Flowing with Grace

My dog, Pumpkin must be an incarnation of an ancient yogi.  He has taken to waking me up at 4am to start his day. The ancient yogis say that 4am is a very auspicious time of day and suggest that sadhana be done at that time.   Maybe it's God's gentle nudge for me to get to the mat.  Okay, Okay, I get it. I'm up.

This morning I rolled out my mat, lit a candle on my alter.  Each item on the alter was placed there as a symbol  of each one of my teachers.  As I light the candle I acknowledge each one of them and their contribution to my practice and ultimately my spiritual journey.   This morning my eyes immediately fall on a small statue of the Blessed Mother.  I offer a prayer to the Blessed Mother, as I often do, that she be with me as I move through my day so that all of interactions with others come from a place of love.

I pause as I look at a photo of Amma, the hugging saint.  In the photo she is looking away and her face is full of love.  Like the look on a mother's face when she is watching her child.  Against the frame containing Amma's photo I have placed a small photo, printed from my computer, of a teacher named Betheyla. Betheyla passed away before I had the opportunity to get to know her but somehow I feel like she is still guiding me.  It felt that way during my sadhana this morning. 

I begin with some gentle opening poses. I come up to standing with the intention of doing a few sun salutations. Instead I feel like moving  back to the mat.  Okay, I think, I'll do a kneeling salutation.  I closed my eyes and let my body move through the sequence without my mind getting in the way.  I followed my breath and let my body move through the asanas.  I found myself flowing through Chandra Namaskar, moon salutation. A sequence I learned from Betheyla. This sequence is rarely ever done in a yoga class or even in my personal practice but for some reason, today, that's what my body needed.  I simply followed the flow of Grace that was obviously at work. Trusting.......

This flow of Grace was there as I sat for meditation.  I remember learning some pranayama that related to the moon but I couldn't remember the details and didn't want to take the time to look it up.  The left side of the body relates to the  moon (chandra) so I breath in through the left nostril and out through the right.  (I have no idea if that's right but that's what I did).  After a few minutes I pick up my malas.

I start out with the Gayatri mantra, Om Bhur Bhuva Swaha......... Om Som Somaya Namah....... Wait that's not it. I go back to Om Bhur Bhuva..... Om Som Somaya Namah....  Okay, I'm trusting so I go with it.  I chant this mantra which was suggested to me by one of my teachers after he looked at my astrology chart I had done. 

Was it the full moon affecting my practice or was it something else?   Who knows?

(Oh, I just found the spell check button that's been missing from this site! It is going to be a great day!)