Episode 40: Living Under The Moon Cycle
Despite the modest appearance, the moon has a rhythm and that rhythm has a great influence on us, mentally and physically. Kundalini yoga teaches us how to dance with the moon and feel the harmony and energy that it brings. A proper balance between solar and lunar energy makes the whole body more balanced. The sun isn’t two complex it is either on or off you can get burnt if you stay out in it too long. Pretty straight forward. The moon is a female energy it has a different face everyday, it waxes, wanes, shines or hides. You may feel the moon's energy consciously or unconsciously. What exactly is it that the moon does to us? Yoga philosophy, the human body is like a miniature of the universe with everything that’s in it so the moon’s energy is in us to the left-hand side of the body to be precise. This is where your life energy, or prana flows through the feminine channel called Ida. India represents lunar energy: cool, dark, calm, emotional. Lunar energy is focused on rhythm and on living in the moment and is on the right-hand side of the body in which energy flows through the Pingala channel. The solar energy that is hot, bright, active and rational. This energy is focused on higher goals and on the future. In yoga philosophy our bodies have 10,000 channels through which life energy flows but the mains ones are Ida, Pingala, and Sushumna and they go up and down along the spine they are ethereal. The three channels converge in your coccyx and then go their separate ways with the Ida and Pingala criss crossing and end in the left and right nostril respectively while the Sushumna goes straight up. Scientific studies seem to confirm the existence of solar and lunar energy. We know that each nostril is connected to the opposite brain hemisphere
Throughout the day you may notice that sometimes you are breathing out of one nostril more so than another. How long your solar or lunar side dominates is a very personal matter. Try breathing in one side of your nostril three times, then switch. Do you feel more balanced. Exercises like this, meditation, mantras help balance solar and lunar energy. When Ida and Pingala are simultaneously active, energy can flow through the middle channel Sushumna a moment like this is called kundalini energy may be awakened. This energy lives at the bottom of your spine like a sleeping coiled snake. Kundalini is about awakening this energy and letting flow. This allows for growth, your attitude is more aware and alert, you feel with ups and downs better, you feel happier and relaxed.
Kundalini yoga was brought to the west by Yogi Bhajan. This energy can be a micro-cosmos with how the energy of the sun and moon play on your person but it can always be greater between you and the universe. To live by the rhythm of the moon you have to give up some control and let yourself be guided by something much greater than yourself. The moon goes across every zodiac sign, so every organ gets attention at a fixed moment. The organ in turn, comes with a monthly theme for you to concentrated on. The energy of the waxing moon puts pressure on the organ. The pressure is at its highest when the moon is full and diminishes as the moon wanes. Through balanced nutrition, exercising, meditation, yoga helps you to prevent becoming unbalanced by this pressure. If we are out of balance this pressure leaves us feeling irritated, unsettled and if it is in balance the pressure has a purifying effect with greater balance physically, mentally, and spiritually.
When you rest properly at night you can shine during the day. By accepting that your body sometimes wants to go fast and sometimes wants to go slow you can learn to live harmoniously.
Show Resources:
https://www.almanac.com/astronomy/moon/calendar
http://www.happinez.com/blog
https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/the-numinous/tnp127-moon-magic-with-sarah-ojUvnI4Qapy/