- Compiled by Chaitanya Chase

Dear, dear people. The stars and planets are aligning for the better good of humankind. Within Aquarius, one of the largest, oldest zodiac signs, two Rulers of the Ages will be aligning and lending their symbolic energies to the earth for the next year.

It has been one thousand, five hundred and eighty eight years since Jupiter and Saturn have met within the sign of Aquarius. Aquarius being the 10th largest zodiac sign, made up of thousands of stars, star clusters, nebula and other mysterious, heavenly bodies. Saturn will move into the sign December 17th and Jupiter on December 19th; their orbits lining up to within .1 degree making them appear like one bright and beautiful Winter Star for our Solstice and Christmas season. They will be on our southwestern horizon one hour after the sun is set.

Aquarius, the 11th sign in the zodiac, symbolizes the intellectual and social individual who cares deeply for community and humankind. The 11th House helps us to define the purpose to our existence and will push us towards humane activities and choices made that consider the well being of all humankind.

Famous astrologer, Charles Harvey wrote about the influence of the two planets converging: “These two planets used to be known, as the Great Chronocrators, or rulers of the ages. Their cycle can be considered the ground base of human development which marks the interaction between perception of ideas, potentialities, possibilities (Jupiter) and their manifestation in the concrete material world (Saturn).”

The two giants shall lend their powerful presents. Jupiter’s influence as limitless, enthusiastic, leaping forward energy while Saturn’s influence is described as conservative and stabilizing; a bit of a duality for us to balance out. As our beloved Shivani-ji has taught in her Satsangs and lectures on Yoga Ecology, nature will always seek out balance, and since we are all part of nature we will also know how to balance these two powerful energies. These energies are here to help us move forward into our destiny of working together to partner with each other, and the earth for the healing of all.

Just as in a forest, the larger trees send the nutrients to the smaller trees, so will humankind begin to use this profound energy from the stars and planets to heal and feed the weaker, undernourished parts of our our people and planet.

For more information on this beautiful new beginning, visit one of our favorite Astrologers, Roland Legrand as he describes what to expect during the last full moon in 2020.

- by Swami Yogatirthananda Saraswati (Switzerland), From YogaMag May 2002

After equanimity, which turned out to be an essential survival ITY, fixity meant giving equanimity a direction, and this direction is sankalpa.

I saw 'Child of the Himalaya' at the cinema. It is a wonderful example of fixity, where fixity is essential for survival. For if the village and the leader of the village are not 100% determined to get food for the winter, the village will not survive. I admired the intensity, and thought that fixity should be lived with that attitude of life and death, the goal set must be reached with that kind of intensity.

Is physical illness a distraction or a possibility to step out of everyday life and fix the mind on the goal? I realize that there are many ways the goal can be kept alive – action and working towards the goal is only one way.

A walk in the beautiful autumn forest is an almost magical way of keeping the mind steady; surrounded by so much beauty, no mind would possibly want to wander away from it. Everyday interactions are not a hindrance to keeping the mind fixed; it is a matter of will and practice, of training the witness. There are days of total non-fixity, indulging in daydreaming, turning one thought over and over again, giving it various forms and expressions. There is almost a battle between this thought, with its underlying fear/desire, and fixity, with its underlying goal and faith in the sankalpa. Even though fixity is lost, the battle revealed different facets of the desire for recognition and success and the fear of rejection and failure.

Fixity is also a test of sincerity and veracity. Absolute honesty about what one wants – the SWAN theory is a great help here – and acting in utter sincerity all the time towards that aim.

Sometimes I wish I were Sita with her mind always fixed on Rama. Unwavering one-pointedness, unwavering faith under all circumstances is fixity. I have seen how difficult it is, and how all depends on faith: faith in guru and God, faith in the sankalpa, faith in (maybe) a short-term goal which is not in conflict with the sankalpa, faith in oneself and one's ability to reach the goal – with the help of guru and God. Sita represents and lives all these aspects of faith.

Besides sankalpa and faith, I am adding a third item, which is an important element to fixity, namely, patience. I needed patience on a day when almost everything went wrong or in a roundabout way. There was a lot of postponing, delaying, making new arrangements that could not have been imagined beforehand. Fixity implies also enormous flexibility and adaptability in order to juggle circumstances to suit the goal.
Clarity, courage, patience and faith are the main ingredients of fixity. Serenity is an attitude, a discipline; equanimity is the outward expression of it; regularity is the discipline of uniting a set structure with adaptability; fixity is the outward expression of this discipline towards one goal. At one moment in the practice of fixity, there is the need to let go, and to resume in all humility the principle of 'Thy will be done'.

One question keeps coming up: Why are some thoughts and desires so persistent, why is the mind fixed on them, why are there obsessions while on the other hand a consciously set goal is so difficult to keep? Is it the strength of some samskaras, is it the strength of desire, is it the weakness of the will at the moment of setting the goal? Maybe the only aim that can be attained with fixity is the aim to serve; maybe all other resolves and goals must be linked to the aim of service.

I am trying to balance action and non-action. It is getting hard to manage inner turmoil with the everyday activity. Arjuna is fixity in action, Sita is fixity in inaction; both know when to let go and surrender without losing the aim.

I had a yoga class with two drug addicts. One came completely stressed and out of breath and the other one twenty minutes late. At the end of yoga nidra, both said: “Why can't we be like that all the time?” While talking of the need for stress and tension, of the need to inhale and exhale, and of the need to manage both relaxation and tension, I was reminded again of fixity. What is needed is the knowledge of when to act and when to let go. Talking to the two young people, I saw how difficult it is. They are avoiding the challenge of changing from tension to relaxation by opting for one state only – through the help of drugs.

Incredible fatigue of fixity, I feel exhausted by this ITY. Is it possible with a conscious effort in fixity to solve mental patterns? Can fixity be a tool to deal with one's SWAN (strengths, weaknesses, ambitions and needs)?

I can see that patience and letting go are part of fixity, but they are not the same as resignation. Resignation has no faith and is therefore the total opposite of letting go. In order to have fixity, faith must be kept alive.

I am aware how fixity is the external expression of regularity, balancing a structure, a set frame with adaptability to unforeseen events and situations. It is more difficult as other people are concerned, while regularity was much more a personal discipline. Fixity in action with a well tuned mind and time management turns everyday life into a pleasant flowing stream, for oneself and the others involved.

In a way I am relieved that fixity is over. It was a difficult time, it showed me how unfixed my mind was, how much discipline I needed to stick to a set period and how much faith in myself, in guru, God, in life or destiny. The traps of distraction and prevarication are ever present and require a most vigilant mind and honesty.

There were five distinct periods: (i) an initial time of effort which was tiring, (ii) days which seemed to flow along with the sankalpa, fulfilling and enacting smoothly and effortlessly the goals set, (iii) a time of resignation, of giving up, (iv) a time of falling prey to distraction, and (v) a period when the initial motivation and one-pointedness had to be kept alive in order to live fixity.

Also the difference between the first six ITIES (serenity, regularity, absence of vanity, sincerity, simplicity, veracity) and the second set of ITIES (equanimity, fixity, non-irritability, adaptability, humility, tenacity) is becoming very clear. There is even less chance of cheating, as the outside world and life throws the result back at me – mercilessly. The interaction with the outside world is no doubt an added challenge.
I feel that whatever sankalpa or set goal relates to the act of giving makes fixity much easier to practise. The greater context of giving is necessary in order to maintain fixity. Acting without expectation, giving without expectation, without wanting any results, has been the key to fixity.

Continue reading article here: ITIES 7–9: Equanimity, Fixity, Non-Irritability (yogamag.net)

When I think about what Yoga Ecology means to me, it ultimately comes down to a fundamental shifting of perspective from "Me" the self-centred individual to "We" the society and beyond, while also striving to find a healthy balance between the two. Helping our children to see and feel through the filter of "We" is going to be the task of today's parents to ensure that our children have a beautiful tomorrow. Yet, before we can help our children to think, see and feel as a "We," we parents have to do this internal work first. Because we know that our children often learn best by observing, and not by listening (at least that is the case with my kids!).

2020 has been a big year in terms of perceptual shifts. It's many challenges have forced us to acknowledge that we are all profoundly connected. Not just in theory anymore, but actually. Undeniably. Connected.

The rampant wildfires of 2020, among other events, have made a deafening announcement about our interconnectivity on this planet. The global warming that is taking place as a result of recent human activity has produced an exponentially more destructive wildfire season. The land has burned out of control, taking life, devastating ecosystems, and sending cloaks of thick, choking smoke around the globe, plummeting air quality in some parts beyond the worst rating available on the Air Quality Index. We quickly gained a new appreciation and value for what we most often took for granted: clean, breathable air.

The Covid-19 pandemic has also highlighted the truth of our profound interconnectedness in myriad ways, from our dependence on essential workers for our survival (think food, goods, medicine, vaccine development, healthcare), to the need of childcare and a healthy economy for employment, to the previously unnoticed and extraordinarily intimate connection between the breath of persons in near proximity, to the utter dependence upon others to put individual wants and desires aside to stay home and save lives. What's more, we have begun to notice that technology is not enough to connect us; Facebook, Instagram, Tinder, SnapChat, whatever platform it may be, is not enough. We NEED the real thing. We miss each other amidst the necessary lockdown and social distancing restrictions. We are longing for each other. At long last, we want to put the phone down, look up, take the ear buds out, turn the TV or video game off and be in each other's presence. For real. We find ourselves texting less and phoning, Zooming and FaceTiming our parents, grandparents and friends more. We want more of each other, not less.

Why is this value in one another increasing? We are recovering an appreciation for each other that had, for a moment, become lost in digital connection. We are remembering and appreciating how valuable the real human connection is. And recovering and nurturing this value in both each other and Nature is going to be key. These are the lessons we are learning in 2020 that may end up being our most important legacy to our children. Valuing. Appreciating. Conserving. Protecting. Sacrificing. Balancing.

In the end, we all win from a "We" perspective; the individual is part of the collective. The individual also lives among Nature, and is a part of Nature. If we all operate from a "Me" perspective, sooner or later there won't be enough for "We" anymore, and then it's only a matter of time until there is no longer enough for "Me." No man is an island, and the pandemic has shown us this. The wildfires have shouted this.

So, the question becomes, how can we embody this new appreciation of each other and the environment so that children, too, can imbibe and understand that we, and the environment, are not unlimited resources to be mined, and that we must remember to value, conserve and protect both each other and the environment by acting with the knowledge that we are dependent upon each other.

Oftentimes in affluent, first-world societies, it is easy to forget that the Earth has limited resources. Water, for example. We use it without a single thought of it ever running out and becoming unavailable. It is always there for us, and so we forget to appreciate our dependence upon it. Then, we fail to respect it, it loses value, and we waste it. 

When I lived in Swami Niranjan's Yoga Ashram in India between the years 2012-2015, I learned a lot about Yoga Ecology that I am just realizing now. There was, in the Ashram, a very particular attitude toward water. It was valued and therefore treated with great respect. It was not wasted. I'll never forget when, during my first days in the Ashram, I was washing my plate after dinner and I turned the tap on and let it run while I soaped my dish when one of the Ashram residents came and turned the tap off, indicating to me not to waste the water. Until that moment, it had honestly never occurred to me in that context before. The same principal thing applied while brushing one's teeth: wet the toothbrush, turn the water off. Brush the teeth. Turn the water on again to rinse the toothbrush. But, do not let the water run while you are brushing your teeth. That is wasteful. And sometimes we did have to briefly go without water when the well ran dry or the power shut off, which helped foster a much greater awareness of our relationship and responsibility to one another to only take what we needed so there was enough left for someone else, as well as helped us to understand our real place and position within Nature. We need her, and yet we often do not even ensure that we protect those aspects of her which we need most for our own survival. The awareness just simply isn't there. Now, 5 years later back at home in Canada, I cannot leave the water running while brushing my teeth, washing a dish or washing my hands. When I see it happen, it makes me cringe. We practice saving water in our own household, among other efforts such as using a bidet to save toilet paper, and assigning our 3 year old the job of turning off all the lights before we leave the house. These are small attitudes and behaviours that we can exemplify to our children that make one thoughtful and can make a difference in how we view and treat each other and the Earth.
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If we value, we do not waste. If we value, we protect, we sacrifice and we take great care, just as we do with our own children. The Earth is a kind of a mother, we need her gifts to sustain us. Yet, her health is often in our hands. We must build awareness of this unique relationship, and appreciate the reciprocal nature of it. Only then will we value each other and the environment, and find the balance between "Me" and "We" so that our children too can have a beautiful future for generations to come.

Pre-arrival shift and Ashram arrival
I began to feel a shift inside of me occurring days before my feet met with the soil of the Land that holds Ishtadev Niwas. There was a type of gravitational pull from deep inside my belly of all the sticky, story-filled, stale energy that I had been carrying around for what felt like multiple lifetimes. All of the insecurity and unworthiness now oozing to the surface of my skin, no longer able to hide in the dark corners where I had so strategically placed it. This is one representation of the potency of the energy that graces and envelops Niwas. An energy that creates the opportunity for deep purification and this is what I was being offered before I had even arrived — an opportunity to surrender the grief that coated the walls of my heart and to let go of all that I thought I was in order to create the space for the unfolding of my fullest potential.
 
I did not arrive for the residency with any prior experience or knowledge of Karma Yoga and Ashram life and it was definitely an adjustment on a systemic and spiritual level. I simply arrived curious with a feeling that this is where I am meant to be and I am safe here. There is a teaching that rippled throughout my residency — in order to receive we must OFFER FIRST. What I had to offer was sincerity, sweat (and tears!), and enthusiasm and from that offering I was absolutely, unexpectedly blessed in receiving an abundance of experiences, lessons, skills, and opportunities that my soul had been yearning for.

Ashram Life = Coming Home
My residency experience at 'Niwas felt like a coming home to a sacred space that I think most of us dream of living in — a space that expresses, practices and honours non-judgment, joy, beauty and love. Compared to the typical busy-ness and chaos of modern culture, the simplicity of living and studying at 'Niwas creates a yearned-for and very rare opportunity for reorientation. Reorientation from a state of purely self-infatuated thought forms and actions into a new state of consciousness focusing on, and embodying community, connection, service, reciprocity and humility. Living within the intimate embrace of Nature at the Ashram with the support of routine, accountability, Mantra, wholesome food and laughter creates the vibration for beautiful things to manifest. And I was blessed to experience this beauty during the time that I lived there. 

Structure + Duties
Each day is held in the safety and supportive structure of routine: wake-up, Puja, Asana practice, breakfast, Karma Yoga, lunch, more Karma Yoga, chanting, dinner, sometimes more Karma Yoga, and then tea and sleep. From this sense of consistency a simplifying effect occurs. Since each day was relatively dependable, whatever arose was quite simply, entirely me. Any anger, sadness, joy, anxiety, grief, or bliss that was experienced was all arising from inside, whether consciously or not. This makes it effectively challenging to project blame onto anything or anyone external for what is being experienced…frankly that would be a misuse of valuable time and vital energy that would be much more productive in shaping bread or building a new hay shed… This simplification and clarity of the external environment created a spaciousness to witness oneself acutely without the obscurities and distractions that coat our perception in the ‘outside world’ that can make it challenging to understand the truth of the experience. At the Ashram, there is limited space or time for the enactment of our stories, allowing us the opportunity for simple awareness and purification, which can feel intimidating, intriguing and refreshing in one breath.

The Ashram is like an outspoken and compassionate friend that is your least and most favourite all at once. You may spend moments walking to your next duty cursing under your breath, but moments after you’re done throwing a fit to the trees (I am speaking from experience!), you come into a state of remembrance that although it feels like a face slap, it is done by a hand that unconditionally loves you and will never waiver in supporting you in helping you to clean your heart. As painful and uncomfortable as it might be, this is so you may blossom into your purest, most beautiful self. The veils are thin within Ashram and it’s not only the sticky, unsavoury stuff that becomes seen and wiped clean but all of the beauty, uniqueness, love, kindness and courage that we carry and embody is expanded, exposed and made easily accessible for us to experience and share with others.

5.   Knead the dough on a floured surface for about 10 minutes. The dough will become smooth and elastic. If the dough is sticky, dust it lightly with flour and continue kneading.
6.     Let stand for 30 minutes before rolling. If rolling the dough by hand, use a pasta-specific rolling pin if you can and roll it very thin. Cut in 1 cm strips for fettuccine.​
7.  Try to procure a pasta machine, This helps!  Always follow the machine instructions for rolling and cutting.
8.    To cook pasta, this should be done right before serving, with all the sauce and fix-ins ready and waiting!  Cook in a pot of boiling water (we like to add a bit of salt as well).  Fresh pasta only needs 2-3 minutes generally, as compared to dried packaged pasta which requires close to 10 minutes.  You will know the pasta is ready after it floats, and a taste test of course!