Women, it’s time to reclaim the power of the Yin! In Traditional Chinese Medicine, the Yin falls under the auspices of the feminine archetype. Yin denotes darkness, the void, quiet, stillness and silence, among other concepts. Yin is gestation period. Yin is the so-called fallow time in which we writers do not appear to be writing anything at all. Yin is absolutely fundamental to the creative process.
The Yin has not escaped the wrath of misogyny. But the expectation that we actively produce at all times defies the essence of creativity! Seeds germinate in the quiet darkness of the soil, and our poems and narratives gestate within us over days and years. Our writing is inherently linked to our spiritual lives and our healing processes. And these processes abide by their own cycles.
Still, it takes discernment to know when we are in a genuine Yin cycle as opposed to when we are resisting our own creative flow. It takes deep listening to our bodies and our hearts.
I recently witnessed a writer in one of my workshops explore whether she needed to participate in the next intake for the sake of her writing, which was not going as she pleased, or actually required a step back from the circus of life. It was a privilege to be present as she came into her self-knowing. She decided that she needed to break from our circle, as much as she loved her circle sisters and the process of connection and creation we share.
One of my best poems came to me in a burst of a download after I had finally surrendered my writing in honour of a sunny nap in the grass. As I rose from the field and began to walk toward home, the piece shot through me and arrived fully formed in my notebook, as if it had been dropped by the Goddess! I will never forget that joy. The Yin element was at work that day, and the lesson was powerful and timeless.