6 Extraordinary Routines To Lead A More Yin Life

Yin sounds weak, passive, languid, almost lacking in determination or inability to act, in a world that values ​​action highly! But if it is understood as our receptive, soft side, not subject to demand, it is as essential as yang, which it also helps to sustain.

Yin, even when it is concretized in maximum stillness, is also energy, only of a type of energy that we are not used to appreciating. As described by Taoism, yin and yang are mutually supportive and collaborative opposites, to the point where one is always included in the other.

The apparently inert role of the yin is actually that of a germ, it contains within it all the action that then unfolds, because in the pauses the movement can be endowed with a new impulse and a new direction. When we nurture and let go is when the deepest part of ourselves can manifest itself.

How to boost your yin energy in a yang world

Our time is not very fond of yin. The reigning slogans point out again and again when “doing”: we must respond, move, progress, change, solve … And the yin is the opposite: it proposes a gentle treatment, a benevolence with ourselves and our needs, abandon everything imperative.

In this “letting go” easy attention is given, which does not imply effort, and we perceive more. The body, to which we give up control, is about to regain its balance through the mechanisms it has to do so.

Frequenting the yin as an attitude, in a broad way, learning to calibrate the forces and feed them when they falter, is necessary in a clearly yang, solar, masculine society, which promotes strength, improvement and the race towards immediate satisfaction to the detriment of a more feminine recollection, which the woman knows for her hormonal cycle and its phases of greatest vulnerability.

In this yang context, both men and women need to cultivate yin, especially when we accuse an excess of activity, socialization and stimuli. Introducing these small gestures into your routine is the key to moving forward on that path:

1. If the body asks you to loosen up, listen to it

This shift towards a greater awareness of our energy needs is subtle, it often consists of small gestures, such as giving up a meeting if you are tired, no matter how much you feel like it, or choosing a slower speed in a moment of urgency.

When we are able to escape the dictates of the mind, which makes its plans many times disconnected from the body, we regain a certain sovereignty because we are deciding to listen to each other, to attend to each other, to respect each other.

Accepting fatigue instead of demanding that we overcome it is an act of love towards ourselves that later reverts to our efficiency and relationships with others: it allows us to redirect ourselves to the world with greater energy, greater mental clarity and a loving disposition born of that placidity. of the moments when the guard has been let down and it has been accepted that some things cannot be solved, at least for the moment.

The effort transforms us but also the meek, soft, delicate.

2. Allow yourself not to

Accepting that liberated time whenever we need it, even if circumstances force it to be brief or limited, supposes a change in the way of living and in the well-being that we enjoy.

Without waiting to feel saturated, learning to allow pauses, blank spaces, time without filling, is a way to print more yin in our lives. The great learning is to understand that this is not wasted time but very valuable.

The people of nature yang, like many men, but also some women, they need to boost their hard – stilling. But even people in whom a calm energy predominates, less prone to action, also need to respect and take care of that fundamental base on which their balance is raised, in order to better embrace action.

In all cases it can be useful to consider if we are not committing ourselves to too many things, overloading the agenda with obligations and with what we do not want to miss the attractive and tempting world that surrounds us and that constantly knocks on our door.

Perhaps it is worth trying to do less, to fluff up the activities instead of chaining them, so that once its wake is finished it can complete its journey in us.

3. Observe those who still know

Let’s look at the children and learn from their lack of a sense of time instead of rushing them over and over again. Let’s observe how they play, dream or discover the world around them.

Let’s learn from the dogs and walk alongside them instead of making them walk ours: let’s stop pulling on their leash every time they stop sniffing and try the adventure of a meditative walk without goals in which there is nowhere to go .

Let’s practice a different point of view that escapes any imposition, our own or someone else’s.

4. Give yourself a moment before acting

To be more yin is to challenge ingrained habits. We live in constant communication with others and it seems that we have to respond immediately to everything. Adding yin to our life also means deciding when to get off that constant exchange of words on the networks.

It means not immediately proposing solutions to what they tell us, breaking with the inertia of reacting quickly to any situation.

That yin: listening, perceiving, welcoming, cultivating our receptivity.

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5. Dodge your own yang traps

The challenge is such that we should also be able to avoid our own traps when, supposedly resting, we organize our yin time with a very yang attitude! It is not exactly about setting aside time for yoga or meditation, or forcing yourself to anything, but about experiencing the almost sacrilegious feeling of surrendering to lack of goals.

Perhaps leading a more yin life is maintaining a life more attentive to inner needs, reaching a finer listening to what we feel. The challenge is to ask ourselves every day if we can be kinder to ourselves, if we can feed that part of us that society tends not to empower.

6. Take special care of transitions

Transitions are important: cultivate your yin moments when you wake up in the morning and when you pick yourself up at night to practice gentleness on yourself.

In the morning

Start the day right : don’t rush right out of bed.

If necessary, get up a little earlier (go to bed earlier to respect the hours of sleep). But treat yourself well from the first moment: accompany your body and your mind unhurriedly in this transition to activity.

You can do some stretching, if you prefer something physical, but you can also meditate, observe your plants, open a window and look at the sky with gratitude while savoring an infusion or a juice … In other words, do what you feel you need to be well.

You will notice that, if you create that tone from the beginning, the day develops later more serene and positive, and that you perform more because you focus better on everything you do. It will not be wasted time for you, but gained time.

At night

Prepare the dream and, before going to bed, let the day fade away.

Get away from the screens and create your own rituals : wash the dishes slowly, massage your feet with some oil, do some abdominal breaths with your legs leaning against the wall …

Be flexible and give yourself what you feel can go well for you at that moment.