Balancing Too Much Yin? How?

[Jadespear]

Given a man has too much Yin overall. I don't mean in a particular organ, I mean in his whole expression and personaity. Is there a way to balance that?

 

Can one balance a Yin personalitiy by drawing in Yang from outside? How? Does it really work? Has anyone experiences doing so successfully?

Thank you!

 

 

I think first you need to assess what your definition of a personality is.   The human societal persona is really the accumulated actions that have been expressed throughout lifetimes.  In short, a personality is nothing more than grooved in habits of activity that are very deep in someone because of what they thought of, how they behaved, etc etc. over multiple lifetimes.  Therefore a personality is like a mosaic piece of art that is created on top of a white canvas.  The mosaic is entirely created by the creator, and can be changed.  Therefore a personality is not really who anyone is... the canvas is.

 

So that being said,  a yin personality.... what does that even mean?  Is this person receptive to information, normally connecting concepts in their mind, are they calm and peaceful all the time?  Those characteristics are generally accredited to the term "yin".  

 

Everything when altering or changing someone's fundamental accrued nature; depends on what they believe about themselves.  I mean most people do not ever change throughout their entire lives.  They stick to what they know and continue on in that vein.  Trying to change someone by blunt coercion usually ends up offending them if they are smart enough to realize that's what you are doing and are proud of their personality and themselves.  Altering someone's personality and behavior is extremely hard after they reach a certain age.  Children are easy to mold because they have to obey their parents because they don't know anything and their minds are open like sponges.  As people grow older they develop in different ways...   so if you are trying to make this person more " yang " what does that really mean?  Does that mean more active throughout the day, more involved with creating things, events, situations, and good times?  

 

I would suggest that you just gently nudge them in the direction that you want them to go.... maybe over the course of days, months, and years  their personality may change.

 

But this concept that you seem to hold of drawing " yang metaphyscial energy from the universe and  injecting it into someone to balance their energetic expression"...... is very strange indeed.   Can you collect yang energy yourself from the universe?  Do you know where it comes from?  Do you know that you are actually speaking about the forces that underly all existence and can have devastating drastic and destructive effects to those that dabbe with them.    Yang energy is fire.  You want to play with metaphysical fire and push it into or onto someone's personality?   What the hell are you thinking?  

 

Have you ever heard of accepting someone for who they are? Not who you want them to be?

 

 

I swear that people on these threads really need to understand the basics before asking such strange and delusional questions with such heinous moral implication.  Read the Tao Te Ching please.  It is the basis of taoism.

 

Tao Te Ching:

 

Chapter 10

 

" Pacifying the agitated material soul and holding to oneness:

Are you able to avoid separation?

Focusing your energy on the release of tension:

Can you be like the infant?

In purifying your insight:

Can you un-obstruct it?

Loving the people and ruling the state:

Can you avoid over-manipulation?

In opening and closing the gate of Heaven:

Can you be the female?

In illuminating the whole universe:

Can you be free of rationality?

 

Give birth to it and nourish it.

Produce it but dont possess it.

Act without expectation.

Excel, but don't take charge.

 

This is called Mysterious Virtue."

Edited January 13, 2016 by Jadespear

[futuredaze]

1. Activity.  Since YANG is associated with strength, action, and masculinity, I would start by meditating on what yang actually is.  I'm not sure if I can describe how I go about this, personally, but I have faith that you will eventually intuitively gain understanding of yin and yang principles as you meditate on them more and naturally observe them from day-to-day.  These meditations will invoke the energy on a subtle level and actually make its nature more clear.  Of course, reading about it, asking peoples opinions, can be helpful, but you need to find out on your own what it is, how YANG relates to YIN, and how your experience relates to YIN and YANG.

 

Once you are more aware of what it is, you can start to act in a way that will eventually get your energy and spirit balanced.  For myself, I was pretty YIN but meditating and qigong tend to balance this.  Lifting weights is definitely very yang, and I think cardio stuff might help but probably more in a way that they are balancing rather than strong yang.  Another thing: meditating under a pine tree is said to make one more yang since pine is very yang (compared to willow which is very yin).  Everyone is different, so while it is helpful to see what others do, we need to skillfully experiment on our own. 

 

2. Diet.  Certain things, like soy that is not fermented, or chemicals (which I forget the specifics of right now) in plastic, for instance, can raise levels of estrogen in the body.  I try to stay away from these foods, even though I don't think the effect would be  huge if I just have some soy oil or whatever, I rather not take risks with my health. Other foods, like maca, burdock root, and pine pollen, for instance, are said to be helpful for balancing hormones and I believe both can potentially increase testosterone level (reported more anecdotally than scientifically, so proceed with caution).  There are way more herbs too, but those three are the only ones I have personally experimented which come to mind.  And yes, they can be helpful and extremely potent.  I avoid maca now actually since it makes me too yang... burdock is good though, more balancing than maca.

 

It is interesting how multi-layered this question is, and how multi-layered the answers are.  Some people look at yin and yang on a more chemical level whereas others are more mystically or intellectually.  To me, it shows how powerful these concepts yin and yang are, since they can be looked it from many layers and dimensions.  All this while still, on some level, remaining very mysterious.

Edited January 15, 2016 by futuredaze

[liminal_luke]

I´m not sure if increasing yang is synonymous with increasing testosterone, but if you´d like to increase your testosterone naturally here´s some info.

 

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/how-to-increase-testosterone-naturally/#axzz3xGyWAhHJ

[Gerard]

Here is a tea that will nourish the Yang for those with too much of the opposite:

 

Double Cinnamon Tea

Cinnamon twig (Gui Zhi)....15 grams
Cinnamon bark (Rou Gui)...15 grams
Honey-fried licorice root (Zhi Gancao)...15 grams

Method of administration: Place these three herbs in a pot, add water, and boil for 3-5 min.

Functions: Warms yang and increases pressure

Indications: This tea  is  suitable for the treatment of  excessively low blood pressure due to yang vacuity with fear of cold, cold limbs, dizziness, lack of strength, and a deep, slow pulse.

 

Note: check with professional herbalist before consuming this tea.

 

Edited January 20, 2016 by Gerard

[Orion]

I'm a man who is more yin by nature, and I've never seen it as a weakness. It's not like one is better than the other... they're interpenetrating and intergenerating. Everyone contains both. I find that my path in life is a more yielding, receptive one. I would like to take some martial arts just to explore the yang nature in myself.

 

In this thread there is an unfortunate tendency to associate yin personalities with lack of yi （意） but that's not necessarily true. Being yin seems like doing nothing but it's not. Surrender and yielding require intention. Ask any yang person how hard this is for them. When I choose to engage in yang activities I often slower than others at the outset but I end up doing better than them in the long run. Yin is slow to move but if it has been accumulated then it becomes unstoppable once in motion. There's also more yin to draw on yang activities if it has been conserved, more qi that can be transformed from substance into action.

 

In other words both should be understood as important. Neither is superior.

 

Likewise, my blood work has always shown a higher testosterone level than average. I don't think you can equate hormones with being more yang than yin.

 

In most holistic medicine systems, like TCM and ayureveda, weight lifting is seen as depleting to both kidney yin and yang over time, but especially yang. It's not dynamic enough to prevent most forms of qi and blood stagnation, unlike the martial arts which are integrative. Most body builders don't live to a ripe old age, and many common weight lifters develop heart problems if they push their bodies too much. It also taxes the endocrine system. Hormones are yang so if your foundational nutrition is solid, the yang should get replaced.

 

I do lift weights but only to tone. You need to look beyond yin/yang philosophy for what is best for your constitution. If you have a runner's build then it doesn't make much sense to focus on weight lifting.

 

At the end of the day, the concept of yin and yang personalities is just a duality. Don't get sucked into thinking you're too much of one and not enough of the other. One aspect of yin and yang is that they are always relative. Next to another yin person you may be the more yang.

 

If you aren't happy with the way you are and want to change, then change. Ascribing the nature of your desire to change to yin/yang philosophy can only take you so far. If I were to categorize things I'd say I started out yang, became more yin, then incorporated more yang activities along the way; but I could easily compare myself to someone else seems way, way more yang than I am, even with the balancing I've done.

Edited January 20, 2016 by Orion

[Andrei]

I do lift weights but only to tone.

 

Me too. 

 

 

I'm a man who is more yin by nature, and I've never seen it as a weakness.

 

Same here, and because of that I've done martial arts all my life since 17 years old. But I've seen it as a weakness because I had worst stamina and strength than my peers, I needed more time to recover after effort and now I understand why. I was all my life adrenal type which means I was over producing adrenaline and cortisol that made me shy and silent and meditative , over reacting through fear and social anxiety to external stimulus. This is diagnosed as Yin deficient because of excess of Yang of kidney and liver.

 

So the way I see it inside and outside are just the opposites, if inside is Yang (organs energy) the outside is Yin (personality) and the vice versa, if inside is Yin the outside is Yang. So to express outside a Yang personality you need to build inside the body Yin energy (hormones, proteins, aminoacids etc. in a Chinese word = Jing). Now you have a Yang personality because of the Yang Qi  that burns fast and steady a huge amount of Jing, but as long as you replenish the Jing then the Yang Qi that radiates outside is balanced by the Yin Qi (Jing) of the inside.

 

It is the lamp candle metaphor, if you replenish the oil in the lamp you can have a flame that gives you heat and light. And you can do that indefinitely as long as the body functions are balanced (Yin/Yang, 5 elements, zhang-fu organs etc.)

[futuredaze]

If you aren't happy with the way you are and want to change, then change. Ascribing the nature of your desire to change to yin/yang philosophy can only take you so far. If I were to categorize things I'd say I started out yang, became more yin, then incorporated more yang activities along the way; but I could easily compare myself to someone else seems way, way more yang than I am, even with the balancing I've done.

That is a good point.  We are all unique, different genes, different life history, different ambitions, etc.  I think that using the yin/yang philosophy can be helpful, but we have to remember that it is only a map and not the territory itself.  Not only that, but we are the ones who make the map.

 

It is best not to compare ourselves to others, since we are so different.  If I say I "feel too yin" that does not mean in comparison to others or even some imagined ideal.  When I say that I mean I that I feel out of balance, more on the yin side, relative to other states I have experienced in the past.  Now, perhaps things will never be in total equilibrium, and at best we can curb the extremes and just enjoy the cyclical ways yin and yang manifest itself.  Regardless, this framework is only valid if we have good self-awareness and good understanding of yin and yang.  Otherwise, a split between the real and ideal will emerge and it will make living a lot harder.

[Learner]

San Ti Shi is something recommended by BKF to build up yang energy in the body.

[salaam123]

On 5.1.2016 at 10:47 AM, Rocco said:

Given a man has too much Yin overall. I don't mean in a particular organ, I mean in his whole expression and personaity. Is there a way to balance that?

 

Can one balance a Yin personalitiy by drawing in Yang from outside? How? Does it really work? Has anyone experiences doing so successfully?

Thank you!

I think the answer is not just yang chi, but you need to look into root/perineum channel in my opinion. When your perineum channel is good, youll get more masculinity. Then if you can generate lots of yang chi, even better. If your root/perineum channel is weak, you will be weak. This is just my opinion.  You can get a good perineum channel by sports, maybe. Maybe wrestling would be good? Or horsestance? Or you can manipulate it, but this can get you in trouble, if youre not careful. 

Edited September 14, 2023 by salaam123

[salaam123]

I would add that one thing that will make you masculine also, is selibacy. Try to quit any kind of sexual activity for a long duration. This may help. This coupled with above is what I try to do.