Hello and welcome to my third blog post.Recently, I was going though some old poultry genetic files when I came across a picture of myself from June 2006. I was actually just stunned looking at it as I had forgotten just how big I had let myself get from 2003-2006. For those of you who know astrology, I will tell you that my natal first house grand stellium of pluto, jupiter, south node and uranus in virgo were beginning to be squared by transit pluto. Thus those year represent pluto square pluto and the beginning of pluto square jupiter. Also, my grandmother passed away in october of 2005 and that was a difficult thing. After she passed, I just ate and ate, but not just because of depression, but also because my build and tendency toward being round came from her and I had always been sort of mad about having her body type. So I came to terms with that after her passing by just eating and loving myself. Now don't get me wrong, the pluto transit square natal pluto was nightmarish in many ways, but on the good side, I came out of it with a lot of fears removed, burned away and much more real love and acceptance of myself. In fact, by June of 2006, when the pic I found last night was taken, I was really ok with myself. Even when I saw the pictures at that time, I didnt get upset. I just thought, "ok, you are fat and I still love you". From that, a curious thing began to happen. Once I loved myself for being fat, rather than in spite of being fat, things started to change. I began to eat less and it wasn't torture. I began to exercise more and it wasn't torture. I had been doing a small amount of yoga since 2003, but I had been doing it to still my mind and to cope with a severe pain and near disability in my upper back and shoulders (remember, pluto square pluto!!), but I had not really taken yoga to heart yet. So after June 2006, I was lifting weights, doing cardio and some yoga. I lost weight and by june of 2007, I had gone from 225 lbs to 185 lbs. Let's
take a look...
Left - June 2006 - 225lbs
Right - June 2007 -
185lbs
It was in June 2007 that major changes started happening in my life on many levels. First and most importantly, pluto was making the first series of squares to my natal north and south nodal axis. This then was calling me toward my destiny, my life path. Then pluto was also squaring natal jupiter. The square to natal pluto was finally over. At that time, I began to get more and more into the yoga. Some upsets in my life (pluto square natal jupiter and nodes) was changing my life in a major way and causing me to question a lot of things and I was having a lot of anxiety, so I found that the yoga was quieting my mind and giving me some peace in this maelstrom of emotion. I already knew that yoga could correct imbalances and injuries in the body, as I had used it since 2003 to correct the back problems I had been having (another aspect of my weight gain). Now I experienced it directly as a meditative agent to calm the mind and release endorphins which also made me feel better emotionally. I have practiced tantric meditation for over twenty years and Dzogchen meditation for nearly a decade, so meditation was not something new, and I had already reached some very high levels of meditative ability by this time, but it was a new experience to have meditation be moving, which yoga is and this really brought in a new aspect for me. So from June of 2007, I really started focusing on the yoga and less on weights and cardio machines. First, my mind began to calm, as the movement (absent in most of my regular meditation) gave my nervous energy a channel, while the pranayama gave me a center and my mind, already trained in meditation, naturally then fell into a meditative state. This was blissful. If I had never had any results beyond those, I would have been a devotee from that point forward, but the amazing thing was what began to happen to my body.
As soon as I found that yoga was quieting my mind, I began to do a lot of it, sometimes three or four hours a day. I was doing it for my mind and to give me a new center in meditation, but after a few weeks, I noticed that my body was changing rapidly, more rapidly in fact than it ever had through any diet or exercise regimen I had ever tried,...and I wasn't even trying to loose weight! I was so thrilled to be at 185 from 225, that I felt fine and wasn't looking to loose and more weight, but loose weight I did! Within three weeks I had dropped ten pounds, then in just a few months, I had dropped ten more and then by Christmas, I had dropped ten more, bringing me down to 155lbs. I found also that with the intense yoga practice, my dietary desires began to change. I wasn't as hungry, and I didn't crave heavy carbs or processed sugars so much. I didn't go vegetarian, but I just ate less in general and my body started craving healthier things. So lets take a look at that final process, from June 2007 to January 2008.
Left - August 2007 - 175lbs
Right - October 2007 - 165lbs
Left - January 2007 -
155lbs
Now, In Feb. 2008, I am ranging from 150lbs to 155lbs. I am not trying to stay there, that's just where I have hit. I don't know if I will loose any more weight and I don't really care. In addition to the weight loss, there have been some other amazing changes. First, my back problems have gone away, my shoulders are much looser, my hips are looser and my right toes now point forward instead of to the side. I can thank yoga for this re-alignment of my body too. I feel better than I have ever felt and my body seems to have stabilized at a natural point. I must add that I believe the pluto transits have had a heavy hand in at least bringing yoga into my life, if not actually accelerating the process. I think that both the manifestation of being fat and the rapid changes and loss of weight are very plutonian and are at the center of much of my body image and self image/sense of self worth (natal pluto in first house conjunct ascendant and the first planet in a grand stellium, all in the first house). Finally, I would point out that I am now at the end of the pluto square cycle with pluto having just finished the first square to natal uranus, the last planet of my stellium. There are two more passes of this pluto square to go and then the trial by fire that pluto in sagittarius has been will be over. Pluto in capricorn brings manifestation. Further, saturn is currently transitting virgo, conjuncting my natal moon, trining my natal saturn and squaring my natal sun. Saturn and uranus are both strong ally planets in my chart with natal saturn trine natal moon and natal uranus trine natal sun. Saturn rules capricorn. Pluto is going into capricorn and squaring my natal uranus from the last degree of sag. Transit saturn is trining my natal saturn while conjuncting my natal moon and squaring my natal sun, so I see manifestation coming of the things I have learned since 1995 when pluto went into sag and my world, mind and ego went up in a long, painful, slow-burn; self-immolation! Finally, pluto will make a grand trine in my natal chart in early capricorn, as it trines both natal saturn (ruler of carpricorn) and natal moon. That will mark a time of manifestation the likes of which I have never experienced in this life and I believe that all these influences are working together already to begin this process. I believe you can look at this series of pictures and see the physical manifestation. I would also say that I now know that yoga will be a major part of my life path from now on.
So, in closing, am I just lucky? Did this just happen because of a confluence of planets? No. This is what yoga does. I found that out directly through that confluence of planets, by being brought to rock bottom and lifted back out through a spiritual and physical discipline; that is very plutonian, and very saturnian at the same time and perfectly expresses major themes in my natal chart, but yoga can have these same effects for anyone willing to follow through with it. My example here is to show you what you can bring into your life through a disciplined practice of yoga. I hope you too can find the changes you are needing to improve your health, your body, your self-image and to bring you peace of mind!
Namaste'
Brian Reeder
