Yin & Yang basics

[Guest guest]

This post primarily is for those new to TCM, but has some information that

may be of interest to some students.

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The important thing to remember about Yin and Yang when it comes to TCM and

healing is that Yin cools and calms and Yang heats and activates. Yin

Deficiency (aka Deficiency Heat) results in symptoms of Heat and agitation

because there is not enough Yin to cool and calm the body properly. Yang

Deficiency (aka Deficiency Heat) results in symptoms of Cold, slowness,

severe fatigue, many hypo-glandular states (though not all) because the

person does not have enough Yang energy to heat and activate the body

properly. Yin cools and calms; Yang heats and activates.

 

But there is more to Yin and Yang than this. Let's look at some of the

other things about Yin and Yang that has applications in TCM. Some of the

Yin and Yang ideas have meaning in philosophy but no applications in

healing. I'm restricting this to healing concepts.

 

Yin is dark, wet, and heavy. Yang is bright, dry, and light. People who

suffer from Dampness accumulation are too Yin or are Yang Deficient. They

frequently need Yang to help them dry out or need to reduce their intake of

Yin foods so they won't be excessively Yin. (I'm simplifying things a great

deal here, but you get the main idea.) People who are too Yang or who are

Yin Deficient frequently have Dryness problems. They need to reduce the

amount of Yang foods they consume (Excess) which are drying them out, or

they need to increase the amount of Yin tonic foods and herbs they consume

in order to increase moisture in their bodies. (Excess problems are caused

by there being too much of something; Deficiency problems are caused by

there being too little of something.

 

Yin is downward and inward. (It's that heaviness property.) Yang is upward

and outward. (It's that lightness property.) The Exterior of the body is

classified as Yang relative to the Interior which is classified as Yin.

Meridians/ channels (pathways of Qi flow) each have a proper direction of

flow. The direction of flow is supposed to ascend in some (like the

Spleen), and when the direction of flow in this meridian descends instead of

ascending, there are health problems. Sometimes one will need to add an

herb to a formula because it has the property of getting Qi to move upward.

In cases where energy flow is ascending when it should be descending, an

herb that has the property of moving energy downward will need to be added

to the formula. Yin is downward and inward. Yang is upward and outward.

 

Let's look at a couple of practical application of this Yang being upward

and outward and Yin being downward and inward thing. For example, let's

look at a person who is suffering from something like Liver Yang Rising, or

Liver Fire Blazing Upward. This is a person who really needs to cut way,

way down on foods and herbs that have the property of getting energy moving

upward. It's already moving upward too much without it being primed to do

it even more so by foods and herbs with the property of getting energy

moving upward. In addition Liver Yang Rising and Liver Fire Blazing Upward

are both Heat conditions, so this person so does NOT need any extra Heat

from herbs with Heating properties. You want to use Yang tonic herbs very,

very cautiously if at all with one of these people. (For students - those

new to TCM can skip this part. Let's say you have a case where the person

suffers both from Liver Fire Blazing Upward and Kidney or Spleen Yang

Deficiency. This is one of those cases where you can't just treat the Yang

Deficiency because the Yang tonic herbs are going to add Heat to the body

which includes the Liver which has Fire and make the person sicker.

Likewise, you can't just treat the Liver-Fire with cooling herbs because

it's going to make the Cold and Yang Deficiency problems worse and make the

person sicker. You have to treat both at the same time. The way you do

this is going to depend on why the person has Liver Fire Blazing. If it's

due to a longstanding state of anger and frustration, this definitely is a

case that calls for some counseling and some anger management education. If

it's due to Qi Stagnation, herbs that move Qi are called for. If Blood

Stasis is a factor, herbs to relieve Blood Stasis and get Blood moving are

called for. If there's Yin Deficiency as a factor, add Yin tonic herbs. In

addition, one can use " guide herbs " to guide a mixture to a particular

meridian/Organ. Or, a combination of herbs to treat one problem and

acupuncture to treat the other. Or, use two formulas taken at different

times. Etc. What is the best approach will depend on the individual case.)

 

Another example of a practical application of the upward Yang and downward

Yin thing is the last thing a person with a condition like a prolapsed

stomach (or uterus or anus) due to Spleen Qi Sinking (descending instead of

rising) are herbs or foods that will promote the Qi to descend even more so

than it already is doing.

 

Cold is Yin and Heat is Yang. Yin cools; Yang heats. Seasons of the year

also have Yang and Yin qualities. Summer is the most Yang time of the year;

winter is the most Yin time of the year. People who suffer from Excess Yang

or from Yin Deficiency tend to not like summer very much and to have

problems during that season. In the case of those who are Excess Yang, all

that extra Yang from the summer environment is adding to the Yang Excess in

their bodies and overheating them even more. In the case of Yin Deficiency

(not enough cooling energy), the extra Heat from summer is adding the the

cooling burden. In addition, Heat can injure Yin just as Cold can damage

Yang. People who have Excess Yin or who are Yang Deficient tend to have

more health problems in winter and hate that season of the years. In the

case of the ones who are Excess Yin, the extra Yin from the winter is

cooling them down even more. In the case of the ones who are Yang

Deficient, they already don't have enough Yang to warm their bodies properly

without the added burden of the Cold and Yin of the environment and seasons.

 

Noon is the most Yang time of the day; midnight is the most Yin time of the

day. Sometimes a treatment must be given at a certain time of day in order

for it to be effective. (I'm simplifying a lot here.)

 

Meridians (and Organs) are classified as Yang or Yin. All the Yang

meridians are on the back of the body and the outer edges of the arms and

legs. All the Yin meridians are on the front of the body and the inner

edges (closest to the body) of the arms and legs. (Note: Just because a

meridian is classified as Yang, this does not mean that it's proper

direction of flow is upward. The Stomach is a Yang meridian, but it's

proper direction of flow is downward. Ditto for some Yin meridians such as

the Spleen whose proper flow direction is upward.)

 

I've been talking about Yang and Yin aspects of the body like they are

absolutes, but they're not. Yang and Yin are relative relationships. For

example the Interior of the body (trunk, organs) is Yin compared to

the Exterior (head, limbs, muscles, meridians, skin) which is Yang. Even

though the surface of the body is Yang compared to the Interior, the back of

the body is Yang compared to the front which is Yin.

 

I do not want to go into the 5 Elements in any detail here except to say

that they are Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water. (The 5 Elements can be

thought of as symbolic of different aspects of energy. See Dagmar's Letters

From China for more insight.) Each of the 5 Elements has a Yin Organ and

meridian and a Yang Organ and meridian. For example, the Spleen is Earth

Yin, and the Stomach is Earth Yang. The Kidneys are Yin Water, and the

Bladder is Yang Water. Even though meridians are classified as Yang

relative to Organs which are classified as Yin, meridians and Organs are

further classied according to Yang and Yin.

 

In addition, each Organ - regardless of rather it is Yang or Yin will have

both Yang and Yin aspects. The most basic of these is that the physical

structure of the Organ is Yin (Yin builds up, gives form), and the function

of the Organ is Yang. Even the functions and the structure of Organs are

classified at Yin and Yang. The Yin Organs (Kidneys, Spleen, Heart, Lungs,

and Liver) are " solid " and they store. The Yang Organs (Stomach, Small

Intestine, Large Intestine, Gall Bladder, and Triple Heater are hollow and

excrete. (Actually the Gall Bladder is a special case and also is

classified as one of the Six Extraordinary Yang Organs. It's Extraordinary

because it also stores, unlike the other regular Yang Organs. The Triple

Heater is an Organ without form, just function. You will not find it in any

anatomy books. Remember, TCM pays more attention to function than to

structure so it's not surprising that TCM would recognize an Organ which

doesn't exist physically with structure but does exist in function.)

 

If all this sounds like much to do about nothing, it's not. It's leading up

to a very important aspect of TCM: The TCM view of the state of health and

illness is not static and unchanging. It's dynamic and ever changing.

Learning to use this perspective is going to be the difference between

someone who knows the basics of TCM and someone who is a first rate

diagnostician.

 

Many readers are familiar with the Taoist symbol (Tai Ji, aka " Supreme

Ultimate " ). I wish I could reproduce it here, but I can't so I will

describe it in order to jog people's memories. It's that circle, part of

which is white and part black. The white part is flowing into the black

part, and vice versa. There is a dot of black within the white part, and a

dot of white within the black part. This symbol symbolizes that Yin and

Yang are ever changing, that Yin can become Yang and Yang can become Yin,

and that Yin is contained within Yang and Yang within Yin. Furthermore, Yin

and Yang are dependent on each other.

 

What this means in practical terms in healing is the recognition that

imbalances can change into their opposites. A classic example is the common

cold (Wind Cold) changing into the destructive Fire of pneumonia. (Henry C.

Lu points this out in Chinese Herbal Cures, pp. 42-43.) The Wind Cold

invades the Lungs. The Cold also causes the pores to close. This can cause

the Wind Cold to become trapped in the Lungs. Anything trapped which cannot

move can change into Heat and then into destructive Fire. This is why the

proper treatment for a cold in its first stages is to induce sweating. The

sweating allows the Pernicious Evil to be expelled.

 

The recognition that health problems are not static allows for the

fine-tuning of treatment based on what is best at the current time. When

you study the 6 stages of Cold-Induced Illnesses or the 4 stages of Virulent

Heat Evils, it quickly becomes apparent that what is the proper herbs at one

stage will be ineffective or even make the person sicker at another stage.

Things change, and TCM healers recognize this. This also is the reason why

TCM healers moniter clients carefully and frequently change herbal and

acupuncture treatments. The healers are responding to the changing needs of

the client.

 

Learning to think is terms of things constantly changing, of things

transforming into their opposites, and of things containing their opposites

also greatly increases one's analysis/ diagnostic abilities (which can

result in even more effective treatment). For example, a clinet may present

with obvious signs of Dryness, and the Dryness problems may be the most

pressing concerns. The usual cause of Dryness problems are Dryness, Heat,

Yang. But, in a few cases, the underlying Root of the Dryness symptoms will

be Dampness. When Dampness accumulates and sticks around too long, it will

congel into Phlegm. Phlegm blocks. When things are blocked, Heat builds up.

Heat dries. In a case like this if one merely gives herbs to moisten, one

actually can end up worsening the Dryness problems because now there is even

more Dampness that can become more Phlegm that can block still more which

results in more Heat which triggers more Dryness. Treatment will be more

complex in cases like these than in cases of Dryness symptoms caused just by

Dryness and/or Heat.

 

These are some of the basics of Yin and Yang. There is an excellent section

on Yin and Yang at the beginning of The Foundations of by

Giovanni Maciocia.

 

The important thing for beginners to remember is that Yin cools and calms,

and Yang heats and activates.

 

BTW, last night my husband was watching a program on E! about the writer F.

Scott Fitzgerald and his wife, Zelda. At one point the program told about

how Zelda needed a creative outlet and took up dancing. She pushed herself.

She had a breakdown and ended up in a mental hospital. She remained in

mental hospitals the rest of her life until she died in a fire at one the

evening before she was scheduled for ECT (electric shock treatment).

Western accounts of Zelda's breakdown take the view that Zelda's pushing

herself in dance was a symptom of her deteriorating mental condition, and

that the severe psychological problems caused her to push herself and become

obsessive about dancing. TCM considers other possibilities. Among these is

the possibility that the overdoing the dancing triggered the mental

breakdown. Excessive exercising - especially for a woman at certain times

of the month - can hurt Yin. (It also can damage Yang by damaging the

Spleen.) The mental symptoms resulted in part from there not being enough

Yin to calm and cool the body properly. The lack of proper cooling (enough

Yin) could have played a role in the development of certain Heart Heat

disorders that can manifest as severe mental illness. Or, another

possibility is that she was Yin Deficient to begin with, and the Yin

Deficiency (nervous energy because the body is not being calmed properly)

was why she overdid the dancing to begin with which in turn triggered even

more Yin Deficiency.

 

Victoria

 

 

 

 

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