While teaching a yoga session at my favorite acupuncturist’s office yesterday, I got the notion that yoga and acupuncture are similar to each other in their practice/process, alongside many other forms of “medicine” or healing modalities.

In my yoga classes, we have an active pose, one that requires our focus and physical action step and/or physical effort and exertion, followed by a pose of ease, of minimal effort, in order to come back to breath and the self and wholly receive the benefits of the prior activity.

Acupuncture requires an active step, inserting the needles, followed by a resting period to wholly receive or integrate the healing.

Even surgery requires an active step (performing surgery), followed by a resting period in order to fully heal and recover.

There is something to this balancing act that is required to heal, to genuinely receive—or even to grow—and to live a harmonious life.

Pregnancy requires an action step and a resting/growth/waiting period.

Gardening requires an action step and a resting/growth/waiting period.

All of life mimics this balance.

It’s kind of similar to Newton’s theory: Every action must have (or has) an opposite and equal reaction.

What we do in activity must be equally done in rest to fully receive/integrate/balance an experience.

And to add, it seems that on some level, our total presence or energetic focus on self (the resting period) is required to experience and integrate the maximum benefits or rewards of any given activity.

It’s also like when we go out into the world for a time and acquire new experiences, and then we must return to self to integrate the new wisdom and awareness received in order to grow.

And whatever wisdom/enrichment/enlightenment that is received into the mind or consciousness must be performed or applied to real life through the body to transform and create true, lasting, beneficial change. This balance of both realms is required to create.

And going further, for balance, it is required that for whatever we do in one direction, in a sense, requires that we go in the other direction to keep balanced and live harmoniously.

If we eat junk food, we can balance it by eating a healthy meal.

If we exercise, maybe we allow ourselves a 30-minute nap.

If we drive a lot, maybe one day a week we stay home (or grounded).

If we have a bad thought, create a new thought or replace it with a positive experience in your real life.

All these will help us find homeostasis, which leads us to our own overall healing and health.

The body and emotional body can heal in the right context or environment.

It’s all about balance, and if we can create that balance on the mat (and in the mind), we have the wisdom to take into our daily lives and everyday choices to receive the maximum benefits of all our efforts and live our best lives.