Many people are attracted to the beauty of the yin-yang symbol and have a basic understanding of what that means. When you look at the yin-yang symbol, the traditional one that we see is a circle with a wavy line down the center – one side white and one side black. Within the white is a black dot. And within the black is a white dot. One side represents yin. The other side represents yang.
Which is which?
Yin is the beautiful, receptive, passive quality of being. It is the Moon. It is the goddess energy. It is the past. It is the left side of your body. These are all qualities that are passive.
Yang is an active state. It is a projective energy that is the male force. It is the father image and the god figure. it is the right side of your body. It is ‘doing’. It is your future.
Finding Balance
There is a natural polarity where one exists in relation to the other. The opposing color symbolizes this. If you were to imagine a person who was all one or the other, either yin or yang, 24/7, it does not exist in nature. It cannot exist in nature. At times we are doing – acting in the Yang energy. Other times we are being – existing in an inactive state – a restful state such as sleep. This is our Yin energy.
We need a healthy balance between yin and yang. Just because you are a woman, does not mean that you are committed to staying in the yin energy nor does being a man commit you to staying in the Yang energy. We all have both at any given time. In fact, the act of breathing uses both yin and yang. As you breathe in, you are using Yin energy. As you exhale, you are using yang. We are in a constant dance between the two.
It is very easy, however, to become out of balance. We can see this when someone is too forceful or rigid. This is a surge of Yang energy that is not tempered enough by the yin.
I’d like to share a story with you about my own personal experience with yin and yang. As I often talk about energy and chakras, I, not unlike many people, had a very weak solar plexus. Your solar plexus is your power center – your power house. It is where you manifest and drive forward the thoughts and beliefs that stem from who you are as a human being. As I took a masterclass diving deeper into my own chakras, I noticed that as I progressed and entered my solar plexus, a surge of energy came in. At the time, I remember being so excited because it was unlike my character to feel that empowerment and that drive and confidence within myself.
Unfortunately, one of the side effects of such an overwhelming surge was a rigidity – an inflexible, uncompassionate, unempathetic me! I like to think of myself as a loving, kind, compassionate person, so this disturbed me greatly. On one hand, I was thrilled to feel confident and be able to stand up for what I believe in and speak my truth without fear. On the other hand, perhaps I was saying too much and being too judgmental. I had to figure out how to balance my yin with my yang.
How do you balance your yin and yang energy?
I would say there are two schools of thought. The typical approach is to back off of the one and and pull forward the other. The other approach is more the way I like to look at it. It’s not so much that you need to lessen one of your energies so much as even them out – bring balance to them.
For instance, I did not want to limit my new-found strength and power. This was not a negative aspect at all. I just needed to learn how to integrate it into who I was now. I needed to learn how I could both stand up for what I wanted and still be compassionate and respectful to others.
There’s a philosophy that I’ve had for a long time that has always held true. When you have mental stress, do something physical. When you have physical stress, do something mental. This is basically the same concept.
So if you find that you have been overwhelmed with constant action, it’s time to hit the pause button. and if you’ve been over analyzing, constantly thinking, to the point where you are having racing thoughts and difficulty sleeping, it’s time to get some of that energy out and do something physical. It is your body’s way of telling you that you are out of balance. and it’s telling you exactly what you need to do.
Only when both poles are balanced will harmony and unity occur. When they are out of harmony and out of balance we see physical and mental distress, exhibiting ultimately as sickness and disease.
Energy Healing
You can very easily address this yourself by changing your actions and your habits and listening to your body. In addition, you can go for energy healing and have chakra balancing. Reiki healing is an excellent means for balancing the flow of energy.
Any form of energy healing should address the imbalance that you’re currently experiencing. Understanding the role that yin and yang energy plays within your body will empower you and allow you to naturally address issues as they arise.