Yin And Yang: Balancing Feminine And Masculine Energy

In this talk, I explore the delicate balance between yin (feminine) and yang (masculine) energy - exploring Taoist perspectives as a curious student.

Discover what it means to embody balanced yang qualities like being grounded, proactive, and energised, alongside balanced yin traits such as being calm, intuitive, and restful. Learn about the challenges of excessive yang energy leading to burnout and busyness, and excessive yin energy resulting in passivity and lethargy.

Tune in for practical tips to engage your yang energy with goal setting, morning routines, and outdoor activities. Additionally, find out how to cultivate your yin energy through meditation, deep breathing, and self-reflection.

Whether you're looking to boost productivity or find peace, this talk offers insights and steps to harmonise your energies and live a balanced life.

Transcript

Hello,

Hello and welcome back,

Or if it's your first time tuning in,

It's so lovely to meet you.

I am your host,

Anna Grotzner,

And I am a psychology student,

I am a yoga teacher,

And I'm very passionate about mental health,

Well-being,

Eastern and Western medicine.

I've had lots of experiences in various modalities,

And I'm on here to share those perspectives.

From the point of view of a student,

I'm not a practitioner myself,

So this is very much an exploratory episode all around yin and yang,

This fine balance between masculine and feminine energies.

So this doesn't necessarily mean male or female,

And the traits that are masculine and feminine don't necessarily correlate with gender,

But yin is really described as the more typical feminine traits.

So this is darkness,

It is cold,

It is withdrawn,

Reclusive,

Reflective,

Contemplative,

Yin is very much about going with the flow,

Allowing,

Receiving,

That sort of essence really describes the black part of the yin-yang wheel.

And then on the other side,

We have yang.

Yang is typically associated with the masculine traits,

Which is order,

Structure,

Doing,

Proactivity,

It's heat,

It's sunlight,

Daylight.

When it's imbalanced,

It can be aggression,

It can be overdoing,

Burning yourself out.

Both of these yin and yang sides have shadow sides as well as positive sides.

So I just mentioned some of the signs and symptoms of an overactive yang energy.

An overactive yin energy might look like lethargy,

Sluggishness,

Sluggishness?

I don't think that's a word.

It is now.

It can be a lack of structure,

It can be a bit chaotic and too much going with the flow and not enough rigidity,

Structure,

Routines,

Systems.

And it can also result in overthinking,

Overeating,

Oversleeping,

These tendencies that we're drawn to when we're trying to receive energy from sources outside of ourselves.

So I'm sure we've all experienced imbalance in the yin,

The feminine,

Or the yang,

The masculine.

For me personally,

I tend to fall more into yin imbalance.

And for that reason,

I have to make a conscious effort to make sure I'm feeding that yang side of my persona and of my energy.

So this for me looks like doing less mindfulness,

Less thinking,

Less reflection,

And more doing,

More action,

Goal setting,

Task completion,

Bringing that structure and rigor into my day-to-day.

And I've become quite balanced in this way.

I do really enjoy both being in my yin and being in my yang,

But if I had it my way and I could just wake up every day,

Go with the flow,

Do what I wanted to do,

Not plan and just flow,

That would be my dream.

Whereas other people would be terrified by that.

People who are more in their yang might need structure,

Goals,

More control,

More oversight in what their day-to-day will look like.

So I completely see it and have experienced it from both sides.

But the question is,

What happens if you fall too far into your yang or too far into your yin and you feel completely out of whack,

Out of balance,

Maybe it's affecting your mental health,

Your performance,

Your physical health,

Digestion,

Sleeping,

Hormones,

Because all of these little energetics make us who we are and they really inform how we show up.

So if you are someone who tends to fall into a yin imbalance,

So maybe you relate to some of those symptoms I was speaking about earlier.

I don't know if we'd call them symptoms,

But those behaviors I guess that we were speaking about earlier.

So oversleeping,

Lethargy,

Feeling lazy,

Unstructured,

Ungrounded,

A resistance to future planning.

You may benefit from bringing more structure,

Rigidity,

Heat,

Proactivity into your day.

So this might look like goal setting.

So getting really clear on your intentions for a set period of time.

Maybe it's one day,

Planning out exactly how you want to spend that day from when you wake up,

Setting an alarm,

Right down to when you will eat your meals,

When you'll do different activities across health,

Well-being,

Work,

Family time,

Social time,

Hobbies,

Giving,

Learning,

All of those life pillars depending on what you want in your day.

And then maybe doing that on a larger scale,

Planning out the next week,

Planning out the next month,

The next year,

Maybe setting some five-year goals,

A 10-year plan,

Bringing more structure and rigor into your day-to-day.

So I have two episodes that might help you here.

The first one is on the psychology of goal setting.

And the second one is episode 23 on morning routines.

So if you want some ideas for incorporating more of this yang energy into your life,

Start there,

See what resonates.

Maybe it will spark some of your own ideas.

And let me know how you go.

As for a yang imbalance,

This might look like someone who is constantly trying to control their life,

Control their day,

Control the people around them.

They might feel completely uncomfortable and stressed when they don't know exactly what's happening around them.

I don't relate to this one as much.

Even the way I'm talking about it,

It's in the third person because I rarely feel this way.

But I understand a lot of people do.

And I think sometimes when we feel out of control,

We lean into this yang energy because we want structure and routine and control over our lives.

So helpful hacks or things to explore for someone with a yang imbalance might be leaning into your calm,

Into the sort of cool,

Dark energy center within you.

So thinking about what in your life gives you that sense of just taking a big,

Deep breath in and a yawn and a release.

What activities,

Thoughts give you that sensation?

Because that to me is what yin is.

It's about parasympathetic nervous system cooling down,

Calming down,

Returning to a more balanced space.

So this might just be slowing down in life.

Maybe you're someone who sets your alarm for 5 or 6 a.

M.

Every morning and you're set on running and doing a gym workout.

You're straight onto your phone,

Onto your emails.

And it's this sense of always doing.

So if you want to step away from that because maybe you're burnt out,

Exhausted,

Overextended,

Sharing your energy in too many different directions and you're stretched thin,

You need to come back within yourself.

You need to start saying no to things.

You need to be okay disappointing people and not expecting yourself to show up with 100% of your energy to every situation that presents itself to you.

It's about being really picky.

You know,

Where do I want to give?

Where do I want to share?

Is it with my family?

Is it in my social life?

Do I want to learn more?

Do I want to focus on my career?

And really picking and choosing where you share your energy.

And then also taking time to recharge your energy on your own.

Some people do not like being alone.

Maybe they're extroverted and they find that they get their energy from other people or from groups.

And I understand that.

It can be challenging being alone if you are someone who is self-critical,

Someone who gets bored easily,

Someone who doesn't necessarily enjoy their own company.

And there's nothing wrong with this.

I probably used to be a bit like this in my.

.

.

Actually,

No,

I've always loved my own time.

Who am I kidding?

But I remember sort of,

You know,

Late teens,

Early twenties,

Just being a bit more reliant on people.

And when I was alone,

I would sometimes spiral into some pretty toxic behaviors.

And now I'm 30 years old and I love my own time a little bit too much,

To be honest.

Like I could easily go a week without seeing or speaking to anyone.

I mean,

I'd probably struggle not speaking to my family,

But for me,

I love my own time.

I love my own company,

My own space.

I'm thinking about even going to a Vipassana retreat,

Which is a 10 day silent retreat.

And a lot of people,

This would be their personal hell.

But for me,

I don't even think I'm going to find it challenging because I just can't think of anything better than sitting in silence for 10 days.

I say that now.

I'm planning it for October,

So I'll report back.

But it really is carving out that time to be by yourself.

And you may not want to go from full yang into full yin.

So you might need to have a little bit of structure in your alone time just to start flexing this muscle.

So maybe you plan out your alone time.

You put it in the diary,

You figure out what you're going to do.

Maybe you're going to do some journaling for half an hour.

You can have your prompts ready to go.

Maybe your cooking meals,

Or maybe you're going to have dedicated time for reading and for meditation.

So here you can see,

You don't have to go from one extreme into the other.

You can have balance.

That there is a perfect example of sitting in both the yin and the yang at the same time.

Ultimately,

If you have too much yang,

You're trying to cool your body back down.

So some other things you may do is eating cold foods.

So fresh salads,

Fresh fruit,

Fruit?

What is fruit?

Not sure.

Fruit?

You may have fresh juices as opposed to more hot,

Spicy meals.

And it's also important to be away from light.

So yin is all about the darkness.

It's nighttime.

So making sure that you're sleeping in a dark,

Cool environment.

And avoiding any technology screens,

Especially blue light,

About two hours before bed.

But even overhead lighting.

I,

As a general rule,

I hate overhead lighting.

I'm just all about eye level lamps,

Candles.

But switch those lights off,

Team,

At about 7pm,

Turn them off.

And then start to put on low-level lamps with shades over them,

Candles,

All of the things that make you feel a bit more calm,

And it's a lot easier on the eyes.

And it's just these little tiny details that you may not even think about.

But when you start tuning into energy,

These are the things that affect you.

It's your senses.

So how can you remove stimulation from your sensory experience?

Think about seeing,

Hearing,

Smelling,

Tasting,

Touching,

Trying to just remove sensory overload before you go to bed.

Really coming back into yourself.

So those are my thoughts on yin and yang.

Just a little quick episode.

This is my vibes at the moment.

I did a 10-minute episode last week on manifestation.

I think we're coming up to about 10 minutes,

Oh no,

15 minutes now.

And partially this is because I'm finding I'm spending so much time editing.

And I really am leaning into my yin here,

Just going with the flow,

No notes.

I'm sitting in a little quiet section of my home with a pillow over my legs to reduce some of the echo.

And it's really nice just to lean into what comes through more intuitively and naturally as opposed to planning out all of my episodes.

And now I'm moving into my yin era.

So I hope you're enjoying it.

Please,

If this episode resonates with you,

Let me know your feedback.

I feel like you guys are a little shy sometimes.

And if this episode would help a friend,

Please pass it along,

Share it with them.

And I can't wait to see you back here next time.

Reviews

This was very helpful! Gained more insight on energy types and left me thinking on ways to maintain balance :)