The Mystery of 3:40 AM

We have heard that sunrise, and sunset, as well as noon, are optimal times for yogic practices.  More specifically, 20 minutes before and after sunrise and 20 minutes before and after sunset, called Sandhya Kalam.  But even more powerful that these auspicious times is just around 3:30 to 3:40am.  For a yogi, that is the best time to awake and begin any practice they have been initiated into.

Let’s look at why.  You see, we are a product of this planet and this solar system.  We are integrally tied to its systematic functioning.  It takes no leap of faith to understand this – just look at the lunar tides each day.  How dynamically just the moon affects life on this planet, in terms of not just the oceans but everything.  Living isolated from nature in our cities, it is easy to forget just this simple fact of how our own moon radically transforms landscapes on our planet twice a day.  Not just that but menstrual cycles as well.  So if just the moon has so much impact then obviously the whole system is finely tuned and in sync with us, as living beings.

Yogic science has long understood this.  And so it is that at 3:40am there is a planetary synchrony with the solar system that is called Brahma Muhurta.  But it’s worthy to note that the relevance of this time is valid within 33 degrees of latitude from the equator, which is the Tropics band, extending out to the Subtropics.

If yoga and meditation practices have taken hold in our bodies, we may notice that sometimes we spontaneously wake at right around 3:40am.  This means our bodies are syncing up with the cosmos.  This is the best time to practice what we have been taught from a teacher.  That maximizes the potential for the initiated practice.

The reason initiation makes a difference with the relation to 3:40am is because we are talking about alignment of energies implanted within us from the initiation process with the planet’s energy system.  So that is why we are taught to do the initiated practice at this time of day specifically.  For those who have not been initiated into any practice, but who are doing yoga and meditation learned from yoga studios or videos or books, they would see more benefit from following the Sandhya Kalam timeline.