Acro-Yoga is a relatively new physical discipline. According to a description I read on a flyer in Santa Cruz, it "blends the spiritual wisdom of yoga, the loving kindness of massage, and the dynamic power of acrobatics." I'd love to see you work on creating a comparable hybrid in the coming months, Aries -- some practice or system or approach that ( Read more... )

In his book And They All Sang, Studs Terkel interviewed jazz trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie. "When people say, 'I don't understand your music,'" reported Gillespie, "I say, 'Don't try to understand it, just try to feel it.'" That's excellent advice to keep in mind as you weave your way through the complicated, uncanny, revelatory weeks ahead. Full ( Read more... )

"Get used to the fact that you're going to feel good about your life and bad about your life maybe eight times a day every day," advises healer Carolyn Myss, "and clear about your life and confused about your life 25 times a day. Your journey is to get to the point where you realize: 'Hey, this is just passing through me.'" While I personally think ( Read more... )

"One of the most exuberant poets of the twentieth century was James Broughton. "I pray every night to wake up crazier," he wrote. By that he meant he wanted to become increasingly receptive to unpredictable joy and pleasure. His knack for having a good time didn't mean he dodged the hard times, though. "Suffering can't be avoided," he told ( Read more... )

I almost always urge you to see the glass as half-full, not half-empty. But this week I'm more cautious. Why? Because you may soon be pressured to buy into overly optimistic fantasies. Even people you trust may encourage you to place inflated faith in shaky promises. So ask lots of probing questions, please. Beware of groupthink. On the other hand ( Read more... )

Wabi-sabi is your guiding principle this week, Aries. It's a Japanese term for a kind of beauty that's imperfect, transitory, and incomplete. In his book Wabi-Sabi for Artists, Designers, Poets and Philosophers, Leonard Koren says wabi-sabi differs from the Western notion that beauty resides in things that are "monumental, spectacular, and enduring ( Read more... )

For too long, grace has eluded you; you have had to fight your way through life. But now your luck is about to turn; your soul will get the refreshment it needs. To celebrate, imagine you're the one speaking in this poem by Theodore Roethke ( Read more... )

For many male athletes, having sex before a big game is taboo. They believe it saps their energy and hurts their chances of winning. The coach of the Chinese Olympic ping-pong team has gone even further, banning his players from falling in love. In my opinion, this approach is crazy and wrong. According to my analysis of the astrological omens, the ( Read more... )

The astrological omens say it's a favorable time for you to seek greater exposure and get yourself noticed. But there are relatively bad ways and good ways to proceed. Do not, for example, distribute nude photos of yourself over the Internet, proclaim your mad love for an unavailable genius in a full-page newspaper ad, or bust up a meeting with a ( Read more... )

I saw my Aries friend Alexis yesterday. "You're even more festive than the last time I saw you," I told her. She had on red silk pants, a burgundy cashmere sweater, silver scarf, black snakeskin boots, and beaded black tunic. I noticed several new piercings and a Hindu-style red dot on her forehead just above her eyes. She also happened to be ( Read more... )