Yin and Yang Theory Explained (part two)

What is the real deal with Yin & Yang…

This is the first deep dive in on the series about Chinese medicine terminology, and what all of those mysterious words really mean. I wanted to start with Yin and Yang because they are terms that actually do pop up from time to time in our culture, but most people don’t know what they are really about.

I  would like to first start off with pronunciation. Yin rhymes with tin, so that one is pretty easy, but I often hear Yang pronounced as if it rhymes with the word hang, and it actually is pronounced to rhyme with the word song. I’ll go ahead and thank the rap group the Yin/Yang Twins for that one, haha.

In Chinese pinyin, the “a” sound in Yang is more drawn out; as if you were to start saying the word “ought”. If you start pronouncing Yang as if it rhymes with song, I guarantee your acupuncturist will be impressed. 

I also want to clarify why I capitalize the words Yin and Yang. In Chinese medicine, we always capitalize the names of vital substances to differentiate them from other words. I will always capitalize Yin, Yang, Qi, Blood, Damp, etc. when using them in a Chinese medical perspective, but I may not capitalize the word blood if it is being used in a different context. For example, a common pattern diagnosis that we often see is Liver Blood deficiency. I capitalized Blood in that context, but I wouldn’t capitalize blood if it was being used to describe that someone was bleeding, etc.

Now to get into the real meat and potatoes of this message. The reason I chose to break Yin and Yang into a two-parter is because I want to first start by explaining the dynamics behind Yin/Yang. Then in part two I will talk about how it is used in Chinese medicine diagnostics.

Yin and Yang is within ALL things, as well as within each other. Understanding this concept will help tremendously in understanding how these terms can be used from a diagnostic standpoint. 

The best way for me to do this is by grouping different aspects of our life, the world, and our bodies into categories of Yin and Yang. 

Yin represents the more meditative, quiet side of life. Night time, darkness, cooler temperatures, the moon, water, women, winter and even the action of listening all represent the word Yin. Yang represents the more robust, strong and loud parts of life. Day time, bright sunshine, summer, men, singing, and action all represent the word Yang. The soft, protective front side of our bodies represents our Yin side; the side that animals often try harder to protect. Animals will often use their backs as an additional protective layer, such as the spikes on the backside of a porcupine. The back part of our bodies represent the Yang side of our body. We also have Yin organs and Yang organs. The Yang organs often have more active functions, and the Yin organs are often more nutritive. 

Everything is cyclical, and so Yin and Yang is also within all things together. They can be represented together in balance, one can tip further to one side, or eventually even circle back around to the other. 

When I spoke earlier about how water is considered more Yin, well that is so, but there are always situations where it is both. A calm, quiet stream is definitely Yin, but the rolling intense waves of the ocean are quite Yang. Same with a loud, summer storm; that is a Yang energy within a Yin dynamic. Everything is like this. The winter time is Yin, but as you move into springtime, we start to see the Yin dynamic of that season moving towards the Yang energetic that is summertime. If summer is considered full Yang, then you can start to see Yang moving into Yin as autumn begins. If the middle of the day (when the sun shines brightest) is full Yang, and the middle of the night (during its deepest darkest hours) is full Yin, then dusk would be considered the Yang within Yin, and dawn would be considered the Yin within Yang. 

Everything is this way. We as people are also this way. Women are considered to be more Yin in nature, and men more Yang, but if there is a very quiet, meditative man standing next to a very loud, excited woman; then you could say that he is Yin within Yang, and she is Yang within Yin.

I wanted to express this dynamic clearly, because it would be impossible to talk about how the body uses these terms to talk about pathology or synergy if you don’t have a deeper understanding of what these words represent. Yin and Yang is a truly beautiful concept that represents the energy and balance in all dynamics of life. 

The next blog post will explore some of these concepts further, and share how they can relate to wellness and/or pathology within the body.

-Dr. Corinne Brown, OMP