tldr: Balancing our yin and yang is crucial for our physical and mental health which a lot of people don’t realize
Yin and yang, light and dark, good and bad…
I touched a bit on yin and yang in hypnosis before but today isn’t about that
Today is on how yin and yang applies in one’s health
A lot of people misunderstand yin and yang or might not even know how it describes everything
It is a simple concept, with complex applications
And this is the mother lode
Everything that has a polarity, or dual function, or direction, can be split into yin and yang
Top and bottom, in and out, front and back, even hot and cold, etc
So I will be sharing two main things today which hopefully, while complex, I am able to simplify so you can learn and understand
The first is the broader look at yin and yang and how it affects our health in general
While the second and slightly more complex is the understanding of the yin within the yang, and the yang within the yin, with respective to our organs
I’m still learning as I go along, so if you spot any errors, do let me know!
The respective yin and yang in TCM
Now if you haven’t already, do have a read on tongue diagnosis so you can check yourself whenever you want to
And of course, since I mentioned yin deficiency and yang deficiency in that article, I need to expand on the topic a bit right?
If you imagine two meter bars side by side, one is yin and one is yang
Naturally if the yang meter bar is depleted (as shown above), it is in deficiency, and likewise for the yin meter bar
However, the meter bar can exceed its normal limits, causing excess yin and excess yang respectively
Based on this, you have possible conditions of yin deficiency, yang deficiency, excess yin and excess yang
A tricky thing is that yin deficiency and excess yang might seem to exhibit similar symptoms, and yang deficiency and excess yin might do the same
So there can be some confusion there
Generally, yin is cool and moisturizing while yang is warm and drying
Now of course we can also say yin is resting and replenishing while yang is active and moving as well
Simplifying for now to just cool and moisturizing, warm and drying, we can relook at the yin and yang to understand possible symptoms
During summer for example where there is summer-heat, it may build up excess heat in a person, or even induce dryness through excessive sweating
However, it is also possible that a person’s yin is affected, such that there is not enough moisture or cooling within, which may exhibit possible excess heat-like symptoms, although not so much sweating unless at night
The correct diagnosis is to first understand all the symptoms a person has, as well as the respective organs’ functions, and might even need to look at food, weather conditions or environment
The yinyang isn’t so straight forward is it hahaha
Naturally if you want to truly understand this, either seek a TCM physician or learn some TCM courses
I learned through Coursera’s Everyday Chinese Medicine from the University of Hong Kong
To continue the example, during summer, one is suggested to take cooling and moisturizing foods, for example, watermelon is very good for summer time as its cooling in nature and contains a lot of moisture (water)
And that also means, one might need to reduce or be cautious about taking hot and spicy foods, if you know anyone who takes malatang during summer and experience diarrhea, its the excess heat from it!
Yes, if you want to go further into it, it also depends on the individual body conditions, so it doesn’t mean everyone can eat watermelon or everyone has to refrain from malatang during summer hahaha
The frequency will also come into play
It doesn’t mean you have to eat watermelon everyday! Or that you can’t eat malatang once a month
And if we consider daily activities?
A person who sleeps late might have an overworked liver that may produce liver-heat or wind or both, and thus, taking chili or curry during summer, may induce diarrhea due to excess heat or cause constipation if it becomes excess yang
I’m not going to share all the symptoms because this isn’t meant for any diagnosis, rather its to understand how complex TCM can be
And this is just the simpler version of yin and yang!
Next is the slightly more complex understanding
The yin within the yang, and vice versa
If you haven’t noticed, yes, that different colored circle within the yin and yang is not just decoration
It illustrates a deeper concept, that there is yin within the yang and yang within the yin
And that’s because truthfully, the yin and yang doesn’t just mean cooling or warming alone
To share a bit more, let’s look into our organs
Now I briefly touched in this article regarding the yin and yang organs and their functions
The Zang organs are yin because their function to preserve life, namely the spleen, liver, kidneys, heart and lungs
The Fu organs are yang because of active digestion or transportation functions, namely the stomach, gallbladder, bladder, small and large intestine
I won’t talk about sanjiao for now, which is the 6th Fu
Let’s focus on the heart
The heart is a yin organ, however, the heart-yang or heart-qi is responsible for circulation of blood
So we see an interesting heart-yang within the heart yin organ
Yet of course, we need to balance our yin and yang in order to remain healthy
And so the heart-yin is essentially to cool down the heart while it performs its function
However, if the heart has yin deficiency, it might be in poor condition due to overworking or not enough sleep etc
While if the heart has yang deficiency, the circulation of blood might not be up to par
Now if the heart has excess yin, the person might feel fatigued or having mental fog
While if the heart has excess yang, the heart is overactive and possible high blood pressure
I am attempting to link to my understanding of Western medicine
So yes, I might be mistaken
And yea, I didn’t describe all the symptoms so don’t use this to analyze yourself!
TCM is about balancing the body yin and yang
The main thing is this
If you understand something is happening which is causing an imbalance, then we got to rebalance it right?
And while understanding might be helpful, we don’t really need to know exactly what is happening
Especially if, ideally, we catch it early and nip in the bud so that it won’t reach to that level
Just to throw a curveball, the organs can balance and assist each other too!
The heart and kidneys work together for example
The heart will send heart-yang to warm up the kidneys and the kidneys will send kidney-yin to cool down the heart
Another interesting example will be deep breathing
When we expand our lungs to the maximum, we absorb as much qi as possible from the air, which helps us
On top of that, the lungs expansion can apply pressure on our intestine to aid in bowel movements
And in TCM, the lungs also assist the kidneys with our water metabolism
Illustrating once again how amazing our body and the organs can balance each other out
Anyway, if we look at our daily activities and food intake, we can get a glimpse to understand how yin and yang works for us
If someone were to exercise, which is active and a yang activity, they will sweat and lose moisture, thus losing yin fluids
On the other hand, if someone were to be caught in the rain and get cold, they will lose body heat and thus lose yang energy or accumulate cold and dampness in the body
How does a cold environment affect you?
In fact, a cold environment can also be the aircon at home or at work
Heck, can extend to indoor playgrounds, airport, or shopping centres too ah
It doesn’t necessarily have to refer to winter or snow alone
If it is so darn cold until you shiver, you have lost yang warmth and need to warm up your body
Since cold enters through the kidneys, perhaps the kidneys send too much kidney-yin to the heart, causing a drop in warmth and thus, causing yang deficiency in the heart, leading to slower blood circulation temporarily
But prolonged exposure to cold when we are not used to it might cause physical illness of course
And yes, wearing thicker jacket might work, but equally important, is to take warm and nourishing food or teas
Or slap a medicated plaster on your lower back to warm and protect the kidneys
If you can imagine, the warm food or tea within, warming you up to fight against the cold aircon externally
That is also how they use to explain our lifeforce qi having the protective function to fight against the “evil qi” or external pathogens
So if say during summer where its really hot, and you take spicy food which makes you hotter within
Then you lose a lot of moisture due to heat and dryness within, and potentially causing a yin deficiency syndrome
Naturally, symptoms from this include but not limited to fever, excessive sweating, extreme thirst, dry mouth, fatigue etc
And you will need to take cooling and moisturizing food instead, to cool down and replenish fluids
Ok so that’s the overall picture
TCM is simple yet a bit complex
As mentioned earlier, each of the organs have their own yin and yang and thus, can have its own specific effects
And no, just because you have yin deficiency, does not mean your entire body and its organs all have the same issue
For example, if you sleep late, your liver overworks and thus, can produce excessive liver-yang which may attack the stomach and deplete the stomach-yin
This is because when we sleep, our blood is stored in the liver to be cleanse of toxins, which in a way, is the yin to cool down the liver-yang
Since not sleeping doesn’t allow that to occur, the liver-yang becomes excessive and can rise, causing temper issues and being easily irritated
To continue, when the stomach-yin is depleted, it cannot digest food well, and may cause one to lose appetite or even vomit in the worse case
Of course some people might find they overeat instead
And since the blood isn’t properly cleansed, it may have its own issues as well
Also, I didn’t even talk about the excess wind generated from an overworked liver yet lol
See, complicated right?
If I continue, I might as well write a book lol
In this example, there might be stomach yin deficiency yet excess liver-fire, among other things
Naturally, it might hamper one’s mental state a bit or not at all, but prolonged of such can potentially cause mental health issues
Which is why it is important to understand your body, and adjust your food accordingly to balance your health
That’s my suggestion anyway
Cause the physical and mental health are connected
If you neglect one, the other will eventually give way too
Take care ah~
I shall see if I want to share about food in the future
That is… another complicated thing…
