Awakened by the muffled cry of my four-month-old puppy, I rolled out of bed for a 4 a.m. walk around the moonlit yard.

Once I peeled my other eye open, I couldn’t help but notice the intense luminosity of the full moon.

The electric blue glow pierced my eyes and jolted me into a state of heightened awareness. She spoke to me.

Her glow, her energetic allure, beckoned me to stare into the evening sky. She was ripe with a fruitful presence.

Something shifted at that moment, and I unknowingly decided that I must lean into the experience. It was there for the taking.

“I like this place and could willingly waste my time in it.” ~ William Shakespeare

I switched off my flashlight and as I walked, the moon followed. Her purest light illuminated the surrounding jungle and all was calm and still—the sound of crickets chirped in the blanketed silence.

Her soothing, yet awakening presence spoke directly into a deep sadness in my heart that’s been lingering unreachable and undetectable on any normal day. I’ve been too busy to realize how sad I’ve felt until that moment.

“The moon is friend for the lonesome to talk to.” ~ Carl Sandburg

As I walked through the dew-drenched grass, the fatigue and lethargy that clung to my body fell away like a heavy cloak returning to the earth.

My thinking mind tried to tell me what to do, but my body intuitively wanted something more. Something that would feel good.

After returning inside, the moon’s rich energy had me fixated and staring out the window, completely glued, eyes barely able to blink.

She possessed me.

I sat watching, trance-like, and found my way into child’s pose, bowing down to her majesty. A cool, crisp breeze filtered in through the window and cued me to breathe so deeply and fluidly that I felt even more alive, awake, and calm.

Time froze for a moment.

It was that same feeling we have when we’re caught in a thunderstorm, running barefoot, or chasing fireflies. We unknowingly find space within to just be alive. We are in love with life.

When we are willing to let go and settle into a non-defined self, we have no image, no identity. We escape the inner critic and experience what it truly feels to be alive.

While intuitively flowing through a few yoga poses that felt just right, I noticed the restriction of my clothing.

The tight outer layers were similar to that of our limitations or ego-based constraints of life and how we can be flowing one minute and come to a complete invisible halt, without warning. We can let that go.

And just like that, I enjoyed the breeze upon my naked skin.

The darkness of night protected me from seeing or identifying with an imperfect body and worrying about my exterior. The full moon guided me through a peaceful escape from the thinking version of myself.

“The moon will guide you through the night with her brightness, but she will always dwell in the darkness, in order to be seen.” ~ Shannon L. Alder

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