Surprising Moon Facts!!!

After I started practice Ashtanga every time the moon day is close I get curious to learn more about the moon and it's effects on earth. This Wednesday is full moon day!!! Take a rest and relax :) Here are some more surprising facts about the moon:

Our Cosmic neighbor!
1-The moon is Earth's nearest cosmic neighbor, but it is more than just a big pretty light in the sky.

When the moon was made?
2-The moon was created when a rock the size of Mars slammed into Earth, shortly after the solar system began forming about 4.5 billion years ago, according to the leading theory.

Apollo Moon Trees!
3-More than 400 trees on Earth came from the moon. Well, okay: They came from lunar orbit. Okay, the truth: In 1971, Apollo 14 astronaut Stuart Roosa took a bunch of seeds with him and, while Alan Shepard and Edgar Mitchell were busy sauntering around on the surface, Roosa guarded his seeds. Later, the seeds were germinated on Earth, planted at various sites around the country, and came to be called the moon trees. Most of them are doing just fine.

bye bye moon...!???
4-As you read this, the moon is moving away from us. Each year, the moon steals some of Earth's rotational energy, and uses it to propel itself about 3.8 centimeters higher in its orbit. Researchers say that when it formed, the moon was about 14,000 miles (22,530 kilometers) from Earth. It's now more than 280,000 miles, or 450,000 kilometers away.

Facts about full moon

 When I first started to practice Ashtanga yoga I did not understand much why we can not practice during moon (New and Full moon) days. When is a full moon day, that means the practitioners will take a rest.

 The logic behind is very interesting and go back many many years back. Like the ocean and all things of watery nature we are affected by the phases of the moon( human beings are about 70% of water). Our energy changes as the cycles of the moon. The full moon is considered a holiday in the Ashtanga tradition. It is also a fact that during the full moon we have more energy and passion, resulting a more aggressive practice where we can go more " deeper " than we are suppose to and end up hurting ourselves and or having an injury. During the new moon days we rest to retain energy. It is the day of the month that is believed we have less energy in the body.

 Its is important to remember that is the rest of  ASANA practice only ( third limb of Ashtanga Yoga ). Yoga is not asana. Asana is just a piece of the Ashtanga system. The other limbs are to be planted in our beings to be practice and to be flourished every day, all the time. Specially the Yamas and Niyamas.

Curious facts of full moon days:

  

1-In a study of 1,000 tonsillectomy operations, 82 per cent of post-operative bleeding crises occurred nearer the full moon than the new moon, according to the Journal of the Florida Medical Association.

2-The Californian grunion only spawns on the three or four nights after the highest tide associated with each full moon. The fish come ashore to lay their eggs.

3-Siri Lankan government rule bans playing sport on a full moon. 

4-Wesak, the most important of the Buddhist festivals, is celebrated on the full moon in May. It celebrates the Buddha's birthday and, for some Buddhists, marks his birth and death.