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Embodying the Zodiac (1)

Part 1 - Zodiac Woman

Here is a piece adapted from the first part of an article I wrote on Embodying the Zodiac, published in the Astrology & Medicine Newsletter, an Astrological Association publication.

You may be familiar with the image of Zodiac Man which associates each sign of the zodiac with a particular part of the body, starting with Aries at the top of the body with the head and finishing with Pisces ruling the feet.

broken image

Zodiac Woman drawing adapted from www.tracingbodyimage.org

The way I have seen this mainly used is to indicate the area of the body where there is likely to be issues. So, for example Arians are meant to be prone to suffering from head injuries.

I was born and brought up in France and people there tend to know which part of the body their sun sign is related to. It’s not uncommon to hear people say: “I am a Taurean, no wonder I often get a sore throat.”

I prefer to reflect on these associations more psychologically. It is a way for me to better understand the signs and how they behave in the world.

I have been practicing yoga for the last thirty years or so and have been teaching it for the last fifteen. Recently I have been experimenting with the relationship between the zodiac signs and the different parts of the body.

As a result, I have been running a yoga class inspired by the twelve zodiac signs. Right now, this takes place on Zoom on Saturday mornings. The practice changes every four weeks or so depending on the sign the Sun is travelling through.

So, for example, when the Sun was in Capricorn last month, our practice focused on our knees and other joints of the body. How can we keep our joints healthy so that we can move with ease? Next month when the Sun moves into the sign of Pisces we will be exploring the role of the feet in yoga poses and how important they are to keep us grounded in the present moment.