Finding balance in life with Yin & Yang forces
In this fast pace of life and work finding balance seems sometimes out of reach. But is it really impossible? When a person’s mission, vision and dreams are aligned, mutual harmony is felt and that person can live pain free with safety and security. We have all seen the yin and yang sign but how does that apply to you and are you doing it? We spend so much of our time working for money, working out our bodies to our own version of perfection.
In this busy western world everyone is busy doing or actively using energy in the state known in the east as yang. But there has to balance– we must also strive for the state that is yin or rest and rebuilding. If we have to much yang we are merely numbing our root cause symptoms, if we have too much Yin we need more Yang (doing). How do we know? As a CHEK practitioner we take you through careful tests and questions and which carefully tells you where you presently are. “If you are guessing, you are not assessing.” Paul Chek
Yang is also known as the masculine or active you. It’s the side of you that wants to “get the job done” and physiologically relates to cortisol (the awakening hormone). Yang is catabolic (the breakdown of molecules to gain energy) in nature.
Yin on the other hand relates to the mother, the repair and rest side of you. Hormonally it is anabolic (muscle growth and repair). It’s the “play hard” balance to the “work hard” mantra.
But that balance is missing – people are always striving to get more rest… create more energy… or find more time to complete daily tasks. How many times have you heard someone say “I don’t have time, i am too busy”?
Because many of us overwork to achieve success, we often use extreme forms of rest to try to balance the equation – partying hard, drinking to excess to forget the week we just had, or going on adventurous holidays or doing yang type movement patterns, sports or competitions.
Though our intention is to “rest and recover” we actually end up burning even more energy because we are still being active! The amount of my clients who are constantly injured and are in pain and seek more yang activities outweigh those who want the yin. If I give you breathing squats to slow you down this is what you need.
We all know we need rest and chill out time and most of us do this with an average of 3 hours per day of TV/internet browsing. This we do to balance that active “doing” mode with a “calming” mode. TV is a stimulation especially before bedtime, it does not recharge the batteries and does not prepare us for sleep.
We are so wired from engaging our minds that we are constantly in the stress response mode at all times – even when we sleep! The good news is that we do have the ability to repair each and every night by following the circadian rhythm. If we are asleep from 10pm till 2am our bodies go into physiological repair to recycle sex and stress hormones, and regenerate our muscles and glands. This is followed by a cognitive/mental repair cycle from 2 am until 6am.
If you ever come and take a one to one lesson with me, it’s not just putting you through a repertoire of exercises or movement patterns, it’s treating the person and not the disease. We establish specific goals, dreams and core values which are essential for holistic living and moving.
From here we put this into practice in our work and private life. As a business owner I use this to cultivate awareness into making my own diet lifestyle choices that bring about the right choices and combine harmony in my business mind and soul. When people see and experience others that are healthy and vital, we naturally want to emulate them. Being motivated to learn from someone that has what you desire is a much faster way to learn than most other options. The methods I use help me to stay healthy and free of illness in my professional career so that I can give back to my clients. Thus opening the door to a more prosperous and happy life for the clients.
“You can’t solve the problem with the same thinking that caused it.” Albert Einstein
Establishing your core goals and values are essential to support you . If you have had any sort of injury or felt pain – be it emotional, mental or physical, it actually gives you an opportunity to learn about your conscious/unconscious limits of your body and mind. Plus being an opportunity for personal growth and development even though it may not feel like it at the time.
I finish my blog today on non-judgment. It is indeed very challenging as we all know to live in the principles of non-judgment. In its simplest form, non-judgment is acceptance. You are accepting the freedom of others and yourself to be who you are without blame or condemnation. St.Helens Rugby league players week 1 pre season training camp feature in my video blog below.
“It doesn’t really matter when you start to make change… It only matters when you >>don’t<< start to make change”. Matt Wallden
Bibliography
“Eat, Move and be Healthy”- Paul Chek
“HLC 1” – Paul Chek
“Judgement Meditation” – Deepak Chopra
