Let’s exhale together.
Sure, right now. Why not?
Begin by closing your mouth, if it’s not already closed.
Before taking your next breath in, exhale whatever air is in your lungs out through your nose.
All the way.
Release all the air out of your body - push one more little bit of air out.
Sit and feel the sensation of emptiness in your chest, your belly, your throat.
When the craving for oxygen feels like too much to bear, take a deep inhale through your nose.
Don’t gasp through your mouth - take it in slowly through your nose.
Feel the extension of your diaphragm muscle downward, making more room for your expanding lungs as they fill up with sweet air.
Feel the sensation of fullness in your body at the top of your inhale.
Exhale slowly again through your nose. Gently. All the way out.
Feel your diaphragm relax upward with the shrinking balloons of your lungs. Feel into the emptiness.
Inhale.
Feel your ribcage gently push your upper arms out to the side as your lungs fully expand. Feel into the fullness.
Exhale, this time slowly out through pursed lips.
Feel your upper arms and ribcage move inward toward your body, your shoulders roll slightly forward. Let the emptiness feel nourishing.
Inhale slowly through your nose.
Feel your belly move outward as your diaphragm caresses your abdominal cavity and gently contracts it downward.
Exhale slowly through pursed lips.
Feel your belly move inward, your diaphragm relax up, your lungs shrink.
Feel the stillness, the silence inside you.
Return to normal breathing.
Does your breath feel different now? Deeper? Wider?
Starting with an exhale initiates deep, diaphragmatic breathing
I love starting breathing exercises with an exhale first. Exhaling initiates diaphragmatic belly breathing because the amount of air your body naturally craves after that first full exhale is more than your upper lungs, your chest, can hold.
In day to day life, most of us breathe very shallowly, into our chests, and so changing it up to breathing deep into the belly is SO good for us. Diaphragmatic breathing, shown in the gif above, is how we’re designed to breathe, and is incredibly beneficial in several ways:
First, it’s stress-reducing. When we inhale and exhale deeply, the movement of the diaphragm up and down along our vagus nerve essentially “massages” the nerve. The vagus nerve is the major pathway that runs from our brains to all of our major organs, and diaphragmatic breaths activate our “rest & digest”, or parasympathetic nervous system. This initiates a relaxation response, lowers blood pressure, and reduces the stress hormone cortisol in the body.
Second, it’s good for digestion. Breathing with the diaphragm increases pressure inside your abdomen, which helps with important body functions like digestion and excretion. It also helps prevent acid reflux by putting pressure on your esophagus, which runs through openings in the diaphragm.
Third, it can be a powerful way to release trauma stored in the body. By bringing more air into the lungs, diaphragmatic breathing opens up the intercostal muscles in the lower ribcage. These are muscles that oftentimes contract when we brace our bodies as we experience physical and emotional trauma throughout our lives. Many animals, after contracting their intercostal muscles in response to a traumatic or scary event (also known as a “freeze” response), will shake their bodies immediately upon returning to safety in order to release the tension.
Modern humans rarely actively release the sensation of contraction in our bodies right after a traumatic experience, and so the somatic trauma response can get “stored” within our bodies. Trauma is stored in our embodied, procedural memory, rather than our cognitive/mental memory, and our bodies tend to repeat the somatic response in our bodies where the initial trauma response occurred until it is released. Breathing deep into the belly using the diaphragm muscle helps expand and open up these intercostal muscles, which can be very helpful for releasing emotions associated with past traumas. (See Peter Levine’s Somatic Experiencing work for more on this).
I invite you to keep breathing this way and feeling into the sensations in your diaphragm, lungs, and ribs as you read on about the releasing, digesting qualities of today’s lunar eclipse in Scorpio! It’s a great practice to practice this breath while reading and scrolling, as these activities are times when many of us start breathing shallowly or holding our breath.
🦂🦂🦂🦂🦂🦂🦂🌚🌚🌚🌚🌚🌚🌚
Today’s Scorpio South-Node Eclipse: Transformation, Digestion, and Release
Today is the last Scorpio eclipse in a series of eclipses that have been happening on the Scorpio/Taurus axis since 2021. The Taurus/Scorpio axis represents resources: Taurus the bull is the symbol of material, personal resources and values, while Scorpio is the symbol of transpersonal or psychological resources. Scorpio is the natural ruler of the 8th house, the house of other people’s money, taxes, inheritance, and legacy.
The eclipse is happening near the astronomical point on the ecliptic called the South Node of the moon. The south node is also called the “tail of the dragon”, and it is linked with themes of digestion, excretion, and release of the past. By contrast, the North Node (where Taurus eclipses have been happening for the past year and a half) is known as the “head of the dragon”, and it represents hunger, striving, and movement toward the future.
A lunar eclipse always happens around the south or north node, when the earth is right between the sun and the moon. During an eclipse, the earth blocks the sun’s rays and causes the moon to look shadowy or reddish- this is why they are also known as “blood moons”, which seems appropriate for the lusty, underworld lore of Scorpio.
The sign of Scorpio is the only sign in the Zodiac that is represented by 4 animal totems: the scorpion, the snake, the eagle, and the phoenix. Thus, Scorpio is a sign of inherent transformation, aligned with the truth that there are multiple expressions of the same characteristics. All 4 of the animals can be: calm through intense situations, still and silent until provoked, precise and able to see things that others cannot, intense and penetrating, and aligned with magical, transformative qualities.
In ancient Egypt, the Scorpion Goddess Serket was a powerful figure. She was a protector, helper, destroyer, and a watcher over the dead. She was believed to have the ability to protect people from venomous bites, and also could send snakes and scorpions out to sting those of whom she disapproved. Her name can be translated to "(she who) tightens the throat" and also "(she who) causes the throat to breathe” or ”she who gives breath”. Her powers may have been associated with scorpions, who are able to survive underwater for up to 48 hours (many people mistakenly believe they are able to breathe underwater.)
Scorpion magic = the power of the breath to both inspire and release.
Lunar Eclipses and the Notion of Fate
As I wrote in my last post on the Aries solar eclipse 2 weeks ago, solar eclipses are great opportunities to give precedence to our bodies and our emotions. This is because the moon (symbolizing the emotional body) is temporarily blocking out the light of the sun (symbolizing the conscious will).
During lunar eclipses, however, the light of the sun AND the light of the moon are blocked… by the earth. Following the astrological symbolism, lunar eclipses are great opportunities to relinquish power and control from both our consciousness and our emotional bodies. For a short, passing, moment in time, we have the chance to give precedence to the rest of it, the world outside of our bodies and minds. It’s a great time to give power over to the elemental environment of earth, air, fire, and water that we are all a deep, interconnected part of.
This is how I, personally, view the notion of fate or destiny. Most of the time, in this life, we are able to exert our conscious will to lead and co-create our lives. Sometimes, it is best to silence our minds and listen to the wisdom of our bodies. And other times, we have to release what we’ve been holding in our bodies, what we’ve been trying to keep mental tabs on, what we’ve been striving towards, and let it be absorbed back into the elemental universe that always surrounds us.
Because of these blockages of the light that we normally guide our lives by, eclipses can feel… confusing. But confusion can be a good thing, if we don’t fight it. By giving yourself permission not to have to understand an experience for it to be meaningful, surface-level confusion can indicate that we are trusting the fact that we are part of a integral web of relations with the larger world.
Release what you’ve been holding in your body and your mind… give it back to the great body of the sky, earth, and water.
This eclipse closes out a cycle of Taurus/Scorpio eclipses that started on November 19, 2021 with a lunar eclipse in Taurus. The last 2 Scorpio eclipses were May 16, 2022: (Total Lunar Eclipse), and October 25, 2022 (Solar Eclipse). Look back to those dates last year for hints of a storyline that is coming into its final chapter.
You can also look to the part of your natal chart that contains Scorpio for hints as to where themes of digesting, releasing, and letting go might have shown up during this cycle of eclipses. With this being the final south node eclipse of the cycle, this could indicate some closure in a certain area of your life. Read below for your rising sign, or your sun sign if you don’t have your birth chart handy.
What areas of life might you feel a release during this eclipse?
Aries- (Scorpio lunar eclipse in your 8th house)- releasing issues around shared resources, intimacy, sexuality, inheritance, taxes, or joint ventures
Taurus- (Scorpio lunar eclipse in your 7th house)- releasing issues around relationships, marriage, romantic, platonic or business
Gemini- (Scorpio lunar eclipse in your 6th house)-releasing issues around health, daily routine & how you are of service in the world
Cancer- (Scorpio lunar eclipse in your 5th house)- releasing issues around creativity, children, progeny, self expression & your inner child
Leo- (Scorpio lunar eclipse in your 4th house)-releasing issues around home, family, ancestry, roots, & foundation
Virgo- (Scorpio lunar eclipse in your 3rd house)- releasing issues with communication, neighbors & siblings
Libra- (Scorpio lunar eclipse in your 2nd house)- releasing issues around money, work, what you value
Scorpio- (Scorpio lunar eclipse in your 1st house)- releasing issues around yourself, identity, appearance, body, your approach to life
Sagittarius- (Scorpio lunar eclipse in your 12th house)- releasing issues around spirituality, your subconscious, dreams, things that are hidden
Capricorn- (Scorpio lunar eclipse in your 11th house)- releasing issues around society, groups and associations, friends & the future
Aquarius- (Scorpio lunar eclipse in your 10th house)- releasing issues around career, life purpose, reputation, long term goals
Pisces- (Scorpio lunar eclipse in your 9th house)- releasing issues around travel, higher education, search for knowledge, ethics, and philosophy.
Loosen, loosen, baby….
You don’t have to carry
The weight of the world in your muscles and bones
Let go, let go
Let go.
I learned this song in a song circle in Oakland in 2019, and it reverberates through my body whenever I feel like I’m overwhelmed or holding too much.
This eclipse, I welcome you to release what’s been holding you back in these areas of life. I invite you to let go of the ideas, concepts, relationships, and traumas that no longer serve your evolution. I invite you to let out what you have been holding too tightly inside your conscious mind and your emotional body.
Let them out. Let them free.
The elemental world around you can hold these things- these pains, these ancestral traumas, these tensions. You don’t have to feel bad about letting them go. You don’t have to hold it all within the confines of your skin and muscle and bones. The earth and the sky has got you.
Let your breath help you release what you no longer need from your body.
Exhale the old stories first.
Let them be absorbed back into the larger body of the world around you.
Then… breathe in new inspiration.
It’s time for a new cycle to begin.
💗💗💗💗
I’m off to England for 10 days for my breathwork facilitator training capstone week. I’ve been working with this group of people for the past 7 months, and meeting them in person while doing 4-plus sessions of conscious connected breathwork each day is gonna be… powerful.
Once I’m certified, I’d love to hold space for you to breathe and go deeper with releasing emotions that you don’t need to hold onto. I’ll be offering sessions, in person and online, when I get back to Santa Fe. Stay tuned!
All the love as we break on through to the other side of eclipse season 💕.
