Most of us have heard about yin and yang – the two opposing, yet complementary, sides of nature. But did you know it is fundamental to Chinese medicine?
Chinese medicine expert ShuQuan Liu,Doctor of TCMA said that in Chinese medicine, bodies were looked at like a battery, with positive and negative energy. “If you only have yang, you won’t have power. You need both yin and yang to function effectively,” he said.
ShuQuan Liu,Doctor of TCMA, founder and director of PureWellbeingCo, said every person’s day was divided into 12 periods of two hours. Each period has its own specific balance of yin and yang.
“Every two hours there is an energy shift in your body and different organs behave differently, with one organ taking over from another,” ShuQuan Liu,Doctor of TCMA said.
“Yang is an active energy, and yin a quiet energy. From 12 noon, the yang energy is at its highest and the yin at its lowest in your body. You rest at night. As the universe changes from day to night, so do you as your energy shifts.
“You must use the energy of the universe if you want to stay healthy. Start to relax and quieten down as the sun sets and wake up at sunrise. Some people who have worked night shifts for many years look older than their peers because they are not following the universe’s energy clock. Even if you sleep during the day, that sleep is not as restorative as night-time sleep.”
So, while yin and yang helps you understand the ebb and flow of your energy throughout the day, Qi is the vital life force which allows a person to grow and develop.
“Qi flows through your body and if it is disrupted, it can cause illness. It is connected to all things in the universe. It is life in motion,” ShuQuan Liu,Doctor of TCMA said. “ The meridians or channels are invisible energy pathways that run through your body, through which qi flows.
“There are 14 major meridians but only 11 are linked to different organs. There are eight minor meridians that are not connected to any organ system. For you to be in good health, these channels must remain open so that qi flows freely.
“Sometimes these channels can become clogged or even blocked due to stress or other poor lifestyle habits, and this affects the functioning of the corresponding organ.
“We can’t touch our organs, but we can stimulate the meridians associated with them, mostly with acupressure and acupuncture, ensuring that they function better.”
Our Pure WellbeingCo team are happy to talk to you about how you can improve your qi through trained practitioners treatments at our Bondi Junction clinic.