In our traditional Ashtanga Vinyasa Mysore program here at Meadowlark we observe the “moon days”.  This means on the full and new moons we invite our community to take rest from our more regular practice of Ashtanga Vinyasa yoga. 

There are a variety of reasons for observing the rest days, and for many who practice daily (6 days per week) the extra rest and observation of fluctuations in one’s energy over periods of time is welcomed. 

During these days we invite our community to focus on other areas of practice, including and not limited to prāṇāyāma, meditation, chanting, gentler āsana practice like yin yoga or Matthew Sweeney’s Chandra sequence.  It also invites you to observe the attachment you may have to your ‘normal’ practice.

After advice from Hamish Hendry of Ashtanga Yoga London (who follows the Panchang Hindu Calendar for their Moon day scheduling) and carefully observing our sunrise times here in...

by Penny Horner

“Activity and rest are two vital aspects of life. To find a balance in them is a skill in itself. Wisdom is knowing when to have rest, when to have activity, and how much of each to have.” Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Celebrating Silence: Excerpts from Five Years of Weekly Knowledge 1995-2000. 

Finding that balance between activity and rest is difficult in today’s world where we feel a need to be ‘doing something’ at all times. I looked around the carriage on a train recently as we sped alongside the beautiful Northumberland coastline. And it seemed everyone, including me, was using a phone or laptop, letting the scenery pass away unnoticed in our need to be occupied. It has become normal to speak of ourselves as being stressed. This is reflected by mental health statistics consistently showing increases in stress levels. (A 2018 UK survey by the Mental Health Foundation found that in the past year, 74% of people felt so stressed they have...