New Observations TCM principles

[Yasjua]

Yin and Yang

These aren't mystical abstractions, but Observable characteristics and behaviors that the body manifests. Disengaged, shy, soft, tender, sensitive bodies that contract on contact are yin. Yin receives impressions. A Yin body allows events and other energies to easily impress their nature and character onto them. When yin mental illness strikes it's psychosis/neurosis. Yang mental illness is better classified as insanity. While yin gets impressed, yang does impressing. It impresses itself on the world. Yin quickly conforms to the environment, while yang leaves impressions on the envrionment. Really strong, conscious, aware yang energy can move and control a crowd of people. Yang bodies are engaged. The body muscles are "on," strong, firm, and deeply in contact with the world. Healthy engagement is different than pathological rigidity. In my observation many bodies have had their yang stolen from them through loss of personal authority or other painful conditions that cause the body to disengage from life. There are of course pathological and healthy versions of both. Pathological yang is macho, stiff, egotistical, pointlessly/shallowly, maybe redundantly involved in situations - always adding something, but never adding anything. Yin pathology may be an insecurity that seeks constant impressions, continuously pressing for others' opinions or judgments. Creating situations in which judgment or impressions can be imposed on them. Loss of self, inherent character, qualities of depression and anxiety. Less egotistical more 'egological' if I can make words up. Yang stands taller, yin slouched, yang says what's on its mind, yin does not.

Organs and Spirit
TCM thrives (imo) in its detailed understanding of the interface of spirit with the vital organs of the body. Elements of fragmented consciousness in the form of beliefs, memories, and other types of illness for which westerners have no name can be stored in the organs for decades, even lifetimes without ever being evoked into consciousness. Deep tcm healing can release experiences from the unconsciousness of the organs into the conscious orifices of the senses. My experience was that after a kidney liver heart tonification a taste that I hadn't tasted since the age of 4 to 6 appeared in my mouth. I considered that th is was a very old illness and remembered being quietly confounded by it as a child.

Kidneys
IME kidneys store deep creative intelligence. They're associated in TCM with water, saltiness, darkness. IMO they resonate with deep unconscious, primordial, and oceanic energies, which are their macrocosmic origins - these natural universal states are represented vibrationally and holographically through the function of the kidneys. The recent kidney-specific tonification I went through helped the kidney energy move upward into the upper central nervous system and evoked a wealth of creativity and visual-linguistic enhancement that I thought I had lost a few years back. Tcm theory says the kidney fills the spine and the brain. My observation is that kidney energy needs sufficient heat through proper activity to rise upward and fill the brain with its creative unconscious potentials. Kidneys are both fire and water. Water descends and fire rises. Insufficient heat to raise kidney energy results in heavy menstruation, seminal emissions and loss of essence through sexual activity. Kidneys also control the opening and closing of the lower orifices. The lower burner should be closed (indicating strong kidney qi) and heat should be applied to the lower burner to encourage kidney essence to rise.

Lungs

It's not that mysterious that lungs have to do with vocal self-expression, but in tcm the focus is mainly on pathology: phlegm, coughing, spitting up blood, invasion of pathogens, etc. In reality lungs are organs of music, joy, communication, connection, and many other things. They have tcm specific qualities that pertain to physiology such as misting the body with qi and regulating water, but I think these can overshadow more obvious qualities and conclusions anyone can come to with adequate introspection. The lungs can be organs of bliss or just function well enough to keep the body healthy. Together with the muscles, the spleen (which moves qi up and out), and the kidneys (which write lyrics) the lung is musical.

Other random observations

Chewed food is yang. Unchewed food is yin.

Crunchy food is yang mushy food is yin.

 

Walking through produce section one can tell the yin and yang qualities of everything. I was surprised to conclude that celery is predominantly a yang food (for me), in that it requires crunching - perhaps elementally it is more yin, but in terms of how it is physiologically and phenomenologically processed it has some very strong yang qualities.

 

Yin and yang are not only about "energy" and thinking this way is blinding to one who wants understanding. There are extremely obvious layers and dimensions to duality that go overlooked when TCM is steeped too deeply in mystical thinking.

Some very quiet, gentle, and small people can have tons of yang energy. You have to listen on a deeper level to people when you practice TCM.

 

A yin-dominant body (small, frail, soft) can have tremdendous mental confidence and spiritual clarity, making them more yang in nature. You can usually tell if someone is yin or yang dominant just by putting a hand on their shoulder, back, or stomach.

 

A lot of yang deficient people are too scared to get worked up in public environments. They privatize their yang energy, which contradicts yang nature. They don't like sweating in public, moving too much, or doing anything that indicates that they're alive and engaged in life.

 

Digestion

TCM has totally changed my digestive system. About 7-8 sessions into treatment for digestive/fatigue issues, they both completely vanished. I came home from a show one evening and had a craving for peanut butter and jelly. My body hasn't been able to handle bread or peanut butter for at least three years. But I rolled with the craving, bought some regular-ass white bread, peanut butter and jelly, and haven't had any problem at all digesting any of them. I basically never thought I'd be able to eat bread again. All we've done is tonify and remove stress from my spleen.

 

Edited July 5, 2015 by Yasjua