Yin & Yang

Image by Johannes Plenio

Heaven and Earth

Daoist philosophy reminds us that we are nature.

We wax and wane. Ebb and flow. Expand and contract. The moon pulls on the tides of our emotions and fluids. The pulse of our living is (still) imbued with the silent cycles of seasons, stars, sun and moon. We experience seasons of lack and seasons of abundance. Every sentient being is a dynamic dance of heaven and earth.

Heaven was associated with the immaterial realm of spirit and consciousness. Earth represented the material realm of substance.

For the ancient Chinese, heaven and earth were not separate. The material and immaterial realms were one. Everything that was material- from humans to flowers to mountains to rivers - was a manifest expression of spirit and consciousness.

The ancient concepts of heaven and earth were later replaced and expounded upon with yin - yang theory.

Yin-Yang Theory

Yin (earth) and yang (heaven) are always in relationship with one another; each contains a little of the other. Just like heaven and earth, yin and yang are interdependent and interrelated. Whatever names we ascribe to them, they are the primary building blocks of the entire universe.

Yin is the feminine, creative principle. Yang is the masculine, dynamic principle. Yin is cooling compared to yang, which is heating. Night, with her dark, mysterious nature, is yin. Day, with its warmth and brightness, is yang. Yin is dense. Yang is light. The earth, water and moon are yin archetypes, and the sun, stars and fire belong to the yang principle. Everything in creation can be understood in terms of yin and yang.

Yin Archetypes
In simplest terms, yin characteristics include:

• Feminine/lunar archetype

• Creative principle

• Cooling, calming and receptive

• Contracting

• Flesh, bones and substance are expressions of yin

• Energetic movement of yin is down and inward

• Winter and autumn are yin seasons

• Winter Solstice

• Night

• New Moon

We can see an exuberance of yin in babies. They have plump folds of flesh: soft, smooth skin and mushy bodies. Babies are juicy bundles of yin.

Yet they grow quickly and soon shed their adorable rolls. This quick growth is an expression of yang. Remember, yin is present in yang, and yang is always present within yin as reflected in the yin yang symbol.

Let’s take one more example, consider the Winter Solstice which falls during the darkest, coldest time of the year. At the moment the earth reaches the furthest distance from the sun a shift occurs and

Yang Archetypes

Yang characteristics include:

• Masculine/solar archetype

• Warming, stimulating and active

• Expanding

• Dynamic principle

• Metabolism, thinking and moving are yang functions

• Energetic movement of yang is up and out

• Spring and summer are yang seasons

• Summer Solstice

• Day is yang

• Full Moon

We experience the dynamic yang energy each spring as the green shoots press up and out from the dark earth. The determination of the plant to reach the sun and expand expresses the yang energetic. What we don’t see, though, are the roots of the tiny sprout. And it is the roots, what is hidden in the earth, that are the yin of the plant.

Yin and yang are always influencing one another.

The understanding is that health is present when yin and yang are in harmony. Dis-ease arises when there is a prolonged imbalance of one or both principles. From the ancient perspective, health prevails when one remembers their connection to heaven (spirit, ancestors and the immaterial) and is rooted in the earth of their body.

The two - yin and yang - give birth to movement (qi).