A Diwali special Amavasya ritual

From a Deepavali few years ago

Hello Moonchild,

Happy Diwali/Deepavali to you :) May these few days shower infinite blessings on you and bring you a state of harmony as you navigate both the darkness and light in your life!

Deepavali is associated with various deities depending on the region and tradition. The festival symbolizes the victory of good over evil, knowledge over ignorance, light over darkness.

In India, this is a busy time of celebration. It is usually a time spent with family and friends through pujas/rituals, exchanging sweets and gifts, games, bursting crackers, cleansing and decorating the house, lighting diyas and more. While all this unfolds around you, it is important to stay centred and maintain the attitude of a witness through the day. This will enable you to celebrate consciously, help you choose joy and warmth and be mindful of how to deal with anything challenging that might play out.

Here are some simple practices you can easily integrate into the day. You could do all or at least one. They are all short, so practical too, given that you might have a lot to do in the day :)

Practice 1

A quick centering with breath and light visualization

Sit with an upright spine. Take back support if needed. Rest palms on knees.

Observe your breath, following the journey of your inhale and exhale for a few breaths.

Notice and mark the point/region in the chest where the inhale transitions to the exhale.

Visualise a diya or a flame of light here. Let this be steady and unwavering.

Maintain awareness on this for a while as your breath continues naturally.

When you feel centred and relaxed, let go of the visualization.

Rub your palms together and place the palms on your heart.

Do this for sure as soon as you wake up, before you get out of bed. After that you can choose to do it whenever you need it during the day, as many times.

Practice 2

Humming breath- External and internal

Sit with an upright spine. Take back support if needed. Rest palms on the knees.

Observe your breath, following the journey of your inhale and exhale for a few breaths.

Let your breath stabilize.

Inhale. Along with the next exhale make a gentle humming sound with the front of the mouth for the length of the exhale. Do this 12 times.

(If you have learnt the Brahmari pranayama, feel free to use the mudra that you know)

For the next 12 rounds, let this humming not be loud, but silent and internal.

Once you finish, sit with the vibrations of the humming and embrace the silence and stillness.

Practice 3

Trataka

You can do a ghee diya flame gazing or Trataka. 

Keep a lit ghee diya (or candle if a ghee diya is not available) at eye level, arms length in front of you.

Gaze at the flame softly for a while without blinking.

When the eyes begin to feel tired or watery, close them.

Maintain the image of the flame in your eyebrow centre.

Keep eyes closed till the image disappears.

Then open your eyes and repeat.

Maintain a calm slow breath throughout.

Do this 3-4 times.

Then rub the palms together, create warmth and place the heels of the palms on the eyes for a while.

If you are not celebrating with people and you have time, here is another theme and longer practice that you can explore:

We often think about light as good and darkness and fearful and bad. However, there is no light without darkness, there are no highs without the lows, and fewer awakenings and insights without the challenges. Think about embracing both the light and the dark- about recognizing and rejoicing in aspects of the light and at the same time sitting with the darkness and not getting consumed by it, rather getting comfortable with it and being grateful for the insights and learnings it blesses you with.

Light and darkness are two sides of the same coin. The moment we accept and embrace that, we start to reduce internal conflict. External conflict resolution follows naturally. This is cultivation of harmony.

Here is a 30 minute meditation that I had shared a few years ago during the Covid time. It is relevant for any time you need it :) You can practice this today and/or tomorrow.

Feel free to share this blog with whoever needs it!

Have a mindful and joyous Deepavali! :)

Gratitude

Sheetal