Yin Power

June 2004
Usually when we want something, we spend a lot of energy working out how we are going to get it. Of course I hear you say. We have an aim, a method of getting there and a results column, in which we mark ourselves on how well we did, or didn't. When we get what we want we feel elated, for a while, then we want something else, so the cycle of aiming, efforting and succeeding or failing starts again.

We are taught that sacrifice is required if we want to be successful. Sometimes how you get there takes second fiddle to actually getting there. Obviously there are circumstances and times when we need to put a lot of energy into what we are doing, it is the way that we do this which I would like to draw to your attention.

What is it, from a wider perspective that we are actually doing? Are we moving closer to our highest destiny, or further away from it?  What, or whom are we serving? Often when we get to where we strove to be, we find we don't like it.
In fact it is horrible.

Often getting what we want takes a lot out of us and in the long run depletes us. It was not worth it. I knew a woman with 3 kids she had to raise by herself, who had a job she disliked surrounded by people who were not supportive.  She was intelligent, really hard working and focused. She would go to great lengths in her profession to ensure the financial security of her kids even though she was not happy and often said, 'this job is killing me'.  She died of bowel cancer within 18 months.

I think that there is a secret inside whether or not we get to enjoy what we create in our lives when we get it. I think it has a lot to do with the energy that we put into things, ie the path we chose to get where or whatever it is that we wanted.

If you have a body and you are still breathing, then you have an inner dimension to your being that needs to be fed along with your outer form self. The outer form self is identified mainly with the yang energy of go-out-and-get it.  Yang or male energy is flashy and out there.  It is faster and harder. Energy moves out. The yin self is more contained, still. It is the Empress, with everything that is required or could be required for the comfort and pleasure of the Realm, already in existence.  Energy comes in.  Yin is receptive, reflective, patient and already I can hear myself saying yeah, patient, obviously nothing to do with me!

When we give of ourselves, be it for a job or a project or a relationship, for a good cause, we can see that we are moving closer to it.  But life is not a straight line, it is more like a spiral. Imagine what you want is 4 turns of the spiral out from where you are now.

You move closer to it by yang effort. But then you have to let it go and nurture the self, it seems like you are heading in another direction but actually, very soon you see that you have actually come a turn of the spiral closer to what you wanted. And, you have been enriched along the way. Then you expend more energy again in right timing until again the spiral turns and you become yin, receptive, self nurturing.

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When you get there, you not only get it (whatever it was), you have an enriched you as well. This does not happen so much on the straight line approach to life. What tends to happen is burnout.

I am starting to realize that life is a lot more pleasant and success actually comes in a more sustainable way when we add a bit more yin to our lives, than when we do things the hard way, running around and expending a lot of effort non stop. I have come to understand that our yang, go and make it happen energy, is actually designed to serve our yin selves.  It can be like a dance, a bit of yang, a bit of yin.  In either case you focus on what you want, but doing things the old way you figure you have to do all the work yourself. Doing it the yin way, you do your part but you let the Goddess do hers.

The more I have the trust to allow a yin dimension into my life, the more I find that events are occurring that defy the usual understanding of how things occur just through hard work. I am finding less is required to be sacrificed and there is more pleasure, with a burst of joy, and a total amazement factor.

We can prepare ourselves for success, not just in a yang way, but in a yin way also.  We use our yang energy in two ways:

1 We set up a channel through which the Divine can move us to our goal. So if you want to be a lawyer, you cannot yin this to you unless you go to law school. Going and studying is yang, but you can do it with a bit of yin also. When I was a barrister, like everyone else I worked hard finding precedents to support the arguments that I wanted to put forward in Court.

Later when I was a regular meditator and recognized that we have a huge input to the creation of our own reality, I started thinking that the precedents that I require will always come to me rapidly and easily.

This itself is yang, as I had to formulate the thought.  My receptiveness to receiving things this way was yin. The yin energy then answered, and I would literally have books fall off the shelf on top of me that had the precise case in it that would support what I was doing.

People that I had not seen for a while would walk to Court with me and tell me about this amazing case they were in 2 weeks ago that is not reported yet, which was the same as the case I am running today. Then when I learnt to scan, I used to scan a row of law reports and the one with my case in it would feel hot. Invariably it was, just like the kids game of 'getting colder, getting hotter'.

2. Use your yang energy to remove or isolate out the obstacles which prevent us from realizing what is all already in existence.

The obstacles are often to be found in our reluctance or inability to stand in our true essence, in our gentle power of absolute beingness.

Why would this be?  Largely I think it is because we don't think we are good enough. We don't think we are developed enough, or that we might fail, or look foolish, or risk ourselves somehow. Therefore, given how anthropomorphic most people's view of God is, if we are not good enough to do it or receive it, if we don't trust ourselves, we don't trust that God /Goddess is up to the job of ensuring that our lives flow with ease and grace.

I want to tell you some yin stories. This is what happens when you trust, have faith, keep a clear image of what it is that you want and allow it to come to you.

Currently my favorite story is of my friend Maria, a beautiful woman who attends our Sydney meditation group. She is a highly intelligent person who had a career in the corporate sector before retraining as a massage and aromatherapist. She now works at a college teaching massage and aromatherapy to beauty therapist students, a job which of itself came about through a series of coincidences.

This is a recent appointment and one for which Maria had some trepidation.  Maria is somewhat larger of body than is fashionable. In fact, she was unable to obtain a uniform at the college that would fit her.  Thus, instead of the white tunic with the logo of the college on it, she thought she would have to settle for a white T shirt that she would have to buy herself.

However, she felt a reluctance to actually go and purchase one which she thought was odd.

The very next day, Maria got stuck in a terrible traffic jam on the way to work.  Traffic was at a standstill. The woman in front got out of her car and stood on the median strip to see what was happening, and make a phone call. Maria wound down her window and asked the woman what she could see.  She said there was an accident and they would be stuck there for some time. They started talking and the woman asked Maria where she was headed. Maria told her that she was on her way to work at the beauty college.  "That's amazing", said the woman, "I make their uniforms and embroider the logo onto them".

Maria's jaw dropped. Here stuck in this traffic jam she had found the one woman in the world who could get her uniform requirement sorted! She told the woman that she was unable to wear the uniform because it didn't come in her size.

"Leave it to me" said the woman, and duly created uniforms just for Maria, for less money than it would have cost her to purchase T shirts! 

What would be the odds of this event occurring? I would think they were incalculably small. Maria has removed many obstacles in her life that prevented her receiving, and the results are showing with examples such as this.

I recently traveled to England with Hugh. Whilst I had arranged to teach some classes there, I had the feeling that I was actually going over to market my meditation CD and the forthcoming chant CD called Rapture. However, I had not known how to go about this before I left.  I just formed the intention.

As part of the journey I went to stay with a relative who I had not seen in a long time, my first husband's sister, Naomi. I was there for two nights and on the second night, a friend of theirs called in unexpectedly and it turned out that this friend was a musician.  He had just had his first hit record on the UK pop charts and was feeling pretty happy.  I asked him about how he had marketed his CD and told him about mine.  He said, "You need to speak to my agent.  You really have to know someone, agents just ignore you otherwise.  Here is his number and address, I will call him and tell him you will be seeing him". 

True to his word, he indeed called the agent and despite being booked up for several weeks, I was able to see him the day before I flew home, owing to a cancellation in his otherwise tight schedule. Zac the agent was helpful, professional and agreed to assist us with the marketing of the CD. Without the chance meeting at Naomi's house, this could not have occurred.

Give some thought to how you live your life. Are you spiraling or going in a straight line, missing out on self nurturing and support?

Christine Northrop, a specialist medical practitioner in the USA has written several books on energy, chakras and medicine. She says that for true stability and lasting good health, we need 4 or more "pies" that we have our fingers in, or groups which we are members of and have some identification with. Then if things go bad in one or two pies, we still have a couple more. We do not become completely destabilized.

Most people have a family, and work. That's two pies.  Many play a sport; that is a third. She recommends being a part of a spiritual community as one of the pies, and says that this is one of the important roles played by organized religion. The trouble is, if you are not particularly interested in organized religion, it is hard to find a group. Most of them have too many rules and dogma.

We are seeking to establish a spiritual group with the development of Harmony Lodge.  We want to form an inclusive community of spiritual enquiry and discovery, based on love, joy, happiness and peace. 

We are providing weekend activities including garden days and meditation days, celebrations using the energy of the seasons and natural energies like the waxing and waning moon, solstices, etc.  We welcome the opportunity to be of service, and think that spirituality is about dynamic people creating good things in the world, helping others and nurturing themselves at the same time. It is grounded as well as being multi-dimensional.

If that sounds like you then come and be involved somehow.
There is lots of scope!

Namaste, Kim