The Advent of Yin Day 16: Silent

"Silent night, holy night; all is calm, all is bright"....Yin, yang, yin, yang. The Christmas story, and likely every story can be a study in the movement of yin and yang.

It is notable that in this most yin part of the year we celebrate the story of the birth of Christ. Heaven come down upon the earth. A bright star punctuated the blackened sky to announce the birth of Jesus. It is a visual not unlike the most full black part of the tai chi symbol and it's symbolism is shared amongst many traditions besides Christianity. Within the deepest of yin, there is a seed of yang. Within the darkest part of humanity's soul resides the light.

Allow yourself the luxury to turn off the Christmas clatter and enjoy a silent night.

Silent is my final yin word, as the solstice is upon us.

The Advent of Yin

As we end the first week of the month we are approaching the winter solstice which falls on the 21st of December. This is the most yin time of the year.

I always find it interesting that when teaching about the qualities of yin and yang there is a subtle undercurrent of favor for all things yang. In many ways this is inevitable as we live in a Patriarchal world where masculine qualities have been favored over the feminine for thousands of years. We are a culture addicted to growth, expansion and competition over others, all yang qualities. However what must be remembered is that without the opposite of these qualities, the yang fails to exist at all. Without the dark, there can be no light.

So I think that I will start a sort of advent calendar of yin. For the next 17 days, ( I wish I would have thought of this 4 days ago for the entire 21) I will write a blog posting on the positive qualities of yin.

Here goes; Yin is dark. Anyone familiar with the yin/yang or Tai-Chi symbol recognizes that the black half of this symbol is the yin side. It is a good place to begin to explore. In general we are afraid of the dark, but could we learn to embrace the dark? These are 4 qualities that I love about the dark;

• The dark encourages us to go inward, to explore the unseen worlds of the mind. 
• Darkness asks us to be still, to suspend our constant movement and to rest.
• Darkness absorbs all color, it is inclusive. 
• The darkness allows us to view the stars and wonder about life's mysteries, to feel vastness and to see ourselves as a very small part of a larger picture. 

 "Light thinks it travels faster than anything but it is wrong. No matter how fast light travels, it finds the darkness has always got there first, and is waiting for it"
-Terry Pratchett

Any thoughts? I would love to see you add to my list!