It’s been a great start to the Mysore program at Yoga Room Dubai this week. While coming into yoga around 7am can seem like a very early start, this really is the best time of day to do your Ashtanga practice. After you finish, you will feel refreshed and energized, ready for the day ahead.
Ideally Ashtanga yoga is a daily practice, with rest days taken on Saturdays, moon days and for women, the first three days of menstruation. By practicing each day, yoga becomes more than a hobby or pastime but a way of life, as essential to your morning ritual as having a shower or brushing your teeth!
For beginners we recommend aiming to practice at least three mornings a week. If you are a more experienced practitioner, consider taking up the challenge of a daily practice – do it for a month and see how you feel. Even complete beginners might want to give this a try right from the start.
As mentioned, both full and new moon days are observed as yoga holidays in the Ashtanga Yoga tradition. For an explanation of the reasoning behind this we refer to senior Ashtanga teacher Tim Miller….
“Like all things of a watery nature (human beings are about 70% water), we are affected by the phases of the moon. The phases of the moon are determined by the moon’s relative position to the sun. Full moons occur when they are in opposition and new moons when they are in conjunction. Both sun and moon exert a gravitational pull on the earth. Their relative positions create different energetic experiences that can be compared to the breath cycle. The full moon energy corresponds to the end of inhalation when the force of prana is greatest. This is an expansive, upward moving force that makes us feel energetic and emotional, but not well grounded. The Upanishads state that the main prana lives in the head. During the full moon we tend to be more headstrong.
The new moon energy corresponds to the end of exhalation when the force of apana is greatest. Apana is a contracting, downward moving force that makes us feel calm and grounded, but dense and disinclined towards physical exertion.
The Farmers Almanac recommends planting seeds at the new moon when the rooting force is strongest and transplanting at the full moon when the flowering force is strongest.
Practicing Ashtanga Yoga over time makes us more attuned to natural cycles. Observing moon days is one way to recognize and honor the rhythms of nature so we can live in greater harmony with it.”
This coming MONDAY MARCH 11 is NEW MOON - there is no Mysore class on this day.
2013 MOON DAYS (NO MYSORE CLASS)
Full Moon in Dubai, United Arab Emirates in the year 2013
- Sunday, 27 January, 2013 around 08:39 AM
- Tuesday, 26 February, 2013 around 12:26 AM
- Wednesday, 27 March, 2013 around 01:28 PM
- Thursday, 25 April, 2013 around 11:58 PM
- Saturday, 25 May, 2013 around 08:25 AM
- Sunday, 23 June, 2013 around 03:33 PM
- Monday, 22 July, 2013 around 10:16 PM
- Wednesday, 21 August, 2013 around 05:45 AM
- Thursday, 19 September, 2013 around 03:13 PM
- Saturday, 19 October, 2013 around 03:38 AM
- Sunday, 17 November, 2013 around 07:16 PM
- Tuesday, 17 December, 2013 around 01:29 PM
New Moon in Dubai, United Arab Emirates in the year 2013
- Friday, 11 January, 2013 around 11:44 PM
- Sunday, 10 February, 2013 around 11:20 AM
- Monday, 11 March, 2013 around 11:51 PM
- Wednesday, 10 April, 2013 around 01:36 PM
- Friday, 10 May, 2013 around 04:29 AM
- Saturday, 08 June, 2013 around 07:57 PM
- Monday, 08 July, 2013 around 11:15 AM
- Wednesday, 07 August, 2013 around 01:51 AM
- Thursday, 05 September, 2013 around 03:37 PM
- Saturday, 05 October, 2013 around 04:35 AM
- Sunday, 03 November, 2013 around 04:50 PM
- Tuesday, 03 December, 2013 around 04:23 AM