The Yin/Yang of Hormonal Balance

What are hormones? Hormones work non-stop to maintain the mental, emotional, and physical balance of our body-minds. When a hormone is secreted by one of the glands in our endocrine system, it travels to another part of the body influencing it to do whatever the body needs to maintain or regain its balance. This looks like an increase in heart rate, the metabolizing of food, growing new tissue, and so on. It’s endless really as hormones enter the cells of every tissue in our bodies, including our brains. We can see just how vital hormonal balance is to literally every aspect of our happiness and health.

Some hormones, like our stress hormones, are all about providing a boost that supports a response to things like… that presentation we have to give at work, quickly responding to the rattle snake that you stumbled upon on your morning hike (this happened to me recently… that adrenaline hit was real), or the argument you’re having with a loved one. Stress hormones stimulate our hearts to beat faster and increase blood pressure so we can act quickly. Please remember, that there are no “bad” hormones, but we do need to maintain balance in order to maintain our happiness and health.

Other hormones, like the sex hormones estrogen and progesterone, calm our minds and slow things down so our bodies can regain the energy that’s been depleted from day-to-day stressors.

So, stress hormones and sex hormones have opposing influences on our body-minds. This differing in influence is the thing that supports balance. Too much or too little of either influence can create uncomfortable symptoms and/or chronic disease when the imbalance becomes chronic.

Let’s take a look at hormonal balance through the lens of duality, a concept that isn’t well known within Western medicine, but is at the core of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). We can find duality everywhere in nature. For example, some of the most fertile places on earth are locations that have a solid balance of the opposing elements of the sun (Yang) and water (Yin). What do we get when there’s too much sun and not enough water or rain? We get a desert. What happens when we get too much rain? Devastating, crop-ruining floods. On a human level, too much hot and dry ages us prematurely. Too much yin can make us dull, “heavy”, and lethargic.

The Yin/Yang of Hormonal Balance. TCM and Ayurveda acknowledge that there are two foundational, opposing principles that energize and nourish life. Yang is the activitating, energizing, and motivating principle of life. Yin is the nourishing and building principle. Our stress hormones are yang. Our sex hormones are yin.

What does the principle of Yin/Yang look like in everyday life? The sun is yang. The moon is yin. Commuting to work, drinking coffee, eating spicy foods, work meetings, playing sports are all predominantly yang activities. Getting a massage, sleeping, meditating, and eating oatmeal are predominantly yin activities. Yin is viewed as female energy, yang is looked at as male energy (this has little to do with gender, all humans need a solid balance of “male” & “female” energy). Yang energy is hot, bright, fast, mobile, dry, energetic, and aggressive. Yin is cool, dark, slow, soft, substantial, stable, moist, and tranquil. Yin is night, Yang is day. Yin is the water that makes up a wave, Yang is the movement of the wave crashing on the shore.

Yang is energetic. It motivates our bodies and stimulates our minds. Yang’s responsible for motivation, metabolism, transformation, and any “active” functions in our body-minds. In Ayurveda, yang is viewed as “reducing” in nature because activity reduces, uses up, bodily reserves.

If you want a great example of yang in action, watch the documentary “Rafa” about the tennis champion Rafael Nadal on Netflix. His achievements are extraordinary, but we can also see what it looks like when we push that yang energy too far. Something that many of us do in our day-to-day lives though not to such an extreme.

Yin is nourishing. It manifests as the substance of the body and calms the mind. All matter has form and substance. Fingernail cells, heart cells, liver cells, skin cells, brain cells, or carbon molecules have form and substance. This is yin. Each substance has an energy that organizes, transforms, and directs that substance. This is yang. Yin is mostly about mass. Yang is mostly about energy.

All qualities of yin and yang manifest both physically and emotionally.

We need a balance of sex hormones (yin) and stress hormones (yang) to live our best lives. To feel happy, radiant, motivated, calm, and effective.

Let’s take a look at how Yin/Yang function within our body-minds. As humans, each and every one of us has what’s referred to as Qi in TCM or prana in Ayurveda. Both refer to our life-force energy that is a manifestation of yang. Yin is the manifestation of the nourishing fluids circulating in our bodies. When our yin and yang are balanced, our qi/prana is strong. It flows without obstruction. We have enough fluids to irrigate our tissues and to deliver vital nutrients to them. When yin and yang are imbalanced, qi (life-force energy) and those nourishing fluids stop flowing smoothly and uncomfortable symptoms and/or chronic disease can settle in. We can think of the difference between a stream and a stagnant body of water. The stream flows, which doesn’t allow the growth of things like mold or moss. The stagnant body of water lacks the flow that keeps it clean, funky things can find a home in that stagnation.

We consume yin in the form of food, drink, and emotional comfort, which provide the building blocks for our physical growth, it creates stability in our minds, and feelings of emotional contentment. Once we consume or take-in yin, yang becomes responsible for digesting it. Yang transforms and organizes yin into biologically useful substances like blood, skin tissue, or bone. Yang also moves whatever the body doesn’t use out of the body in the form of waste. Yang provides the vital energy we need for metabolism, and for clarity of mind and happiness.

Yang can even transform the information we consume into knowledge and that knowledge into wisdom.

Yang can determine whether an emotionally charged experience will serve to create good judgment in future situations. Meaning whether or not we will “digest” the experience into something useful or whether we will become bitter, resentful, depressed, unable to mentally “digest” what we experienced.

When yin is balanced we feel nourished, content, and fulfilled physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Menstrual flow is appropriate and we sleep well. When we have an excess of yin, we can feel bloated, heavy, lethargic, overweight (what is naturally healthy for our unique bio-individuality, not aesthetics). If we don’t have enough of yin’s soft, cool, moist, and tranquil qualities we can get hot flashes, feel isolated emotionally, fearful, or we can experience physical dryness or insomnia. We can become weak, anemic, have scanty periods, or experience dizziness.

If both yin and yang are imbalanced we can feel hot one minute and cold the next. Our weight can fluctuate, we can experience bone loss, or mood swings.

When we consider the balance of yin and yang within our body-minds we can embrace the philosophy of “like increases like”. For example, engaging in motivating and activating activities will typically increase yang. Engaging in nourishing and nurturing activities will generally increase yin.

Chronic stress and hormonal balance. Remember, stress hormones like adrenaline and cortisol are yang in nature. Sex hormones like estrogen and progesterone are yin in nature. So, one of the most powerful things that we can do to maintain or regain hormonal balance is to reduce the stress in our lives. Stress in and of itself isn’t an issue. It only becomes a problem when it becomes chronic. So please, don’t stress about being stressed.

Tips & Tools for reducing stress:

Breath focus. Take long, slow, deep breaths (also known as abdominal or belly breathing) into your lower belly. As you breathe, gently disengage your mind from distracting thoughts and sensations. Deep diaphragmatic belly breaths are one of the most effective tools we have for lowering cortisol (stress hormone) levels quickly and efficiently. Plus, you can practice anytime and anywhere.

Mindfulness meditation. You can practice while sitting comfortably, focusing on your breathing, and bringing your mind's attention to the present moment without drifting into concerns about the past or the future. It can also be practiced anytime and anywhere. When a thought arises, we say… don’t serve it tea, instead gently and without judgment, show it to the door. This form of meditation is increasing in popularity for good reason. Research suggests it may be helpful for people with anxiety, depression, and pain.

Repetitive prayer. For this technique, you silently repeat a short prayer or phrase from a prayer while practicing breath focus. This may be especially appealing if religion or spirituality is meaningful to you. As a practitioner of Kundalini Yoga, I find the mantra Wahe Guru (Wha-hay Gu-roo) to be soothing and calming.

Yoga, tai chi, and qigong. These three ancient sciences and arts combine rhythmic breathing with a series of postures or flowing movements. The physical aspects of these practices offer a mental focus that can help distract you from racing thoughts. They can also enhance your flexibility and balance physically, mentally, and emotionally.

Walking. Walking can be an excellent stress-reducer especially if we have access to nature. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy, a local park with a few trees can do wonders.

Laugh it out. Put on a comedy and laugh it out! Laughter helps to decrease cortisol. Even a single session of laughter can reduce your cortisol levels by 37% and it doesn’t matter how long you laugh or what causes it. Laughing can also reduce physical tension as it relaxes your muscles.