Waking just before dawn is an integral part of living the life of a yogi. Just like the birds, whose dawn chorus starts about 90 minutes before sunrise, yogis use this time to meditate, exercise, practice yoga and tune into the sounds and wisdom of the universe. On yoga retreat, we wake before the dawn in silence so that we can practice a walking meditation towards the rising sun. On retreat, under a silvery, starry sky and dodging the odd owl, when I do my rounds to wake up my students, I listen to the world waking up in layers. First the birds, usually the males singing and calling to the females and reconfirming their territories. In Springbrook, on yoga retreat, the whipbird dominates the morning song. Then the small marsupials, the night animals scurrying back to bed and the early feeders like the red-necked pademelons under the trees. And finally, the insects, reptiles and flowers, who need warmth and light to activate and open.

In yoga we call this time before dawn from 3.45am to 6am, Brahma Muhurta, the 4th prahar of the night. Both Ayurveda and Chinese medicine put a huge emphasis on waking with the rising light of dawn. In the West we call your wake/sleep cycle your circadian rhythm. This is your body’s biological clock, which is ruled by the master clock, the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) in the brain. The SCN is stimulated with the onset of light. At dawn, the SCN sends signals to increase body temperature and secrete cortisol for waking up. It also helps in correcting the onset of melatonin secretion when the retina perceives darkness.
Dysfunction of your circadian rhythm results in insomnia and much more. Your circadian cycle influences your metabolism and blood sugar, it influences your immune system and your fertility, and disruption of this cycle can also lead to an increased risk of psychiatric illnesses like depression, bipolar disorder and dementia.
So, what happens if you are a night owl? And we have them on retreat, they simply can’t join us on our pre-dawn walking meditation and that’s just fine. How boring would our world be if we were all early risers and we had none of those sparkly night owls trawling the internet in the wee hours and connecting to people in different time zones? But, as always, it’s good to walk the middle path and seek a relatively “normal” circadian rhythm. How can you reset a disrupted circadian rhythm? Seek out the sun: exposure to early morning light helps reinforce your strongest circadian cue. Follow a consistent sleep schedule and keep those afternoon naps short. Avoid caffeine after 12 noon, exercise daily, and limit electronic light before bed. Who knows, you might reset so much that you become a fan of the pre-dawn world of silence!
Margot Wagner
Yoga Under the Bodhi Tree
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