Mystic Mag’s Miguel Amado talked with Lila Rasa Brown, a Yoga teacher that brings a very interesting view on yoga, astrology and also works with Chinese Medicine. Check out our interview!
Please present yourself to our audience
Hello! My name is Lila (Leela), and I am a yoga teacher of almost 20 years, an evolutionary astrologer for over a decade, and a student in my last year of Chinese Medicine school. I live with my partner outside of a small village in British Columbia with our 4 large dogs, 3 cats, and many chickens!
I have been interested in the mystical since I was a child, searching for answers in a world that, on the surface, didn’t seem to contain them. Yet when I went off to university and studied cultural anthropology, some sacred doors were opened, and my spirit journey was ignited in a real way. I began studying yoga and meditation, Eastern religions and indigenous cultures, and became aware of some deeply-ingrained patterns that I was carrying in this lifetime that needed healing.
Life led me to some key teachers and mentors who had wisdom to offer on the path, and I felt as though I was literally being guided exactly where I needed to go each step of the way. Of course, there were some moments of complete mystery and absolute confusion, but that’s part of the adventure!
Here I am, over 20 years later, continuing to walk the path of awakening and integration. I feel deeply honored to have been of service to many who’ve also decided to walk a spirit path, and each person has shown me something valuable. Through offering yoga teacher trainings for 15 over years, yoga and astrology workshops, retreats, weekly classes, and one-on-one integration sessions, I’ve been able to carry on the work that has felt deeply nourishing and purposeful. I feel humbled that this is where life has led me! And with the addition of Chinese Medicine, I’m excited to weave in this piece of healing for my clients and patients.
What is revolution yoga?
Yoga has always been a Revolutionary practice in the ways it invites those who choose it to explore the ideas and perceptions they have of the world and of themselves. Rather than live life with a model of reality inherited by predecessors, Yoga welcomes each participant to tap into the inherent intelligence that’s always been alive in reality, turning to ancient wisdom and tools to learn, as well as to find and share her/his/their innermost nature and voice through practice and direct experience.
This process is one of deconstructing harmful ideologies and belief systems once held and reconstructing reality based on the truth of Life and one’s authentic nature. Yoga asks us to contribute to the world in aligned and life-enhancing ways and gives us the tools to do just that.
Revolution Yoga, then, is an opportunity for participants to connect with their own authentic nature, which has nothing to do with how they’ve been conditioned or what they’ve been taught, but is about who they deeply are, and what they know to be true in the core of their being.
Through the use of skillful biomechanics in yoga asana, an inspiring Tantric philosophy based on Kashmir-Shaivism, the wisdom of Evolutionary Astrology, practical pranayama, and meditation based on self-inquiry, this practice encourages practitioners to remember and embody their most authentic natures.
What are the differences from Evolutionary Astrology to a more “traditional” or popular astrology?
Evolutionary Astrology is a unique approach that uses the symbolism of traditional Western astrology, recognizing both the wisdom and the karmic patterns of a soul throughout numerous lifetimes. As defined by Steven Forrest and Jeffrey Wolf Green, “evolutionary astrology embraces paradigms and methodologies which specifically measure the growth of the soul from life to life. Its draw on Jungian Psychology makes it an in-depth approach to astrology, working with free will and a human’s ability to choose and shape destiny.”
Rather than certain placements being considered negative or bad, we recognize that a person’s birth chart is exactly what it needs to be, and contains within it all the possibilities for soul evolution and growth in a lifetime.
Each planet, sign, and house operate on a spectrum of consciousness, allowing the individual to work with these energies in a way that promotes freedom and growth, or in a way that plays out the same patterns that have felt comfortable over the course of lifetimes, and hence leads to more of the same. Yet the choice is always ours, and in each moment we have the opportunity to choose what is enhancing on a soul level.
You also work with Chinese medicine. How do you mix all those influences in your readings and work in general?
The jury’s out on this one! Because I’m in my last year of school for Chinese Medicine and have been working in the student clinic for just a semester, I’m still seeing how all of this is starting to come together. I generally bring a natal chart for my patient into the treatment room to see what the larger karmic pattern they’re working with is and how best to approach this in the moment.
I simultaneously work with the Chinese Medicine diagnosis based on organ systems involved, then pick acupuncture points and herbs that will create healing and balance and will clear out what needs to be removed in order for overall well-being to be restored. There are certain herbs that work quite well with both the Chinese Medicine diagnosis and the astrological lens, so I’ll continue learning about and applying these findings, connecting the dots for improved efficacy!
Can you share with us what you see for the next couple of weeks from the Astros?
The Cosmos are always providing opportunities for healing and growth, yet it’s about how we choose to work with the energies with which we are being presented rather than feeling like we have no say in the matter. I tend to work with longer processes that invite transformation over a somewhat sustained period of time rather than see many cosmic happenings as separate events. For example, this year has brought a sustained square between Saturn in Aquarius and Uranus in Taurus that is lessening at the moment, but will pick up again toward the end of this year and the beginning of 2022.
Squares tend to create friction, which can be just the thing that stirs us enough to create some kind of change in our lives. Saturn is Father Time, and he encourages us to create boundaries in ourselves and our lives that give us integrity. Rather than continuing behaviors that we’ve always participated in, when Saturn transits on a trigger point in the birth chart, he invites us to stop doing the thing we’ve always done, and to create a healthy boundary that encourages us to do things differently; to “wisen up”, as it were.
Because he’s transiting in the sign of Aquarius, for which he is the traditional ruler, he is inviting us to stop doing whatever it is that proves inauthentic. Aquarius wants us to march to the rhythm of our own drum, to move away from herd instinct and toward the things that are most resonant with who we are on a deep level (i.e., not who we’ve been conditioned to be, but who we really are), so Saturn is challenging us to take a stand and implement into our lives the things that might get us considered “weird,” “different,” or “unreliable,” by society, but are deeply genuine to who we are in our heart of hearts.
The shadow of Saturn is an inability to shift our patterns and behaviors, even though we know it’s the right thing to do, leading to pessimism, bitterness, and a disconnection with our feelings. And the shadow of Aquarius is an inability to follow our inner guidance, becoming zombies or automatons in our own lives, unable to do what our hearts need and want us to do, and just going through the motions of life rather than being engaged with it.
Uranus is the modern ruler for Aquarius and is much more symbolically similar to it than Saturn. Uranus is about sovereignty and freedom. Because he is Promethean in nature, he will do anything for we humans to claim this freedom for ourselves. He therefore also wants us to do what is most authentic to who we are, and he asks us to resist herd mentality and conforming to a dominant paradigm, thereby thinking for ourselves, even if it’s different from what others around us are thinking.
Transiting Uranus is in the sign of Taurus, which is associated with the things that bring us stability and security, the physical body, health, and well-being, the earth and her magic, as well as finances and an overall feeling of being well-resourced. Taurus wants us to feel comfortable in our own skin and well-resourced in ourselves, connected to Mother Nature and her serenity, and transiting Uranus always brings some kind of change or shift.
We are being asked to get even more clear about what it is that brings us true stability and security, health and well-being. We are being asked to look at our inherent connection with nature and to honor this as an integral part of our well-being and ability to feel well-resourced rather than give our sovereignty over to those who would usurp it for profit.
The shadow of Uranus is continuing to do things in exactly the ways we’ve been conditioned to do them, even though we’ve had an insight or awakening that shows us otherwise. The shadow of Taurus is comfort and stability that lead to lethargy and materialism because we’re too stubborn or scared to change.
So this year is showing us the importance of living our truth in a world that desperately needs and wants us to do so (Uranus), standing up for our health and well-being, our inherent connection to Mother Earth and the land (Taurus), as well as the importance of creating healthy boundaries in our lives that represent what is most authentic to mind, body, and spirit, rather than being coerced into what everyone else is doing (Saturn in Aquarius). And if we are being challenged to do any or all of these things, then we are certainly feeling what’s happening in the Cosmos! Those who have natal planets on either the Leo-Aquarius or Taurus-Scorpio axis will feel this even more than those who don’t.
With Virgo season coming soon, and Mercury and Mars in a tight conjunction there at the moment, we have access to a fiery and passionate engagement with the services we’re committed to sharing with the world, as well as a possible insight here that can provide even greater skill and excellency in whichever arena we’re choosing to offer our gifts.
We’re being asked to action in this realm, and not choosing this route could lead to the escalation of unnecessary anger or a misguided viewpoint. Venus will also be in her “home” sign of Libra for about 3 more weeks, giving us an opportunity to connect deeply with the souls we hold near and dear in our lives, and the need to drop in with these beings who see and understand us for who we are, no matter what. As my teacher Steve says, Venus also teaches us “who to trust and how to trust them,” so this may be a theme as well!
As always, when specific transiting planets are coming into important aspects with our own natal planets and angles, we’ll feel them more, and the rite of passage will begin/continue. If transiting planets aren’t aspecting our own natal planets or angles, we’ll likely see them affecting those around us but will have to wait until the planets move into a relationship with those in our own natal charts before a transit begins to work its magic on us.
Please share with us a special message in these challenging times
We are alive at a very special time, though it’s definitely fraught with intensity! We are each being asked to show up as the most clear, authentic, and tuned in version of ourselves possible. I invite you to connect with the depths of who you are and all of the magic that lives within you. What does it mean to show up as the most inspiring and inspired version of yourself right now? What is already awake within you? As so many masters have come to the planet to remember and to teach, any and all answers have always been inside of your very own being, your very own heart. It’s all right there.
And though it may be challenging to tune into this part of ourselves when the outer world (and perhaps inner world too!), is so very loud, this is the only way we’ll remember who we are and who we came here to be. From this place, anything is possible. What kind of reality do you want to dream into being? Remember that the keys are inside of you!
