Yin and Yang and the Five Elements
Before one begins to study Traditional Chinese Medicine, it is
important to grasp the fundamentals of its philosophy.
The most pivotal concept to explore is that of Yin and Yang, the
duality in the nature of all things which drives all interplays
in the universe. Yin and Yang are interconnected, diametrically
opposite, and constantly transforming into each other; that is,
each has the seeds of the other within it, and they cannot be separated
in life---to separate yin and yang is the beginning of death. Yin
and Yang are graphically represented in the famous Tai Ji symbol.
Yin is feminine, soft, moist, cool, dark, receptive, structural.
Yang is masculine, hard, dry, hot, bright, active, motive.
The concept of Yin and Yang can be applied to anything in existence
on a theoretical level, but in Traditional Chinese Medicine, it
is used in a very strategic way to break down patterns for diagnosis
and treatment.
Another foundational concept is that of qi. Qi is roughly translated
as"finest matter substance", but we can more easily understand it
like electricity flowing through a wire. Qi runs in the meridians
of the body, which travel the trunk and limbs, and it can be accessed
through the acupuncture points. Different points along the meridians
have different functions in terms of their effect on manipulating
the qi, and each one takes on a distinct personality in terms of
needling sensation and overall effect. People generally become more
attuned to their own qi in each point as they have more experiences
getting acupuncture.
The meridians in the body function as travel networks to the different
organs, and Traditional Chinese Medicine speaks of 12 main organs
and 5 "extraordinary" organs. These "organs" differ slightly from
our Western definitions and include the energetic functions of the
organ and meridian.For example, the Chinese Medicine concept of
"spleen" is a digestive organ, whereas the Western "spleen" is an
organ participating in blood cell filtering. The Chinese Medicine
"liver" includes the functions of the Western "liver",
but it has the additional significance of regulating our responses
to stress.
In addition, these organs are not viewed as fragments which can
be separated from each other, but seen as integated parts of a whole
system. The body is seen as a microcosm of nature, subject to natural
laws, and the organs are assigned syncretic correspondences with
the five elements of earth, metal, water, wood, and fire.
The elements
are said to generate one another: earth produces metal, metal produces
water, water grows wood, wood burns into fire, and fire produces
ashy earth when it is spent.
Similarly, the elements are said to control each other: wood controls
earth, fire controls metal (like a crucible), earth controls water
(like a dam), metal controls wood (like a knife), water controls
fire (by dowsing it).
This is more than poetry; it is the basic skeleton of a complex
medical system wherein all of the energies produced by various organ
systems at work influence each other. Each element also corresponds
to a different season (i.e. time of year when the qi resides mainly
in this organ), taste (which stimulates the organ), smell (odor
of the body used as a diagnostic tool of imbalance in an organ),
color (in diagnosis also), and emotion (which impacts that organ).
Each organ exists as part of a pair, with one yin organ (more
internal) and one yang organ (more external, usually part of the
GI tract), in each of the elements:
Lung and Large Intestine make Metal. Season is autumn, color
is white, taste is spicy, emotion is grief.
Spleen and Stomach make Earth. Season is late summer, color
is yellow, taste is sweet, emotion is overthinking.
Heart and Small Intestine make Fire. Season is summer,
color is red, taste is bitter, emotion is joy.
Pericardium and Triple Warmer are also part of Fire.
Pericardium wraps the heart. Triple Warmer (San Jiao) is a distinctly
Chinese concept, representing the energetic system of the upper,
middle, and lower parts of the body.
Kidney and Urinary Bladder make Water. Season is winter, color
is black, taste is salty, emotion is fear.
Liver and Gall Bladder make Wood. Season is spring, color
is green, taste is sour, emotion is anger.
Chinese medicine pays special attention to the emotions, because
they are considered to be at the root of many internal diseases.
Western medicine gives lip service to this by calling certain diseases
psychosomatic, but in Chinese Medicine, there is a direct link between
a given emotion and the patterns of organ imbalance which are expected
to occur; hence, the meridians can be used to mitigate these emotional
stresses fairly specifically.
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