Gut Response ~SJM
Last week we worked with our gut- digestion and assimilation. This week's theme is about support, sustenance and taking steps forward. Our feet connect us, root us- to the ground- our biggest support system. In the Tamalpa Life Art Process (TLAP) as well as in Paolo Knill's approach to Expressive Art Therapy, the landscape is a huge metaphor for navigating and transforming the inner and outer experience of life. Landscape, and how we connect to our landscapes, can be a huge resource and awareness tool for personal growth. Use foot awareness and great sensitivity to root and find a connection with the earth. You can do this in your studio, outside, on carpet or wood floor- anywhere! Sense the surface you stand on. Explore your standing surface with feet. Shift your weight and continue your foot/surface exploration. How do you relate to the surface you are connected to? As you move into your dance, continue to keep the awareness of your feet alive and how you are interacting with surfaces- the landscape. Explore with stomps, tip toes, heel activation, leaps, etc- use the full range of your feet. When your foot and surface exploration feels complete, come to your journal and answer these questions: I feel supported when? I feel grounded when? I am safe when? I am secure when? I connect with? I connect when? I connect while? Where in my body do I feel connected? I step forward when? I step into life with? Circle ten words that stand out to you and then create a three line poem with your words. You can use Haiku or prose. Your choice. Extra credit: Step into your poem. Take your poem into movement- one step at a time. Integrate words with body by saying your poem as you step. Find the rhythm of your words in your body.
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Moon waxing {bright half/Shukla Paksha} and moves through Aquarius, Pisces, Aries and into its sign of exaltation, Taurus, later this weekend.
Full Moon on Sunday 11.17 at 09:15 CST while exalted in Taurus and in Krittika Nakshatra. Sun is weak and in young degrees (sandhi) at this time as it will have just moved out of its debilitation sign, Libra, and into Scorpio during the wee hours of the morning on 11.16. Seek clarity and purification with this Full Moon weekend and don't over indulge in sweets and intoxicants. The coming weeks will bring a theme of "cutting out what is unnecessary". Attend to your inner flame, your life force energy at this time. This is a particularly auspicious Full Moon in the Vedic Calendar. Called Kartik Purnima because it is a Full Moon (15th tithi) in the Vedic Month of Kartika while Moon is in both Bharani and Krittika. Considered a Maha Kartik when the Full Moon is in Krittika nakshatra at this time of year, and also special when in Bharani nakshatra. We will receive the blessings of both nakshatras on this particular Kartik Purnima. Kartik Purnima is a celebration and honoring of Lord Shiva's defeat over the rakshasa (demon) Tripurasura and the creation of the triad of "space cities" by the gods called Tripura. It is also the birthday (jayanti) of Vishnu's fish incarnation as Matsya, as well as a day dedicated to honoring our Pitr, or ancestors. Additionally, it is also said that Krishna danced for Radha on this day. Kartik Purnima is considered a Dev-Diwali, or Diwali of the gods. In the USA, the festivities commence on 11.16 at 08:15 am CST and continue until the fullest part of the Moon on 11.17 at 09:15 am CST. Many fast during this time. Pujas, prayers and devotions at your altar can begin at dawn and/or dusk on the 16th. Utilize my jyoti/creative arts activities as a healing & awareness tool. This week's Jyoti/Expressive Art Therapy Creative Engagement Activity is centered around digestion and tending our fire within. *Horoscopes are based on your Vedic rising sign. You can also check your Moon and Sun signs for further insight. Do the same with your Navamsa signs for further clarity. Do not use these horoscopes with your “Western Sign” as there is likely no correlation. These horoscopes are meant to be used as a broad overview of the current transits and obviously do not address the specifics of an individual’s unique chart. Aries: Expand what is possible for your Self through courage and Self-effort. Make the right connections on the inner and outer levels as well as with the right people. Issues with children and/or partners continue to bring challenges this next month. Prepare in advance for disappointment, losses and health sensitivities and trust that this is a time of soul transformations. Lay low if possible this coming month and ask for support and guidance. Enjoy a Full Moon weekend that provides time for you to shine and have some new comforts and gains. Taurus: Some new growth and healing through digestion and assimilation has occurred recently. Have you noticed? Continue to mind your gut and be careful of old, bad habits and enemies/frenimies. Do acts of Seva- with boundaries. Relationships, and your relationship to them, are in transformation. Some old experiences with friends and/or lovers may come back to haunt you. You are able to heal and grow from this if you go beyond the surface. This month will prove powerful on the levels of relating; the mirror of "other" will be bright. Let your Self be visible this Full Moon weekend. Step out with courage, but avoid intoxicants and your old avoidance techniques. Gemini: Your passionate fire is smoldering. Getting burned yet? Dial it back if necessary and take stock of your fire pit. Make a charcoal drawing or sprinkle some of the ashes intentionally. Find conscious ways to honor your Self, while being conscious of relations. Conscious awareness with boundaries- when/how energies merge and separate- is your internal homework assignment. The coming weeks bring necessary times of Seva and service as well as healing. Whether you do a gentle Self cleanse or a solid round of Pancha Karma, don't flake! Go for the gold. This weekend, as hard has it will be for you to do, take some necessary alone, away time and re-charge. Cancer: Some new passion and zest comes this month. Be bold and courageous with your words and creativity. Think outside the box. Tend to heart matters, home, vehicles, moksha, property and mother. Heal relationships with others and with your Self. This is a time of Self-care so avoid old, bad habits. Be mindful of friends, older siblings and frenimies. Appropriate boundaries are always important for you, but require courage and awareness. Work may feel unpredictable and unsupportive, but trust this time of learning to be worthwhile. Enjoy this Full Moon weekend with friends, siblings and/or lovers. Leo: You are still feeling a "take charge" spirit which is about to shift into a greater sense of awareness for your Self and others. It is a time to be courageous with relationships, but hit the pause button now and again and ask your Self "what am I learning here?" This is best practice for really reaping the fruits of your setbacks and also your gains. Remember, you win some and lose some, but be mindful of your motives and motivations anyway. This weekend, your career is charged. Think big! Your motto is "play big or go home". You won't be disappointed. Virgo: Your tongue is becoming a bit less tied and thoughts begin to get clearer now. Some new courage and bravery is coming. Can you feel the momentum building? This week is a time of "pulling the arrow back" in preparation. Get clear on goals and ambitions. Make lists, dream big and let your desires expand what feels possible to you. You are in charge of your action steps. Remember that! If something in your life or within you needs to shift, let it. Use love and Self love + compassion for maximum benefits. This weekend, use the Full Moon to gain new knowledge and wisdom. Listen carefully and let your heart be your teacher. Libra: Some of the intensity of the past few weeks begins to ease later this week. It may feel like there are no right answers or solutions, but take tiny step towards goals, self soothe, and trust the process. Being brave with creativity is essential right now. Use the arts as your teacher, to heal old wounds, to go beyond the surface. Use your voice powerfully in the coming weeks to get your needs met. This weekend, retreat, relax and restore with the Full Moon. Avoid intoxicants and temptation to fall into your old avoidance techniques. Confront what is. Scorpio: Rise and shine! Things will be getting a bit more progressive in the coming weeks so make hay while the sun shines in your first house. But before the celebrations commence, stay true to course, work smartly, methodically and get clear on goals and agendas. Speak and sing sweetly; gain and prosper with the right words and actions. Your growth curve is expanding so commend your Self for your good work occasionally through healthy and healing activities. This weekend enjoy quality time with friends and lovers but find time for health and healing as well. Find the joy. Sagittarius: Relationships are proving helpful and useful, while offering support and lessons to you. What are you learning about the Universe right now? About life? What feels helpful and what does not? Gains come through communication, connection and meeting the right people. This next month will be a time of solitude and rest for the soul. Make it purposeful for maximum benefit. Go on retreat if possible. Take care of your health and diet and mind your heart. This weekend watch for bad habits. The desire to over eat, binge on sweets and alcohol is strong. Instead, choose to nourish your Self from the inside out. Capricorn: Some career pieces are starting to make a bit more sense and fall into place. Some clarity begins to emerge over the weekend. This month focus on relationships with friends and healthy alliances. Gains seem to come out of no where so expect a few surprises! Healing in the bedroom, on retreat or through meditation and seclusion is possible at this time. Mind your gut and bad habits, as well as enemies/frenimies. Be of service! This weekend, enjoy a passionate, romantic and intellectual Full Moon. Aquarius: This last month has provided you with much to learn and grow from. You will be able to move forward with these lessons in the coming weeks and make them more conscious in ways that powerfully help others- especially within your career. Relationships are still heated and fiery. Channel this fire into your work and continue to make connections within. Confront old patterns that continue to show up in your relationships. What old mirror continues to haunt? What Self work is still needing attention? What are your needs here? Enjoy time with friends and spark some inner creativity and passion. This weekend tend to heart matters, work in the garden and walk barefoot. Kiss the Earth. Pisces: Creativity is an offering worth pursuing right now. Be courageous with your art and share it on a larger level. Some new support is coming, so shake off the dust from this past month and honor the road that you've been walking. It's not for the faint of heart! Continue to work in and on your darkness and shadows. You are in a time of great change and its coming from your darkest depths. Use this time wisely! This weekend, be bold with your creativity. Throw paint on canvas, howl at the Moon, take your creativity to the edge. The Hard and the Soft. -by SJM
As per this week's horoscopes: Full Moon on Sunday 11.17 at 09:15 CST while exalted in Taurus and in Krittika Nakshatra. Sun is weak and in young degrees (sandhi) at this time as it will have just moved to Scorpio in the wee hours of the morning on 11.16. Seek clarity and purification with this Full Moon weekend and don't over indulge in sweets and intoxicants. The coming weeks will bring a theme of "cutting out what is unnecessary". Attend to your inner flame, your life force energy at this time. This week we will work with the stomach, the gut, as our body part. The metaphors for gut have to do with digestion and assimilation as well as elimination. What are you digesting and assimilating? How effectively do you eliminate? We use this process in our lives on multiple levels; with our assimilation of environment, our internal/external landscapes, with words, ideas and life's experiences. The gut is connected to intuition- our "gut responses". Stomach problems are associated with "the inability to process and assimilate impressions received from our outer environment. Our ability to eliminate, or how we eliminate, is connected with the abdomen. In Eastern traditions, the belly is considered the center of the body, and the place form which a state of balance emanates. The abdomen acts as a transit area between the upper and lower areas of our body." -The Expressive Body in Life, Art and Therapy by Daria Halprin. Use movements such as "cat and cow" and gentle spinal twists to activate the gut. Notice if your breaths are going all the way to the base of the stomach, or stopping short. Lie on your back and place your hands on your belly. Feel the gentle undulations of its rise and fall with each breath. Gently knead your gut with your fingers. Notice any sore spots or lumps? Move around the navel in a circular pattern. Stop and let your body relax and respond to the touch of your hands on your belly. Come to your drawing pad. Draw your belly. What images were invoked during your body part exploration? What colors and textures are alive in your drawing? Ask your Self "Are there "leftovers" that I am digesting still?" Does your gut have more to say, more to digest and assimilate? If your gut could talk, what would it tell you? |
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