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.
उदानजयाज्जलपङ्ककण्टकादिष्वसङ्ग उत्क्रान्तिश्च
udāna-jayāj jala-paṅka-kaṇṭakādiṣv asaṅga utkrāntiś ca
Through mastery of the upward breath comes freedom from contact with water, mud and thorns, and a rising up at death.
Yoga Sutras 3.40 · verse 146 of 196
Unfolding the thread
Udāna is the upward-moving energy, associated with the throat and head. Mastering it, the text says, the body becomes light: untouched by water, mud or thorns, and able to leave the body consciously at death. The image of rising above what drags us down is universal.
Try today
When something muddy (a mood, a conflict) pulls at you today, imagine rising above it like a lotus above water.
The Echo
The same truth, heard in another tradition
“It is like the lotus, which lives in the water and blooms in the water: yet the water cannot touch its petals.”
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