A native of Sanqu (present-day Qu County, Zhejiang). Born into a family of physicians, his grandfather once served in the Taiyiyuan. Jizhou initially pursued a career in the civil service examinations but, hindered by bureaucratic obstacles, shifted from Confucian studies to medicine. In the 34th year of the Jiajing era (1555), he was selected as a court physician. By the 3rd year of the Longqing era (1568), he advanced to the Shengji Hall of the Taiyiyuan, serving as a medical official across three dynasties until the Wanli era, totaling 46 years. His medical practice spanned Fujian, Jiangsu, Hebei, Shandong, Henan, and Shanxi. Building on the family's health-preserving acupuncture and moxibustion secrets , he extensively studied various texts and integrated his own experiences to compile Zhenjiu Dacheng .

Zhenjiu Dacheng represents a significant summary of acupuncture and moxibustion theory and clinical practice, following Neijing , Jiayi Jing , and Tongren .

Yang's extensive clinical experience and distinctive academic views emphasized the indispensability of acupuncture, moxibustion, and medicine in treatment. He valued the meridian and collateral theory, guiding point selection based on pattern identification, advocating "better to miss the point than the meridian," ensuring "no incorrect points, no unaddressed ailments." In practice, he stressed "the subtlety lies in the fingers," emphasizing supplementation and drainage techniques, summarizing the 14 ancient needle techniques into 12-character methods: "nail pressing, finger holding, mouth warming, needle insertion, finger tracing, nail pinching, needle alignment, finger twisting, finger twirling, finger retention, needle shaking, and finger withdrawal." Later, he simplified these into eight needle insertion techniques: probing, pressing, twisting, flicking, blocking, pressing, tracing, and twirling. Yang promoted the through-point needling method, introducing techniques such as the mountain-burning fire method, heaven-penetrating cooling method, green dragon wagging its tail, red phoenix shaking its head, dragon-tiger combat, dragon-tiger ascent and descent, and midday horse supplementation and drainage.