Balancing Yin and Yang
in Order to Heal the Whole Person.

In order to apply the principle of balancing Yin and Yang in a healing process, we must first of all clarify how the Law of Yin and Yang operates in creation.

The concept of Yin and Yang, along with Chi or Vital Energy, is integral with Tao, the eternal Way of Life . . .

What is Tao?

Being great, it flows
It flows far away,
Having gone far, it returns.

Therefore, Tao is great;
Heaven is great;
Earth is great;
The king is also great.
These are the four great powers of the universe,
And the king is one of them.

Man follows the earth.
Earth follows heaven.
Heaven follows the Tao.
Tao follows what is natural."

- Number 25, Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu, translated by Jia-Fu Feng and Jane English.

"Those who have true wisdom remain strong, while those who have no wisdom grow old and feeble". - Neijing. The sages of ancient times understood Tao and therefore achieved longevity.

Yin and Yang In Nature.

It is easy for us to observe this balancing of Yin and Yang in nature as each night follows day and one season follows the other.

Everything living is in constant rhythmic movement and change. Nothing ever disappears, only forms change and therefore their qualities. As a part of nature human beings must follow the same law.

“Tao, the Way, governs man just as it does the invisible and visible nature, and out of Tao develops the principle of our reality, one pole of it being active Yang and the other receptive Yin.” - The Secret of the Golden Flower.

Yang is the masculine principle, creative, active with upward flowing motion – lighted, as the sunny side of a mountain in contrast to Yin, the shadowy side.

Yin is the recessive with a downward flowing motion, the quiescence, the feminine principle, deep and dark and therefore mysterious.

Yet always, in striving toward balancing Yin and Yang, both also hold the opposite tendency for they are one within the Great Tao.

The principle that works toward balancing Yin and Yang pervades all aspects of nature through its cycles and processes. Out of stillness - movement, out of silence – sound! As polar opposites they oscillate, constantly reaching toward relative balance.

While they complement and counterbalance each other, they also inter-consume – when Yin is depleted, Yang gains power and when Yang is spent, Yin arises.

Each instance leads to transformation - even if the process appears to be a struggle, as it happens in physical disharmonies and sometimes in healing.

This interdependence of two opposite aspects of 'up/down, in/out, dark/light, active/passive' is present within us and throughout the greater cosmos.

In terms of the body the front is considered Yin, the back Yang, the outer part is Yang, the inner is Yin.

The organ systems are classified as inner or outer organs depending on their responsibilities and functions (please see the section on organ functions).

Eight Principles in Diagnosis.

For diagnostic purposes and with the goal of balancing Yin and Yang, they are categorized into eight principles.

Illnesses characterized by weakness, coldness and under-activity are Yin conditions, illnesses manifesting forceful movements, heat and over-activity are Yang conditions.

Our goal here is to help you gain the fundamental principles applicable to TCM, which are so important in healing the whole person. The rest is details, which you will find in the pages allocated to specific disharmonies and methods that are designed for self-healing.

"I want to know God's thoughts; the rest is details." - Albert Einstein