Spotting Luna

Surefooted but carefully traversing lava rocks entombed in the sand I ambled past palm trees toward the distant rumble of waves against a rock-smattered beach. A coati paused his foraging for ants to yield way as I stepped out onto the Caribbean Cove behind our suite.

Light yoga pants, a loose top and a towel were all that I needed for my morning practice.

Early morning sun embraced my cheeks and forehead while I greeted the first light of the day. Not rageful as it would be just hours later. But loving, warm and present. The water was cerulean but the sky? The purist blue. 

A gentle western breeze tousled my curls which I tied back loosely as I prepared to receive, palms up, in gentle seated pose.

Sit bones burrowing slightly into the dampened sand from a tide just receded.

Arms extended high –

-exhale to heart center.

Heaven.

I paused to take stock in the unblemished beauty of the day before I began sun salutations. There wasn’t a cloud in sight, nor a person. Both, I felt, would disturb my practice.

With Ujjayi breath

…the ocean breath…

 Mountain pose.

Upward salute - leading with the heart.

Forward fold - Uttanasana

Halfway lift -

Step back to Chaturanga Dadasana.

Upward facing dog.

Downward facing dog.

 With Ujjayi breath

…the ocean breath…

 Repeat.

I echoed these salutations as if I were at one with the breeze itself. I did not know where it started or I ended – or even what “it” or “I” were anymore.

Bliss.

 Then came the balance in my practice.

Right side dog split.

Right foot between thumbs.

Warrior One.

Steady.

Warrior Two.

Steady.

Peaceful Warrior…

And down I went - hard - quite to my surprise. Just when everything was perfect. Down I went. I sputtered, sand-covered, wondering why this had happened.

I stood and tried again, this time on the other side.

Left side dog split.

Left foot between thumbs.

Warrior One.

Steady.

Warrior Two.

Steady.

Peaceful Warrior.

Steady as a rock as I spotted the moon which had no yet relinquished its place in the early morning sky.

My yoga lessons come in the strangest of ways. And on this particularly exquisite morning in Riviera Maya, Mexico, it came in the form of the moon.

Without being anchored we really have no ‘balance’ at all. So, with nothing but blue sky, I faltered. Spotting Luna, however – the one thing that represented darkness – I was steady as the rocks that held the sand that anchored the roots of the palms that attracted the ants that the coati was after…and on, and on, and on. And I did not know where they started or I ended – or even what “they” or “I” were anymore and I, too, yielded in Peaceful Warrior.

Universal balance.

Namaste.