The Mid Autumn Moon Festival, second only to New Years Day in its importance to Asian cultures, happens this Tuesday, September 17. It’s a national holiday; folks get up to three days off from work. That night, under the light of the bright, full moon, families and friends will gather and celebrate the gifts of the harvest and the sweetness of their connections to one another. Lanterns are hung and mooncakes--round, beautifully embossed pastries-- are exchanged as a token of love, abundance, and kinship.
The moon fascinated the early shamans and sages. They studied how it cyclically melted from the night sky, then slowly reappeared in bright, full glory, and decided that the moon must hold the secret of immortality. I’m not sure about immortality, but do believe the moon can remind us to balance out our hyperactive, worried brains with the ballast of inner peace. This is key to longevity.
The moon reminds us that life, like everything in nature, occurs in cycles: the orbits of the planets and stars, the changing seasons, the Earth’s lunar tides, and in our own physical rhythms, cycles, and pulses. In Qigong, the moon represents inner peace and the mental clarity that comes from being in such a calm, centered state of mindbody. This is a rejuvenating energy to cultivate and return to during difficult times. Just like the moon, our energy waxes and wanes, but we can always return to inner peace.
I love to practice the Qigong Moon-inspired flows, and they’re especially wonderful to do under the light of the moon. Exercises like “Moon Over the Lake” and “Gathering Moonlight” guide us right into that powerful sense of inner serenity, of illumination and mental clarity. Just as the fruits of the harvest nourish our body, accessing and strengthening our somatic connection to inner peace feeds our emotions and spirit, too. This, to me, is as close to immortality as we can get.
So, just like those delicious mooncakes are baked around a sweet filling, remember to reconnect regularly to your own sweet, calm center. If you forget how, all you have to do is “Gaze at the Moon”. I’ll review that and other wonderful moon-inspired Qigong flows tomorrow in our Zoom class. I hope you can join me. Meanwhile, here’s a sweet Zen poem for you to savor, written by Chih Liang, c. 850.
