Reciprocity .The Art of Giving and Receiving

Post-New Moon reflections on reciprocity.

A little of what I experienced yesterday, shared in the hope that it might spark a reflection of your own.

As Venus continues her retrograde journey through Libra, the sign of relationship, balance and exchange, I find myself contemplating the nature of reciprocity.

Libra, an air sign ruled by Venus, speaks to the heart of our relationships, to the delicate negotiation between the self and the other. Through the symbolism of the Anahata chakra, the heart centre, we can explore this meeting point between the lower and higher spheres of our being.

The lower centres connect us to our instincts, our physicality and our relationship with the material world. The higher centres open us towards the invisible, our ideals and the philosophy we aspire to embody. The heart stands between these worlds as their mediator, allowing what is embodied to meet what is envisioned. It is where the relationship between the I and the other finds its centre.

Yesterday, beneath the lingering darkness of the Scorpio New Moon, I found myself immersed in a deep process of introspection, contemplating a grief that has accompanied the transformation of my yoga practice. Something that was once so deeply engraved in my body, carved through years of discipline, movement and physical exploration, is now being asked to take another form, to explore a different rhythm.

Over lunch, as my husband held my hand and watched the tears falling down my cheeks, he showed me a photograph of me in the jungle, next to my Taita.

“Look. This is who you are now.”

He reminded me that those years of acrobatics, contortion and physical exploration belong to another chapter. They have shaped the body that carried me here, strengthened it, prepared it to receive and hold the medicines and the felt sense of the plant kingdom that now accompany my path.

There was something profoundly tender in being reminded of this. Not because the past needed to be left behind, but because I was being invited to recognize what it had made possible.

And then, almost poetically, life offered me another reflection.

Immediately after lunch, I had a private yoga session at siendo. As I entered the shala, I began clearing the space with my flower waters, preparing with the bootle for the potential Bach flowers to follow the practice, knowing that this would not be a conventional physical practice. My approach to yoga has evolved into something that begins with listening: understanding what brings someone to the mat, what the body is expressing, which emotions are asking for movement, and what kind of space is needed for them to unfold.

This is the yoga I find myself living now. Moving beyond the philosophy yogism, the physical discipline of yoga, towards the essence of YUG, union. A practice that brings the different dimensions of our BEING into relationship.

As my student settled into silence at the end of our session, her hands resting over her chest, tears began to fall. I recognised something of myself in her. And in that moment, she offered me something I deeply needed.

Not the usual "validation", but a quiet certainty | that we must trust the process, allow it to unfold and honor the intelligence of BEcoming. Becuase we are ONE.

I watched her for a moment, then looked across the room and noticed my wayras. I reached for them, began singing, and allowed the wind and the sound to accompany a cleansing of her auric field. In this limbic flow, the heart ícaro , sacred song, followed.

And there it was. The very essence of reciprocity.

I had entered that day grieving a transformation, questioning what I was leaving behind. Yet, through the simple act of presence with another, I was reminded of what remains, what continues to grow and what is becoming possible.

Sometimes we give without knowing what we are giving. Sometimes we receive without knowing that we are receiving. And sometimes, in the sacred exchange of presence, we discover that the very thing we offer another is also what returns to nourish us.

Perhaps this is one of the deepest teachings of the heart |

reciprocity is not a transaction. It is a living relationship with the forces that move through us, between us and beyond us.

And once again, the Moon reminds me of this. As the highest planet in my natal chart, resting at the summit of my sky, she continues to guide me through the changing landscapes of my BEcoming. She does more than move my waters and mark the rhythms of my life. Through her unconditional love, she teaches me to listen, to soften, to receive and to trust the intelligence of my Yin, my inner world.

Nothing but gratitude for these cosmic forces that continue to accompany us in our process of BEcoming.