Hidden in Plain Sight
You’ve probably never thought of this, and likely never noticed it either. The New Moon rises about dawn and sets about dusk. That’s right, the New Moon is in the daytime sky right along with the Sun but, aside from the occasional solar eclipse, it’s invisible. Since it’s outshined by the Sun, its nature is Yin. However, in the nighttime sky the Moon is Yang because it’s the brightest and most noticeable of celestial bodies.
Yin and Yang
Of course the Moon doesn’t change, but the conditions of its viewing do. In one context the Moon is Yin, and in another it is Yang. You see, each polarity, Yin and Yang, is appreciated in contrast to the other. Yin is dark, hidden, obscure, and passive. Yang is bright, apparent, obvious, and assertive. And there are subdivisions of these extremes.
The Early Heaven Bagua subdivides Yin and Yang into eight changes, or the distinct phases of a lunation. Of its eight trigrams, Earth is comprised of three broken lines stacked one over the other. It appears porous, and is indeed deemed receptive and feminine. (This in contrast to, for instance, the three solid vertically aligned lines of Heaven, which are considered assertive, and masculine.) The Earth trigram is associated with the New Moon and the beginning of another 29.5 day lunar cycle. It’s the fertile soil that embraces and nourishes the seeds of rebirth. In your Yin yoga class you give yourself to passivity so as to prepare for subsequent incitement.
Germination
Seeds are capsules of intent. When embraced and nurtured by the Earth the creative force emerges and eventually fully manifests. This creative force, within the shell itself and from some outside source — that is, some Yang energy — drives the sprouting, the budding, and the blooming of the life cycle, but only when a Yin substrate provides a launch pad. Earth is that platform.
I might point out that plants are the dominate biomass of our biosphere at some 450 Gt C (gigaton of carbon), or about 80% of all taxa on the planet (1). We recognize — even marvel at — myriad terrestrial flowers and trees when in full bloom, yet we largely miss their common medium of growth. Earth!
The even longer holds of already long-hold Yin yoga classes offer Yin yogis rejuvenating sequences of just three to five postures. Each shape is particularly Yin, and the most inherently relaxing of the whole repertoire. It is from the quietude of Earth that the life force, Chi, is beginning to …
Manifest
Whether or not at the actual outset of a new lunation it’s still a good time to set fresh intentions, or reaffirm some pertinent personal imperative that you wish to realize. Go on and take this most elemental of Yin yoga classes, On Demand! Scroll down to Lunation 1234, then across to video 09.26.22 | Earth.
The sequence is:
- Supported Back Extension
- Stirrup
- Twisted Root L
- Twisted Root R
- Pentacle
(1) Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, June 19, 2018, “The biomass distribution on Earth,” Yin M. Bar-On, Rob Phillips, Ron Milo.