Yin within Yang, by Jaay (Jade) Kulhawy-Bartlett, R.Ac.
When learning how to comprehend the basic principles of Chinese medicine, students are taught that all of the philosophical ideas that underpin the ideas of yīn and yáng, and the ways they are interrelated, can be mapped on to the tàijí – or what in the west we might hear people casually refer to as the ‘yin-yang symbol’. This simple image can represent many different elements of the interplay between yīn and yáng, such as the cyclical waxing and waning of the seasons through the course of the year.
Yīn and yáng are relative to each other, so if the sunny side of a mountain is yáng, then the shady side is yīn. If the top of the mountain is yáng then the bottom of the mountain would be yīn. Then the same goes for year, if the winter solstice is the point of greatest yīn or dark, and the summer solstice is the point of greatest yáng or light, then all the rest of the year is a flow and inter-transformation of one into the other, and back.
As we travel around the symbol like a clock, starting where there is the most white, we can see the white (representing yáng) slowly diminishing while the black (yīn) grows. This represents the turn from the greatest yáng at midsummer into late summer and fall. During this phase of the cycle of the year, the yáng remains predominant, but the yīn is increasing in effect and influence.
One way to represent this interplay is the circle of black that is surrounded by the sea of white. By the basic principle of intertransformation, yīn and yáng transform into each other, and by that each always contains within it the seed of the other.
It is for these reasons that we refer to autumn as the season of ‘yīn within yáng’ – where the transition from the yáng half of the year to the yīn half of the year occurs, and the seed of yīn is allowed to grow and flourish in the midst of yáng.
Living in attunement with these changes in the world outside of us can allow us to move with greater ease and vitality through the cycles of the year, and the cycles of life. What are some ways you can allow your yīn within yáng to grow throughout this season?
