A Yin Building Ritual to Help You Relax and Recover

We are not meant to live in perpetual Spring and Summer and this is the beauty of learning how to connect and align with our hormonal cycles. We move through 5 distinct phases each month whether we have our periods or not and these phases mirror the 5 seasons - Spring, Summer, Early Fall, Late Fall, and Winter. 

We live in a society that is go go go - create more, do more, be more, learn more, grow more. We may burn bright but then we burn out. 

There is a lot of resistance around rest and the ritual at the end of this article will help you shift into a much needed state of relaxation and recovery. 

Allowing myself to just be is something I struggled with too. I don't talk about it often, but I contended with chronic fatigue all throughout my 20s. Between the intensity of my undergraduate studies and the demands of my masters degree I burned through all my resources and was left feeling completely depleted.

Most days I couldn't get off the couch, was crippled by brain fog, and lacked the motivation or interest in doing anything or going anywhere. And still I pushed myself which as you can imagine resulted in some pretty scary symptoms. My hair thinned, my muscles deteriorated, my sex drive disappeared, my entire body ached (which kept me up all night), my OCD was out of control, I had almost daily migraines, and to top it off I developed irritable bowel syndrome. I remember thinking to myself, "how can I help anyone else when I can barely help myself?"

By the time I finished my masters I was a husk of human being. I didn't want to listen or slow down - I had things I needed to take care of, deadlines to meet, tests to study for and so I ignored everything that was going on until I was done. Yes, I was eating pretty healthy at the time, practicing yoga, meditating, and was really happy in my relationship but a big piece of the puzzle was missing - giving myself time to truly rest.  

Start today or at least during your next period or the next new moon. Give yourself permission to truly rest and just be, to embrace the Winter within. Trust that the seasons will turn, Spring and Summer will come again and if you allow yourself to hibernate now then you will have the restored energy, clarity of mind, and motivation to start anew.  

A ritual that may help you downshift into a more internal, Yin state is running a bath, lighting a few candles, closing your eyes, taking a few deep breaths and reflecting on the following:

• What can I put off until tomorrow to allow myself to truly rest today?
• Do I feel any guilt, anxiety, stress, or shame around taking a much needed break? How can I give myself permission to just be?
• Focus on taking deep, soothing breaths in and out and repeat the following mantra: “I honor my need to rest, I allow myself to surrender and retreat so that I may be fully restored."