Yogic Practice During an Eclipse

To the ancient yogis, our inner being was made of two energetic polarities: the Solar and the Lunar. 

The Solar is considered to be an outward shining energy, and the Lunar to turn inward reflectively.

In advanced yogic breath training, these are the two "Nadis" or energy channels that run along side the spine and terminate in your two nostrils.  

During an eclipse, the sun and the moon come into a conjunction in the outer world.  To the yogic mind-body biohackers of old, the outer world and the inner world influenced one another.  They felt that the configuration of the outer luminaries had an effect on our inner "body of light".

In many traditions, you hear of eclipses as a time when misfortune is readily available and one should exercise extreme caution.  We can imagine how this thinking likely comes down from our early human ancestors - think of how the sky going dark  in the middle of the day would affect people's psyches in ancient times! 

There's a more subtle reasoning in the traditions though - and it has to do with these internal channels:

In some schools of thought, the solar and lunar energies can both be powerful, but neither is particularly centered - they each lean too far to the right or left.  Too much solar current and you find yourself blaming everyone else, too much lunar and you turn that blame inward on yourself.  Too much sun and you're always seeking outside yourself for peace, too much lunar and you're withdrawing too much.  The goal of the Hatha yoga traditions is to find the nondual union or stillpoint between these two polarities of our being.

An outer eclipse was considered to be unlucky for non-adepts, because instead of representing this union of the sun and moon, it represents BOTH of the dualized and polarized energies being present at once.  It's like when you feel both anxious and tired at the same time - neither one is pleasant and they both work at odds against each other - the fatigue keeps you from doing anything to ease your anxiety, and the anxiety keeps you from being able to rest.  It's a "lose-lose".

Because of this, students were advised to reduce their activities and engage in spiritual practice during the time of an eclipse - to counterbalance what are considered to be inauspicious circumstances.  

For adepts the situation is different,

with training this balance of the Solar and Lunar energies in one's being is said to facilitate moving into the realization of nondual stillness.  Because the energies are thought to equalize as the sun and moon conjoin, it is felt that an advanced practitioner can use that outer conjunction to find a third way within, which harmonizes and subsumes duality.  This third way is the central channel - the Sushumna Nadi, toward which all hatha yoga practice is aimed.

Some practices from tradition that you might experiment with include:

• Recitation of spiritual texts or poetry that being you "home" to a sense of spiritual truth or reality
• Practice alternate nostril breathing (Nadi Shodhana) to balance out these right and left nostril energy currents
• Cultivate a straight and upright posture such as in Zen sitting - this draws the energies of the Light Body into the central channel and facilitates the sense of centeredness and nonduality.
  • Various yoga poses can help facilitate this - including headstand and shoulderstand

I hope you've enjoyed learning about these mystic and alchemical worldviews of harmonizing the inner body with the outer world.  In some parts of the Northern Hemisphere you may have the opportunity to view a solar eclipse tomorrow morning, anywhere nearby, say the mystics, you can benefit from these rare and unique "energies".  Try some of these practices out and see how they work for you!