Right Hand: Yin or Yang?

[Non]

I've seen conflicting information on whether the hands or either yin or yang.

 

The dan-tian has been also said to be yin, is that the case for males as well?

[voidisyinyang]

The lower body is electrochemical energy. The heart-brain is electromagnetic connection. The more you practice the more you store electromagnetic energy in the lower body.

 

The palms of the hands are yang. The sword fingers is the yin energy.

 

I've seen conflicting information on whether the hands or either yin or yang.

 

The dan-tian has been also said to be yin, is that the case for males as well?

[~jK~]

I've seen conflicting information on whether the hands or either yin or yang.

It may be according to if you are Left or Right handed... Most muscians are ambidexterious.

 

 

The dan-tian has been also said to be yin, is that the case for males as well?

One of the definitions for Yin is "Law of Nature" - as The Yin power of distance neutralizes the awesome destructive power of the sun (yang) to the point that it is an energy needed for life.

 

It would seem that the dantian falls into this category as:

Definition from http://taoism.about.com/od/glossaryoftaois...s/g/Dantain.htm

"In Taoist Inner Alchemy practice, the three Dantian (also spelled Tan-t'ian) are the primary locations within our energetic anatomy where qi is collected, transformed and circulated. The literal translation of Dantian is "cinnabar field," and they have a function, in Taoist practice, similar to the function of the Chakras used in Hindu yoga practice. The most important of the three Dantian is the lower Dantian, located in the lower abdomen, 1.5 cun below the navel."

[Orochi]

Hermetically speaking, the right palm is said to be electric or yang, and the left palm is said to be magnetic or yin. The same is said to apply with the whole body as well. Thus some say it is dangerous to accumulate yang in the heart, because it is on the left side of the body and more sympathetic to yin. However, I do not believe this means that yin or yang does not flow in both hands or sides of the body, but might generally be more sympathetic to the body's natural magnetic poles, thus easier to work with when flowing in their respective poles.

[soaring crane]

I've seen conflicting information on whether the hands or either yin or yang.

 

The dan-tian has been also said to be yin, is that the case for males as well?

 

Hi Non,

 

question: how would the hands being either yin or yang affect your practice? From a TCM POV, roughly, the yang meridians run along the (harder) back of the hand and fingers and yin meridians are on the (softer) inside. Laogong is part of the yin pericard meridian.

 

But if you observe the hand isolated from the rest of the arm and body, the lower half, the heel, would be yin in comparison to the yang fingertips. The further "out" you get the more yang you're looking at, and vice-versa.

 

Likewise, the hands as a whole would be yang in relation to the the yin lower arm, if you only observe from the elbow down. The whole arm in relation to the torso would be yang. So, it's all dependent on your POV and what exactly you're trying to accomplish.

 

An example: We rub the hands 81 (a super yang number) times before we massage the uber-yin kidneys, in order to bring as much balance to it as we can. But we rub 24 (a yin number) times before massaging the yang face/head region. The intention has to be there for it to work.

 

Something interesting that people ask sometimes: If yin qi is the tendency to flow upward, then why are the yin meridians in the arm flowing downward, from the shoulders to the hands? The answer is too stretch your arms above your head, palms forward, then you have everything aligned with yin rising up the front and yang sinking down the back.

 

Something else that comes up a LOT is which hand is yin or yang and is it different for men and women? People get passionate about this because it affects how we close Dantian after practice. The dogmatic technique says women have to lay the right hand on the abdomen and left hand on top of the right. But, I tell people to lay "a" hand on the DT and the other one on top, let intuition guide the process. And more than 2/3s lay the left hand on the abdomen first, with no difference between men or women, in my experience.

 

People will say that women tend to intuitvely close with the right hand but real-world practice doesn't bear this out at all.

 

Re: Dantian. It's basically the same thing. The torso as a whole is Yang in relation to the legs. But the lower torso region is yin in relation to the upper regions. And so on, ad infinitum. The "borders" are not razor-sharp, they're more like the progression of one season into the next. A difference between men and women in this respect would be new to me.

Edited December 20, 2009 by soaring crane

[Sarnyn]

One of the definitions for Yin is "Law of Nature" - as The Yin power of distance neutralizes the awesome destructive power of the sun (yang) to the point that it is an energy needed for life.

 

It would seem that the dantian falls into this category as:

Definition from http://taoism.about.com/od/glossaryoftaois...s/g/Dantain.htm

"In Taoist Inner Alchemy practice, the three Dantian (also spelled Tan-t'ian) are the primary locations within our energetic anatomy where qi is collected, transformed and circulated. The literal translation of Dantian is "cinnabar field," and they have a function, in Taoist practice, similar to the function of the Chakras used in Hindu yoga practice. The most important of the three Dantian is the lower Dantian, located in the lower abdomen, 1.5 cun below the navel."

Whats up fellow Hermeticist!

 

Don't forget that according to Franz Bardon it is reversed if your dominant hand is the left. I've actually always been confused by this because I am naturally ambidextrous.

[Orochi]

Whats up fellow Hermeticist!

 

Don't forget that according to Franz Bardon it is reversed if your dominant hand is the left. I've actually always been confused by this because I am naturally ambidextrous.

 

 

Greetings

 

hmm, I forgot about that. It would be interesting to try to figure out the logic behind it. I imagine someone who is ambidextrous might then find it easier to use both with either hand. Although does that mean that both sides are equally sensitive to electric and magnetic to the same degree? I don't know.

Edited December 21, 2009 by Orochi

[Non]

Greetings

 

hmm, I forgot about that. It would be interesting to try to figure out the logic behind it. I imagine someone who is ambidextrous might then find it easier to use both with either hand. Although does that mean that both sides are equally sensitive to electric and magnetic to the same degree? I don't know.

 

exactly, that's what I wanted to know. If one hand is yin, the other is yang, I can put them together over a yin body part, to draw energy to it.

 

anyways.. I think the whole yin/yang stuff is basically about comparison. A thing is only yin or yang when compared to another.

[fiveelementtao]

exactly, that's what I wanted to know. If one hand is yin, the other is yang, I can put them together over a yin body part, to draw energy to it.

 

anyways.. I think the whole yin/yang stuff is basically about comparison. A thing is only yin or yang when compared to another.

Generally speaking....

According to East Indian Yoga, The right side is Male (Sun, Yang) Left side is Female (Moon, Yin). I'm not an expert in TCM but what I've heard is:TCM teaches Right is Yin, Left is Yang. In my taoist tradition, I was taught right hand is Yang, Left hand is Yin... In the African tradition I learned, Right is External (Male) Left is Internal (female). In context of all world energetic traditions (that I have seen... which is only a little) all teach Right is Male, Left is Female. The only exception I've seen IME is in TCM. I don't know why there is a difference there, Maybe a TCM person can explain the difference....

Edited December 21, 2009 by fiveelementtao

[Orochi]

Generally speaking....

According to East Indian Yoga, The right side is Male (Sun, Yang) Left side is Female (Moon, Yin). I'm not an expert in TCM but what I've heard is:TCM teaches Right is Yin, Left is Yang. In my taoist tradition, I was taught right hand is Yang, Left hand is Yin... In the African tradition I learned, Right is External (Male) Left is Internal (female). In context of all world energetic traditions (that I have seen... which is only a little) all teach Right is Male, Left is Female. The only exception I've seen IME is in TCM. I don't know why there is a difference there, Maybe a TCM person can explain the difference....

 

 

That is interesting.

[Todd]

Not everyone within TCM sees the left as Yang and the right as Yin.

 

Somewhere in the classics (sorry can't be more specific, though pretty sure its in the Nei Jing) it says that the Lung descends on the right and Liver ascends on the left. The doctor who I have been following recently bases a lot of his treatments on those principles, and he maintains that when the classics were speaking of left and right, at least in this instance, they were talking about the doctor's point of view when treating a patient. If I am facing you and you are facing me, then my right hand corresponds to your left hand and vice versa. If I refer to the left side, from my point of view, then I am actually referring to your right side. With this interpretation, energy tends to rise more on the right and descends more on the left. This is more of a general tendency than a hard rule, in that on both sides of the body, energy moves in any number of directions. But this way of seeing the general tendency is opposite to the most common interpretation of what is said in the classics.

 

There are less ambiguous statements about left and right though. For example, it is said that when the emperor gets up in the morning, he faces south, and the light from the rising sun falls on his left side, so the left side is more Yang. However, when one considers the pulses of the most commonly accepted pulse map, the right hand's pulses are all more Yang than the left hand's pulses. On the right, we have the Lung, Spleen/pancreas, and Kidney Yang. On the left we have the Heart, Liver and Kidney Yin. Why the Lung and Spleen/pancreas are more Yang than the Heart and Liver gets a little technical, and is not absolute, but the tendency is there. Also, it can be said that the left hand's pulses represent more the Blood and the right hand's pulses represent more the Qi.

 

Altogether, what we are left with is a bit of a conundrum. There is no wide consensus within the TCM community, and, as my teacher says, the whole left and right issue is one of TCM's weak points. Though in some ways, ambiguity offers more room for creative approaches to novel situations. It also opens the door to a more nuanced way of seeing things.

[fiveelementtao]

Thanks for that input... That clears up alot and confirms alot for me... Thanks again...

Not everyone within TCM sees the left as Yang and the right as Yin.

 

Somewhere in the classics (sorry can't be more specific, though pretty sure its in the Nei Jing) it says that the Lung descends on the right and Liver ascends on the left. The doctor who I have been following recently bases a lot of his treatments on those principles, and he maintains that when the classics were speaking of left and right, at least in this instance, they were talking about the doctor's point of view when treating a patient. If I am facing you and you are facing me, then my right hand corresponds to your left hand and vice versa. If I refer to the left side, from my point of view, then I am actually referring to your right side. With this interpretation, energy tends to rise more on the right and descends more on the left. This is more of a general tendency than a hard rule, in that on both sides of the body, energy moves in any number of directions. But this way of seeing the general tendency is opposite to the most common interpretation of what is said in the classics.

 

There are less ambiguous statements about left and right though. For example, it is said that when the emperor gets up in the morning, he faces south, and the light from the rising sun falls on his left side, so the left side is more Yang. However, when one considers the pulses of the most commonly accepted pulse map, the right hand's pulses are all more Yang than the left hand's pulses. On the right, we have the Lung, Spleen/pancreas, and Kidney Yang. On the left we have the Heart, Liver and Kidney Yin. Why the Lung and Spleen/pancreas are more Yang than the Heart and Liver gets a little technical, and is not absolute, but the tendency is there. Also, it can be said that the left hand's pulses represent more the Blood and the right hand's pulses represent more the Qi.

 

Altogether, what we are left with is a bit of a conundrum. There is no wide consensus within the TCM community, and, as my teacher says, the whole left and right issue is one of TCM's weak points. Though in some ways, ambiguity offers more room for creative approaches to novel situations. It also opens the door to a more nuanced way of seeing things.

[Non]

nobody's really explained why medical qigong uses right hand as yin. I wonder if this effects any of the practices if they use this theory in the application of the practice.

[Sloppy Zhang]

B.K. Frantzis wrote an article about this here.