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Want to understand Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM)? Want to learn TCM? First, understand yin-yang. In three minutes, you'll grasp the concepts of "yin" and "yang," benefiting you for life. Before diving into this article, reading Rediscovering Tai Chi will enhance your comprehension.

First, don't mystify terms like "Tai Chi," "yin," and "yang." They are simply mathematical symbols used by ancient people for discussion. A system containing the concepts of "yin" and "yang" is called "Tai Chi." If you prefer, you can call it the O system, with the two opposing concepts within it called X and Y. Exploring how X and Y interact, balance, and transform is the essence of this symbolic system.

"Tai Chi" is particularly suitable for describing various natural phenomena, including human physiology and pathology. Just as in mathematics, X usually represents the horizontal axis and Y the vertical axis, "yin" typically symbolizes negative, tangible, static, dark attributes, while "yang" represents positive, intangible, dynamic, bright attributes. If you don't get confused, you can even swap them.

Human physiology can be simplified as a burning candle

The human body inhales oxygen, oxidizes fuels like glucose or ketones within the body to produce heat, energy, thoughts, and power, driving all physiological activities. When a candle burns, it also requires oxygen to oxidize the wax, producing light and heat, illuminating the surroundings. Thus, a burning candle is a fitting metaphor for human physiology, simplifying complexity.

Using the Tai Chi yin-yang symbolic system to analyze, the candle flame belongs to yang, and the wax belongs to yin. The wax undergoes oxidation and burning to produce the light and heat of the flame, a process of yin-yang conversion, similar to the human body.

Common patterns of yin-yang imbalance

Below, we explore several aspects of the waning and waxing of yin and yang in the human body, which are closely related to our health.

If the candle flame is too small, the light is insufficient, akin to a person's low efficiency in energy production, leading to a weak original qi spirit. This condition is known as yang deficiency in TCM, referred to as the "yang deficiency pattern", a macroscopic model of human pathology. Yang deficiency is not a good sign. To correct it, what should be done? For a candle, lengthening the wick restores the flame to its normal vigor. For a person with yang deficiency? If not severe, generally, hot-natured foods or Chinese medicinals can correct the yang deficiency constitution, such as ginger soup or Cassia Bark, which can increase the body's energy production rate, restoring yang qi, known as "yang-tonifying" treatment in TCM.

If the candle flame is too large, although it is exceptionally bright, such a candle will burn out prematurely. Similarly, if a person's metabolic efficiency is too high, although they may feel more energetic and easily excited, it will also rapidly deplete the "candle wax" within the body, which refers to the essential substances needed to maintain the body's metabolic functions. If these substances are not sufficiently replenished, a person will "run out of oil and the lamp will extinguish." This condition is known as excessive yang, referred to in TCM as the "yang hyperactivity pattern". Yang hyperactivity is not a favorable condition. How can it be corrected? For a candle, simply trimming the wick will reduce the flame to a normal level. For a body with yang hyperactivity, what can be done? Generally, cold-natured foods such as juicy fruits, bitter melon, and Chinese medicinals like Anemarrhena and Phellodendron Bark can correct the constitution of yang hyperactivity. They can reduce the excessively high metabolic rate of the body, restoring it to normal. In TCM, this is known as a "heat-clearing and fire-purging" treatment.

If the candle flame is normal or slightly larger than usual, but the wax is not sufficient and is about to burn out, this condition is called yin deficiency. In the human body, it refers to the insufficient essential substances (wax) needed to maintain normal combustion and energy production, which in TCM is referred to as the "yin deficiency pattern", leading to a series of yin deficiency symptoms. How should this be treated? For a candle, adding some wax to thicken the candle body allows the candle to continue burning brightly for a long time. In the human body, generally neutral or cool-natured foods such as Barbary Wolfberry Fruit and Chinese Date, and Chinese medicinals like Rehmannia and Ophiopogon Tuber, are excellent for tonifying yin, helping to make the body's combustion and energy production more durable and stable.

If the candle flame is very small and the wax is almost burned out, this condition is called deficiency of both yin and yang. In the human body, it means the efficiency of combustion and energy production is low, and there is not enough fuel for combustion and energy production, leading to symptoms such as poor spirit, weak physical strength, even unsteadiness, and cold hands and feet, reflecting various signs of deficiency of dual yin and yang. How should this be treated? For a candle, thickening the candle body and lengthening the wick can immediately restore its original brightness and durability. In the human body, for mild cases, drinking a bowl of brown sugar ginger tea can improve the condition, as ginger can tonify yang and brown sugar can tonify yin. For severe cases, Chinese medicinal formulas such as Ten Major Tonics Decoction and Kidney Qi Pill can be used. They contain medicinals that tonify yin, helping to add fuel and provide the essential substances needed for the body's combustion and energy production, and also contain medicinals that tonify yang, enhancing the rate of the body's combustion and energy production, quickly restoring the patient's yin-yang to normal levels.

Internal diseases often begin with an imbalance of yin-yang

If the wick of a burning candle is lengthened, its flame will become larger and brighter, but its wax will also burn out faster. Similarly, if a person frequently stays up late, overworks, or often consumes dryness-heat-inducing foods or medicinals, their rate of combustion and energy production will increase, leading to heightened spirit and warmer hands and feet, but the consumption of yin will outpace its replenishment, quickly turning their constitution into yin deficiency. And when their yin is almost depleted and can no longer support the combustion of yang, yang will also quickly dim, eventually leading to a constitution of deficiency of both yin and yang. The common progression of chronic diseases is: yang hyperactivity → yin deficiency → deficiency of both yin and yang.

If the wick of a candle is shortened, its flame will become smaller, and its lighting function will deteriorate. Similarly, if a person frequently consumes raw and cold foods (such as ice drinks, melons, and raw vegetables) or Chinese medicinals that clear heat and purge fire (such as Coptis Rhizome and Barbated Skullcup Herb), over time it will lower the body's rate of combustion and energy production, reduce the body's vitality, and even lead to a yang deficiency constitution characterized by cold hands and feet, drowsiness, and a desire to sleep.

Yin-yang imbalance is a macroscopic pathological state of the entire human system (Tai Chi), which is not equivalent to a specific disease but can manifest in countless possible symptoms. Using climate as a metaphor, for example, drought is an extreme climatic condition within the meteorological system, a state of climatic imbalance distinct from favorable weather conditions. It can lead to a large number of plants withering, animals dying of thirst or starvation, and land cracking. The treatment for such "symptoms" is not to water each plant individually, feed each animal, or fill each crack in the land, but to use rational scientific methods to restore favorable weather and bring rain, thereby naturally restoring the balance of nature. The therapy of TCM follows the same principle.

Summary

By now, you should have understood the application of yin-yang in TCM and realized that the "tonifying" in TCM does not mean making the body excessively hot or causing dry mouth and thirst. TCM assesses the current yin-yang state of the body and applies therapies such as tonifying yin, tonifying yang, tonifying both yin and yang, or clearing heat and purging fire to balance the body's yin and yang. If you understand the principles of yin-yang, you have grasped the essential method of health preservation. You can maintain the balance of yin and yang within your body at all times, reducing illness and distress, living a long and joyful life.

Tonifying yin for yin deficiency and tonifying yang for yang deficiency—doesn't TCM sound simple? Superficially, it may seem straightforward, but this is the essence distilled from thousands of years and generations of battling diseases, a treasure of heart and blood. The "formulas" may appear simple, but comprehending and applying them is no easy feat. Is Go simple? The rules are straightforward, even a child can understand them, but the variations of black and white stones are endless, making it incredibly challenging to play. The application of yin-yang is similar. Within the human body, every zang-fu organ can be divided into yin and yang, meridians can be divided into yin and yang, the surface and interior of the body can be divided into yin and yang, bodily fluids can be divided into yin and yang, and even the upper and lower parts of the body can be divided into yin and yang. Down to a single cell, yin and yang can be distinguished. Clinical application, however, requires specific training and experience.

TCM is a rational and advanced science. It has developed a macroscopic yin-yang physiological and pathological model, complete with diagnostic and therapeutic principles, as well as effective and non-toxic Chinese medicinal formulas with no side effects. It simplifies complexity and manages intricacy, regulating the macroscopic state of imbalance in the human body to achieve true health. Compared to modern medicine, which often presents a barrage of numbers yet still only treats symptoms—headache for the head, foot pain for the foot—the latter seems like an infant in its cradle. To those of us who study the transmission from one meridian to another, modern medicine appears quite immature. The advancements of TCM in this regard are something modern medicine cannot hope to match, even in a hundred years. TCM is truly an anomaly and a gem in human culture. Anyone with a clear mind who truly understands the essence of TCM cannot help but exclaim, "Amazing!"