August Dark Moon - What is in my Healing kit?

One of my healing practices is sitting under the canopy of a tree and absorbing the prana exuded

Hello Moonchild :)

How are you all doing? We are blessed by the Dark Moon today, and a very special one too.

This Dark Moon that falls in the month of Shravan* (Aadi masam in Tamil calendar, Karkidaka masam in Malayalam calendar) invites you to nourish, nurture and heal yourself. Its is a month when your intuition is stronger and reveals what you need to know, if you are listening.

It is a holy month, dedicated to Lord Shiva in many parts of India. In Kerala, where I come from, it is also called the Ramayana masam/month. The epic of Ramayana is recited through the whole month, as a ritual for spiritual cleansing and elevation. It is also the month in which people immerse themselves in traditional Ayurvedic healing practices to take care of the body that is relatively more sensitive and prone to disease due to the season, but also extremely receptive to healing modalities. This sensitivity has a connection with the reduced intensity of the Sun's rays reaching the Earth (read Prana) with the beginning of Dakshinayana or the southern transit of the Sun.

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Here is a glimpse of what happens at my home if you are curious :)

You can see Mom reciting the Ramayana. I hear this originally started as a practice by farmers who were home-bound with the rains lashing out at their crops. It was their prayer to ward off nature's fury and maintain inner calm in times of scarcity. This practice of reciting the version of the epic- Adhyatma Ramayanam Kilippattu written by Thunchath Ezhuthachan continues. The wisdom nourishes the soul and guides the reader down the path of Dharma.

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So the simple question you are answering under this Dark Moon is

What is in my Healing Kit?

What rituals and activities can I adopt or regularize so that...

...I enable release and healing

...I welcome prana into my system, energize and prepare myself for the year ahead

...and therefore elevate myself physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually

Like I mentioned earlier, it is a phase of high intuition, so if you go into a space of silence, you will receive what you most need to hear!

How can you go about this?

1. Setting up, Centering, Chanting

Set aside about an hour sometime today or tomorrow.

Create a sacred space with flowers/lamps/incense or anything else that holds meaning for you. Keep your journal and pen ready.

Sit in a meditative posture on a mat or if outdoors even on the bare earth/grass. Observe your connection with Mother Earth. Remember your ancestors and seek their blessings. Visualize a Dark Moon in your eyebrow centre. As you inhale and exhale a few times, ask the lunar energies to flow through you and guide you.

If you love chanting, close eyes and do the ‘Om Som Somaiyah Namah’ chant 14 times.

2. Breath-work

Choose a position to sit that you can stay in for a while. Use back support if needed.

Allow your eyes to close.

Scan your body from bottom to top and relax the whole body.

Take your awareness to your heart space. Observe the breath here for sometime, allowing your breath to find it's own rhythm. The breath should start flowing smoothly, like water, subtly without noise. Stay with this breath awareness, until you feel a deep sense of stillness in both the body and the mind.

3. Journaling

Put down three of the following prompts on three different pages in your journal

1. I enable release and healing through....

2. I energize myself through...

3. I connect with nature everyday through...

Start writing under each prompt. Take your time with this.

Each of the above could span areas of body and breath work and nurturing modalities (like Abhyanga, Jalaneti etc.), food, chanting, rituals and prayer, meditation, mindful activities, interactions with others who can help or anything that will work for you.

Know that you do not need to finish this writing now. Once you are done, leave space to add on, as and when more answers surface for you. Close eyes, place your palm on your heart and make a commitment to yourself with feeling, to put these into action.

4. Closing

Bring awareness to your body and it's connection with the earth. Touch the ground with your palms. Bring back the image of the Dark Moon in your eyebrow centre for a few breaths. Close the ritual by offering gratitude to your ancestors, Gurus, the Moon and Mother Earth.

Wish you all a calming and insightful practice!

Love & gratitude :)

Sheetal