Yin-Yang Balance & You
Achieving yin-yang balance helps you to stay healthy, happy and fulfilled.
The state of life is illustrated by the yin-yang symbol; known also as the tai chi symbol.
Before talking about yin-yang balance, let's find out what yin and yang mean.
Yin and yang are two sides of dualism. It is the tail and the head of a coin. The tail is yin, then the head is yang. They exist alongside one another. The head cannot exist without the tail, and the tail cannot exist without the head.
Everything in this world is a dualism. In it, you can always find yin and yang.
The earth we live on is yin, and the sun that brings us warmth is yang. A woman is yin, and a man is yang. Sadness is yin, while joyfulness is yang.
Generally, yin is passive, oppressed and feminine. Yang, on the other hand, is active, bright and masculine.
Knowing yin and yang helps us to understand and manage reality.
You can transform a situation by altering the yin-yang relationship or striking a new balance.
Try it the next round when you are in a heated argument.
Instead of rebuttal, try changing the yin-yang balance by keeping silent.
Yin and yang exist as energy fields. In an argument, a contention is yang, and silence is yin. When you introduce silence during the argument, you are introducing the yin energy into a situation dominated by yang. This can alter the state of the energy field by lowering the yang energy.
If probably managed, a result can be an amicable yin and yang balance, which is beneficial to both parties.
What'd happen if you do the contrary?
If instead of introducing silence, you argue, you bring more yang energy into the energy field. The yang energy would rise, or even go out of hand, resulting in yin-yang off-balance, turning the relationship acrimonious.
This is like what Lao Tzu depicts in the following verse:
“Tao engenders One;
One engenders Two;
Two engenders Three;
Three engenders all things.
All things carry the yin (femininity)
while embrace the yang (masculinity).
Neutralising energy brings them into harmony.” (42)
In this case, the silence could be one, and the heated argument two. When they interact in the way that you manage, it emerges the new yin-yang situation, which is known as three.
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Yin-Yang Symbol
The yin and yang symbol, as shown on the left, is known also as the symbol of 'Tai Chi' -- the Chinese word that literally means 'ultimate potentiality'.
The symbol illustrates a state of yin-yang balance, which can be found in all existence, from natural phenomena, social order, to functions of our body.
The symbol is in the shape of a circle and consists of two colors. The black color represents the yin energy, and the white color represents the yang. They are opposing qualities of dualism.
In the circle, there are two fish-like features. The black fish is yin, and the white fish is yang.
There is a black dot that looks like an eye of the white fish. Similarly, there is a white dot as if an eye of the black fish. Walking through the diameter of the circle, you will not experience pure black or pure white. There is always some black and some white.
This means that yin and yang are rooted in one another. You find yin in yang, and yang in yin. This is, in fact, a reality of life. In life, you hardly find a situation which is pure yin or pure yang. There are seeds of sadness in happiness; and opportunities in every risk.
Yin and yang wax and wane; and can be mutually transformed.
Note that the yin-yang symbol is rounded. This gives a sense of continual movement and interaction of the two energies. Although opposing, they are complementary and interchangeable. Yin can turn into yang and yang turns into yin, causing a new state of yin-yang relationship to establish.
A challenge for us in life is to balance the yin and yang in things we do. The better we are in finding the equilibrium, the more effective we can be. This is like the sage Lao Tzu describes:
“The Sage who is
Forthright but not hurting;
Sharp but not wounding,
Candid but not being crude;
Shining but not dazzling." (58)
Click here to read about other key Tao concepts.
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