Yin Energy

Yin has been my healing energy lately. Yin is slow, quiet, receptive, and creative.

I went to see my counselor at the beginning of May because I knew it was going to be a difficult month—it was Mother’s Day, and Ellis’ birthday, and I was carrying a lot of anger about the miscarriage I had in April and was frustrated with trying to get pregnant again. My counselor encouraged me to cultivate my yin energy because I was so caught up in trying to control my situation and make things happen.

I decided to make May my month of self-care. I went and saw an Ayurvedic practitioner (the sister science to yoga and similar to Chinese medicine) @debbyandersen who ended up saying the same thing as my counselor—that I need to embrace more yin energy. Once I heard this twice, I decided to take it seriously. Debby said yin is about doing things that makes you feel good like eating nourishing foods, resting, and meditating. Yin is calming and restorative.

This has turned out to be such helpful direction for me. I’ve been much more relaxed about trying to conceive again and am channeling my energies into creativity, yoga, and enjoying summer.

Yin is a feminine energy and is especially important for women to cultivate as we currently live in a predominately yang/masculine culture—we’re all about making things happen. I have a lot of yang energy naturally (I’m an Enneagram Three, an achiever) and have a hard time doing things I deem “unproductive” in my free time.

What I’ve found is that nourishing my yin has helped balance my yang energy and makes me more effective in my work and goals—I’m more at ease and don’t get so stressed out about things.

Try to do something to nourish your yin energy today—take a walk out in nature, call a friend, meditate for 5 minutes, do some yoga, avoid rushing, limit your screen time after 5pm, write a thank you note, do something creative, or go to bed early. What are your favorite yin practices?