Myriam Klotz
6/20/2013
Just as the moon has cycles of growing fuller and then empty, so too our bodies move through cycles of filling and emptying. This Saturday and Sunday (June 22-23), the moon is at its fullest, and closer to the earth, than it will be at any other time of the year. Some commentators use the Hebrew word keseh to refer to the full moon. Keseh echoes the word kos, which means “cup”. The full moon is like a cup filled with abundance.
Here’s a movement practice you can enjoy outdoors this weekend as you bathe in this full moon’s brimming light:
Stand comfortably outdoors and if possible with bare feet on the earth. Feel the sensations of the earth against your feet.
Take your arms out to the sides of your body and send all ten fingers spread wide apart.
Root your feet into the earth, and take a deep full breath in through your nose.
As you inhale, stretch your arms out to the sides and let them extend wide, creating a circle as the hands meet above your head, fingers stretching up towards the big full moon. Lift your heart up towards the sky and lengthen through your neck.
Next, tilt your head up and lift your eyes to gaze at this full moon, this keseh. As you exhale, keep your arms extending up to the moon and your eyes gazing there as your focal point.
On your next inhale, draw the moon’s light down through your fingers and arms and into your body and let it fill you fully with its warm lunar glow. Slowly release your arms back out wide to the sides as you exhale and lower them slowly, mirroring the shape of this full moon.
You can repeat this simple movement several times, and you might recite the following blessing:
Baruch ata Adonai, Eloheinu melekh ha olam, oseh maaseh bereshit.
Blessed are You, Eternal One, Sovereign of the Universe, who makes the work of creation.
