From Yang to Yin
What is this moment trying to teach us? Many are struggling and grappling with our “new normal.” But I also know some of us have found a deep and profound healing at this moment. For me, our studio is running beautifully and we are operating from a place of sustainability. My livelihood is not in question. My children are older. They can get online and do their e-learning without any prompting from me. I have a roof over my head and food in the pantry and even an extra roll of toilet paper. I know some people are truly struggling at this time. The struggles may be financial, emotional, mental. I have read articles about past traumas being re-triggered at this time due to the uncertainty and volatility of our communities small and large. So let me be clear, my life is very fortunate right now so what I am about to say is from this place where our basic needs our met. My story is mine alone, others are having a different experience. But it is my belief when each of us heals, it offers a collective healing for our planet as well. The world needs us happy and whole- it is the only way to find creative solutions to the world’s larger problems. Having said that, here are my musings from quarantine.
Yang is the state of the sun, heightened energy, activity, rigidity, masculinity and outward expression. Yin is the state of the moon, quiet, internal, watery, feminine and dreamlike. For a long time our world has collectively become more Yang- louder, frenetic, man believing he has power over nature. I watch my children lose patience in thirty seconds if something doesn’t work because they are so used to things happening at lightning speed. I watch people yelling louder and louder at one another trying to get the other to hear. I watch us try to control and manipulate the news, the people, the environment around us. Each trying to amass more and more wealth or power. But this gift of corona virus has offered us a moment to pause and breathe. What if the shut down of our communities is a forced time of yin? A time that most of us have no other option than to slow down, get quiet and listen in. If we take this time as a sacred pause, what will we find or who will we be at the end?
I believe one of the practices that has prepared me the most for this time is that of mindfulness and meditation. These practices teach us to slow down, to listen in, to respond versus react and to live in the present moment. At any time if I run into the future or what that looks like, I feel an immediate shift of tension and discomfort. If I worry about what everyone else is doing or not doing, immediate tension and discomfort. So instead, I sit and listen and respond. That is truly all we can do!
Those of you that know me, know I am a little sensitive. I have this theory that when I go about a “normal” day I am having to filter out other people’s energies, expectations, wants and needs. This often ends my day with fatigue and needing quiet, alone time to reset and find my center again. With quarantine practices in place, I am not running errands and interacting with people all day long. I practice yoga one to two hours per day. I don’t watch the news and limit my social media time. These simple shifts allow me to listen in and pay attention to my inner life even more. I feel masks and protective layers literally shedding off my skin. Tension in the body- gone. Tension in the face- gone. Knots in the heart- loosened. Due to this I have found a deep ease and contentment a rhythm to my days at home. The world still has pain and suffering, but I can be still and find a way to help, find a way to be of service from peace rather than anger. I can see the gifts of the earth healing itself with only six weeks of us humans slowing down. I see people collectively calling out racism swiftly to change the system. I see businesses and people supporting one another in a whole new way. I see creative problem solvers sitting still, thinking and creating new paradigms and new ways to do things.
If we can stay out of fear and sit in stillness we can find little gifts of quarantine. Greenville Yoga teachers and students adapted quickly to the change at hand. We got our classes up and running before our governor told us it was time to shut down. Each of you took the reigns and learned how to zoom like a pro! Now we meet and visit like it is any other day. My family adapted quickly as well. The slow down was sorely needed for all of us. We all stay up a little later and sleep a little longer. We have lunch together each day and meal times are outside with plenty of time to sit and talk and listen. Even my teenage son shifted and said he might as well learn something new. Now twice a week he cooks our dinner with only a little help from mom. My daughter has her own to-do lists of baking, learning how to put on make up, teaching herself photography. Me, I’ve slowed down so when my kids speak I have the time to listen, to open up and experience the moment fully. My friends and family call each day to connect. I find myself laughing more and finding a deeper peace than I’ve known in a long time. I know the world is still broken, but in healing myself I know this reaches beyond my four walls. My little glimmers of light show me that yes, the world is broken; but we are being shaken and squeezed to find a new way… a better way of being. Can you feel it?
Maybe some of us are a little more yin in nature. We felt the out of balance-ness of the world. It was pulling at us pretty intensely. So this forced “time out” has brought us home. For those of you that are a little more yang. I invite you to relax, to soften and open. See what gifts the yin time might be here to teach you. Use this time wisely and value the gifts it is offering. When else will you be invited to slow down in this way? If you are avoiding the slow down, what are you hiding from? Who knows if you stop, you may fall more in love with the life you already have or you may be the next creative problem solver that shapes the future of your community. Slow down. Get still. Follow Mother Nature’s lead and take the time to heal. The world will thank you for it.
With love and a socially distant hug,
Liz
