Embodied Entrepreneur: What is Feminine energy In Business
Understanding the realm of feminine energy is to explore the profound depths of the feminine side, and how it impacts the flow of life. In a world often characterized by the prominence of masculine energies, delving into the attributes, traits, and feminine power holds the key to a harmonious balance. Unraveling the mystique surrounding feminine energies unveils a tapestry of qualities that celebrate not only femininity but a universal force essential for equilibrium.
As someone new to understanding energetics, my hope is that this post becomes the ultimate guide for divine feminine energy.
What is feminine energy in business, and what is an embodied entrepreneur?
I always like to remind people that if entrepreneurship was easy, everyone would do it.
The first step for understanding energy is that this post is NOT about gender. It’s about a new paradigm I believe will create more sustainability and reliability for people running their own business.
We live in a world that often values masculine energy and achievement over the more subtle and intuitive qualities associated with feminine traits. This makes overlooking the power of embracing our feminine energy as entrepreneurs SUPER easy.
And again for the people in the back… This isn’t about gender. In fact, I’ve been trying to think of different words to describe this concept to remove any biases we have because of gender. (I didn’t invent this concept, so I don’t have new words yet.)
But the truth is: Incorporating these qualities into our personal and professional lives = the key to unlocking our full potential and thriving as embodied entrepreneurs.
From cultivating deep connections with our clients and team members to tapping into our intuition and creativity, there are countless benefits to embracing feminine qualities in our work.
So if you’re ready to take your business to the next level and tap into your full potential as an entrepreneur, it’s time to start embracing the power of your female energy.
In this article, we’ll explore why this shift is so important, and provide practical tips for incorporating more feminine energy into your business and everyday life.
PART ONE: What is feminine energy?
Before we dive into why embracing feminine nature is so crucial for entrepreneurs, I want to get on the same page here. What does the term “feminine energy” mean?
There are countless definitions and interpretations of this concept. At its core, lot of feminine strength is associated with qualities like intuition, empathy, nurturing, and creativity. These are qualities that are traditionally viewed as “feminine”.
But again, it’s important to note that this isn’t exclusive to WOMEN or female identifying people.
This is about divine energies.
Everyone has both masculine and feminine essence, regardless of their gender expression or biological sex. At least… Everyone SHOULD (in my still novice opinion) have a balance of these energies for the fullest version and healthiest of themselves. The key is learning how to tap into and balance these energies in a way that supports our personal and professional growth.
The Benefits and Traits of Feminine Energy
So what are some of the specific benefits of embracing feminine core energy in our businesses and lives?
For one, it can help us build stronger relationships. By tapping into our empathy and intuition, we better understand others’ needs and create solutions that serve them. Additionally, embracing feminine energy helps us leverage our creativity and innovation.
Creativity and innovation = critical for thriving entrepreneurship.
But perhaps most importantly, embracing feminine energy can help us live and work in a way that feels more authentic and aligned with our true selves.
When we prioritize qualities like empathy, intuition, and creativity in our work, we create businesses that feel aligned with our values and purpose. This cultivates a greater sense of fulfillment and satisfaction in our work. (Which helps us attract more success and abundance.)
What are Feminine Versus Masculine Energy?
So what is masculine energy, and how do they differ?
Masculine energy is linked to logical thinking, action, and assertiveness. And it’s most often as being more powerful and effective than what we think of when we think of feminine energy. The masculine pushes through, takes control (or wants to), and is assertive. We associate these qualities with leadership and productivity.
Because masculine energy has been valued more highly than feminine energy, most of us LEAN more masculine. We grew up to feel more pride when we leaned into the masculine.
However, this leads most of us towards a disempowering disregard for our feminine energy.
Both energies are necessary for a balanced life, and everyone has a unique balance of these energies.
Most of us can see the value of feminine energy in our personal lives.
But why isn’t it welcomes in our professional lives as well?
It needs to be as you’ll see in the rest of this post. So I want to talk through how our feminine energy can actually be some of the most powerful contributions to business right now. But first,
Other ways to describe energy and modes of operation
A lot of confusion exists around energetics and the words we use. I haven’t really landed on a better term than “feminine and masculine”, even though our association with gender identity bothers me. But I want to spend a second here giving you some other language for these energies without using gender specific sounding words.
Synonyms for masculine energy: assertive energy, action-oriented energy, competitive energy, logical energy, aggressive energy, dominant energy, and analytical energy.
Synonyms for feminine energy: receptive energy, intuitive energy, nurturing energy, empathetic energy, creative energy, emotional energy, and collaborative energy.
It’s important to note that these terms are not mutually exclusive and can overlap.
What is Yin and Yang Energy?
Another way to describe these energies is by describing yin and yang. Yin and Yang are concepts in Chinese philosophy that represent the duality and interconnectedness of all things in the universe.
Yin represents the feminine, receptive, and passive energy. Yang represents the masculine, active, and assertive energy.
The Yin-Yang theory suggests that everything in the universe is a manifestation of these two opposing yet interconnected energies. The balance between them is essential for harmony and wellbeing. (Just like feminine and masculine.)
The symbol of Yin-Yang is a circle divided into two halves, one black and the other white, with a dot of the opposite color in each half. This symbol represents the idea that Yin and Yang are not separate but rather interconnected and interdependent.
In Traditional Chinese Medicine, Yin and Yang are used to diagnose and treat illnesses.
An imbalance of Yin and Yang is believed to cause illness, and treatment involves restoring the balance between the two energies through herbal medicine, acupuncture, and other techniques.
The Importance of Embracing Feminine Energy in Entrepreneurship
Now that we have a better understanding of what feminine energy is, let’s explore why it’s so important for entrepreneurs to embrace it.
The best way for me to do this is give you some practical examples:
Selling: When it comes to selling, feminine expression is more invitation and understanding, as opposed to assertive and convincing. This raises questions for us as entrepreneurs like….
- Is my product the best fit to help this person?
- What is the real challenge here?
- Is this the kind of person I love working with?
These questions focus not just on the sale, but on alignment and relationships, which are essential for sustainable growth.
Goal Setting: The way I used to set goals as opposed to how I set them now is completely different. I still set goals and I try to make them SMART goals. But bringing my positive energy into my goal setting leaves so much more room for abundance and magic to happen (rather than just forcing and planning). In entrepreneurship, there are too many unknowns for us to be able to control things all the time.
Conflict: Because feminine energy leans back and listens, it’s great to bring to the table in the midst of conflict. Conflict doesn’t need a deadline, or to be rushed.
Stay receptive to what is happening in the market, and what feels right for you and your business. Drop the arbitrary goals and plans.
Generating Ideas: Feminine energy helps us stay open and playful about how we run our business, and what we decide to do.
Time Management: Masculine energy sees time as simple and linear. Feminine energy honors rhythms. Honoring rhythms is helpful for seeing things with a longer term perspective, and in the right contexts.
The Connection Between Feminine Energy and Intuition
One of the key components of feminine energy is intuition. Intuition is a powerful tool in your business, and it’s not something masculine energy focuses on because it isn’t always “logical”. (Although, what we know about the science behind the law of attraction is that the RAS in your brain s helping us sort data subconsciously all the time. So, it’s possible that our intuition includes more logic than we are cognitively aware of…)
Intuition is a powerful tool for entrepreneurs.
It help us make decisions that are aligned with our purpose and values.
By tapping into intuition, we better understand our clients’ needs, create more impactful solutions, and make decisions that are in alignment.
Healthy feminine and toxic feminine energy
Feminine energy can be expressed in both healthy and toxic ways.
Here are some examples of healthy and toxic feminine energy:
Healthy feminine energy:
- Nurturing: showing care and concern for others’ well-being.
- Empathy: being able to understand and relate to other people’s emotions. Strong emotional intelligence, and takes care of others
- Intuition: trusting and following one’s instincts.
- Collaboration: meaningful connections, and working together with others to achieve a common goal.
- Creativity: expressing oneself through art, music, writing, etc.
- Strong boundaries: Both energetic and physical
Toxic feminine energy:
- Manipulation: using one’s emotions to control or deceive others.
- Gossip: spreading rumors or information about others to cause harm.
- Victim mentality: constantly playing the victim and refusing to take responsibility for one’s actions.
- Passive aggression: expressing anger or resentment indirectly.
- Jealousy: feeling envious of others and wanting to bring them down.
It’s important to note that both men and women can express both healthy and toxic feminine energy, and it’s essential to recognize and address toxic energy within ourselves and others to promote healthy relationships and personal growth.
How to Tap Into Feminine Energy
Now that we understand the importance and benefits of embracing feminine energy in our work, let’s explore some practical tips for tapping into this energy.
Self Care and Compassion
One key way to do this is to prioritize self-care and self-compassion. This is one of many different ways to become our best selves.
By taking care of ourselves physically, emotionally, and mentally, we are better able to show up fully in our work.
Set Aside Time to Listen
One way is to simply take time to quiet our minds and listen to our inner voice.
This might mean meditating, journaling, or simply taking a walk in nature. By creating space for stillness and reflection, you allow yourself space to both listen AND feel.
- Ask yourself what you need
- What feels exciting to you right now?
- Is there anything that’s draining your energy?
- What do you feel called to do?
Listening helps us better tap into our intuition and make decisions that feel like our authentic self and aligned with our true selves, especially as we practice over time.
Create Community or Collaboration
Another way to tap into your feminine energy is to prioritize collaboration and connection in your work.
Rather than seeing others as competitors, approach your work from a place of collaboration and community. This helps build deeper relationships with clients, team members, and colleagues. It also helps expand your abundance mindset by seeing others as collaborators rather than competition.
Build your Intuition and Creativity Muscles
Embrace your creativity and intuition in your work.
This might mean setting aside time for brainstorming and coming up with new ideas, or simply trusting your gut when it comes to making decisions.
I find that spaciousness is one of the best ways to inspire more creativity. For me, that means taking time off, clearing entire days or even just a few hours, and spending time working (or not working) in NEW places.
I need to clear physical space as well as energetic space to allow new creative ideas to come forward.
Overcome Biases
A reminder here: embracing feminine energy isn’t always easy. Particularly in a world that clearly values masculine energy and achievement over more subtle and intuitive qualities.
So another important part of tuning into feminine energy is remembering that you have probably lived a lifetime with bias AGAINST it. It’s important to remember that these biases and conditioning are social constructs. They are not reflective of our real identity or highest selves.
One way to check your bias is to surround yourself with like-minded people.
I love using Facebook groups for this, and lately I’ve been playing around with Meetup.com to find more spiritually-minded and musically-minded people in my city (Houston).
Additionally, make it a practice to challenge any limiting beliefs or biases you have about feminine energy that come up. Especially when it comes to business.
This will take some practice in building awareness.
PART TWO: What is embodiment?
So…what the heck is embodiment?
The word “embodiment” has become kind of a buzzword, but what does that actually mean? To be honest, part of my motivation for writing this post was to better understand embodiment specifically.
What I know is: embodiment is how we make sure that new beliefs are fully integrated with our nervous systems.
At least that’s what is motivating me personally to become more embodied.
I can work on my mindset, say the affirmations, break through limiting beliefs: but none of those are actual embodiment. Embodiment is the part trusting new beliefs that makes them stick, or that means that they’ve stuck.
Mindset and mindfulness help us slow down, become more conscious, assess and elevate our beliefs. Embodiment is specific to our physicality. It’s what reminds us that our bodies and our minds are connected always.
To help you understand this, let’s talk about disembodiment.
You’ve Been Disembodied, And You Didn’t Know It
- Ever said the phrase “mind over matter” to yourself when you’re trying to push through physical discomfort?
- Or, maybe you’ve gone through the whole day, then dinner time hits and you realize you’re famished because you forgot to eat all day?
- Maybe when you were younger, your parents made you hug certain family members or adults at church, and you ignored your discomfort so they would label you as “good”?
- Ever burned out? Because if you have, you probably know in hindsight all the warning signs you ignored…
- Is it sometimes easier to scroll on your phone for hours, even though you know it’s not making you feel better?
- Ever gotten drunk on accident?
I could seriously go on and on.
Ignoring signs you’re getting sick, going to work with a cough, pretending your uterus feels A-OK when it feels like it’s exploding in your body, freezing your ass off so you can wear an outfit to please someone else, blowing up at your kid before realizing you’d been a little on edge all day and never stopped to ask what YOU needed.
This. Is. Disembodiment.
And it is celebrated in our culture and many others just like living in our masculine is.
We are taught to power through, ignore how we feel, stomp out our illogical intuition, and not ask questions.
Why is being embodied a challenge?
Becoming embodied is a challenge because it’s just not what we focus on as a whole in our society (in the U.S. as of the time of writing this in 2023).
But some people have EXTRA challenges when it comes to embodiment.
- Religions can teach us our bodies are “dirty” or “sinful”
- Trauma can prevent us from feeling safe with feeling
- Injury or pain can make it harder to feel safe connecting with our body
So if any of these are true for you, just know that you don’t have to go from ZERO-to-embodied overnight. A trauma informed approach can help you ease into feeling.
Learn more about somatic healing.
Going back to the definition of: what is embodiment…
Vocabulary.com says:
The embodiment of something gives concrete form to an abstract idea. A flag is the embodiment of a country.
When you talk about embodiment, you’re talking about giving a form to ideas that are usually not physical: like love, hate, fear, justice, etc. A gavel is the embodiment of justice; a wedding ring can be the embodiment of love. The word body in embodiment is a clue to its meaning: this is a word for giving a body to things that usually don’t have one.
Embodiment refers to the idea of fully inhabiting and expressing our physical, emotional, and spiritual selves in the world. When we are embodied, we are able to show up fully in our work and our lives, and tap into our true potential as individuals.
Tying this to feminine energy:
When it comes to feminine energy, it’s critical in my opinion/experience to also explore embodiment as it relates to both entrepreneurship and feminine energy.
So, when I talk about embodiment here, what I mean is:
- How does feminine energy tangibly show up in your physical reality?
- Is it becoming more natural for you to act with balanced feminine energy, or is your default action and thinking still masculine?
- Has your nervous system and physical body caught up to your new cognitive beliefs?
- (^^^ About that: Maybe your thoughts are on track, but every time you act in the feminine, you feel anxiety. This is your body saying: we aren’t safe! Because it doesn’t like doing things a new way)
How does embodiment relate to entrepreneurship?
For entrepreneurs, embodiment is crucial for creating a business that feels authentic and aligned with our values and purpose.
By fully inhabiting our physical, emotional, and spiritual selves, we can create a business that’s rooted in our true selves. (Rather than in external expectations or societal pressures.)
How does feminine energy relate to embodiment?
Embracing feminine energy is a key component of embodiment. And embodiment is a key component to balancing our feminine and masculine energy.
Embracing feminine energy as an entrepreneur is a powerful way to tap into our full potential and create a business that feels authentic and aligned with our values and purpose.
Why would we want to be embodied in business?
Being embodied in business means being fully present and connected to our physical, emotional, and mental selves while engaging in business activities. Here are some reasons why we would want to be embodied in business:
- Increased awareness: Being embodied allows us to be more aware of our thoughts, feelings, and physical sensations, which can help us make better decisions and respond more effectively to challenges.
- Faster progress: When we are embodied and more aware, we are less susceptible to self sabotage and getting stuck in cycles.
- Improved communication: When we are embodied, we are more attuned to our body language, tone of voice, and other nonverbal cues, which can improve our communication and help us build better relationships with other people AND ourselves.
- Better stress management: Embodiment can help us manage stress and anxiety more effectively by allowing us to tune into our body’s natural relaxation response, which can help us stay calm and centered even in high-pressure situations. Read more about coping with stress strategies.
- Enhanced creativity: Being embodied can help us tap into our creativity by allowing us to access different parts of our brain and explore new ideas and perspectives.
Next Steps
In my own life, I’m working with both a spiritual coach and a somatic coach. Because even though I grasp these concepts in my head, I’m working on my own embodiment.
There’s two ways I can support YOU with this.
- You can book a series of life coaching sessions with me. These are just like any other coaching session, but we spend a lot of time answering questions by tuning into your own body and emotions. Read more here.
- Join a free monthly workshop. I do live coaching every single time, and we always combine spiritual with tactical.
- Become a part of the Abundant Entrepreneur Experience. This is a collection of mindset and embodiment tools I release every single month. As a new member, you’ll get immediate access to the most recent 3 months of content, and any new content once you join.
