Yin and yang

On this page

1. About
2. History
3. Theory
4. Symbol
5. Imblances
6. Organs

1. About

Yin and yang literally mean 'dark side' and 'sunny side' of a hill. Dark is yin and sunny is yang.

2. History

The principles of yin and yang are several thousands of years old and comes from Daoism and Lao Tzu who once said that all things exist as inseparable and contradictory opposites. It represents the duality of our third dimension reality.

3. Theory

Yin and yang is the most important concept in traditional Chinese medicine. Most people have heard of yin and yang but perhaps don't know how they relate to health. Everything can be broken down into either yin or yang, see below.

Women are predominantly yin, while men are predominantly yang. Yin and yang should be in balance. When they fall out of balance, dis-ease occurs.

Yin and yang are rooted in Nature. They come from observing the world around us. If we fight against the laws of Nature, our health suffers and we develop dis-ease. For example, night-time is the time of yin. This is when we should be at our most inactive and should rest and sleep. If we stay up late and continue to work long hours into the night, it will make us more deficient, which will damage yin.

4. Symbol

Yin and yang can change into each other. This is illustrated by the famous yin and yang symbol with the small circle in each part; the black dot in the white and the white dot in the black (see below). The same principle can be applied to Nature and our hormones. When there is too much heat, it creates a thunder storm. When there is too much testosterone in the body, it creates an increase in oetrogens.

5. Imbalances

If you have too much yang then you will have too much heat, which can cause health problems such as psoriasis. If you have a deficiency of yin, you can have menopausal symptoms and poor egg quality.

A deficiency of yin can manifest as:

1. Anaemia
2. Menopasual symptoms
3. Dry eyes
4. Eczema
5. High FSH levels
6. Poor egg quality
7. Miscarriages

A deficiency of yang can manifest as:

1. Low testosterone levels
2. Feeling cold
3. Burnout
4. Impotence

6. Internal organs

The internal organs are divided according to yin and yang. The hollow, empty organs (Fu) are yang, large intestine, urinary bladder, gallbladder, stomach and small intestine, whilst the full (zang) organs are yin, for example the heart, liver, spleen, lung and kidney. Together they are known as the zangfu.

Each Yin organ is paired with a yang organ. Disease pathology is categorised according to wu xing (five phase theory); metal, water, wood, fire and earth. Each zangfu presents not only a phase, but also a colour, emotion, animal, planet, season, etc.