All beings depend on balance to live. Day and Night occurs everyday and without one everything would feel off kilter. Eventually certain living plants and beings would get sick and die. Everything that is of nature including ourselves depend on balance to live. Yin and Yang is a crucial theory to help shed some understanding on balance. Yin is the nourishing, cooling, moistening aspect of life. Yang is the energizing, warming and moving energy of life.
Yin is female, our left side of our body represents Yin. Yang is male, our right side represents Yang. A balance of yin and yang is necessary to maintain homeostasis to ensure proper temperature, hydration, energetic movement, and organ health/function.
We live in a very yang world with excesses all around us. There are many factors that can disturb our yin and yang. Take a look at the yin and yang symbol, everything on this planet depends on the balance of both. While the world is very yang, the danger lies in not promoting a balance of the yin. So, we must do certain daily practices to promote our yin. Eating juicy wet fruit and vegetables, breathing techniques, sleeping 8 hours a night, meditation, prayer, restorative yoga’s, Qi Gong, a leisure walk, etc.. Most importantly realizing that we are all connected and our practices of maintaining our health depends on doing what we can to take care of the yin of the planet. Eventhough our efforts seem small, anything we can do to have less waste helps our Earth.
When there is a deficiency of yin or yang there is normally an excess of the other. Yin is equal to blood and all other body fluids. Yang is equivalent to Qi. Yin depends on yang to move the fluids and yang depends on yin to have enough fluids to hydrate as it moves. If there are not enough fluids then dryness and heat become elevated. If there are too much fluids then dampness occurs which makes the body heavy and yang has a difficult task of energetically moving. This is just one example of the importance of the balance between yin and yang. When looking at nature you will see many important factors to support this balance.
Think Balance is key, start walking with your left foot. Take time to breathe and smell the roses. Slow down. Eat fruits and vegetables throughout the day. Meditate or pray everyday. Be Grateful. Exercise. Connect with nature as often as possible. Get Acupuncture and massage often. Stay Calm with Acupuncture. This will allow one to be at peace in the mist of chaos and stress.
Yours in Wellness,
Dana Guggenheim L.Ac.