It did for me and I believe it can for you too. I was properly introduced to the Yin Yang concept when I was studying Mind Body Medicine at the College of Complementary Medicine.
As far as I was concerned, I was the epitomy of health & fitness. I had been a personal trainer for 11 years and I had been interested in health and the body from as early as I could remember. I ate well, I exercised daily, often twice and I only did things I believed to be ‘healthy’. However, I was often sick and not just ‘unwell’ there were several hospitalisations. I remember always feeling embarrassed when I did crash and burn. The Doctors would say, how did you end up with pneumonia? My family would make comments like, but you’re so healthy? I was left feeling confused and guilty, how could I, the ‘healthy one’ be the one to always get sick?
Then one day I was sitting in the classroom at the College of Complementary Medicine, learning about mind body medicine, when the Yin Yang concept was introduced. I knew about balance, I knew about the importance of balance to the body, I even knew the word ‘homeostasis’ –the tendency towards a relatively stable equilibrium between interdependent elements – yet for some reason hearing the Yin Yang Philosophy explained in this mind body medicine way created a huge ‘Aha’ moment for me.
I was completely out of balance. EVERYTHING in my life was Yang, there was no Yin. I was always doing, striving, achieving, moving and exercising. There was certainly no rest in the day, there was no stillness, there was very little ‘being’. My only time of rest was bedtime and even then, I was an insomniac. So here I was, a young woman, striving to be healthy, absolutely and completely out of balance. No wonder my body wasn’t happy with me.
Since then it has been my constant mission to apply this mind body medicine technique of using the Yin Yang Philosophy to frequently asses the state of my health. This philosophy allows me to check in regularly with which state I need to enhance more- the Yin or the Yang. Rather than viewing my health as a fixed state determined by my routine that I do daily, I have learnt to listen in and allow it to tell me what I need. Some days, that’s more rest, a yoga class, a sleep-in and others it’s more movement, more action, more striving.
And wow how things have changed; I sleep soundly most nights, I meditate daily, I have plenty of moments where I am totally ‘in the moment’ and I haven’t been sick in well over a year.
So I ask you, how balanced are you? Do you have one fixed routine, that you follow daily regardless of how you feel? Do you allow your body to ask you for something different? Listen in, it will tell you.
Beth Pupovac, Kinesiologist, Mind Body Medicine & Complementary Medicine Practitioner and graduate of the College of Complementary Medicine.