You might dislike the obvious simplicity of the answer I give, but simplicity is what I’m about.
Chinese Medicine talks about Yin and Yang. Among other things, Yin is the quiet & still, while Yang is the active & moving.
But in the West, we tend to understand these as two compartmentalized opposites. This really isn’t the case. Rather, they are two extremes on a continuum.
And this continuum isn’t linear, with fixed endpoints, it’s circular and wraps around again on itself.
When Yang reaches it’s maximum expression, it turns into Yin, and when Yin reaches its maximum expression, it turns to Yang.
For example, when we work very hard, we use our Yang energy, or Qi, which is the Yang energy renewed on a daily basis. We begin to feel tired and burned out. So we sleep, a very Yin activity, and when we’ve had enough, we wake up, coming back to the Yang. One continually transforms into the other.
Many people try to give themselves more Qi and Yang by eating, overeating, as food is a source of Qi energy. Yet the food requires Yang Qi to digest, and it must turn into Yin Blood before it’s useful to us. Overeating simply doesn’t work, that’s why you feel weighted down afterwards.
If you’re needing more energy, the answer is NOT to do more. Yang does NOT beget yang. YIN begets YANG.
So if you need more energy, rest. Sit down until you feel your body fill with energy again, and then use that energy until you need to rest again.
Neither is this sit down and scroll through your phone (a very Yang activity!), it’s not plan the week’s meals, it’s not doing something while sitting.
It’s sitting and being still for the sake of sitting and being still.
Stare at your walls, smell your baby, listen to the birds or whatever is simply around you. You don’t need a ritual or a specific setting, both Yin and Yang are everywhere and always available to you. Don’t put conditions on it.
If someone comes and asks what you’re doing or if you’re ok, that’s fine. You can just say to them, “I’m ok, I’m just resting for a few minutes.”
Maybe you sit down and feel just how empty of energy you really are. How much sitting and resting you really need. That’s ok, your body will naturally begin to fill again, even if just a little.
Remember that this is NOT “doing nothing”. It is NOT laziness, it is NOT giving up, it is NOT something you need permission or forgiveness for doing.
This is simply the natural cycle of filling and emptying, saving and spending, Yin transforming to Yang.
And if you’re pushing yourself for societal approval, in the end aren’t the most respected and trusted people those who take their time, those who think before they act, those who are paused and thoughtful? Can’t you feel that their words have weight, their being has substance?
This is Yin. It is the space between thoughts & words where we allow ourselves to be filled with knowing intuition and then we choose rather than react or forcefully push ourselves forward.
If you need more energy, slow down and rest until you have more. It works!
