Yin and Yang: The four imbalances
Two heats and two colds that are not treated alike. 6 activities, about 14 minutes.
Excess yang: too much fire
It arrives fast, hard and loud. The body has resources to spare, which is why the picture is dramatic. The strategy is to remove, not to add.
- High fever, the whole face red
- heat with force
- Thirst for large amounts of cold water
- heat burns through fluids
- Rapid, full pulse
- there is energy to spare
- Thick yellow coating
- heat with matter to drain
Common mistake: Tonifying «because the patient looks so ill». Adding here makes it worse.
Yin deficiency: not enough water
The fire is the usual fire, but it shows because there is no longer water covering it. It is a small heat, with a time of day, in the five surfaces. The strategy is to add.
- Heat in palms, soles and chest
- heat surfaces where yin is thinnest
- Night sweats
- at night yin fails to contain
- Flush on the cheekbones only
- a small, floating heat
- Red, peeled tongue
- no fluid left to make a coating
Common mistake: Draining this heat with very cold herbs: it spends yin further and the heat returns stronger.
Yang deficiency: not enough fire
No cold has come in: warmth is no longer being produced. That is why the picture is slow, quiet and improves with anything that brings heat from outside.
- Cold that eases when wrapped up
- production is short, cold is not in excess
- Fatigue worse on exertion
- there is no reserve
- Clear, copious urine
- nothing is concentrating it
- Deep, forceless pulse
- little energy in circulation
Common mistake: Mistaking it for excess cold and simply expelling cold. Here the job is to light the fire.
Excess yin: too much cold or damp
Something has piled up — cold that got in, damp that is not draining — and it takes up room. The body still has strength, so the pain is intense and refuses pressure.
- Fixed pain, worse on pressure
- something is in the way
- A sense of heaviness
- damp accumulating
- Thick white coating
- cold or damp with matter
- Deep but forceful pulse
- excess, not deficiency
Common mistake: Tonifying an abdomen that hurts on pressure. First clear what is in the way.
Place each finding under the imbalance it points to.
- Strong thirst for very cold water
- Sweating while asleep, dry on waking
- Loose stools with undigested food
- Abdominal pain that refuses massage
- Dry mouth only before dawn
- Hands and feet always cold, no pain
- Constipation with dry stools and strong breath
- Heavy legs with swelling
Flushes before dawn, night sweats and a red peeled tongue. Build the name of the picture.
Level complete!
What is understood is not forgotten the way memorized things are.
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Study content. The exercises describe concepts of Traditional Chinese Medicine; they are not medical advice.
