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.
कूर्मनाड्यां स्थैर्यम्
kūrma-nāḍyāṁ sthairyam
Through saṁyama on the tortoise channel comes steadiness.
Yoga Sutras 3.32 · verse 138 of 196
Unfolding the thread
The kūrma-nāḍī, the "tortoise channel", is traditionally placed in the upper chest. The tortoise is yoga's image of stillness: it withdraws its limbs and becomes unmovable. Attention there brings the same steadiness.
Try today
Rest your attention in your upper chest for a minute. Let your whole body become still like a tortoise at rest.
The Echo
The same truth, heard in another tradition
“Be like the promontory against which the waves continually break, but it stands firm and tames the fury of the water around it.”
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