The user manual for Women part 2 (Edited)

“This is the second article of eight about women. This article focuses more on the roots of the female brain, infantile puberty, juvenile pause and the Yang Wood stage. The angle of the article is a combination between Chinese medicine, Chinese psychology and Western science. Remember the article is provocative to stimulate growth. The references will be published on the seminars “Women and TCM”.

Welcome to read The user manual for Women part 2. Enjoy.”

Nils Volden

本 Běn – the roots of the female brain
Our congenital essence has of course programmed a girl to be born with a female brain; Yin gender with a Yin brain. She is not – and women have never been shaped from a unisex brain into a female brain. This is a Yin brain pre-programmed in her congenital essence and thereby by her kidney zang. Her life is greatly Yin dominated by a strong interest in communication, her relations with others, and a never ending responsiveness. Let us go back to the beginning of the congenital essence. Under conception, the congenital essence from the mother and father is mixed to a unique girl. Until a fetus is eight weeks old all of them look female, and it is not really possible to distinguish between the genders. This means that by origin we are all female! Then, suddenly around the eight week we find testosterone levels to raise in male fetuses from their microscopic testicles, and with that, the changes between the genders begin. The gender related with Yin/ Yang are founded in this hormonal change. Interestingly enough, Testosterone (Yang) works degenerating the communication center in the brain (seen as Yin) and stimulating aspects related to sex and aggression (seen as Yang). A male fetus starts his mental development with a reduction of a distinct type of Yin brain cells. This brain degeneration might explain why boys tend to develop mentally slower than girls. If an increase in testosterone does not occur we observe a continuation of the development of the female brain, meaning a substantial growth in both communication – and in emotional related brain areas (Yin areas). A baby girl likes to have eye contact, look around, make faces, observe and to try to communicate. Absorbing visual stimuli is related to liver zang. Liver zang opens into the eyes. Yi is our mental aspect that absorbs information into our short-term memory. Since we are in the Yang Wood cyclical period we might find the use of the eyes normal and predictable. Boys focus on other aspects that are everything but not related to communication and emotions. Girls focus increasingly on having eye contact. Boys do not change noticeable in this regards, but in the first three months after, birth girls get up to four times better than boys. Some girls get addicted in watching – and analyzing the face of others. They find responsive faces more interesting than unexpressive faces. This is the root to a real woman and her observations skills. While the girl observes (Yin), the boys tests out their physical environment (Yang).

The Wood stage in the Yang stage – Infantile puberty

The Yang Wood stage is the first seven years in the life of a girl and the first eight years in a boy. The first part of the Yang Wood stage is more charged than the last part. It is common to say that the first two years are the Yang/ Yang phase, followed by two years in a neutral Yang phase, one year and a half in a neutral Yin phase, and the last year and a half is the Yin/ Yin phase. Boys follow a similar cycle; eight years instead of seven.

The next interesting hormonal phase after the prenatal testosterone is the infantile puberty. The infantile puberty starts around the time of birth and lasts 9 months in boys and 24 months in girls; before entering the juvenile pause. The interesting with infantile puberty is the increasing amount of estrogen that starts to marinate the brain and prepare the reproductive system. Something that means that we get our brain and reproduction adjusted in this time period. It is normal for girls to start copying the nervous system of the mother; mirroring her. This makes the little girl feel like the mother. Girls are made to connect with others, to be able to connect their brain analyzing and predicting others. The goal behind predicting others is to maintain a type of social harmony through social bounds; Yin factors. A social bound for a small girl has its basis in an interpersonal communication and interpersonal compromise. One of the main skills of the little girl is to suggest without telling; Yin in Yin. In the beginning she cannot speak, but as she learns to speak she will continue suggesting. Indirect insinuating things are one of the main features in girls and later women. Just ask any man about how frustrating it is when a woman says something and means something else. Boys are the total opposite of a girl; they give distinct orders and understand everything on the basis of their words. Boys are a socially blind compared to a girl. Indirect communication is simply not functioning for a male brain. Indirectness is not his strong side. Boys are rigid and without fear for conflicts. As an argument for the eight times more probability to find Asperger’s syndrome among boys is the lack of this finesse.

Wood phase after the Yang stage – Juvenile pause
This phase is the juvenile pause that starts after the infantile puberty. The juvenile pause represents little or no estrogen from the ovaries in girls and – testosterone from testicles in boys. This is a period where basically nothing dominates. Okay, still we find girls to have up to eight times more estrogen than their equally aged boys. This pause lasts until the puberty starts, around the age of 14. The main feature in this phase are the low levels of sex hormones in both boys and girls. Many like to call this “the quiet period”. Everything in the congenital essence happens for a reason and a quiet period is NEVER just a quiet period. A period where the child grows, plays and develops, a period where sexual aspects are secondary to everything else, the famous period when the boys say that all girls are ugly, and a period where girls and boys play distinctly. This is one of the first verbalizations between this genders where opinions are presented. An indication of interest between this two genders, Yin and Yang. Just as an interesting digression, children with low levels of testosterone in the fetal testosterone marinade have the best social relationships as four years of age; low in Yang gives dominance of the Yin factors, Yang xu gives Yin indicators. Another interesting fact is that if a girl does not have elevated levels of estrogen during the infantile puberty, we find the girl not interested in dolls. If she had elevated levels of testosterone we find her more interested in boy toys; observed in persons with CAH – Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia. Girls play with girls and boys with boys, and nobody actually knows why they prefer their own gender; stimulation of Yin naturally often makes Yin stronger. Some have insinuated an attraction toward a similar brain. As a conclusion we might think that the infantile puberty grasps into the juvenile pause. Girls are more verbal than boys, and they have a strong social focus. On the top of everything girls have an interest in creating relationships long before boys develop the same interest; if ever (!). Boys like war games and fighting, and girls like caregiving games and dolls when playing; again Yin and Yang. Boys stick to a fixed pattern during the complete game, but girls changes the pattern 20 times more frequently than boys. If boys change pattern they need to start all over again, girls do not need to start all over again. Yin is more flexible inside itself. Yang is more “linear” (predictable) and quick. Often it is better start from the beginning again than to fix half’s.

When observing boys in boy activities and girls in girl activities we need to remember that to become good in what you are doing you need to practice. The juvenile pause is in a strange way a gender practices time, mental maturation and physical growth. Parents are supposed to stimulate correct activities of the children in this period. Here we meet the congenital essence and Li again. To maintain the genders specific features we find programmed into the congenital essence, we have to observe the symbiosis of the genetics, the hormonal system and the influence of the caregiver as a cycle, meaning that the congenital essence is not everything. The cycles are essential to understand the female variations. Together with the cycle we also find the insight from the Yin/ Yang theory very useful. The caregiver is acquired, and often classified as acquired essence. Acquired essence is everything that is acquired from external sources, for example food, drinks, conversations, and social support. The mix between these two essences is named Kidney essence. When the hormones start to increase we say that the juvenile pause is finished and the puberty begins. How the hormones switches on again we do not know, but be sure they will switch on. Chinese medicine simply states that puberty starts when the time is right. The right time is when the Yang Wood cycle is finished and Yang Fire cycle begins. When Xue (blood) starts circulation in the meridians we tend to see puberty coming closer.

Aggression is commonly seen as a survival defense mechanism; Fang wei. The word aggression needs to be used widely in the juvenile pause. Boys fight for fun, and girls don’t. Girls do it in other ways. Girls will rearrange the complete house (or where ever) and put herself in the middle of everything. She wants to be the center of attention; THE CENTER. The game has several goals, but the most important goal is relationships. Create relationships, make new relationships stronger and to eliminate bad relationships (put them on hold) is the melody. I guess nobody has any control of how many hours a girl actually spends calculating back and forward in this matter. Some say a waken hour, and others say 24 hours a day. This relationship calculation is of outmost importance for them. Through her high level of social skills she will play all up against each other. Some might say that girls are the worst creatures who have ever walked on earth in this age period; they are not kind to each other! Quiet aggression is one of their favorite weapons. Playing people is their game. Direct confrontation is more seldom for girls, and boys are regarded as 2000% more aggressive than girls. If a girl became aggressive it is in situations where she feels left out of the communication or that somebody has cut the connection to her. In other words, when SHE have been played by others! To be played is unacceptable for a woman; 要不得 Yàobude.