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.
प्रयत्नशैथिल्यानन्तसमापत्तिभ्याम्
prayatna-śaithilyānanta-samāpattibhyām
It is achieved by relaxing effort and by resting the mind on the infinite.
Yoga Sutras 2.47 · verse 98 of 196
Unfolding the thread
How do you find that steady, easy posture? Not by trying harder, but by letting go of excess effort, and by letting the mind rest on something boundless, like the sky or the ocean. The body settles when the mind stops gripping.
Try today
In any position today, find the effort you don't need and let it go. Imagine your body resting in endless space.
The Echo
The same truth, heard in another tradition
“Man at his birth is supple and weak; at his death, firm and strong. (So it is with) all things. Trees and plants, in their early growth, are soft and brittle; at their death, dry and withered. … Thus it is that firmness and strength are the concomitants of death; softness and weakness, the concomitants of life.”
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