Translating Chinese Medicine’s concept of Yin and Yang

For those that have tried acupuncture or Chinese Herbal Medicine, you may have been in awe of the results, and perhaps the mystery. You may have come in for one ailment, but found after some treatments other things have also improved.

You may have also heard things like – “we are working on your stomach yin, or kidney yang”. And understandably you may have left thinking, what in the world is yin and yang?!

It is a great question. So much of Chinese Medicine terminology sounds simplistic, mysterious or otherworldly. The terminology is so different to what we are used to in the West.

However, when I am explaining my work to patients in our Coburg acupuncture studio, there is often an aha moment, as it actually can make a lot of sense.

Chinese Medicine is many thousands of years old. The lineage that I am learning and practicing, I am learning via students of Jeffery Yuen. Jeffery Yuen is the 88th generation holder of this oral lineage, which can be dated back to over 4000 years of history and continual practice.

The understanding of the body and it’s physiology, and the development of this incredible medicine was achieved through observing and understanding how nature works. The way things work in the world, work the same way within us - for example heat rises, cold contracts etc.

We are part of nature, we evolved from nature, we are actually not separate from nature. In fact, the closer we are to living in harmony with nature, the better our health.

Equally, the parts of us are also not separate. They are in unique relationship to each other, and this is fundamental to Chinese Medicine theory and practice. They too need to be in harmony with each other for optimal health.

Like in any living ecosystem, when one element is out of balance the whole thing can begin to collapse.

So let’s break it down a little…

When we talk about yin and yang we are talking about a concept. Yin is solid, cooling, and measurable – in the case of our health – it is substance. Body fluids, blood, bone marrow etc. And Yang is warming, and related to function.

For example, every organ has a yin and a yang aspect. The stomachs yin = the stomach’s mucosal lining. The stomachs yang = the digestive function.

The yin of the stomach is protective – the physical lining is made up of different cells that secrete mucous (yin) in order to protect the stomach from the acidic environment required to digest food. Without this unique lining, the digestive fire would digest its own stomach.

Digestion is a process, it requires energy and warmth – yang. Without adequate stomach yang/digestive function, we would get a build up of undigested food, creating a turbid or dysfunctional stomach lining, leading to many uncomfortable digestive symptoms.

So there is a unique balance in each organ required for health. And it is a continuum, or a see-saw, with a little less stomach lining (yin), there may be a little more heat/inflammation (pathological yang).

The concept of yin and yang is also applied to pairing of organs. Yang organs are empty and have the capacity to hold and excrete substances, yin organs are solid and carry out the work. And they each have a unique directionality - that is, their qi has a direction.

Staying with the digestive example – Chinese Medicine talks about the spleen and the stomach as a pair. The spleen is yin and its function is more likely do to with the pancreas. The stomach is yang.

The spleen’s qi should ascend, carrying nutritive essences up to the lungs and heart, the stomach’s qi descends chyme (the digested food and fluid) to be transformed into stool in the small and large intestines. When this dynamic of ascending and descending is altered, we can get too much digestive ascension – reflux, vomiting, burping. If there is too much descent (or lack of ascent), we can get diarrhea, or even prolapses. This is a simplification, there are many ways this can look.

So acupuncturists and herbalists have unique ways to read the level of yin and yang in each organ. This includes the substances unique to each organ, the capacity of their functioning, and if the organ is functioning, or communicating, with other organs and in the correct direction.

This is done through reading the pulse and the tongue, and through palpating the abdomen. It helps us to unpick where the ‘imbalance’ is in the body, and to get a ‘diagnosis’ for the symptoms presenting. Ie. Reflux, due to ‘stomach yang deficiency, leading to dampness in the digestion, blocking the normal descent of stomach qi’.

In this example, we then work with specific acupuncture points and herbs that strengthen the digestive function and help move stagnant fluid (dampness) in the body, as well as descend stomach’s qi. In time, reflux should improve, as well as the digestion as a whole. With a balanced internal environment, effective digestion can be achieved, and thus better quality and quantity of nutrients are extracted and absorbed, which will inevitably lead to improved levels of iron and energy etc.

Importantly this example shows, we don’t treat reflux per say, we treat the unique presentation of the individual that leads to these symptoms. Reflux may present in the next patient coming from a totally different internal dynamic.

Lastly, this concept is transferred to every organ, every disorder, every dynamic. When treating fertility, we see the endometrial lining as yin, and the ovulation process as yang. Or in the treatment of asthma, the congestion of phlegm in the bronchioles of the lungs is pathological yin, and the dynamic of breathing is yang.

As a patient, there is no need to understand all of this (your job is just to relax and unwind!), however it is interesting to know that this seemingly simplistic concept of yin and yang, has profound and endless applications that allow a form of medicine to be accurate, truely holistic and systemic, and incredibly far reaching.