Balancing Our Masculine & Feminine Energy
"Life is a balance between holding on and letting go."
-Rumi
Hello Beautiful Soul-
May is Mental Health Awareness month and I want to touch on a subject which has been a theme in conversation with most of my clients lately. Regardless of our biological sex, we all have a mix of masculine and feminine energy, and we need both in our daily lives. Masculine energy is characterized by DOING & achieving and is molded by logic and reason. The feminine is more intuitive, oriented towards receiving & allowing, and characterized by BEING (see below).
Masculine vs Feminine
Yang vs Yin
Doing vs Being
Daytime vs Nighttime
Aggression vs Surrender
Analytical vs Intuitive
Concrete vs Abstract
Impatient vs Patient
Striving vs Tranquil
Rushing vs Nurturing
Assertive vs Receptive
Left brain vs Right brain
Thrusting vs Receiving
Organization vs Synthesizing
Logical vs Creative
Busy vs Calm
Hard vs Soft
Controlling vs Allowing
We live in a masculine driven energy – or what I like to say, Yin deficient society. Always busy, doing, striving, pushing and living in fight or flight. When we are in a constant state of doing, we become disconnected, anxious, and easily burned out. It affects our nervous system and if not addressed will cause our physical, mental and emotional body to break-down.
Personally speaking, my up-brining manifested into a hyper masculine energy. The absence of nurturing support taught me at a very young age to grow up fast and I was self-conditioned to believe that I needed to take care of myself. I was persistent in pushing to achieve for validation. This busy and striving self always had to control, press harder and compete with myself and others. I was constantly having gut issues, felt sick & tired, was anxious often and suffered from adrenal fatigue. It wasn’t until I was forced to come to a complete stop (because my body shut down) that I knew things needed to shift.
Don’t get me wrong – my masculine energy has contributed greatly to my productivity and achievements, however living in a constant imbalance state took a heavy toll on my health. I had to reprogram my way of thinking, slow waaaayyyyyyyyy down and become fully present to gain clarity and understand what my body needed. I began to see that endless productivity was detrimental to my well-being and not the measure of my self-worth. I realized that prioritizing being amidst doing, every single day, is a critical part of creating a more balanced and healthy life.
It is not practical to always have a perfect balance of our masculine and feminine energies, but it is attainable and transformative to tune-in, ask your heart and LISTEN to what you need.
Breath-work and meditation is the most effective practice I have found to help me shift out of doing and relax into being. In the space of practice, I am reminded that it's okay to allow things to unfold, instead of always directing or controlling them. I am able to hear my intuitive voice beneath my left-brain chatter. I am able release stagnant energy from parts of my body through my breath and I am more connected to my body and its signals.
A great start would be to take 5-10 minutes each day to connect with your breath, drop down into your heart and ask, “How can I best take care of you today?” This will allow you to become present, listen and honor your body’s wishes.
Other ways to balance out your energies is to go out in nature, dance or move your body, learn to say “no”, have mental health days, heal your heart and lean into SURRENDER.
Balancing your masculine and feminine energy is a fluid and continuous process, so – trust your intuition, make lots of little adjustments as you go, remember self-compassion when you find yourself unbalanced, and most importantly, invite in JOY and GRATITUDE daily!
Sending much love,
Dena