Last updated September 2026
New Moon: September 11, 2026 | Full Moon: September 26, 2026 | Fall Equinox: September 22, 2026
A Year with Astrology and Parts of Our Bodies
The first three weeks of September are in the astrological sign of Virgo, before shifting into the sign of Libra on September 22, which is also the fall equinox. Virgo's Earth quality is detailed, organized, and oriented toward improving things, while Libra's Air quality is more concerned with balance.
In the Western astrological tradition, each sign corresponds with a part of the body. Virgo governs the gut, the intestines, and the digestive system broadly. Libra governs the lower back, the kidneys, and the lumbar region.
This month's blog post, along with the newly added courses on Nectar At Home, an online yoga, movement, and breath practice, addresses both. Or if you’re someone who prefers to learn in-person, come stay with us on Bowen Island; our 2 night Nectar Experience includes lodging in A-Frames, Deluxe Cottages and rooms in our main lodge, deliciously made-from-scratch plant-based breakfasts, daily movement, and access to our mossy forest trails.
September: From Earth to Air
Though Virgo shares the same element as Taurus, the earth quality that gets expressed is more active under Virgo’s domain. It is earth made active through attention, the earth of the herbalist, the editor, the analyst and so forth. Virgo's relationship to the gut is therefore fitting, as the digestive system is the body's most discerning organ, responsible for processing experience at its most physical and deciding what to absorb and what to release. August and September are when this sorting tends to surface most noticeably, when the nervous system, which has been managing a full summer of input, begins to signal that it needs to metabolize.
Libra's Air quality, along with the fall equinox, brings the breath back into focus, and is associated with the equilibrium of balancing the inhale and exhale. Libra is associated with the lower back and kidneys, and the practices this month hold attention for both signs.
One way to notice that the shift from late summer to autumn is when the body begins to tighten in the gut, or feel fatigued in the lower back, and perhaps more of a hunger for nervous system regulation, particularly for something more calm. These practices are here to support you into the season.
September's Zodiac Focus and Body Placement
Virgo (Earth): Gut, intestines, digestive system, nervous system regulation, spleen (through September 21)
Libra (Air): Lower back, kidneys, lumbar spine, adrenal glands (from September 22)
Practices for September: Virgo into Libra
Supported Child's Pose with Bolster: Lower Back Pain Exercise and Relaxation Exercise for Stress
Purpose: A deeply supported forward fold that releases accumulated tension through the lumbar spine while gently compressing the abdomen. The bolster under the torso allows the belly to soften, which supports the parasympathetic rest-and-digest response that yoga for digestion and gut health practitioners associate with Virgo's body zone. As an exercise for lumbar release as well as gut relaxation, Supported Child's Pose simply works. Begin here, and end here.
How-to:
Place a bolster or folded blankets lengthwise on your mat.
Come to a kneeling position with the bolster between your thighs or in front of you. Bring the big toes together and widen the knees to the edges of the bolster.
Fold forward and lower the torso onto the bolster, turning the head to one side. The arms can wrap around the bolster or rest alongside it.
Stay for 3 to 5 minutes, breathing slowly. Midway through, turn the head to the other side.
To come out, press the hands into the floor and slowly return to upright. Sit quietly for several breaths before moving.
Focus: The belly softens when it is not holding the body upright. Let the bolster hold you as you soften.
Dancer Pose (Natarajasana): Stress Relief with Libra's Balance
Purpose: A standing balance pose that embodies Libra's central quality, and which deepens the capacity to be fully extended in two directions at once. Natarajasana is associated with Nataraja, Shiva in the form of the cosmic dancer, an active balancing pose. Venus, Libra's ruling planet, governs beauty, proportion, and the relationship between form and feeling, and Dancer Pose involves all three. As a full body mobility routine element and a yoga for stress relief practice, it opens the front body, the hip flexors, the chest, and the shoulder of the raised arm, while the standing leg and the core hold steady.
How-to:
Stand in Mountain Pose, feet together, spine tall.
Shift weight into the left foot. Bend the right knee and bring the right heel toward the right buttock, reaching back with the right hand to hold the inner arch of the foot or the ankle.
On an inhale, extend the left arm forward and upward at shoulder height, palm facing the ceiling or the wall ahead.
Slowly begin to hinge forward from the hips, simultaneously pressing the right foot back into the right hand and lifting the right leg. The chest moves forward and slightly downward as the right leg rises.
Hold for 5 to 8 steady breaths, keeping the gaze soft and fixed on a single point. Release slowly and repeat on the left side.
Focus: Libra is all about a relational balance, a holding of two, in-tension forces. If the pose feels wobbly, notice what the standing foot is doing and it’s interaction with the ground beneath it. Find your strength there.
Seated Side Bend: A Desk Stretch
Purpose: A lateral stretch that opens the intercostal muscles between the ribs, lengthens the obliques, and creates space in the side body where breath can widen rather than only rise and fall. As an office stretch and a desk stretch that addresses the lateral compression that accumulates through prolonged sitting, Seated Side Bend relates to Libra's spaciousness. The side body is often the most neglected plane of movement, and opening it has a noticeable effect on how the breath moves and feels afterwards. Pictured below, this stretch can be done while sitting on a chair at a desk, or on a mat as shown .
How-to:
Sit cross-legged on the floor or upright in a chair with feet flat.
Place the right hand on the floor or the seat beside the hip. On an inhale, reach the left arm up and over to the right, creating a long arc from the left hip to the left fingertips.
Hold for 6 to 8 breaths, breathing into the left side of the ribs and allowing the stretch to deepen on each exhale.
Return to centre on an inhale and repeat on the other side.
Focus: Libra's Air element moves through the breath. In this stretch, the breath is not just a timing mechanism but the active agent of the pose. The more fully the ribs expand laterally, the more the stretch deepens from the inside.
Sama Vritti (Equal Ratio Breathing): Calming Breathing Exercise
Purpose: Sama Vritti, sometimes called box breathing in its four-part form, is the breathing practice most directly aligned with Libra's central quality: equality between opposing forces. Sama means equal and vritti means movement, so the translation is roughly equal-movement breath. Where May's box breathing introduced the four-count structure, September's Sama Vritti focuses specifically on the relationship between inhale and exhale, with a focus on the two being the same length without the breath holds. This makes it a gentler and more sustainable calming breathing exercise for people whose nervous systems are already moving toward the slower pace of autumn.
Research on slow, paced breathing consistently finds that equalizing the inhale and exhale activates the parasympathetic nervous system and improves heart rate variability. Sama Vritti is one of the simplest ways to produce that effect because the equal ratio is self-regulating: the exhale naturally signals to the nervous system that the moment is safe.
How-to:
Sit comfortably with the spine supported. Close the eyes or soften the gaze.
Begin by simply noticing the natural breath for a few cycles without changing it.
On the next inhale, count silently to four. On the exhale, count silently to four. The count is a guide, not a rule.
If four feels too short or too long, adjust to three or five. The number matters less than the equality between the two.
Continue for 5 to 10 minutes, or until the breath finds its own even rhythm without the count.
Focus: Libra is the sign of the scales. In this practice, breath become its own scales. When the two sides of the breath are the same length, the nervous system interprets this as equilibrium.
Full Moon, New Moon, and Reflection
Astrological Tarot Correspondences
September's Tarot holds two cards that are in a quiet conversation with each other. The Hermit corresponds with Virgo, and Justice corresponds with Libra. Together they describe the arc of the month: first the solitary work of discernment, then the reckoning with what fairness requires.
The Hermit is often misread as isolation or withdrawal. However, Rachel Pollack in Seventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom describes the archetype as having the courage and willingness to go inward with a lamp, to illuminate what comfort would prefer to leave undisturbed. Virgo season is a time of honest inventory, and the evaluation of naming what is working and what is not.
The autumnal equinox, it’s a moment when the dark and the light are equal, and no surprise, it’s associated with the Tarot archetype of Justice. The card is associated with consequence, which is different from punishment, with the understanding that every choice creates a sense of (eventual) impact. Libra season may not present resolution, but certainly does hold the verdict.
The Hermit (Virgo): What have I been unwilling to look at clearly? What needs my honest attention before the season turns?
Justice (Libra): Where have I been giving more than I am receiving, or receiving more than I am giving? What would a fair arrangement look like?
Journalling for September
Five minutes of Sama Vritti (Equal Ratio Breathing) before journalling is the September equivalent of what Three-Part Breath offered in June, as it settles the nervous system into a sense of calm and clarity.
New Moon (September 11): What from the summer still needs completing? What am I holding onto that has already finished?
Equinox (September 22): At the balance point between light and dark, what does equal feel like in my body? [See the Fall Equinox post for a longer practice.]
Full Moon (September 26): Where has Libra season asked me to accommodate when I needed to hold ground? What does the Aries full moon illuminate about what I actually want?
Integrating the Energy of Virgo and Libra on Bowen Island
September on Bowen Island is one of the most popular times of the year for couples getaways from Vancouver. With the buzz of summer over, along with a return to weekly routine for many, it means you may find a two night Nectar Experience with a Mist Thermal sauna and cold plunge circuit next to be an easy mini vacation.
Mist Thermal Sanctuary shares the same valley of conifers as Nectar. Its private units each include a wood-fired sauna, cold plunge, transition tub, outdoor eucalyptus shower, private fire lounge, and a tea bar of in-house herbal teas. Many guests combine a Nectar stay with a Mist circuit in September, when the contrast between the cooling forest air and the heat of the sauna is gentle and sublime.
If you’re unable to stay overnight, or are wanting to stay longer, see our complete listings of classes, day retreats, and overnight retreats. And if you’re looking to simply practice with quality yoga and movement instruction from the convenience of your home, Nectar At Home has you covered for not only yoga and meditation classes, but breath work and other nervous system regulation exercises.
About Nectar Yoga Retreat Centre
Nestled beneath towering conifers on Bowen Island, Nectar offers British Columbia vacation packages with 2-night stays on Bowen Island, nourishing vegetarian breakfasts, and daily guided yoga and meditation. We host mindfulness and meditation retreats, yoga retreats, sound healing workshops, and other wellness practices with experienced instructors in holistic practice. Alongside our sister brand, Mist Thermal Sanctuary, we welcome guests from Vancouver and the lower mainland of BC, Victoria, Seattle, and beyond to relax and renew the mind, body, and spirit.
References:
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-98736-9
https://www.jneurosci.org/content/36/49/12448
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6189422/
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6173202/
https://redwheelweiser.com/book/seventy-eight-degrees-of-wisdom/
https://astrostyle.com/astrology/body-parts/
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00484-019-01717-x
Disclaimer: The practices in this post are for informational purposes only and are not a substitute for medical advice. Please consult a healthcare provider before beginning, particularly if you are pregnant or have existing health considerations.
