1. Yielding
2. Pushing
3. Reaching
4. Holding
5. Pulling
The one of these five fundamental actions that has continued to show up in my personal life again and again is yielding. Yielding as defined by Susan Aposhyan "is a quality of resting in contact with the environment and underlies our basic relationship to the world. It is about the state of being versus doing, and forms the basis for the ability to act effectively in the world. In being in contact with the environment, discernment can be developed as to whether push, reach, or pull is desired or appropriate."
Yielding can be allowing ourselves to just be; be with whatever is present, give ourselves space to express our truth, to show up raw and vulnerable with others so that we can feel more connected to ourselves to hear our inner wisdom in what actions are going to feel most nourishing and supportive moving forward in our lives. Yielding can be softening our hearts to allow others in and be able to discern who we want in our lives and how we want to show up for ourselves and with others. I know personally, and for many of my clients, family, and friends, we have all built up walls to protect ourselves from the world to make sure we feel safe and protected and sense some kind of control in an external environment that is ultimately not within our control.
These walls can ultimately make it harder to yield and allow ourselves to just be. What these walls can create is a body that is in a tense, stress response most of the day in fostering thoughts in our mind that we are constantly in danger and need to protect ourselves. If you have ever felt like your intuition is blocked, you are not sure what to eat, experiencing difficulties tuning in to whether you are feeling an emotional hunger or a physical hunger, yielding can be a truly powerful practice to explore.
Practicing yielding can be as simple as taking time to turn off your phone, put away technology, and find a place in your home that feels comforting and safe and lie down on the floor. Feel the floor beneath you and your muscles relaxing into the solid ground under your body supporting you. You can notice what sensations arise in allowing yourself to just be on the floor and not have to do or be anything. These sensations can be a guiding light on any day that you can focus on cultivating and bringing forth when those walls want to arise and protect you. You can remind yourself of what it feels like to know that no matter what happens you will be alright.