First Light
How First Light worksTuesday 27 October·
- Sunrise
- 07:55
- Quiet hour
- 06:19–07:07
- Brahma Muhurta
- Moon
- Waning gibbous
- Next full moon: Tue 24 Nov
Autumn
The quiet hour (Brahma Muhurta) is the traditional time for practice, just before sunrise.
अभ्यासवैराग्याभ्यां तन्निरोधः
abhyāsa-vairāgyābhyāṁ tan-nirodhaḥ
The mind is settled by steady practice and by letting go.
Yoga Sutras 1.12 · verse 12 of 196
Unfolding the thread
These are the two wings of the whole practice. Abhyāsa is practice: coming back, again and again. Vairāgya is letting go: loosening your grip on whatever pulls you away. One wing alone doesn't fly. Practice without letting go becomes grim striving; letting go without practice becomes drifting. Together they settle the mind.
Try today
Choose one small thing to return to today (your breath, a posture, a kind word) and one small thing to let go of.
The Echo
The same truth, heard in another tradition
“As rain breaks through an ill-thatched house, passion will break through an unreflecting mind.”
Get these in your inbox
No spam. Just honest writing on practice, awareness and conscious living.