Dive deep to find self-knowledge: yoga inspired by Pisces | Om Yoga Magazine

When the astrological calendar was designed over two thousand years ago, the sun rose in Aries at the vernal equinox, while today, in the twenty-first century, the sun rises in Pisces. Imagine the Pisces glyph. Imagine a silver thread stretching across the night sky; at one end of the wire is a waning crescent moon, at the other end a waxing crescent moon. I’m Jilly Shipway, author of the Yoga through the stars book, and in this article we will explore how the Pisces glyph (symbol) can enrich your yoga practice and increase your ability to move with the ebb and flow of life. And remember: these practices are for everyone, not just Pisces.

The Pisces glyph represents two crescents: one waxing and one waning. Originally the glyph meant the waxing and waning of all life in cycles defined by the moon. The Sanskrit name for the constellation Pisces was Minemeaning fish, and the glyph is sometimes interpreted as two fish moving in opposite directions, one representing the physical side of our nature and one representing the spiritual side. In yoga terms this would be the tension between prakriti (matter) and purusha (spirit). I prefer to think of the thread connecting the two fish as an umbilical cord that nourishes both mind and matter, rather than the two working against each other.

The Pisces glyph was the inspiration for the Pisces-inspired yoga practice in my Yoga through the stars book. The symbol captures that just-before-moment: the moment just before a flower opens, just before the New Moon is visible in the sky, just before sunrise, and just before a baby opens its eyes and sees daylight for the first time.

The waxing and waning moon of the glyph represents the cyclical nature of life, where every ending is a new beginning. This led me to focus on the cycle of breathing in the yoga practice in the book, noting where each part of the breath begins and ends, as well as observing the spaces between the end of one breath and the beginning of the next breath. This focus gives a deeply meditative quality to the practice. Below you will find the Circular Breathing and Pisces Glyph Visualization which is a beautiful way to start a Pisces-inspired yoga practice. Before you begin, you may want to search online for images of the “Pisces Glyph” to help you with your visualization.