Yin Yang & Chinese Herbal Medicine

Hello :) 

This post will focus on introducing you to Chinese Medicine first through the theory of yin and yang, with a particular focus on Chinese herbal medicine. If you are already familiar with Chinese medicine perhaps this can be a nice refresh. 

Chinese medicine is an ancient medicine; it has been around for thousands of years. This may say a lot about its efficacy and ability to be helpful over time. This medicine has been based off observing the environment; learning about disease and physiology from observing the harmony and disharmony in nature as the seasons and times change.

One of the most fundamental aspects of Chinese medicine is yin and yang; this was the first lens in which phenomena are categorized. It is said that yin and yang represent the dualistic forces that make up our reality.

Coming from wu ji, which translates roughly to without polarity, yin and yang are oppositional forces with an interdependent relationship, creating the taiji. Yin is the substance and yang is the force. Yin is the physical structure of the body and yang is the breath. 

All phenomena are said to have infinitely divisible aspects of yin and yang. And each aspect of yin and yang is relative. For example, the head is yang compared to the feet; but the head is yin compared to the sky. It is all about relativity and relationship.

As to not get too heady, we can talk about the ways that yin and yang relate to each other. As I mentioned, yin and yang are interdependent; they are also mutual converting, waxing and waning and counterbalancing. As you can see in the taiji symbol, there is a dot of white and black within its oppositional pair. This means that nothing can be fully yang or fully yin. They are constantly converting and recycling into each other. It is said that yin gives rise to yang and yang is that which yin is born out of. 

So how is any of this relevant to my health? Isn’t this just a theory? To start, it isn’t just a theory, it is an experience! We can experience the aspects and relationship of yin and yang in everything that we do. Yin and yang are all about cycles and basically, getting familiar with the cycles of yin and yang is what can help us ride the waves of imminent change and impermanence in our lifetimes. 

For example, getting familiar with the yin and yang aspects of the day and night can be helpful in regulating our sleep, digestion and mood. As the sun rises in the morning, yang is starting to grow; so this can be a good time to get up and slowly get movin and groovin. Then we can experience the peak yang time around 12 PM as the sun is directly above. Then yang slowly wanes toward yin as it becomes evening. Perhaps we slow down our activities and begin to cook a nutritious meal. Then things get really yinny as we move toward the night time. The sun sets, the air cools and our bodies signal that they are tired and ready to rest and sleep. 

In Chinese medicine, the balance and relationship between yin and yang is the main instrument for health and disease. What we are trying to do in our treatments as Chinese Medicine practitioners is to restore the balance and communication between the yin and yang aspects of our clients. 

So how do yin and yang relate to Chinese Herbal Medicine?

Any disease can be outlined and categorized into yin or yang. But remember, nothing can ever be fully yin or fully yang; so, there will always be divisible parts of any disease presentation that can be separated into both yin and yang. 

As Chinese herbal medicine practitioners, we aim to see if the disease is fundamentally more yin or yang and then what herbs can we prescribe to restore this balance of yin and yang. 

It is said in the Huang Di Nei Jing, The Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic, which is a fundamental ancient text where we learn so much about yin yang, the five phases and Chinese medicine in general, “Where yin prevails there is cold; when yang prevails there is heat. When yang is deficient there is cold; when yin is deficient there is heat.”

So, we look at the yin aspects of the patient and their presentation and the yang aspect and then we prescribe herbs that will help restore any imbalance. Herbs themselves have yin and yang aspects. In Chinese herbal medicine we take into account the nature (flavor of the herb), the temperature and the Channels that the herb affects the most. 

So, in these three categories we can see if the herb is more yin or yang in nature. If the herb is more yin in, i.e. more cooling and substantiating, then it is likely used in more yang type pathogenic situations, i.e. when there is a lot of heat present. 

I’ll give an example of an herb that is relatively more yang in nature and an herb that is more yin in nature. 

Yang herb: Sheng jiang 

English name: Fresh ginger

Nature: Acrid

Temperature: Slightly warm

Channels entered: Lung, Spleen, Stomach

Actions: Warms the digestive organs, dispels cold on the exterior

Indications: Cold in digestive organs which can be seen through vomiting, stomach ache after eating/drinking something cold, watery diarrhea, stomach pain or cramping, etc. Dispels cold on the exterior can be seen through simultaneous fever and chills, along with headache and stiff neck, etc. 

A photo of how sheng jiang, fresh ginger, is added to an herbal formula.

Yin herb: Sheng di huang

English name: Rehmannia Root 

Nature: Sweet, bitter

Temperature: Cold

Channels entered: Heart, Kidney, Liver

Actions: Clears heat and cools the blood, nourishes yin and generates fluids

Indications: Heat in the blood or general heat could be seen as high fever or hemorrhage, etc. Yin deficiency is seen as mouth sores, loss of fluids, throat pain, etc. 

I offer these two examples to show not only how we look at Chinese herbs but also how we then use the herbs. The first and fundamental thing we can consider not only with the client, but also with the herb is the predominance of yin or yang. If someone has a presentation that we interpret is caused more from heat (yang) then we will use a more cooling (yin) approach in our herbal formula.

But remember! There always has to be a balance. For sure, some presentations call for a mostly cooling or mostly warming formula, however, most times we will likely prescribe formulas that are balanced in temperature and nature as to adjust the clients’ internal environment of yin and yang back to harmony. 

If you haven’t given Chinese herbal medicine a try, I highly recommend it. This medicine is powerful and effective. 

Please reach out to me through email if you have any questions about this blog or have any questions about Chinese herbal medicine before you give it a try. 

I hope this blog was somewhat informative, more to come!

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