MeltDown

If you stand and listen, faint rumblings of impatient bodies fill the air. With the first scent of spring we sniff new blood, shifting winter’s lock down  into choatic movement. It’s this shift that creates all manner of imbalances.

These imbalances do not occur to such an extreme degree in warmer climes, but for many, March is a month of desperation.  Frustration battles hope. It’s not only difficult emotionally, but there is a spiritual angst at this time. The Astrological year starts March 21 with the vernal equinox. Ancient bones hold this knowledge and ask if we are willing to be re-born. No matter where we live, consciously or unconsciously we question, “Am I willing to re-boot? Am I ready?”  Easter, Passover, and Holi, or Phagwa, did not happen from, “Oh by the way we need more eggs.”

Hell hath no fury like another snowstorm in late March.  The polarity of weather is only a piece of the discomfort. How to remain balanced, how not to be impatient, how not to yearn are all answered by being present, or going on a cruise. Those who can’t, grind their teeth….OR undertake an inner cruise.  One of the gifts of a Yoga-life is it offers answers and options for every need. We then have to be willing to step up and practice. The really interesting work is to make March feel like a cruise, not an ordeal, to treasure and make each day holy.  

 March Practices:

1. Read poetry, listen to joyous music.

2. Practice cleansing-breath/Pranayama: Kalibata and Lion.

3. Take more Vitamin B’s to sooth jangled nerves, and give energy.

4. Coat your skin in oils, rub it through the scalp before washing.

5. Do a fast, long or short, extreme or not.  The very best way to prepare for change is begin with the intestines, all else follows.

6. Fill your Practice with twists which cleanse intestines.

7.  Enemas

8. Go howl with the wild wind.

9. Ritualize pulling on the boots and winter coat as though for the last time.  Who knows?

10. Pull the Easter bonnet from the trunk.

Pose And Seasonal Energies

Asana:  Put together three balancing poses.  Move from one to the other creatively, let them expand you to feel totally present and at peace, balanced in the present, a rock in shifting tides.

Health Notes: I know you know this, but it’s amazing to feel over and over that what we do physically, manifests inwardly in extraordinary ways.  We have no idea what we set in motion by our physical Practice.

Astrology Notes:  This week’s New Moon in Pisces is a perfect expression of Neptunian energies; creative, and magical, it carries us on waves of oceanic emotion that may at times overwhelm, but also connect us to others with unknown, powerful currents.  Let the imagination soar, let your faith take wing to higher ground for Pisces expression desires a one-world at peace.

Ayurveda Notes: A well-balanced juice cleanse is a perfect way to fast.  If you are not juicing, a good spring diet includes a little raw food balanced with the cooked. This increases subtle layers of prana and mind. Too much raw can aggravate Vata dosha which is prominent in spring. A totally raw diet is only good for short term detoxing. Using spices such as ginger, cayenne, cinnamon, and basil help digest raw foods.