Sun Worshippers

What does summer mean to you? Sunflowers in full bloom? The warmth of the sun? The heat of the barbecue as the evening cools? Long light evenings? Maybe it’s the lazy afternoons in the park, or escaping to the beach? Summer brings abundance: an abundance of light lengthening our days, long evenings which make it possible to spend more time outdoors. There is a wealth of research on the effects of summer sunlight on mood and energy, linking sunlight exposure to increased serotonin, which in turn improves mood and lifts depressive symptoms. A study by UCLA Health conducted in the UK found that “time spent outside in natural light was linked to a decrease in the risk of developing long-term depression as well as self-reported improvements to mood and general feelings of happiness. These results were found to be independent of other variables such as lifestyle and social or economic status.”

We know what the effects of sunlight feel like, it’s what drives us to book holidays with guaranteed sun…the lengths we go to, to soak it up, the time spent fantasising about it, planning and saving to eventually be enjoying the sun. For good reason: soaking up the sun is essential to our wellbeing…as well we know during winter months when energy is low, seasonal affective disorder can kick in and we brace against the harshest weather.

As always, the ancient yogis already knew what modern science is now able to measure:

“The brightness of the sun, which lights up the world, the brightness of the moon and of fire – these are my glory. With a drop of my energy I enter the earth and support all creatures.” (Easwaran, 2007)

The ultimate embodiment of knowledge is the capacity to translate and communicate the experience, and without large scale studies and the tools yet to measure and record the chemical constitution of blood or saliva, ancient yogis relied solely on embodied experience. They knew something to be true because they felt it. We live in an incredible point in human evolution where what is embodied, felt and known intuitively, can be proven through measurable, repeatable means.

But as individuals our yoga practice is always staying close to what is experienced, felt and known intuitively by us. Having access to empirical data should not diminish our capacity for curiosity. This is a key aspect of our yoga practice.

Getting back to the sun then:

“The sun gives light and life to all who live, east and west, north and south, above, below; It is the prana of the universe.” (Easwaran, 2007)

Sunlight to the ancient yogis was an expression of a deeper universal energy – the divine itself and their embodied wisdom felt and poetically communicated the effects of sunlight. The experience of soaking in this light and the body’s capacity for transforming it into vital energy, or prana…the sun then, becoming the fuel for our life force, and the experience of a deep interrelationship between what is outside the skin, and what is inside the skin, down to the most subtle experiences of mood.

Modern science uses different language but speaks of the same interrelationship. Once we begin to understand how sunlight regulates our neurochemistry — supporting serotonin production and aligning our circadian rhythms so we wake with the sun and rest in darkness — we can better appreciate what matters most from a yogic perspective: the profound power of this interrelationship. The knowing that we are not separate from the sun, but of the sun. That our existence is entirely dependent on a power far greater than ourselves.

We might describe ourselves as ‘sun worshipers’, and what we mean might range in depth from a casual appreciation of the sun to a deeper more meaningful spiritual reverence of the energy the sun creates. Whether we simply enjoy the longer lighter days of summer, or we are more spiritually engaged in appreciating the power of the sun as something greater than ourselves, or perhaps we are harnessing the power of light in the form of technology like light boxes or grow lights for our plants… it all amounts to the same interrelationship.

That nothing could live without the power of the sun. Humbling, isn’t it? And hopefully a signpost in the direction of a deeper understanding of life.