The yin/yang is a culmination of hundreds of years of observation. It is the fundamental energies of existence. Everything is categorized as either yin or yang. But nature isn’t static, so everything has the potential to change. Understanding the yin/yang has many parts and is impossible to completely study. Practicing internal qi training allows us to feel it and to be more aware of it. Yet, we experience it every moment of our lives. We are just so used to it that we take it for granted. Waking up, sleeping, standing, breathing, thinking, heartbeat and eating are all a flow of yin/yang. This computer runs on it and the wheels turning to get you to work or the store follow it.
It is essential to feel, reflect, and study the interplay of the yin/yang. This interplay is the tai chi, and the yin/yang symbol is actually the Tai Chi Diagram. The interplay between the two polar opposites is intricate, confusing, and everywhere all the time. There are 5 characteristics that describe the two sides intertwining amongst themselves.
The yin/yang is of concrete nature: physics (Newtonian and quantum), chemistry, biology…. It is not part of societal rolls (teacher/student, parent/child, leader/follower) or societal beliefs or morals of good and bad/evil. People have used the yin/yang to justify injustices, but it is their personal opinion, greed, or ego, not the yin/yang. There are a lot of misconceptions out there that lead people into confusion. Once I get the webpage up and running, you can read more about the yin/yang.
Interdependent/Codependent
This is what most people think of and see the list of sun and moon, up and down, forward and back. The list above only shows a small number of characteristics. One cannot exist without the other. But it is much more in depth than at first glance. In order to see them as they truly are, translate everything into yin or yang, and stop seeing them as objects, but as verbs; things in action. You can see the list above, but it is much more intricate and deep than just a list of characteristics.
Within One There is the Other
This is the black dot in the white side and the white dot in the black side. There are yang elements within the yin and yin elements in the yang. But it isn’t a one-time thing, it is infinitely to the small and infinitely to the large.
At the Extremes they Reverse
When the yin becomes too much, it will switch to yang, and when yang becomes to much it becomes yin. This can be seen in the movement of the sun from the rising (yang) in the morning to the height of noon and the setting (yin) in the afternoon. This is an obvious example, but it also goes into everything else in their own time frame. The picture shows a fallen tree. When a tree grows too tall (yang) and the roots cannot maintain the weight, the tree falls (yin) over.
Perspective
Deciding whether something is yin or yang greatly depends on what aspect you are looking at. This is the part everyone has trouble with. There are no absolutes to something itself being yin or yang. The famous question isn’t just a psychological test, it is how the energy is used within the cup. If it is half empty then the yin is more present. The water is lowering in level, i.e. you are drinking the water. If it is half full, then the energy is rising and you are adding water to an empty cup. Neither is right or wrong. It is in the process of change.
Another example is determining if something hot or really hot. Our sun is hot, but compared to what? To the moon it is hot, but to another star which burns hotter, it is yin. Or, is a white page blank or empty, or is it reflective. If it is blank and ready to be written on, then it is yin. If it is reflecting light, then it is yang.
Constant Cycle of Change
The yin/yang energies are always flowing between each other, no matter what. If we see it or not is another issue. Sometimes it might just be much slower than at other times, but it is still flowing. And, we have a choice to flow with it or try to resist. Our lives are “easier” if we allow ourselves to flow with the change; accepting what life throws at us. Or our lives become difficult if we resist it.
The simple Tai Chi Diagram is not an easy thing to study. But it becomes easier as we study nei gong. So, practice daily and you will begin to see how a simple concept is in everything we use and everything we do. Again, come back to check when I get more of the website up. 🙂