Did You Say Practice On a Moon Day?

Wind chimes at Mystic School

  I've been practicing Ashtanga yoga for about 3 years now.  Ashtanga yoga is the yoga for me where I can find peace of mind and a balanced body.  I began practicing Ashtanga yoga under Johnna Smith who I studied with in the West and then later Sharath and Saraswathi Jois in Mysore India and now Jaiprakash here in Mysore. It was then and still is such a rewarding process and I am so very grateful for my teachers old and new.

    The first three years of practice I was always told not to practice on a moon day. That's when there is a full moon or a new moon you take a day of rest.  I didn't ask questions I just listened to my teachers and stood down from practice on the moon days.

    In my intuitive studies I found later that the body is on a cycle with energy and the moon.  In the intuitive world as in the yoga world we focus on energy.  On the full moon your intuitive energy which is your feminine energy(whether your a guy or lady it doesn't matter) cycles from your pituitary gland all the way down to your root chakra and your feet chakras where it is grounded in 1st chakra and earth energy. This is not bad but it is primal energy and humans tend to be more primal acting.  You always see people acting crazy on the full moon this is because our intuitive energy is based in the lowest chakra and we can fall prey to animalistic behavior.  I will go on to say that in the Ashtanga world under some lineages it is thought that the intuition and energy surrounding it is more out of control when it is being directed from the base chakra so a day of rest is recommended.  

Jack fruit

  On the day of the new moon your intuitive energy is back home in the pituitary area of the brain and people are more balanced and settled in their thoughts and intuition.  It isn't a better place for your energy to be centered it's just the beginning of where the intuitive energy starts it's cycle.  The energy of the base chakra on the full moon is responsible for the momentum in the cycle of energy so one is just as important as the other...  Again in some lineages of Ashtanga yoga it is recommended to have a day of rest.  This is because the body is so relaxed and the mind is in the perfect state for meditation so the psyche is energetically set up physically and emotionally for a day of rest.

  For the last 3 years I have followed the Jois Yoga lineage and not practiced on a moon day.  I would even do the human thing called judging and call people out who would practice on a moon day. I say now...I'm sorry for being a human and doing what we all do best and thinking that the way we are personally taught is the best way...I was mistaken.  I have practiced under my new teacher Jaiprakash at the Mystic School and Meditation Center for 3 full weeks now and I have practiced on two moon days.  I feel the same.  No hole opened up and swallowed me into the depths of hell.  Shiva didn't come down from the heavens and strike me dead with his bad ass flaming sword...My practice felt the same.  I loved it and I hated it at the same time like I always do.  I was tight where I am usually tight and I was flexible and fluid where I am always flexible and fluid...so...what does that mean?  God probably likes me better than you.

The perfect coconut

  I think Mysore is an extraordinarily awesome yoga buffet.  I also believe that Yoga is the guru.  With out my teachers I will tell you I would probably have my big toe in my ass and not know an upward facing dog from a rickshaw so I am very grateful for all of my teachers.  I used to believe that one was better then the other and now I know that they are all different and wonderful in their own right.  That being said I have teachers who say..."no practice on moon day...holiday...day of rest"...I also have teachers that love the practice so much they practice sometimes twice on a moon day because it feels so good...I have teachers that say a moon day is a day to be aware of practice like every other day...Practice and be aware but do not skip practice because of the moon cycle...modify practice to the way your body feels... So at this time in my life I practice on moon days and I'm ok with the out come.  The older my practice gets the more I realize that the only yoga for me is the yoga that serves my body and the greater good and for me that's the best of many teachers and many experiences.

Masala dosa and chai breakfast

  I will tell you I was a little gun shy walking around Gokulam this morning on a moon day with a yoga mat...but you know what...I said to myself...Fuck that...I'm getting a coconut...and you know what...I got a coconut...and walked the long way home with my yoga mat in hand proud to be a practicing yogi on a moon day.  Life is good and that coconut was the best damn coconut I've ever had.

Spoiled little lady on daily walk