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.
व्युत्थाननिरोधसंस्कारयोरभिभवप्रादुर्भावौ निरोधक्षणचित्तान्वयो निरोधपरिणामः
vyutthāna-nirodha-saṁskārayor abhibhava-prādurbhāvau nirodha-kṣaṇa-cittānvayo nirodha-pariṇāmaḥ
When the impressions of restlessness recede and the impressions of stillness appear, and the mind is joined to that moment of stillness, this is the transformation toward stillness.
Yoga Sutras 3.9 · verse 115 of 196
Unfolding the thread
Patanjali now describes how the mind changes. Two kinds of habit compete: the habit of going out, and the habit of coming to rest. As the second grows and the first fades, the mind begins to live in those moments of stillness. It's slow, and it's real.
Try today
Notice the brief gaps of stillness between thoughts today. Every time you notice one, you strengthen the habit of stillness.
The Echo
The same truth, heard in another tradition
“His thought is quiet, quiet are his word and deed, when he has obtained freedom by true knowledge, when he has thus become a quiet man.”
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