October Full Moon - Reflect & Review

Hello Moonchild :)

We have a Full Moon rising on Monday, 6th October. This is a Super Full Moon as the Moon is the closest it gets to the Earth in its orbit. Monday is considered the day of the Moon. This increases the significance of the day. In an Indian context, it is Sharad Purnima, a day dedicated to Lord Vishnu and Goddess Lakshmi, apart from Chandra Dev or the Moon God.

We also just came out of the eclipse season. How was it for you? Did it bring clarity, learnings, change of direction or some transformation within you or in your life? If you did follow my guidance for the last Solar eclipse, it would be a good idea to go back and read what you journaled in the practice. Spend some time looking back at how it has played out so far.

This Full Moon is likely to bring you more opportunities in the direction destined for you. It is a good time to become aware of all that is opening up for you. These are not coincidences, but meant to show up in your life - to help you connect with your gifts (skills, talent, qualities like nurturance, care, compassion, adaptability etc.) and fuel your energies (drive, motivation, passion) in the right direction. Celebrate these. Full Moons are about celebrating your blessings and achievements.

They are also about release, of aspects that do not serve us in our journeys, internal or external, tangible or intangible. Let's say we need to be cleansed every Full Moon so that our journeys become smoother and the path ahead, clearer.

Under this Moon, contemplate and reflect on opportunities that have been served up on your plate. Connect with and celebrate your gifts and energies that are playing out in this context. Identify what might be obstacles in your path. Resolve to consciously initiate release.

As with all Full Moons, your emotions are bound to be on a rise. Hold space for them. Ground yourself through practices so that you are able to contain the water of your emotions and witness them in a non-judgemental manner, without getting carried away by them. Emotions are not bad, they are powerful resources that tell you a great deal about yourself.

What can you do?

You will need: A quiet room, about an hour, journal/paper and pen, a yoga mat. If you have a favourite deity or an altar, let these be part of the space you are practising in. Light a lamp. You can even light incense sticks and have fresh flowers as offerings to the Moon.

You can do this anytime, ideally post moonrise on the 6th. Try not to take it too close to the night/your sleeping time.

(Please check Moonrise/Moonset timings, I use the My Moon Phase app.)

A) CENTERING

Sit in a meditative posture. Centre yourself by observing your connection with Mother Earth. Remember your Gurus and ancestors and seek their blessings. Visualize a Full Moon in your eyebrow centre. As you inhale and exhale a few times, ask the lunar energies to flow through you and guide you.

B) MOVEMENT

If you feel that you need movement to ease the body, do a short, not too intense asana/any other movement practice that focuses on hip opening and mild heart opening, choosing poses that are closer to the Earth. The more your body touches the Earth, the better. (Think grounding, connecting with the Mooladhara and Svadisthana chakras, dipping into the kindness and compassion governed by the Anahata chakra)

Alternately, choose to do intuitive movement/use touch through massage to ease and release.

C) BREATH PRACTICE TO AID REFLECTION/CONTEMPLATION

Sit cross-legged or on a chair with an erect spine.

If indoors, visualize the Full Moon in your eyebrow centre. With every breath in, visualise healing and cleansing lunar energies flowing from the Moon into your whole body. With every exhale, feel the whole body relaxing. If there is any residual tension to be released, visualize it leaving through your exhales. Take 14 breaths.

If you are outdoors, face the Full Moon. Softly gaze at the Full Moon for a few seconds. Then close your eyes and maintain the image of the Moon in your eyebrow centre. Take three breaths. With every breath in, visualise the healing and cleansing lunar energies flowing from the Moon into your whole body. With every exhale, feel the whole body relaxing. If there is any residual tension to be released, visualize it leaving through your exhales. After three breaths open your eyes and gaze softly at the Moon again and repeat the process. Continue this another 3 times.

Let the image of the Moon dissolve. Then allow the breath to flow naturally. Simply be a witness to what you are experiencing.

D) JOURNALING

Reach out for your journal and pen and start answering the following questions.

1. What emotions and feelings have I been experiencing in the last few days?

After you answer this, close your eyes and sit with these. Without thinking of them as good or bad. Reflect on the situations that led to them surfacing. Contemplate on how they served these situations or not. Continue to adopt the attitude of a witness, being very compassionate and kind with yourself in the process. After this, if any insights come to you, note them down as well. Then take a few breaths. Rely on the inhale if you need energizing and uplifting. Focus on the exhale if you need release.

2. What opportunities have I been blessed with lately?

Take your time to write this. Once you finish read it.

3. What are my qualities, skills and talents that have helped me in the opportunities and all that I have navigated recently?

Take your time to write this. Once you finish read it. Then close your eyes and visualize your heart welling up with gratitude with every breath for all that you have identified. Let the whole body bathe in this feeling of gratitude and joy. Offer gratitude to your entire support system.

4. What would I like to change or stop doing in this journey? How do I want to go about this?

Write and maybe also leave some space to add on as realizations come to you later.

E) STEPPING AWAY | REGROUNDING | CONNECTING WITH THE HIGHER CONSCIOUSNESS

Keep the writing aside. Get up and walk around, shake the body out, move your joints.

Lie face/stomach down on your mat. You could keep your arms in whatever position works for you. Practise a few rounds of belly breathing. The belly expands and presses into the floor with every inhale and relaxes with every exhale. Do this for a few breaths.

Sit up and rest awareness in your heart space. Breathe into and out of this space a few times. Then maintain a gentle focus in your eyebrow centre for a few seconds. Again, shift focus to the heart space and breathe in and out. Start noticing the silent space, the pause, the micro gap between the inhale and the exhale for the next few breaths. Do not create that pause, it is naturally there, you are only becoming aware of it. Experience the quality of that pause.

Eventually, once you feel complete in that observation, shift focus to the flow of breath at the openings of the nostrils. Open your eyes.

F) REVISITING THE JOURNAL

Read question 4 and your answer again. Watch if anything further surfaces for you and note that down as well.

Then close your eyes and sit in silence for a while.

E) CLOSING THE RITUAL

Close the ritual by offering gratitude to your Gurus, ancestors, the Moon and Mother Earth.

What is your way forward?

1.Sit with your writing for a day or two or more. Let it process and clarify. Add things as they occur to you.

2. Keep referring to what that you have written down and keep it in a place that you see often.

3. Start putting into action whatever you would like to change/stop doing.

4. Remain open to insights-they may come to you in meditation or when you wake up or through people you interact with or even as dreams.

Stay grateful for all the blessings, keep watching the waning moon as you shed, be curious about all that unfolds and always have the attitude of a witness to everything :)

With lots of love & gratitude

Sheetal