| The Tai Chi symbol |
I read that someplace once. I don't remember the exact location. I've seen similar phrases here and there while reading different things. Never has it made so much since in my life as it does now. The Chinese call it yin and yang which is a belief that there exist two complementary forces in the universe. One is Yang which represents everything positive or masculine and the other is Yin which is characterized as negative or feminine. One is not better than the other. Instead they are both necessary and a balance of both is highly desirable.
This is what that symbol above represents, a balance in all things. There is, of course, more to it. As with most of the Eastern medicines and theologies, there are many levels. Here's a little more on what each side, the yin and the yang, represent:
The black area represents yin with the following characteristics:
- Feminine
- Passive
- Intuitive
- Delusion
- Moon
- Dark
- Cold
- Submission
- Contracting
- Downward seeking
- Downward movement
- Night
- Soft
- Stillness
- Rivers
- The White Section
The white area represents the yang with the following characteristics:
- Male
- Active
- Logical
- Enlightenment
- Bright
- Sun
- Light
- Creation
- Dominance
- Upward movement
- Strong
- Hot
- Expanding
- Hard
- Movement
- Mountains
So, what you probably noticed is that for every yin there is a counteractive yang. For an up there must be a down, for a left a right must also exist.
The concepts of Yin and Yang and the Five Agents provided the intellectual framework of much of Chinese scientific thinking especially in fields like biology and medicine The organs of the body were seen to be interrelated in the same sorts of ways as other natural phenomena, and best understood by looking for correlations and correspondences. Illness was seen as a disturbance in the balance of Yin and Yang or the Five Agents caused by emotions, heat or cold, or other influences. Therapy thus depended on accurate diagnosis of the source of the imbalance.
The earliest surviving medical texts are fragments of manuscript from early Han tombs. Besides general theory, these texts cover drugs, gymnastics, minor surgery, and magic spells. The text which was to become the main source of medical theory also apparently dates from the Han. It is the Yellow Emperor's Classic of Medicine, supposed to have been written during the third millennium BCE by the mythical Yellow Emperor
One of the basic concepts of weight loss is to expend more fuel than you consume, thereby creating a negative force in your body. Once you achieve the weight you desire balance is key. You must keep what consume equal to what you burn. If you aren't in balance you either gain weight or lose it.
In my case, I have always gained. But then my life has long been out of balance. Way out. I have always gone to extremes. With most things any way. Jobs, emotions, moving. I am not on a journey toward balance. It's slow, because you have to find the other half of all those things. The counterweight to bring things back to the middle.
My last blog is a good example of why balance is so important. Not enough cortisol is bad, to much cortisol is bad. The human body, while quite resilient, is also in many ways a delicate machine. We operate on so many small balances that are all interconnected, to throw off one is to throw off the entire machine.
I have been depressed for most of my life. Depression throws many things off balance. I don't want to move or go outside, that affects my level of vitamin D absorption. Vitamin D is affected by cortisol levels, cortisol levels are affected by activity, diet, stress, pain, all things affected by depression.
I tried for years to work on one or the other of my issues. Addressing one at a time and then wondering why I failed. Why things got so difficult I just couldn't go on. One "thing" would improve just a little and the others would get worse. I found it quite confusing. I would try and diet and the depression would increase. The depression increased and I ate. I did less, I slept. The weight piled on, I got depressed because of it. I ate more.
Chinese and "new age" medicine frequently talk of seeking balance. The yin and the yang, the shakra, the chi, even the mind and meditation. Acupuncture is largely centered around balance. Eastern philosophy teaches that if one part is out of balance so then is the whole.
So here I am, seeking balance for the first time in my life. Balance of mind, of body. Of yin and yang. My mind has long been out of balance. Chemically and emotionally. I'm one of those lucky enough to be born with faulty wiring. So, over time I have had to learn to reroute that wiring. To jump some switches, in an effort to return to balance. Now I am working on my body, working toward balance. With the energy, with the in and the out. A balance of pain and lack of. Fuel in and energy out.
In all things, seek balance.
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