The Unity of Masculine & Feminine Energies
Within our own body system, no matter your gender identity there are masculine and feminine energies, which work together to move us through life. We may pull on different lines of energies depending on what is happening in one’s life at that moment. Ideally, there is no separation between the two its more a matter of uniting them in harmony as One. There is the misnomer that you have to be strong in the masculine sense, utilizing power, muscular strength to take one’s opponent or attacker down in the world of martial arts in order to dominate and gain control. I’ve found that that isn’t the whole truth. Solely drawing upon one’s masculine energies in one’s life creates an imbalance, it’s likened to weight lifting where you only do bicep curls on the right side and completely ignore the left side. Can you imagine? If someone truly trained that way in their exercise, what kind of distortions would occur in the physical body or in the mind? Therefore, it’s a good reminder to work on balance in one’s life, specifically with the masculine and feminine energies. When one only pulls on the masculine line of energy on the martial arts mat it reaches a maximum potential and if one continues to try and push beyond it without cultivating the balance of the feminine energetic line then the masculine energy can backfire on itself causing a self-sabotaging or self-destructive behavior. If we can recognize this, we have an opportunity to choose instead to open up into the feminine energies to help balance us out.
When I think of feminine energies I think of support, soft strength (flow), and being open-receptive. It can look like hitting that point of struggle on the mat and trying to muscle the opponent down and instead, opening up to what is happening within one’s body-mind system to support what is. When we are tightening up, digging in, or gripping at something we are maxing out the masculine line of energy and simultaneously creating an attachment that can be a point of suffering. If we continue along this line we become susceptible to injuries. When we feel we’ve reached the maximum movement of the masculine energies in our body we can let go of the attachment to how we think it needs to be or should be, the control in that moment, and open up to support what is already there. In opening up to support what is, we become fully accepting of the situation, which lends a neutral stance from a full place of presence, one which doesn’t seek to control, manipulate, or dominate anything. That place of full acceptance allows us to bring in the skillful strength of compassion, which lends support for our self and the other. Moving from a space of support for oneself and the point of connection with the attacker allows both the masculine and feminine energies within our own system to become balanced and unified for the application and execution of an effective technique.
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The felt-experience within one’s own body is that of unity and harmony such that it seems effortless to take the opponent down. In those moments the ego likes to jump in and question if one really did apply the unified energies of the masculine and feminine correctly, because it feels so easy. Many times one even questions the opponent to see if they are giving as much resistance as they were before when we were stuck and out of balance with the energies. Over time when we gain more felt-experiences of unity within our own system and that of others we come to trust in the greater power of the feminine that unites us into wholeness. Just as in the military, when one goes in to attack the enemy the strategy is a concerted effort by different teams who have their own specialties to work to take down the enemy. This example can be likened to our own mind-body system. Being able to unite one’s arm to one’s center, to the hips, and then to the feet we have then garnered a united front to move and meet the enemy or attacker with wholeness, being grounded in the balance of masculine and feminine energies. One is then effective in their technique not because of the sheer force of muscle or will they are applying, but because of one’s own balanced place of Being that affects change in the attacker from the point of contact (i.e. wrist grab, neck choke, or sword cut). Therein lies the wisdom if one is seeking to change the opponent; one must first change oneself to be in a balanced, unified state of Being to affect change in others.
So the next time you are moving through life, be it training on the mat, interacting with others, or working on creating something new in your life, remember that when we feel stuck we might be out of balance within our own Being. Take a closer look to see which aspect of our Self is out of balance and consider if it would benefit us to let go into the feminine aspects of support, flowing strength, and receptive openness to bring about the change in a situation that one seeks.
Unity of the masculine and feminine energies offers us access to the fullness of life. Learn more at our next Meditation Workshop on Tuesday, August 6th. Click here for more info or register here.
Happy Summer!
Hui (Hathor)
