I want to bring up the concept of Yin-Yang and how it relates to you (us) in many aspects. As two sides of the same coin, the combination of day followed by night, and the very traditional view of the sunny and shady sides of a hill–Yin and Yang are two aspects of a whole. In Chinese medicine, we look at everything is relation to something else, and Yin-Yang guide this process of looking. 

For example, the summer is more Yang than the winter. The days are longer, the temperatures are hotter, plants grow more, and the whole season is more “amped up,” energetic, and outward-facing. Comparatively, the winter is colder, the nights are longer, many plants and animals are more at rest or even hibernating, and the energies are more inward, subdued, and restful. 

Generally, when we make lifestyle suggestions they take the season into consideration. Following the seasons and nature’s lead often give us the best bet at doing something in the most healthful way. Simply, we should wake with the sun, have our activity during the day, and sleep at night. Act opposite to nature, and you’re fighting the tide and pushing against the wind.

There is a cyclical quality to Yin-Yang. Day turns into night, night turns into day. Winter becomes spring which then becomes summer. Crops germinate, grow, bear fruit, and are then harvested, composted, and readied for the next season. There is no “good” or “bad” to any of this. No value judgements accompany Yin-Yang complements. Everything is a part of nature, relates in relative ways to that which is around it, and changes over time. The Yang of day becomes the Yin of night, which then becomes the Yang of day again. 

In our activity-based culture, it seems that we have missed the opportunity to relate to our lives with the wisdom of a nature-based Yin-Yang view. I am constantly hearing people tell me how they want to do more, and it almost seems as though there is a value judgment of “bad” placed on anything restorative, restful, or passive. Unfortunately, this culture has roots in patriarchy, which mistakenly values Yang-male as more important than Yin-female. Of course, every patriarch has a mother who brought them into the world, yet that part is often undervalued. And with it, anything Yin goes into an “unimportant” category. 

Of course, nothing could be further from the truth. If you make a fire in your fireplace, fire pit, or grill, the wood is the Yin fuel, the fire the Yang. When the fuel gets used up, the fire disappears. No fuel, no fire. And anyone who has had prolonged insomnia knows how quickly health and sanity disappear when you are not sleeping for any period of time. 

So this week I’d like you to reflect on your balance of Yang-activity with your Yin-rest. Are you in balance? Are you carrying the patriarchal aversion to rest into your life? Have you lost touch with nature? Do you yell at yourself for being inactive, for taking a respite, for balancing work with fun? Or work with rest? Do you eat on the run? Or do you sit down, chew your food, and digest it properly? What standards are you holding other people to? Are those standards in balance?

When you get acupuncture, your internal energies are getting balanced. You have Yin and Yang acupuncture channels, you have Yin and Yang organs. These all like to live in harmony and balance with each other. When they are out of balance, things go wrong and you get “symptoms.” Don’t drive yourself into the ground because the culture around you doesn’t understand the concept of Yin-Yang balance. Balanced living is the better choice, and working with, rather than against, nature is the easier path.