The moon salutation is different than the sun salutation in that it honors the night. The sun gives us our light, but the moon gives us our dark while at times reflecting our light. Since one cannot exist without the other we know the moon is still there in the day, as the sun is lighting up the other side of the planet in our night. Everything outside of us is referencing our positioning.

The moon is magnetic. Dogs do not howl at the moon because they are intelligent, dogs howl at the moon because the moon is pulling them. The tides are pulled and manipulated by the moon, it is all interconnected. We are made up of a tremendous amount of water so it goes to reason that we are pulled by the moon just like the ocean. The number for the moon is seven, it is the virgin, the virtue, it is why in certain cultures the nuns take away the small girls when the full moon comes out. Everyone knows a full moon can make us crazy. 

If the moon pulls us, our work is to fight the lunacy of being manipulated by the moon by mediating. The art is to learn to fight the tides so you are not coerced by the phases of the moon. The sun is all about the scholarly, while the moon is all about the lunar, the lunacy, and the left eyeball. This is the right side of our brain, the creative self-expression and the esoteric magic. If you are too solar you are too scholastic; if you are too lunar, you are too emotional. If you know how to mediate and remain the third principle you will learn to use your feelings when you’re too scholastic and use your senses when you are too emotional.

To understand the lunar is to know the primitive, the lower body, to see that all of nature is designed to fall apart and the universe is not invested in the personal. The solar achievement is very personal, we go into our depths so we can rise to our heights and develop a higher vision with which we can participate in. Eventually the higher vision links in with the uni-vision, putting us in tune with the higher hearing and the higher seeing. These are the clair senses.

Since the sun is electric and the moon is magnetic, fertility is then manipulated by the moon. The tide pulls our hormones. Lunar Calendars are agrarian calendars, they are used by planting cultures. Solar calendars organize our year and are manipulated by the sun. These used to organize the months within the year and within the planets seasons. We age by virtue of the moon and eventually the moon runs all of it. You are more manipulated by the moon than the sun. The moon gives you the night; the sun gives you the day. This gives a different magic than thinking life is just about the intellect and power. All of the lunacy is in the night so the moon is a more powerful practice to use than the sun because the moon pulls your waters without you even knowing it. The sun lets you achieve but the real achievement is not being pulled. These salutations are all about fighting the pull of the moon so the pull does not make you a lunatic. It is the lunar, the water, the magnetic, and it is meant to cool you down not heat you up. This is learning to ride the wave, the ebb and flow which is inherent in life’s design. It’s about organization then integration. This builds integrity.

With the moon salutation the same principles apply. Every odd number is an inhale and a backbend; every even number is an exhale and a forward fold. You are constantly pulling and being pulled by the tide and you are working to emulate this in the salutations. It is done on a fourteen-count cycle. Seven is the virgin birth, it is the number of the moon and the lunacy. After seven everything flips and you move your way back into a seed. So you begin in a seed, compact, life tightly woven, you end anchoring it all back to seed form, ready to begin anew. This is the cyclical nature of everything in the universe.

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One: Inhale

Initially begin in a compact child’s pose. Have the legs folded together, eyeballs in knees, knees together, and heels on the outside of the butt bones. Have the hands on the heels so you are a compact seed. Then as you inhale sit on your heels, look up and shape the moon with your arms. Grow with the waxing moon. 

Two: Exhale

Fold yourself forward, find the earth and make contact. Know the moon is all about the fertility on land. Be the seed. 

Three: Inhale

Get pulled by the tide, keep your arms straight and pull yourself forward into upward facing dog. Embody water, you are being pulled from shore by the increasing tides rolling in and then out. As the moon grows the tides are becoming larger, the energy is rising higher. Let yourself be pulled by the wave.

Four: Exhale

Fight the pull of the moon and pull yourself back to land. Find dog pose. Four points of contact is safety on land. Be stable. 

Five: Inhale

Step a foot forward into a crescent lunge. You are moving forward into your potential and seeing the vision of your drive. The back leg is lifted and you are gazing up as the moon grows. Look towards the moon in its crescent form. Become fuller. 

Six: Exhale

Fold yourself in half, go deep into the personal, draw yourself into yourself and reference back into the dark of the night where the pulling began. Look within. 

Seven: Inhale

Circle your arms up above you as you rise up and see the moon rising in the night sky. Know it is not the moon rising it is you that always rises. Rise for the full moon. Be full.  

Eight: Exhale

Now everything flips. Know that life flips, the art is to become flippant, to develop the capacity to handle life’s capriciousness. Every polarity in its extreme flips to its opposite so feel the energy begin to pull back towards earth. Bring the arms down and fold yourself forward. Begin to see the moon descend down as you reference everything back into the personal depths of desire. Fold deep within. 

Nine: Inhale

Step a foot back and anchor it all into memory. The memory is reflective, so manipulate your drive so you can manipulate what you see in memory. Embody the crescent. 

Ten: Exhale

Bring the hands down and move into dog pose. Pull yourself to shore once more. Be equilateral and equidistant. 

Eleven: Inhale

As the tide pulls out towards the approaching new moon let yourself be pulled out by the moon into an upward facing dog. Emulate the wave. 

Twelve: Exhale

Fight the tide, bring the knees down, body down and fold into yourself in a child’s pose. Be the seeds sown. 

Thirteen: Inhale

Sit on the heels, reach the arms up and see the moon disappearing in the night sky. Be prescient. 

Fourteen: Exhale

Anchor the darkness of the new moon into your heart as all the energy moves down as you bring the hands towards the centre of the chest as if holding a seed. Be empty. 

Then begin anew… Develop the capacity to be here and now, refine the ability to be whole.