By Dr. Sandy Islands for Conch Color
Yin is the feminine principle in nature. It is our intuitive self, the deep, wise, receptive end of the channel. Through Yin we open the door to universal intelligence. We experience Yin through inner prompts, gut feelings and dreams. It’s driven by the creative right side of our brains and brings forth wisdom and love. Yang is depicted in nature as the masculine active principle. It provides risk taking action in service to Yin like a chivalrous knight and his lady. It propels our thoughts, speech and how we move our bodies. The left brain drives this out-flowing channel. It builds our personality structure and protects and honors the sensitive energy of intuition. When Yin and Yang combine, “All That Is,” comes to be. What we’re really saying here is that whether we are men or women, we all have both masculine and feminine traits and energy. The key is to find the truth within and live that truth. Everyday we are inundated with stereotypes in the media of what stands for beauty, wealth, happiness and success. We are constantly comparing ourselves to some outside standard and coming up short. The truth is that everything we need to know is within us. The path to self-realization is founded on simply releasing anything that is not us. What we do or what others do to us is not what hurts. It’s re-telling the stories about what we’ve done, and what’s been done to us that keep us in pain.
The union of Yin and Yang forms the basis of creation. Everything is made up of these two forces. To lead harmonious, creative lives we need both sides to be fully developed and functioning. Women are taught to repress their Yang and men their Yin. We must learn to honor and balance them both. When these energies are fully balanced they can act in harmony. Then, a strong channel for power opens so that peace and wisdom can flow through. An example might be a mother who feels intuitively that her son is in danger. She enters the kitchen and pulls him away from the hot stove before he gets burned. The Yang energy functions with clarity and strength based on the inspiration it receives from Yin. We might feel an impulse in business to contact an associate. We make the call and launch a new deal in perfect timing.
Traditionally, men have been programmed to think and act while suppressing their intuition. They must keep control at all costs and are terrified of their Yin power. There’s an unconscious fear that if they surrender to this energy they’ll lose their identity. So they hold onto separations at any cost. Traditionally, women have been programmed to be helpless and dependent upon men. They must suppress their inner power which usually leaves them feeling lost and alone. Then, they attract men who are fatherly and chauvinistic, even abusive. All macho men have a helpless, hysterical Yin voice inside trying to be heard. They’ll attract needy, little girl, cutie women with low self-esteem but who lure them in with sexual seduction. Both of these extremes reflect a lack of trust and respect for their inner Yin and Yang. They’re afraid to experience their balanced true inner selves. We can fight these energies, block them, control them, keep ourselves separate from them or we can surrender and be open to balancing Yin and Yang. Let’s be a part of birthing the new age of males and females. Let’s shift from fear and control into surrender, intuition and trust. Please write to Dr. Sandy Islands @ sandyislands@hawaii.rr.com.