Roundness

The reason the world is round is it keeps us from looking too far down the road.  Another reason is that- roundness is symbolic of a mandala, a magical circle.  Roundness delineates birth.  It is the womb. The inmost shrine of an Indian temple is called a garbha, the womb. The center of a mandala, the Bindi, Sanskrit for ‘a drop,’ can be a symbol for the Third Eye, the ajna, seat of profound wisdom. If and when we sit in the center of our being, still and listening, we are in the center of our Universe, connected to circles within circles, an evolving mandala in our own right.

Our roundness retains energy and concentration. We grow inward-toward a deeper reality, aligning spokes from the center to greater harmony with nature, with the Universe. We react less, respond more.  Being roly-poly, we have fewer jagged edges.  Like the Uroboros, a great dragon formed out of the formless void, who bites its own tail to create the first circle; the first separation between dark chaos and light, we bring life into greater order when we have patterns, especially round patterns. We have polarities.  We have cycles. We have us and them, this and that, here and there.

When we are able to perceive cycles, and designs- to what appears meaningless and out of control, we breathe more deeply.  We settle into Self. Simply sitting and taking time to draw a circle with a bindi draws the eye in, the body toward calmness and reason.  The innate harmony that arises in adding color and beautiful pattern to the circle frees the mind from monkey yammering. We tend to organize feeling and thought around the mysterious.  Life and death, spirit and significance take up more time.  To our roundness we add weight, gravitas. Round and heavy, so American, no?  Ojala, I wish for all of us that hefty greatness.

Osho wrote, “The ultimate courage. No beginning. No end.”  When accepting the enormous weight of that, I see myself more courageous than ever before.  You?

Poses with Seasonal Energies

Create a mandala of your poses.  Find ways of linking so you turn and circle the mat.  Feel satisfaction in finding your way home at the close of this circular journey.  Keep it simple, allow pleasure of repeated patterning, and the pairing of breath to Asana.  Adding Pranayama, such as Kalibata, and Viloma Krama,  brings depth to your cycle.  You’ll return home a different body.

Astrology Notes:  Until March 19, we are celebrating all persons-Pisces, and their mystic ruler, Neptune.  After the 19th, we will celebrate Aires, and the beginning of the Astrological New Year.  It’s quite a shift from the delicate, often unseen flow of watery Pisces to the fire and leadership requirements of Aires.  Due to Neptune moving into its own sign of Pisces for the first time in over 160 years, we are all more spirit-minded, musical, poetic and mystified these days.  Aires on the other hand is holding back, due to its ruler, Mars being retrograde. All of us are reconsidering and re-vamping commitment, physical output, and leadership roles.  This holds true through the spring until April 14.

Mercury went retrograde on the 12^th for its usual 21 day review.  Double check cars and all important communication.  The retrograde periods of any planet are times to go within, perhaps create new mandalas, to re-seed the ground for coming cycles when the planet goes direct, sending us off on new trajectories.