Yoga & Your Star Sign
Yoga is a ubiquitous force complementing our needs in any given moment. With governance of the present moment, it’s an adaptive guidance system that settles frenetic energy and nervousness, appeases and satiates ferocious and veracious appetites alike, and gives us energy when we’re weighted down by lethargy and inertia.
Whatever you feel, yoga will sort you out.
Based on yoga’s innate regulatory process, it’s only natural that we might synergise yoga with asystem like astrology; delineating subtle characteristics and archetypal attributes obtained through cosmic interference – like our star signs do.
Blending intrinsic and external factors, yoga harmonises the delicate forcefields of who we are and can serve to both enhance our endearingly righteous qualities – and placate and remedy our mortal frailties.
Aries
Taking pride in your place as the principal sign of the zodiac, you are a force to be reckoned with. Bold, energetic, vivacious, and fun, Aries have an indomitable will and an “all or nothing” attitude. Commensurate with your deep passion and commitment, you’re driven by your heart’s desires. And, once your heart is set on something, there’s no stopping you. Rivalry and reverie go hand in hand for you. But watch the tipping point of your ego and don’t let healthy competition transmute to treachery and targets.
~ Yoga forecast: You’re blessed with a sign that falls on the precipice of spring,and drawing influence from the regenerative process of this season might help transform your yoga practice to suit your strong characteristics. Stay light in spirit with beautiful balance postures. Vrksasana – Tree Pose – has delicate grounding qualities that will help you reconnect with yourself and the universe around you. Remembering you are not alone is key to levelling out your eagerness, so grounding postures like Vrksasana, Trikonasana, and Skandanasana are vital. And each of these postures has its own set of incrementally challenging modifications and variations, so you can still placate your inherent desire to go all in.
Taurus
Captain of consistency, you’re a loyal friend who is venerated for your straightforward approach. You have little patience for unpredictability or drama, appreciate honesty and are comfortable with clear, direct communication rather than hyperbole or evasive talk. Like your emblem of the bull, you don’t like to be pushed, have soft and hard edges, and are commendably tenacious and down-to-earth. Your penchant for hard work is laudable but lends you to over expending your energies and burning out.
~ Yoga forecast: Like the bull, you are strong and hard-headed but misunderstood and underestimated for your sensual qualities. Embracing more of your Shakti – feminine energy – during yoga practice will evoke dynamic energy responsible for creation and unearth your inner sensuality. It will also placate your tough, ridged persona and form deeper connections with others – and yourself. Use shakti mudra in meditation or static poses or focus on awakening and balancing Svadisthana – sacral chakra – postulated as the seat of shakti energy. Yin yoga incorporates a wealth of poses directing prana (energy) through the sacral chakra (Butterfly, Dragonfly) and awakening divine feminine energy.
Gemini
Highly intelligent, you acquire knowledge quickly. Always watching, you’re acutely perceptive, analytical, and smart. Paired with your ability to think quickly, you have a sardonic humour, but are adaptable, imaginative, and innovative. Your duplicitous symbolism means you are playful and youthful but tend to adopt too much responsibility, juggle too many projects, passions, and interests simultaneously. A superfluous communicator, you excel at writing and are social powerhouses. You have a propensity to border on nosy and impulsive, with excessive energy levels and unpredictability.
~ Yoga forecast: Your intractable energy is both a blessing and a curse. With a million ideas a minute, your feet and hands try to follow suit – racing through life, carrying too much weight. Your undulations of high and low energy mean you often ride a rollercoaster. Settle this energy with recitations of affirmations and mantras. Invocations of repetitive sound soothe your chaotic mind and help you focus. Japa is a widely revered meditative approach reliant upon repetition and can be applied to asana. Even if you need to invite creative, challenging postures into your continuous flows, the act of repetition will serve dividends in achieving focus and relaxing your urges and impulses.
Cancer
The silent sympathiser, Cancerians absorb the emotions of their sibling signs. Rife with intuition, just like a crab, you peek through the cracks and spot surreptitious speckles in the sea. What others are blind to, you sense and seek out. Your love of home endows you as the zodiac’s protector, cherishing your family above all else. A hard shell is deceiving, as you cradle intense emotions and work to protect them and hide them from the world around you.
~ Yoga forecast: Prone to wearing your heart on your sleeve, you risk vulnerability in your Anjali (heart) chakra. Maintaining strength and resilience in the heart centre will fortify your love for others, as well as earnestly setting boundaries that act as a subtly defensive forcefield, so you don’t get taken advantage of. Use anjali mudra (prayer) at heart centre, connecting thumbs to sternum to create a circuit of prana flow. Combined with strong, static postures like Virabhadrasana III – Warrior III – and Anjaneyasana – High Crescent Lunge – will cultivate confidence and inner strength to avoid situations where your love might be exploited.
Leo
A natural born leader, you thrive on action and taking charge of your pack. Symbolic of shining light, you enjoy your turn in the spotlight and love adulation and adoration from others. Bold and warm, you don’t want to be worshipped, but respected and revered for your warmth and generosity. Like the lion that represents you, a big personality and desire to stand out are consummate with vanity. Dazzling and theatrical, you illuminate rooms and command attention with captivating tales of daring feats. You adopt a big persona to shelter vulnerabilities and fear feeling – and appearing – weak.
~ Yoga forecast: A steady sense of self-worth predisposes you to being boastful and ostentatious, but your intentions are never malevolent and often misunderstood. You have a way with words, but your self-confidence might hold innocuous air hostage and give others a false impression of the kind soul you really are. Working on your vishudda chakra – located in your throat – will enhance and improve your communicative skills. Conveniently located above Anjali chakra (heart), the two are easy to work in tandem for full effect. Asana such as Dhanurasana – Bow – and Bhujangasana – Cobra – are ideal for opening the throat and chest, directing prana to these powerful messaging chakras.
Virgo
Contemporaneous with the notion of virginity and innocence, you are highly attuned to yourself, order, composure and discipline. An inherent perfectionist, your unspoiled eye pays attention to intricate details. Sensitive and emotional, you keep yourself grounded with organisation, sourcing solutions, and being proactive. Modest and demure, you air on the side of conservative, but always maintain an air of insouciance and cool. Your high standards may seem impossible to achieve, and you don’t settle for anything less than perfect – potentially setting up yourself (and others) for failure.
~ Yoga forecast: Embracing frivolity and playful fun will add a new dimension to what is (most likely) a reliable, regimented asana practice. Postures such as Simhasana – Lion posture – and Utkata Konasana – Goddess posture – will channel inner joy and support you to let loose and stop being so serious. Embracing your sensuality, much like your Taurean cousins, is key to pursuing a less disciplined existence. Exercise your sacral chakra through Goddess, as well as Malasana – Yogic squat – and Baddha Konasana – Bound Angle – and embrace a more romantic, creative approach to the humdrum of a strict schedule.
Libra
Symbolised by balancing scales, Libra holds the weight of the universe. Divided between diplomacy, generosity, and indecision and carrying grudges, you are naturally fascinated by equilibrium and seek to balance your own qualities and frailties. A social maverick, you fight for justice and vehemently oppose violence. Your propensity for harmony and peace mean you are timorous in the face of confrontation but remain level-headed and reasonable in fraught situations. An air sign, along with Gemini and Aquarius, you need mental stimulation to continuously nurture your keen intellect and can become easily distracted and struggle to make a decision.
~ Yoga forecast: Protect your sense of balance with asana that command concentration and fierce focus. Using your sharp intellect, you’ll have no trouble deducing and configuring challenging balances like Svarga Dvijasana (Bird of Paradise), Downward Facing Dog Dancer, and Utthita Hasta Padangusthasana (Extended Hand to Big Toe pose). And if you need something considerably more still to nurture focus, postures like Parivrtta Trikonasana – Revolved Triangle – and Utkatasana – Chair – will enhance focus while still delivering a subtle challenge.
Scorpio
Scuttling along the desert, alone but fierce, the scorpion navigates a unique journey through life. And its affiliated zodiac sign, Scorpio, follows suit. Seemingly secretive, your surreptitious nature is often misunderstood. Far from aloof, you are fiercely independent and strong. This extends to your relationships with others. You love with passion and unrivalled loyalty. Your detached nature makes you mysterious and naturally alluring to others.
~ Yoga forecast: Your calculating nature may strike some as wile and guile, but you use it as a defence mechanism. Allowing yourself to be more vulnerable in your practice will gently mould your hard edges and support you to let your guard down and be more tender towards others. Like your zodiac sibling Cancer, increase energy flow into your heart chakra through prone postures like Anahatasana – connecting heart to earth for deeper impact.
Sagittarius
The unparalleled performer: all the world is your stage. A delightful paradox, you dance in ecstatic abandon and hold dear only unto thine self, living for all that you are and never sacrificing your being for the sake of others. You are lively, passionate, intelligent, and philosophical, valuing your freedom and choices among all else. Free-spirited, you are the adventurer, explorer, and curious traveller of the zodiac.
~ Yoga forecast: As the universal philosopher and adventurer, you inherently seek deeper value in all that you do. Ubiquitously emotional, intense waves of happiness and sorrow sit in the scales of your life. Keeping them in equilibrium is challenging. Your romantic streak often dominates your thoughts and actions. Using rhythmic, expressive flows, like in the Vinyasa discipline, provides a platform to exercise your inner tortured poet. Natajarasana – Lord of the Dance pose – offers magisterial grace, while challenging postures that mould the body into mesmeric shapes, like Camatkarasana – Wild Thing – speak to your inner artist.
Aquarius
Uniquely peculiar, Aquarians are the outsiders of the zodiac. Bringing your own brand of quirky humour and a dash of mad genius affords you a natural ingenuity – much like we might depict a “mad genius”. Led by your brilliant mind, you need ample time to rest and restore their intellects. Using their brilliance for greater good, Aquarians are attracted to humanitarian aid but remain paradoxical with their charmingly rebellious streak.
~ Yoga forecast: Fostering connection with others is one of your yogic joys. Getting out to classes supports your sense of community and natural affinity for your fellow humans. Extending this beyond your mat might prove useful to your physical practice. Adopting the other limbs of yoga, such as a vegetarian or vegan diet – and charitable endeavours will support this mission. But on the mat, embracing periods of deep rest through Yin and Yoga Nidra will allow your busy mind suitable time to rest and rejuvenate, ready for more fast and furious ideas to flow.
Pisces
Street smart and socially savvy, Pisces have unbridled emotional intelligence that creates a forcefield of security around them. Imaginative, creative, kind, and supportive, you are naturally adept at teamwork. You positively alter working dynamics and subtly inspire and encourage others to teem with confidence. Intuitive, you see beyond the walls that others build, and break through facades. A fish that flips and swims in both directions, you are omnipresent in the company of truth.
~ Yoga forecast: With a remarkable talent for foresight and psychic translation, your Ajna chakra – third eye – is your partner for levelling-up your practice. This will help you connect even deeper with your environment and blend your sense of “me” with the universe. Balasana – Child’s pose – grounds Ajna chakra, binding with the earth, as does Shishosana – Puppy pose. For something a little more outside the straight and narrow, Sasangasana – Rabbit pose – and Sirsasana – Headstand – will actively engage your third eye. Forming mudras with the hands and pressing to the forehead will also ignite the Pranic power within the third-eye, forehead centre.
Divine Intervention
A vestige for majestic faith and ethereal wonder, astrology still holds a poignant place in modern life. Intractable in its abilities to continuously evolve and fit into cultures whims and desires at any one time, make it [perhaps] the cleverest and most cunning of sciences we haphazardly underestimated. But, with severed ties in cementing exactly how it functions (if that is at all possible), our allegiance to astrology should be considered more an impetus for making positive changes in our lives, rather than as a vehicle for ultimate truth.
Often, when we engage with esoteric subjects like astrology and [to an extent] yoga, we become more focused on living intentionally and making the most of our existence. We adopt circular behaviours that enhance our lives. But, even with this cognitive behavioural element, astrology is still a cultural bellwether, relied upon by many people to determine the outcomes of their days and years – and to ultimately define who they are.
Whether you believe in the power of the cosmos or have taken a humble pledge to live with pure intention, there’s no doubting the fierce fascination the stars have sewn into our minds. And the decrees of our zodiac signs show a steadfast hope in a greater good, a divine order, and a universal truth. All we can do is believe in the good qualities they prescribe, work to augment the lesser ones to serve some purpose, and roll out our mats to nurture and celebrate the wonderful creations that we are.
Main – Photo by Kostas Exarhos
