The Yellow Emperor's Classic of Medicine says, "The reaches of heaven and earth and yin and yang are vast, and ultimately everything in the universe can be classified into the polarity of yin and yang.
Yin and yang are not absolute, but their principle never changes. The law that governs does not falter, although everything around it changes according to the point of reference. For example, before the birth of all things and creatures above ground, the living potential resided in the place of yin. This is called yin within yin. Once it was born and appeared above ground, this phenomenon was called yang within yin. It was after birth or post-heaven that the yang qi enabled everything to grow.
Yin provides form. Yang enables growth. Warmth of the spring gives rise to birth, the fire of the summer fuels rapid growth and development, the coolness of autumn matures all and provides harvest, and the coldness of winter forces inactivity and storing. This is the rhythmic change of nature."
I have been thinking long and hard about how the Five Elements and Six Divisions relate to the yinyang symbol. The reason I seem to be drawn to this exercise is that in my work at the moment I am constantly looking for simplicity and I believe (perhaps wrongly) that I can reduce my metaphorical models to yin and yang. I am not saying that the other models do not have value, they do, they all have their own way of expressing our patterns, physical and psychological, and provide a myriad of examples in nature that clients can relate to. I love the fact that the quotation above says that before the birth all resided in yin. I had been thinking about pendulums and it occurs to me that for the pendulum to start something outside of its own motion must lift it and give it some potential energy. At rest the pendulum drops to vertical and will not start by itself. (The pendulum above can be started by clicking it).
I drew a yin yang symbol and realised that cycles follow on from one another. Tai Yang comes from Jue Yin of the previous cycle. Again the Yellow Emperor's Classic of Medicine leads us through the transition of the six divisions. Though in Shiatsu theory we may believe that Kd is the deepest meridian, relating to bones, in the six divisions, extreme yin (Jue Yin) is Liver and Heart Protector.
Like a clock that has wheels within wheels, all oscillating at different frequencies, so there are many levels, about which many people have written, all of which breath to a different rhythm. We can focus on the clock or on one cog or on a group of cogs and listen to their unique tick, does it sound smooth and even or is there an irregularity?
None of these thoughts will change the way I work because, as with most arts, my development happens through some spontaneous growth mostly beyond my ken. They do however provide another input to that growth and one that I enjoy very much. If these thoughts interest you too then please do comment.
