The Tyranny of Definition/ Body Astrology: Leo

image by astroccult

I struggle to find

an entry point into this chaos, so why not stand

in the middle of it— locate its beating heart

and find the spine that this apparent mess hangs on?

---

I guess the only way to enter Leo season is to enter dramatically. And WOW! Does this Leo season make an entrance!? Here’s what accompanies the sun moving into Leo on July 22^nd:

July 26^th Mercury stations retrograde in Leo

July 27^th Mars Rx opposes the sun in Leo

July 27^th Total lunar eclipse. Full moon in Aquarius.

No sudden moves please. This Leo season has edge. It cuts. It has the potential to be clean and conscious or a dumpster fire that leaves everyone confused and pointing fingers (we got big retrogrades too). Whichever way this season shakes out, it’s begging us to revolutionize our attitudes about leadership and how we IDENTIFY ourselves AND the people we consider “other.” It’s asking us clarify who we are as individuals and understand that those nameless, faceless, masses of people that we lump into categories are made up of unique individuals as well. Human beings.

It’s easy to dismiss those who seem different from the things we IDENTIFY with. Adopted and projected values and definitions are easy to understand, manipulate, and give us a sense of control. They “insure” a sense of personal safety—that we might not be challenged to grapple with the messier nature of our own personal make up: all the ways we don’t make sense, all the ways we don’t fit in, all parts of our selves we find repugnant or shameful or just plain confusing. So much easier to disown. Until they show up in someone or something else.

This season gives us front row seat to SHADOW. Our own personal shadow and the shadows we cast in our relationships, friendships, and group associations. It is a time that is ripe for violent conflict or a productive reckoning with all that we consider “not me” “not us.” We are going to be challenged to understand and own all of it. This is the very foundation of true leadership. The ability to see our whole selves unflinchingly, creates identity based on something real. A person who has owned their whole self has the ability to love and respect a wide variety of people and has the potential to lead them. It’s leadership based on an expression of self that’s authentic and recognizes that a wide variety of people are acceptable and worthy. When we embrace who we are authentically the flimsy labels, and superficial constructs fall by the wayside and we are free from the tyranny of definition.

And so begins Leo season. Join Margherita Tisato and I on Wednesday, July 25th at 7PM at Juniper Yoga & Healing Arts so we can approach how some of these ideas resonate in the body. We’ll spend most of our time exploring the archetype of Leo. There will be lots of energy to work with! Here’s a peek at my Leo notes to Marghe. You can use it as a jumping off point to shape your movement practice so it harmonizes with the season. Enjoy!

Leo Body Astrology Primer:

Leo is super yoga friendly. Here are some obvious practices:

Leo is ruled by the sun, so sun salutations! Get out there and bask!

Leo rules the heart and spine (love and courage). Open your heart to send and receive love. Strengthen your “backbone.” In French “couer” means “heart,” and is the origin of the word “courage.” Leo knows that to love and to allow yourself to be loved is not for the faint of heart.

It rules the ego. Meditation: Do you rely upon others for your sense of pride and confidence? Do your pride and confidence radiate from a place of self-knowledge and acceptance?

The symbol is the lion: lion’s breath.

It’s a fixed fire sign: breath of fire.

It’s the sign of royalty and regalness: king dancer pose, queen’s pose (restorative), and goddess pose.

Leo represents life’s rich pageant. Drama. Ceremony. Theatricality. Romance. Share and show off! (As long as your joy TRULY comes from sharing and your happiness is not based on impressing others.)

Leo rules children, play, and all the “creations” (including procreation and recreation): Child’s pose, games, playful sex.

It’s everything we do to feel alive and vital. Laughter.

More About Leo:

MODALITY: Fixed. Sustained energy.

ELEMENT: Fire. Contained and nurtured energy. It’s the warm glow of the campfire (in contrast to the spark of Aries or the wildfire of Sagittarius).

Polarity: Yang. The EXPRESSION of love and pride in self.

More Embodied Explorations:

Heart openers, chest expanders

Spine and back strengtheners

Taking up space without infringing on the space of others. Tricky*

Showing your SELF to others. (“Look at what I can do!” 5-year-old energy).

What does it feel like in your body to take a risk? Where in your body, or

what physical practices make you feel confident enough to take risks?

What does it feel like in your body to turn any situation into a game?

Where does shame live in the bodymind? How do we find compassion for these places so that we may express more of ourselves? Shame is injured Leo energy. Shame dims the light. The sun’s purpose is to shine. How do we nurture our fire so it continues to glow?

What is there to love about myself? My life? Every person I meet?

Happy Leo Season! XC

The Home Body / Body Astrology: Cancer

Esopus Creek in the summer.

In the previous workshop that I facilitated with Margherita, I joked that each session that we design feels like Mission Impossible: Your mission, should you choose to accept it…

As I was writing the “breakdown” for Cancer I felt positively stumped. I knew all of the fascinating components of Cancer that needed addressing, but when it came to recommending embodied practice, I couldn’t think of anything that didn’t seem too personal…too much like therapy or acting class. How do you teach this deeply emotional and watery energy in a public group setting? We want people to feel, but we don’t want to create an uncomfortable sob-fest. How do you teach the most private and sensitive sign in a way that people can still manage?

Margherita had the wonderful idea of introducing the work of Noguchi Taiso, butoh artist. In this practice we experience the idea of “the water body;” a body whose strength lies in its tenderness.

Body Astrology Workshop Primer: Cancer

Even though we’re just coming out of Gemini season, it’s actually Cancer that I find very dualistic…but in a more binary way:

A hard container…for fluids.

A tough exterior…that contains a gushy inside.

An initiating force…that’s always changing.

It has to close itself off…because it’s so receptive.

The Obvious:

Its symbol is the crab; it’s so home-loving that it carries its home wherever it goes. It rules motherhood; bodies that create life and feed life. It is nourishment and nutrients. It’s the past, our families of origin, and psychic history. It’s our mushy-gushy feeling bodies (sentimentality, emotion, organs, vital fluids and viscera) and what protects them (exoskeleton, defense mechanisms and tactics, institutions, and traditions).

Modality:

Cardinal. Protective Action. Cancer is the second cardinal sign of the zodiac. It ushers in the summer and solstice, the longest day of the year. So here again we have an initiating action. With Cancer that instinctive action is to protect and defend in the name of emotional security. For all of its home loving, homebody, nurturing mamma vibes, Cancer is serious business. You do not want to mess with its sense of family, home turf/territory, or devotion. Think: fierce mama bear. Think: homeland security.

Element:

Water. Primal emotion. This is the first water sign we’re working with. This is the feeling nature of the body, which is different than the sensation –nature of the body.  Emotions are tricky because they move and shift constantly (unlike earth), they speak a language and communicate to the body independent of thought forms and verbal structures (unlike air),  and they don’t necessarily animate the body (unlike fire).

Polarity:

Yin. In Cancer the yin energy is emotional introspection and sympathy. The Cancerian feeling nature draws the emotional tone of the people, places and things around it, to itself to find sympathetic feelings within it. Out of balance, this sympathetic nature can turn into over identification with the things, people or environment it surrounds itself with. Instead of direct expression of feelings, the yin nature has a tendency to project.

Body Parts:

Stomach, breasts, bodily fluids, female reproductive organs, and subconscious mind.

***Cancer is ruled by the moon; the uber feminine/lunar principle. The moon rules the subconscious, memory, and habits and travels quickly producing lots of change. It rules bodily fluids and the tides. A typical menstrual cycle mirrors the lunar cycles.

Embodied explorations: 

Vinyasa sequences inspired by the moon phases…practiced to the rhythm of the tides.

Breathing into a released belly. Relax into the emotions that bubble up.

Releasing muscular tension specifically to release “over defended” emotional centers in the body. 

Pelvic floor work.

Anything that speaks to creating a safe container for our most sensitive emotional contents, but allows for the liquid nature of emotions to move. (LIKE OUR UPCOMING BODY ASTROLOGY WORKSHOP).

Anything that creates a home inside the body or a home base of movement.

Anything that addresses the movement of lymph and blood.

Get creative! Happy summer!

Gemini Season. The Intentional Bend.

Gemini is the surfer of the zodiac. It waits for a wave to roll in and rides it. Surfing this wave successfully demands absolute elasticity and exclusive residency in the present moment. The act of surfing is responsive, which is different from passive.

It requires deep listening and sensitivity to nuance. The mutable signs, (Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, and Pisces) when they work best are about the intentional bend and well-supported flexibility. This is very different from allowing forces, circumstances, and whims to have their way with you. When we talk about Gemini, we’re talking about the mental plane, so we’re talking about mental (and manual) agility that’s conscious.

When one of your virtues is mobility it can be tempting to move, allow, or switch just because you can. All that movement without any support or direction can look like chaos and weakness of structure or purpose. This doesn’t have to be the case if we use agility, permeability, and dexterity on purpose. The surfer responds to subtle change in the moment without giving up on their task and taking full responsibility for how they pay attention. I recently wrote about these qualities for Bomb Magazine as they relate to architecture.

Using the body as metaphor, let’s take a body that has very open joints and connective tissue and a predilection for lots of movement for movement’s sake. Without deep listening and consciousness, this body could habitually be thrown off course or knocked down. This body could develop ruts in movement that compromise this gift of openness. Without developed sensitivity this body won’t make informed decisions about when, where, and how much to bend. If we can feel this concept with our body we can understand it with our minds. Which again is the domain of Gemini. So, the question here is how do we harness our bodymind adaptability in ways that will support our highest good?

More about Gemini on the blog here.

Come to workshop on May 23^rd and see what movement Margherita has cooked up for us! Here are your embodied exploration suggestions for Gemini Season! We will work with these in class as well.

·      Partner work (exchanges of weight, energy, social dancing, sparring) Gemini is about communicating, responding to, and exchanging information.

·      Transitions (HOW do we get from here to there?)

·      Breath Work (alternate nostril breathing would be a good one) Gemini rules the nervous system, hands and lungs. This type of breath work helps the right and left hemispheres of the brain work together. It stills the mind and stabilizes the nervous system.

·      Body openers (hip, chest, shoulder, spine) Gradual stretches and openings of the body with deep listening and attention. How far is too far? Is it your intention to allow that much movement or have you mentally checked out?

·      Coordination exercises: Pat your head and rub your tummy. Juggle. (You can think of better ones)

·      Agility exercises (choreography sequences, parkour, tennis, no video games please)

·      Anything involving communication or writing (move in a different language, write about your body, teach or learn a new move).

Until next time,

XC

Taurus Season: Commitment without Attachment

Zodiac Man from 14th century German manuscript

Margherita Tisato and I have been leading workshops and movement investigations that explore the body's relationship to cycles, stories, and nature as they’re represented in astrology. This could not be more fascinating and inspiring work. So inspiring, that I’d like to keep a little notebook about my thoughts and experiences while we do this.

I thought that I might not have time to write regularly about the astrology as it happens, but a number of you have told me that you miss the writing and golly gee, I miss it too. I think I can write once a month about the astrology in this movement context since I’m thinking about the two so much anyway.

The sun moves into sweet Taurus on April 19^th.  Margherita and I are teaching Taurus workshop on April 18 at Juniper in Brooklyn. In our evolving process I usually talk to her about concepts, contexts, and possible movement/somatic explorations and then she comes up with brilliant “choreography.” I never quite know what to expect but I have not been disappointed.

Please send your email address to my monthly mailing list for astrology and movement reports and updates on classes, workshops, and events. bodyintelligence@gmail.com

Thanks so much!

Moving Taurus: Commitment without Attachment

Habit conquers everything. Habit “passes the time.” It puts you under with a smoky kiss. When you wake the world is older. –Gary Indiana

I think of Taurus as the best representative of “my body.” Not “my body in relation to your body” or “our collective body” just “my OWN body.” I even came up with a little manifesto about it last Taurus season. You can read that here. But when I think of how to practice Taurus as a movement experience I think of this phrase: Commitment Without Attachment. And isn’t this something we all struggle with?

The word commitment is notorious for inciting feelings of deep fear and comfort sometimes simultaneously. What do you feel when you hear the word? Does this conjure images of locking something down or locking something up?  Does the word make you feel secure and unshakeable? What if we thought about the word commitment in terms of energy?

Commitment doesn’t have to be a heavy block; like a lead weight meant to hold something down. We can use commitment as a stream of energy that moves. The key to moving energetic commitment is consistency. This is where Taurus shines: the long haul, economy of effort, and stability. We can think of commitment as sustained effort toward a clear intention. Steady and constant action that is unrelenting. These acts don’t have to be big or complex, just actual—tethered to the earth. Taurus is an earth sign that is not interested in thoughts, feelings, or inspirations. It’s all about the tangible deed. It says, ‘show me in a concrete way that you mean this.” 

Taurus has the endurance to run the marathon because it understands economy of resources and always looks for quality. It has the patience to make the right moves. And as long as it stays present with its intention, will build a sturdy and beautiful monument to that intention. When Taurus goes unconscious, i.e. checks out from its mindful dedication to what is best for it we get the shadow side of Taurus. Commitment turns to attachment. Sustained effort turns into stagnation. Comfort turns into indulgence.

Attachment has a lot in common with habit. When I think of habit, I think of things we do unconsciously to make ourselves comfortable. And Taurus LOVES to be comfortable. It can wake up one day wondering how it became a slave to routines that have no meaning or purpose other than to avoid discomfort. Growing into the people we want to be takes commitment, and the process of growing is not always comfortable. When Taurus starts to feel impending fear around not being able to perform a habit, or the possibility of loss or change, its instinctive nature is to lock it all down. In essence, stopping that sweet steady flow of energy that allows for course corrections and organic changes on our path.

In the long run, getting comfortable with some discomfort can lead to the massive abundance of enduring love, security, and pleasure that Taurus ultimately craves.

Here are some embodied intentions that Taurus season supports, no matter what your physical practice (yoga, dance, walking, sex, climbing, singing, breathing, sports, somatic practice, etc.). See what you can do to mindfully explore these sensations:

Privileging sensation in whatever you think of as your foundations (i.e. feet, seat, trunk). Give extra attention and fortification to these areas. We can also think of foundations as the parts of ourselves that meet the earth.

Finding the movement within static poses and stillness so we don’t become dull and "checked out".

Stabilizing and fortifying joints for the sake of mobility.

Finding relaxation and rest without becoming sluggish.

Enjoying pleasure sensations without becoming attached (addicted).

Honoring traditions without becoming closed to new learning and change.

Self massage  (Taurus is about SELF knowledge and pleasure).

Feeding ourselves high quality foods.

Creating sanctuaries that we find sensually pleasing for deep rest.

Taurus rules the throat, neck, and voice. This is a wonderful time to enjoy or create sound from the body. Sing! Even if it’s just in the shower.

Happy Taurus season!

Sagittarius New Moon December 17/18 2017 Can You be the Question?

Chine scroll painting

To a Centaur on her Saturn Return

            By Cory Nakasue

Dear Saskia, I don’t have any answers for you. Just more

questions to add to your questions. After all what is a Sagittarian

aside from innumerable questions and the risks they take in search of answers

that only lead to more questions?

Half beast half

human. Unable to pick a form and wanting

to blend the best

of both worlds while rejecting the parts

that won’t fit

into Saturn’s unbendable

definitions

regarding what’s real.

Unfortunately, when Saturn returns

to the place in the sky

it occupied at your time of birth

it will make you choose:

Yes or no?

Woman or beast? Or maybe

you can convince the Lord

of Time to accept a centaur as a valuable member

of society.

*

I was in the city last weekend and thought of you.

I saw Quiet Days in Clichy,

the movie based on the Henry Miller book. By turns grotesque

and succulent. So hollow

that its potential for holding all the naked

boring beauty in the world

seemed palpable—mean and horrible

and so ugly it whips right back around and becomes gorgeous again. And I wondered,

is there a story about two female companions

as raw and uncomplicated? Could we be

that story? A story that’s not

moralized, politicized, or sentimentalized—basically a story that’s not romanticized.

Do I sound like Llyod Dobler in Say Anything?

So romantic

the way we imprison ourselves in frames

of reference.

So unlike yoga.

In Clichy, Joey and Carl structure their days

around immediate physical urges and epiphany

spasms amid a parade of distraction. Their days are one

long improvisational orgy performed with total commitment.

Theirs is an unapologetic launch

into NOW

and NOW        and NOW                    and NOW and

Now this is yoga.

It might not be EXACTLY what we teach

our students. I fantasize that the forms and philosophies

we so painstakingly convey are received

as the mere training wheels

they’re meant to be; little crutches

to get people to recognize an

AUTOMATIC-THOUGHT-FORM-PROGRAM-BRAIN-WASH

when they see it, cast it off and actually hear

their bodies revealing the mysteries of the universe like the fucking arc of the covenant cracked open spewing shimmering golden light in the form of rapturous knowledge.

As a Sagittarian, you might really appreciate that—crude knowledge,

erupting in spite of the earth

getting off

on questions.

*

I don’t know Saskia.

Do you want to have a baby? 

Should you have a baby?

Have you changed your mind about babies, motherhood, womanhood and all that jazz? How does your body answer these questions?

Is your womb at war with your philosophy, your conscience,

your convenience?  What about romance?

Is it about that dude? His wants

making you question your wants? Or being haunted

by some shadow of “should” or “supposed to?”

You can’t cup your cunt with uncloven hooves—

catch the answers as they drop. Consult

yourself mid-gallop. The mud that gets kicked

up mid-motion is your product, your answer

your baby.

Run.

*

What about Thelma & Louise?

I like that story. These women

being rebellious.  They still get punished

in the romantic end; still martyrs

in reaction/resistance. They are running

away. They are prey.

Through all of their adventures in self

defense, they are framed

as beautifully and romantically uncommon.

Some kind of exception.

Then they die.

Are they supposed to be particularly heroic?

For having a survival instinct?

For having a threshold?

For being human?

Should they be framed

as rebels for participating

in the dualistic romance

of vengeance

perpetuated by dude-culture?

What if Thelma & Louise didn’t have to escape

situations they didn’t want to be in in the first place?

HA! Sorry. My bad.

That would be like trying to escape the word

“patriarchy” while it’s embedded in the very sentence-making

I depend on

to tell you that the patriarchy doesn’t apply

to me.              Let’s forget about that question.  

I think we can begin to bend

the sharp edges of a language that points

us away from ourselves—that has us looking

outward for rules and benchmarks, that has us buying

into ideas like “normal” “natural” “the majority” and

“mainstream” vs. an “alternative.”

That there are only two choices to pick from

is one big lie. We can’t count

all the ways to be

ecstatically and responsibly free.

*

Clichy feels more female than Thelma & Louise…which is weird.

These two dudes, cocks out

like weather vanes--divining rods pointing

them to FEELINGandFEELINGand FEELINGandFEELINGandFEELING

fucking anything in sight, lost

in a swirl of confusion and emotion where

every action is good-AND-bad, potent-AND-flaccid, innocent-AND-violent. So sweetly

feminine. A glorious mess. Embodied and reflected upon.

Saskia, could we be that story? Or

is shape-shifting between forms

reserved

for those of privilege?

Can anyone really make their own

meaning?

Is rebellion the only tool

within reach

for some?

Rebellion feels like an answer

to someone else’s questions.

Answers are born

with limits.

Questions create the world

the answer lives in. If we’re truly

our own authorities, WE would build the house

our world lives in.

Rebellion feels like a reaction to those

shadow “shoulds” and “supposed to-s.”  What if

we didn’t recognize those

words? What if

they were neutral? Like “paper”

and “vowel.”  What if “baby”

were as neutral as “towel”—as banal as vanilla, as vanilla as oatmeal? 

What if

the “shoulds” and “supposed to-s” just didn’t occur to us

as anything that applies to us?

I don’t want to tell you

how to feel about rebellion.

You don’t need me

to tell you WHAT

you already know. You don’t need me

to tell you THAT

you already know. You know that

every freak-out is a rejection

of NOW and that every hiccup in our certainty is a lapse

of trust in our body. You know. Every Sagittarian knows

that answers serve questions.

Can you can be the question?

Full Moon Gemini. Mercury Retrograde 12/3/17 Bend and the World Bends with You.

I wish everyone luck this December, including myself. I’m already getting the business end of this lunation. I’m almost afraid to post this. But we can’t hide under the bed at every Mercury retrograde or Saturn transit. We have to take our lumps and LEARN: how to balance realistic thinking with lofty ideals, distinguishing unresolved feelings from logical thoughts, and mindful communication. The next two weeks are about restructuring the mind and telling fact from fiction. Give yourself and others extra helpings of time to think and formulate. Slow the internal tempo down so you can take in new information (that might actually be reformulated old information) and make needed adjustments.

But wait, isn’t Gemini supposed to be the fleet footed jack-of-all-trades? The master multitasker and messenger of the divine? Shouldn’t a full moon in Gemini be a gabfest, a piñata full of gadgets, smooth, fast, multilingual conversation? Well, sure. That’s one way it could go down on any other Gemini moon, but not this one.

Here’s what makes this one truly special:

a)     It’s ruled by Mercury retrograde (stationing ON the day of the full moon)

b)    Mercury is in Sagittarius (in its UNhappy place aka its detriment)

c)     Mercury is conjunct Saturn (ruler of the finite, form, and 3D reality)

d)    Full moon is square Neptune (ruler of the infinite, the formless, and fantasy)

This is so complex I’m going speak imagistically about the ways you might experience this:

#1

You’re in the middle of a long corridor. At one end of the corridor is a perfectly idealized version of love. At the other end of the corridor is a grossly exaggerated representation of your darkest fears. If you move toward your fears and get a closer look at them you’re guaranteed a new level of knowledge and self-mastery. There are no guarantees if you move toward the idealizations (might be everything you hoped for, you might be sorely dissapointed). The ends of each corridor are equally tempting and horrifying, urging you to move quickly. Oh, and the entire floor is marble and it’s been doused with soapy water.

#2

Your friends are waiting for you at the beach. It’s a perfect day. The only route you know has been closed and you’re skeptical about the detour, but you don’t have any maps with you, your smart phone is dead, and you’re the only one out on the road. You really want to get to the beach and you don’t want to worry your friends. You either take a leap of faith and drive the sketchy looking detour or go back home and get all the navigation tools that you’re used to using. Do you stick with the original goal and go about it the way you’re used to, even though it might cost you the day? Or, are you flexible enough to see where the road you’re on leads, and maybe even decide you want to spend the day differently?

#3

Someone is saying all the right things to you. They make total sense. You agree with them. But, you don’t believe them. You don’t trust them.

#4

A situation doesn’t quite make logical sense to you. You’re not quite sure it's worth doing. But, you know you need to be in it. It feels right. You trust it.

This full moon trust your bones over your brain. Brain not work so well right now.

When Mercury gets sleepy (read: goes retrograde, gets stuck with Saturn in Sagittarius) it happens so that other avenues wake up. Emotions, intuition, and senses get woken up and we may be forced to experiment, improvise, create innovative workarounds. Sometimes we get stuck in patterns of thought, and use habitual thought forms as a crutch. We may tell ourselves it’s for efficiency, legitimacy, or practicality, but most of the time it’s out of fear. Fear of the unknown, failure, getting hurt, or disapproval from others. This full moon may point out some of those habits by denying you access to them. It wants to show you that you are much more than habit, mindless routine, unquestioned preferences, and unexamined traditions.

Where communication is concerned take nothing for granted. This is another place we get lazy. If two people are lazy enough with their speaking and listening, they might not even be in the same conversation. Slow down. Pay attention. Rushing to judgement on anything right now would be a big mistake. Huge. We are all having useful info about the way we’ve been thinking and communicating handed to us. Unfortunately it might come in the form of breakdowns…but it doesn’t have to. If you do find yourself with a breakdown, try living with it. Ditch your old computer, phone, television habits, communication style, or thought pattern for a while and find another route. Feel other parts of yourself.

Flexibility and care will get you through the next month. Bend and the world bends with you.

Bonus points: watch or re-watch The Matrix. Meditate.