Yin & Yang

Yin and Yang is the important principle underlying the movement of Chi within the body also traces its origin back to the ancient cultures and medical philosophies of the East. This is the celebrated pairing of Yin and Yang. One of the ways the Chi is able to move through the body is via the interplay of these two great polarities, which are considered to be at work within all of nature.

Yin and Yang describe the complementary yet opposing forces of nature, such as night and day, cold and hot, female and male, winter and summer. Their relationship has a harmony and balance. Both Yin and Yang are necessary, they are constantly moving and balancing each other and the interaction between them creates Chi. The Chinese observed that when the balance of Yin and Yang is disrupted in an Individual, so too will be body’s Chi, leading to ill health.

The ancient Chinese philosophers believed that in the beginning the universe was void and boundless, and they called this state Wu Chi. From, Wu Chi evolved motion, yang, and its opposite aspect, stillness, yin. The Universe was created through the interplay of yin and yang, and the state which included both these aspects was called Tai Chi.

The concepts of yin and yang also provide a means to understand and measure the qualities and characteristics of all things. The opposite and complementary aspects of each are as follows:

Yin - Passive Cold Soft Dark Moon Stillness Feminine Water Earth

Yang - Active Hot Hard Light Sun Movement Masculine Fire Sky

It is important to note that yin and yang are not labeled good and bad. Instead they have a creative relationship and are constantly interacting and changing, with one never existing in isolation from the other. From the interaction of yin and yang arose the five basic elements: wood, fire, earth, metal, water. These elements can exist in a helpful and complementary relationship to each other, or they can work against one another and destroy themselves.

A popular Chinese rhyme goes like this:

Wood Burns to produce fire, resulting in ash which becomes earth. From Earth there emerges Metal, which produces Water by condensation.

Also Wood occupies Earth and Earth soaks up the Water, Water douses Fire, Fire melts Metal and Metal cuts Wood.

These five elements feature in all Tai Chi movements, being represented as advance (metal), retreat (wood), shift to the left (water), shift to the right (fire) and central equilibrium (earth).

The art and philosophy of Tai Chi is based on the interplay and changeability of yin and yang. This creates a balance of movement and provides grace to the Tai Chi exercises. The harmony which results, promotes the holistic benefits of Tai Chi.