Yin & Yang

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Yin and Yang are two of the Eight Principal Patterns - Hot, Cold, Exterior,

Interior, Excess, Deficiency, Yang, and Yin.

 

Wicke in his first textbook cautions about thinking of Yin and Yang as absolute

qualities or quantities. Indeed, Yin is contained within Yang, and Yang is

contained within Yin. One can change into the other.

 

Think of Yin and Yang as a range. Wicke uses this analogy: " To label an

individual as either Yin or Yang is rarely very illuminating except in extreme

and severe cases; it is as if you were asked to determine whether a painting by

Michelangelo were black or white. " (p. 58)

 

Each individual contains both Yin and Yang. If this were not so, life would be

impossible.

 

Wicke gives the following general definitions of Yin and Yang:

 

" Yin is the ability of the body to calm itself, to acquire substance, and to

cool itself. Yang is the ability of the body to activate itself and to heat

itself. " (p. 58)

 

The concept of Yin and Yang underlies a great deal of Chinese philosophy and

medicine. Wicke cautions that the concepts of Yin and Yang should be

context-derived. What he means by this is that when you talk about Yin and Yang

in TCM, the terms have somewhat more specialized meanings than when used in

Chinese philosophy.

 

In general in TCM, think calming, acquiring, and cooling when thinking of Yin.

Think moving, being active, and heating when thinking of Yang.

 

Up and outward are Yang; down and inward are Yin. The back and the outside

surfaces of the body are Yang; the front and medial (like the insides of the

legs) are Yin. In acupuncture, the Yang meridians transverse the back and the

outer surfaces of the body. The Bladder merdian is a Yang meridian. Remember the

previous discussion on B36 (Bearing Support) and its location on the back.

 

The Yin meridians transverse the front of the body and the medial aspects. The

Kidney meridian is a Yin meridian. It starts in the center of the sole of the

foot (K 1), loops around the inner ankle bone, runs up the medial (inner)

surface of the leg, and continues up the front of the body where it ends just

under the slight rise of the collar bone where the collar bone connects to the

breastbone (K 27).

 

Let's review Wicke's key words. Yin is calming, acquiring substance, and

cooling. Yang is activation and heating. In an earlier post we learned that

fatigue is a symptom of Deficiency. When fatigue is present as a significant and

ongoing symptom, the probability is very high that you are dealing with a

Deficiency state. The Deficiency can be of Qi, of Yang, of Blood, or of Yin. So

what happens when there is a Deficiency of Yin? The fatigue and lack of strength

that characterize all Deficiency conditions are present, but so are nervousness,

agitation, and feeling too hot. The body does not have enough Yin energy to cool

itself when appropriate (Yin is cooling) or to calm itself (Yin is calming).

 

When the Deficiency is of Yang, there is the usual Deficiency symptoms of

fatigue and lack of strength, but in addition, the person feels cold (Yang

heats, and there's not enough Yang energy to perform this function), sluggish,

passive, and withdrawn (Yang is activating in nature).

 

Beginners frequently have problems applying the concept of Yang and Yin to

Deficiency and Excess. Questions arise along the lines of since Yin in cooling

in nature, how do you tell rather a person who feels cold a lot is Excess Yin or

Deficient Yang since not feeling warm can be a symptom of both? Well, for one

thing, remember that Deficiency states are characterized by fatigue and lack of

muscular strength. While it's true that an Excessively Yin person will not be

overly energetic and can be very laid back, you don't see the crippling fatigue

and weakness that you see with a Yang Deficiency. Yang Deficiency can have the

most crippling fatigue of all the Deficiencies. Also, there's the matter of

degree. When we're talking Excess Yin, we're talking feeling cool and maybe a

little cold. When we're talking Deficiency Yang, we're talking about the extreme

of a person who can't stay warm even with several layers of clothes, keeps the

electric blanket on high in addition to having quilts over the blanket, requires

soaks in hot baths to warm up, and may even require a quilt in summer if the

Yang Deficiency is very severe.

 

Remember, Yang Deficiency is not an absolute value. There are degrees of Yang

Deficiency. Some people may be mildly Yang Deficient whereas others are severly

so. The more severe the Yang Deficiency, the more severe the sensitivity to cold

and the more cold the person feels. The more severe the Yang Deficiency, the

more sluggish the person will be.

 

The third way you tell the difference is that other diagnostic criteria are

used, in particular the pulse and tongue diagnoses. Later posts will deal with

these complex subjects.

 

Remember it is possible for there to be both Hot and Cold, both Exterior and

Interior, both Excess and Deficiency, and both Yang and Yin problems in the same

individual at the same time. For example, the person may have a Kidney Yang

Deficiency at the same time as Stagnation of Qi (all stagnation conditions are

classified as Excess conditions) in the Liver. It is possible for the Kidney to

be both Yin and Yang Deficient at the same time.

 

The rules for determining what to treat first or to treat both at the same time

is a more advanced topic of TCM.

 

Victoria

 

 

 

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[Guest guest]

: once she reaches puberty

> and is able to bear child, she IS a woman (read Joseph Campbell). Think

> about this the next time you have a problem interacting with a lady. By

> the way, this is the reason why more men than women post on this list -

> or any other list.

 

Frederic, I have often wondered why there were so many more men posting on

this and other lists and I like your explanation!

Susie