Yin and Yang

When you walk through a field at sunset, you mind settles. Don’t you find that? I do. I find that my choices seem simpler, my dreams quieter, and the stresses that constantly haunt my mind seem to take a breather too. I guess everyone needs time off, huh?

I also love a good run. Weights and yoga don’t have the calm mind effect on me, but a good run clears my head, crystalizes my thinking, and calms my stress too. It’s part of the reason we bought a treadmill many years ago. I’ve always been a runner, running outside on the pavement hurts my hips though, but more than that running is a necessity. And when we found out we were pregnant the one thing I asked for, and the decision we made, was to get a treadmill. I knew I would be home most of the time after our baby came, and I also knew that it would be harder to get out and run as my pregnancy progressed. So a treadmill was ideal. I could gently run and jog as the pregnancy continued without worry and in total freedom that I could stop and sit down at any time. Then, once the baby came, and I got the medical all clear it helped so much to soothe my stress and emotions. In fact, the day I came home from my mid-wife appointment where she cleared me for all activities, I jumped onto the treadmill for a 20 minute run. It was glorious! And I could do it while she napped – which was key.

You can’t leave a baby sleeping alone in a house while you go out for a run, but you can pop the monitor on by the side of your treadmill and go at it. It was a mental lifesaver. So while walking through a field at sunset isn’t the same yang energy clarity that I get from a run, it is a different clarity. A yin clarity, of calmness and quiet, rather than action and energy. We need both. We need that balance.