The TaiJi diagram☯️. The yin/yang symbol that is recognized more often as a fashion statement than as a central tenet of ancient Chinese philosophy and medicine.
The dark and light sides represent duality in nature. In western culture, within duality we often find judgement, assigning positive or negative connotations to discern superiority. Happy is good, sad is bad, light is good, darkness is bad. Yet in eastern medicine, the concept of Yin and Yang does not focus on the dichotomy of positive and negative. Instead it emphasizes interdependence, wherein one pole only exists due to the presence of the other. It is this alchemy between opposites that generates all transformation and life- the electricity between two forces that creates reactivity and change. Neither pole is inherently good or bad, rather disease blossoms from imbalance between the two, an excess or deficiency throwing the cycle out of orbit.
In our masculine/yang dominant culture, the inclination is to define parameters. Yang needs to categorize and prioritize, shine light in every corner and discover hard fact. These are the principles that have birthed math and technology and allowed us to expand our range further out across the globe, into the ethers of our planet and beyond. However, in over-emphasizing this ideology we have abused and even vilified the necessary yin pole of our nature. Yin allows for mystery and the unknown. She calls for rest and accepts darkness, stillness and our painful emotions as essential for the exploration of our inner worlds.
Our bodies and our planet are becoming scorched in the pursuit of yang. Our kidneys (think adrenal glands) are the primary yin storage of our body akin to the iciest, stillest aspects of the ocean. As we burn through these fluids with constant need for production and expansion we are ignoring that our longevity depends on the preservation such limited resources.
Nourishing yin can come down to simply resting between bouts of yang activity. Part of the magic of acupuncture its ability to take you into deep rest without the shame cycle of our yang programming.
