Explanation of Yin and Yang
Yin and Yang, ancient Chinese symbol of T'ai-chi Tú (diagram of the highest reality). It consists of a circle with two black and white elements nestled against each other. They symbolize the two primal forces of all being. The division of being into the categories Yin and Yang is older than the written records from China. Early cult objects already show the "symbolism of polarity and change". Yang represents the male principle and stands for: Bright, strong, creative, fixed, above (heaven), movement, clear and rational. Yin is the female principle and corresponds to the qualities: dark, weak, calm-contemplative, yielding, below (earth), calm, complicated - intuitive. Male and female, day and night are not absolute opposites, but both contain the core of each other in themselves. Therefore, the black area of the T'ai-chi-Tú symbol has a small white core, and the white area a black one. The yin-yang teaching is the foundation of Chinese medicine (see acupuncture) and nutritional science. The physicist Fritjof Capra pointed to correspondences between the ancient Chinese symbol and the findings of modern physics.
Complementary polarity:
"All things carry the yin in itself, the yang in the arms," it says in Dao De Jing. Yin and Yang are two complementary aspects, "two sides" of an object, a process or a state. They have opposing character and yet form a unity. Neither of them can stand alone. There is no Yin without Yang, and there is no Yang without Yin - comparable to the relationship between front and back. There can never be a front on its own, just as there can not be a back on its own. The Yin or Yang character is always relative, changeable and conditional. Yang is above in the human body, Yin below. Yin is at the front, Yang at the back. Inside is yin, outside is yang. Accordingly, the upper body is Yang compared to the legs. The chest area is Yang compared to the abdominal area. The front of the chest is Yin compared to the back of the chest area (upper back), and the inside is yin compared to the surface.
Mutual dependency (conditionality):
Yin and Yang depend on each other, condition each other. Yin can not be without Yang, and Yang can not exist without Yin. For physiological balance and optimal functioning of our organism, activity (yang) and rest (yin) must balance each other. Activity alone, without appropriate rest periods, leads to exhaustion - and thus all activity ends at the same time. Conversely, inactivity also leads to an imbalance in our body, imbalance and disease.
Mutual control:
Yin and Yang control each other. The yang ensures that the yin does not become overpowering in the organism, and conversely, the yin ensures that the yang is "committed." If the yin is too weak, the yang of the organism can no longer be adequately controlled. The consequences are, for example, subfiebrige temperature, night sweats, restlessness and sleep disorders (falling asleep). If, on the other hand, the yang is too weak, the organism lacks the moving, dynamizing force. The yin is no longer adequately controlled (moved). Inactivity, cooling of the organism and functional weakness are the result.
Mutual conversion:
Yin changes into Yang, and Yang changes into Yin. Winter and summer, night and day merge, follow each other. Activity and effort naturally lead to rest and recovery. Rest and relaxation on their part lead to activity and activity. At the physiological level, for example, the mutual transformation is that long-lasting fever (Yang state) leads to cold (yin) with cold extremities and shivering. Stagnation (blockade, Yin), on the other hand, subsequently leads to an "inflammatory process", to heat (Yang). The dots symbolize the germination of the yin in the yang and vice versa (out of which one comes the other).
