights of a cycle from new to full. In that phase, new moon night is the night of Kameshvari, meaning “Always Empowering Desire.”
It’s been passed down from the ancients that at New Moon is a time of fresh start, knowing your desires and dreams – then setting an intention hoping that as the moon waxes towards full, steps will be made to realize those dreams and fulfilling your intentions. Resting from active physical asanas gives you the time to turn inward to pause only to restart again.
Restorative yoga on New Moon, dark night … just what I needed – too bad I am “teaching” guiding it as I live vicariously through my students… setting an intention to serve with gratitude.
