“Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.”
-Anton Chekhov
Yoga encompasses both darkness and light
In my more than two decades long yoga journey, I’ve heard and read so much about how yoga helps us unveil our inner light, not to mention the promise of enLIGHTenment and other such lofty things.
I know not everyone comes to yoga practice aiming for enlightenment, but I can say with confidence that you are probably turning to yoga at least to shine some kind of light on your life or yourself so that you can feel better!
Light is life giving, inspiring, comforting…but we also need darkness for balance. Sandra Kring says, “The tiny seed knew that in order to grow it needed to be dropped into dirt, covered in darkness, and struggle to reach the light.” The truth is that no matter how much we strive for the light, there will always be darkness too, and if anything, it makes the light all that much brighter.
So, in a creative mindset, I’ve asked myself where do we touch the darkness in our yoga practices. Here’s what I came up with:
When we close our eyes in yoga postures, meditation, or yoga nidra.
When we realize we don’t know the answer to something, even when it’s just a simple inquiry into how we feel in our bodies and minds.
When we practice and feel heaviness in our bodies or when we experience uncomfortable, dark emotions. Sometimes we have to inhabit those forms of darkness before we release them instead of just forcing ourselves into a lighter state of mind.
When we abandon our practice now and then and realize we’ve hit a low spot and then hopefully regain momentum back into a rhythm of practicing.
When we hit the premenstrual or menstrual phase and feel slower, more emotional, or just need some extra rest. Check out my thoughts here on how the cycles of our lives overlap.
When we encounter difficulty in life and realize that we need to change or modify our practices; I find this can happen during pregnancy or the early postpartum period when we go through big changes in ourselves and in our lifestyles.
In the Divine Feminine form as the Dark Goddess, for example like Kali. You don’t need to be religious or even consider yourself spiritual to learn from the symbolism behind the Divine Feminine.
In aligning ourselves with cycles of nature, such as the moon and seasons. Think of the New Moon and Winter as times of fruitful darkness. More on this in posts to come!
A yoga practice for the new moon
A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the breath and finding that pause between inhale and exhale and the pause between exhale and inhale; read it here. To add another layer to this simple breath awareness, try it in various poses. I recommend:
Ustrasana (Camel Pose)
Setubandha Sarvangasana (Bridge Pose) or Supported Bridge Pose
Balasana (Child’s Pose)
Uttanasana (Standing Forward Bend or Intense Stretch)
Paschimottanasana (Seated Forward Bend or West Stretching Pose)
As you explore these yoga postures, breath naturally without forcing the inhalation or exhalation to be longer. Notice the pause after the inhale and before the exhale; it might only last a second. Then notice the pause after the exhale and before the inhale. Do this with each breath and you might notice that the pause lengthens the longer you do it. It’s interesting to try a few different poses and see if some of them facilitate a longer and more complete exhalation, or if some poses help expand the inhalation. Let me know what you notice! I always welcome comments and questions — I want this to be a conversation where you can reach out to me with questions or to share your personal wisdom.
Happy New Moon! I hope that as you pay more attention to your body, the phases of the moon, and the seasons, you craft a more flexible yoga practice that is appropriate for all the ups and downs of motherhood and for every season of your life.
Looking back
Some of you are newer to Urban Yoga Mama, so I thought I’d share some of my past posts on yoga practice and the new moon here, here, and here. Even if you’ve been with me for a while now, it sometimes can be illuminating to revisit some things we’ve seen/done before:)
“The dark and the light, they exist side by side. Sometimes overlapping, one explaining the other. The darkened path is as illuminated as the lightened…”
– Raven Davies
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both images in this post from the Kali Oracle deck by Alana Fairchild