"Imagine yourself as a yin-yang symbol. How is your balance at this very moment?" I asked this question during the masterclass on the psoas, Do-In, and Eastern medicine. It is a question that invites you to immediately turn your gaze inward, moving past rational logic and straight into what you are feeling.
In our Western society, we often tend to get stuck in 'yang mode': action, ambition, thinking, analyzing, and moving forward. Yet, true balance only exists when both forces—Yin and Yang, rest and action, relaxation and tension—alternate and support one another.
To experience deep balance, we need a solid foundation in yin. And the key to that foundation is often locked within the psoas. In Eastern medicine and holistic disciplines, the psoas is known as a muscle closely connected to our deepest emotions, stress response, and vital energy. When we hold onto tension, the psoas constricts, causing energy to get stuck in the upper part of the body.
During the masterclass, we engaged this deep muscle on several different levels:
Meridian stretches: to open the flow of energy in the related meridians and invite blockages to release.
Dynamic exercises: to gently set stagnant tension in motion and restore fluidity.
Acupressure: to invite the energy system back into a natural flow.
Visualization: to anchor intention and mind into the physical body, softening tension carried over from ancestral lines.
After each series of exercises, you can palpably feel the energy dropping downward. Circulation in the lower abdomen—which often becomes stagnant due to prolonged sitting or stress—starts to flow again. You step out of survival mode and land deeply into the hara, your energetic center. This is where your connection to yin resides: the self-healing, restorative energy of the body.
The atmosphere after the masterclass was one of serene, holding silence. Participants shared that they felt deeply grounded, pleasantly heavy and relaxed, and intensely connected to both their own hara and the earth beneath them.
If you pause right now and view your body as a yin-yang symbol: how is that dynamic looking? Is there enough grounding and rest to carry your active energy? Balance is not a static endpoint. Life moves, and we move with it. That is why it is so beneficial to regularly support the psoas. With all the Yang energy in our society, often the most powerful action you can take is simply allowing yourself to sink into the stillness of the earth.