Today, for the sake of play, I am marrying Louie Simmons—father of Westside Barbell and one of the greatest weightlifters and weightlifting coaches of our time, and Louise Hay—mother of the healing your body with your mind movement and Hay House Productions, which rips out book after book chockfull of body-mind wisdom.
It’s a love affair between yang and yin, masculine and feminine, grit and grace.
We have all of these qualities within each one of ourselves.
It’s an illusion that you need a Louie in your life to be Louise, and that you need a Louise in your life to be a Louie.
What I want you to see is that you have both of these symbolic characters in you.
When in their full power—just like when you are in your full power, you are neither Louise nor Louie, you are Whole.
Let’s start with Louie, which most would say embodies primarily the masculine.
Louie Simmons
He appears large and in charge, giving off an aura of dominance and authority.
He talks with a deep voice and directness, communicating a no-bullshit attitude.
He performs heavy-ass lifts (yes, many literally by way of his ass muscles) and chases feats of exponential strength, showing that his energy is funneled towards OVERCOMING discomfort and pain, ACHIEVING new personal records, AND GROWING in size and confidence.
Now Louise, which most would say embodies primarily the feminine.
Louise Hay
She appears dainty and adorned with make-up, giving off an aura of submissiveness and self-awareness.
She talks with a full, sweet voice and intention, communicating that there is power in language, best delivered when sent calmly.
She moves by the motto of “do anything that makes you feel good,” whether it is bicycling, tennis, jogging, volleyball, swimming, golf, brisk walking, trampolining, jumping rope, playing with the dog, or whatever, showing that her energy is funneled towards PLAYING with pleasure, RECEIVING joy, and BEING who she is.
Now that I’ve created a clear, stark contrast between what these two symbolic characters represent, I want you to reflect for a minute.
Do you have a Louie and a Louise within you?
There really is only one true answer here: it’s YES.
As you become familiar with shadow work, parts work, and other models of psychology and spirituality which recognize the human as an amalgram of personalities and drives rather than fitting into one category or another, you will see this more and more.
As you reflect within yourself—your thoughts, beliefs, actions, feelings, drives, you will notice some Louie stuff and some Louise stuff.
If you grew up in a culture where you had to be a “man” and had to be a “woman,” you will have more resistance to this truth.
If you grew up in a granola culture where you never had to decide to be a “man” or a “woman,” this truth may already make sense to you.
Wherever you are in your human journey as you read these words, I want to proffer this perspective—from my very own emotional alchemical experience. The moment I began looking at (really seeing, not just seeing and snarking), honoring, and getting to know both the masculine and feminine qualities within myself, I began to feel more and more whole. The less fearful I became. The fewer insecurities I had. The more confident I became in my own skin, wherever I go.
Embracing Wholeness is a part of your human journey and your fitness journey. It is a part of your wellness journey, too.
I obviously highlighted the heavily masculine qualities in Louie an the deeply feminine qualities in Louise to highlight the polarities. Now, I want to show you how Louie is in Louise and vice-versa.
The Louise (the feminine) is in Louie:
Louie’s heart and soul are in weightlifting, and his devotion to the sport shows through his sheer time spent with it and imparting wisdom from it.
Louie practiced humility in his training, believing that the ego must be controlled for optimal performance in the short and long run.
Louie believes in and practices hard core, rigid programming, but also practices intuition within that framework—letting his clients know that you must be intuitive about where your weak points are in selecting exercises to prioritize for total strength and resiliency.
The Louie (masculine) in Louise:
Louise is solution-focused, leaning and sharing from a place of wanting to help people heal themselves.
Louise is an outspoken leader, from her many speeches to her many books, guiding people into a realm of thinking and action that ignites restoration within.
Louise is assertive—that is, uncompromising in conviction about how the power of the mind to heal the body is fail-proof.
So you can see, like the Yin-Yang symbol, Louie and Louise are one.
And you, my friend, are one.
One full of strength, vigor, ritual, discipline, assertiveness, leadership, willpower, and logic AND full of acceptance, gentleness, tenderness, flow, nurturing, creativity, kindness, and surrender.
Recognizing this blend of masculine and feminine within each one of us is the first step towards embodying what is called the Divine Masculine and Divine Feminine—which can only exist in union…in Sacred Marriage.
That’s the marriage of both the Louie in you and the Louise in you, the masculine in you accepting and honoring its own lights and shadows and supporting the feminine, and the feminine in you accepting and honoring its own lights and shadows and supporting the masculine.
What results is flow. Life.
When you reject light or shadows of your masculinity, you keep the wound of your masculinity open.
When you reject light or shadows of your femininity, you keep the wound of your feminine open.
This might look like—for masculinity: being overly competitive, controlling, abusive, manipulative, closed off, and/or shutting down.
This might look like—for femininity: being people pleasing and acting with boundaries as dashed lines instead of firm “no’s,” feeling unworthy, afraid to speak up, not good enough, and choosing to stay in victimhood.
Some call these manifestations of skewed masculine and feminine energy within a person the Wounded, Toxic, or Immature, whereas the balanced marriage is called the Awakened, Divine, and Evolved.
Lots to think about here, eh?
I recommend you just start with noticing and honoring (that is, giving a hug to) each part of yourself, letting them work with one another instead of against each other, and believing that Sacred Marriage within yourself is possible; in fact, it may already be there.
In Wholeness,
Coach Abbz