How To Be A Woman (The Yin Warrior)
May 13, 2008 by Candice Schutter
(response to How to Be A Man by Steve Pavlina)
The Yin Warrior is an ancient archetype, and a woman of
a new and enlightened world. She is the wayshower for
the many who yearn for the Feminine to re-emerge as
compassionate, empathic leadership.
The Order of Life for the Yin Warrior is:
Instinct:
elemental
connection with her environment (her physical body
being the most important environment to fully embody)
Intuition:
the way that
life speaks to and through her through Instinct (felt
sensation) as a foundation
Interdependence:
how her instincts and intuitions enable her to
effectively interact with others in relationships
For too long the Yin Warrior has been asleep in our
culture. The Order of Life for women has been operating
backwards. Relationships are often put before all else
- overriding both the impulses of Instinct and
Intuition. Intuition has been overshadowed by
measurable truths or mistaken for mystical fantasy. And
Instinct - spoken through the physical body world - has
become a vehicle in which to meet desired ends, rather
than a sacred space to embody as the foundation of
life.
Let's re-visit The Order of Life for the Yin Warrior
through some of her many tools:
INSTINCT
A woman has a visceral knowing - being one with the
earth. She understands the elemental dust from which
she - and all things - arise from and return to. She
embraces the body in its curvaceous celebration of the
cyclical nature of form. The body is her temple
and instinct
is the voice of
the Earth itself echoing through its walls. As the
space through which life enters, she is masterful at
understanding energetic landscapes and the weather
patterns of the life unfolding all around her. Her body
speaks volumes through sensation.
Sensation
She becomes silent enough to attend to the winds within
her body and its resulting rhythms. Harmony is found in
nature and her connection to it. All of life around her
is Nature speaking to her. She asks:
Are you
listening? How is the flow of the Body World supporting
your desires in the moment? Is there resistance? In
which direction can your steer the vessel of your life
so that flow is found again? She makes choices that
yield to a rhythm her body can move through with ease.
She cultivates strength by befriending grace and
sensation as allies. She is a master of patience in the
birth of all things.
Perhaps most importantly in this time of
women-against-women... she puts down her sword of
judgement once and for all. The Yin Warrior wields no
weapon. She shines with an Open Heart - as it is the
only "protection" she needs. When anyone (including
another woman!) speaks, the Yin Warrior listens with
her entire body. She overrides the cultural tendency to
self-compare (attire, physique, age, etc); competition
is meaningless to her. Instead she hears what is being
said beneath the surface of things, using her body as a
fine-tuned instrument of presence and discernment so
that she may re-create harmony.
Harmony
She makes her personal
well-being a first priority and a felt
sensation.
She asks: When something "goes
wrong" in your environment, where do you go to address
the disharmony? Do you frantically resist your
environment outside, hoping to change your internal
landscapes? What does it take to restore a sense of
balance in your body and heart?
The Yin Warrior
cultivates self-love by taking overt actions that
affirm how her life matters
to her.
The Yin Warrior listens to her own rhythms and
instincts first and foremost. She feels no need to
criticize, gossip, or complain... for she understands
all impulses rippling in and around her are mirrors
through which to see herself more clearly. She looks
closely in such moments, and discerns how she might
care for herself and the world around her more
efficiently. Through self-nurturing, she re-aligns
herself with the voice of her instincts (and the
environment responds with harmony in accordance with
her self-love). Her god-given enchantment is nurtured
on a soulular level, so any measures to adorn her
physical form are meant to enhance her natural
radiance.
INTUITION
A woman knows without knowing how. An inner-aligment
with instinct is the foundation for intuition. Tuning
in - sensing the world within and without - is the grid
upon which the heart rests in its knowing.
Radiant Knowledge
The knowing of the heart is radial. It
encompasses all
- even the
unseen - in its assessment of the moment. This is why
instinct coupled with sensation is the foundation of
such knowledge. Without this radial awareness, instinct
becomes egocentric and blind to the whole. Fearful
instincts are not considered in context, and are thus
mistaken for intuitive knowing. Therefore, the Yin
Warrior is firmly anchored in the body world so that
she may be a conduit for knowledge of another kind.
When intuition comes, it need not be accompanied by
fireworks. It creeps up in the heart of a woman, and
she knows not its true source. A sudden awareness
emerges - through thought, word, image, or sensation.
The Yin Warrior holds this knowing up against her
internal compass which measures its implications on the
environment around her. Only when a confirmation
responds from within does she give movement to her
knowledge.
Emphatic
Truth
Empathy is that which makes necessary the path of the
woman as a warrior
archetype in
our existing culture. Empathy is the tool the Yin
Warrior lives her life learning to understand. A woman
who embraces her inherent gifts and is in touch with
the world around her may sometimes feel bombarded with
information and stimulation. Sensation is heightened
and can overwhelm the body. Intuition is activated and
can overwhelm the heart and mind. The Yin Warrior
applies her empathic abilities to balance these
tendencies, as she receives from so many sources at
once. Once balanced, empathy says, I sense the energy
that is present while knowing that I am
she who is
sensing. I do not confuse myself
with the energetic environment in which I live... nor
that which I interact with. I do not confuse your
experience with the truth of who you are. I see behind
the veils of this world; and therefore, I never lose my
faith in love.
In this way, truth is welcome in a new way. The Yin
Warrior speaks great truth with an ease, an acceptance,
a grace. She shares what is alive inside of her without
becoming lost in the experience. She comes from a place
of harmony... so no matter the potency of the honesty
she transmits, she is understood in her intention to
create connection. She is direct and clear in her
communication, but never confrontational. Connection is
her starting point, and her endpoint. She is truly a
conduit of love through word and action.
INTERDEPENDENCE
When instinct (physical radiance) and intuition (heart
radiance) are attended to, a woman is at one with her
world. It is then that relationship reveals itself
Whole through her.
Partner with the Beloved He
The Yin Warrior knows that the union of Her Most Sacred
Heart with the Beloved He comes first. She places her
body, heart, and soul in union with the force of
life... and it dances her with a graceful ease. Her
life is meant to service and nurture Relationship the
the All of Life, first and foremost. This is the Divine
Marriage through which she will find her greatest joys
and sorrows (both
of which she
honors and treasures for their unique gifts).
The Infinite Spaceholder
The Yin Warrior holds space through which life can
happen. She is the fertile soil of the land. No matter
how the fields of her heart are tended, she returns to
wholeness again and again. Resilience as a concept can
not do her justice. Nor the concept of the Survivor,
for it implies victimhood. She is no victim, regardless
of circumstance. She is the ultimate power of
acceptance. Divine acceptance that sees through veils
of personalities, challenges, and consequence. Her
choices are sacred acts of love - each a birth of life
worth celebrating to fruition. And, knowing nature, she
knows this... ALL will bear fruit, in due time.
The Nurturer, she pulls all of life to her bosom in
order to shed light of love.
Treat all as innocent
children, she whispers.
Accept this world. Love
it whole in order to change it.