THE MOTIVE FORCE: QI
Qi (pronounced "chee") can be understood as the creative or formative principle associated with life and all processes that characterize living entities. All animate forms in nature are manifestations of Qi. Qi is an invisible substance, as well as an immaterial force that has palpable and observable manifestations.
Qi has its own movement and also activates the movement of things other than itself. Qi begets motion and heat. Within the context of the human person, Qi is that which enlivens the body and is differentiated according to specific functional systems. All physical and mental activities are manifestations of Qi: sensing, cogitating, feeling, digesting, stirring, propagating.
One Chinese ideogram for Qi is composed of an upper radical representing "rising vapor" and a lower radical denoting "grain." The steam that spirals from a pot of cooking rice symbolizes distilled essence, hence Qi can be translated as the vapor of the finest matter. The highly refined essence of food (Food Qi) and air (Air Qi) in the body become one entity known as "pure" or "righteous" Qi. Defensive Qi (wei) is the activity of adapting to influences such as weather or mobilizing resistance to pathogenic microorganisms and noxious substances in the environment. Qi refers to resources the human organism consumes, transforms, and transmits.
QI, MOISTURE, BLOOD
Just as earth is comprised of land, ocean, and atmosphere, so the body is organized as Blood, Moisture, and Qi. Blood governs tissue, the material form of the body. Moisture governs the internal environment, the body's inner ocean. Qi governs the shape and activity of the body and its process of forming and organizing itself. Qi also implies the totality of Blood, Moisture, and Qi, the total summation of the life of the organism.
Blood is
a material substance as well as the process of generating, distributing, and storing nutrients. Moisture is an amorphous substance as well as the process of generating, distributing, and storing fluid. Qi is an invisible substance, as well as an immaterial force that manifests as movement and activity through which it is palpable and observable. Moisture cannot be separated from the function of moisturizing, Blood from nourishing, nor Qi from moving. They are part of a continuum of tangible forms and immanent functions.Within the body, every phenomenon is a product of the interaction of
Blood, Moisture, and Qi. Without proper Moisture, the Qi becomes hot and agitated and the Blood dries up and congeals. Without Blood, Moisture is dispersed and Qi is scattered. Without Qi, Moisture and Blood stagnate, coagulate, and cease circulating. Each constituent exists as an individual entity and yet depends completely upon the larger system, the body. All functions and processes are interdependent, cogenerating, and mutually regulating.
YIN-YANG AND THE HUMAN BODY
Yin-Yang also describes human process. The stages of life go from conception to birth, growth, decline, and death. Our youth (Yang) is like the harequick, capricious, erratic, and light. Our older years (Yin) are more like the tortoise-slow, deliberate, dense, and persevering.
When we expand and fill out chests with air, we are in the Yang phase of respiration; when we exhale and empty our lungs, we are in the contraceptive Yin phase. We perpetually fill and empty our stomachs, our lungs, our hearts, our minds. We are active (Yang) and lie quiet and rest (Yin).
Yin is the material basis, tissue, for the transforming power of Yang, which reorganizes and regenerates. Food (Yin) is transmuted by metabolic activity (Yang) into more substance (tissue) and more energy (beat and metabolic activity). The sperm (Yang) joins the egg (Yin), and new life is created by their merger and interaction. Thus the sperm mobilizes and transforms the substance provided by the egg. The sperm derives its propulsive and activating power from the male (Yang), and the egg derives its receptive and nurturing power from the female (Yin).
The internal organs of the body, hidden and protected from external influence, are
Yin relative to the exposed skin and muscle, which are Yang. The lower part of the body is in contact or rooted to the ground, Yin, whereas the upper body is able to move freely, Yang, even when the legs are rigid. The front of the body is protected by folding the arms and legs to enclose the chest and abdomen, whereas the back of the body is. relatively exposed. Hence the front is more Yin relative to the back, which is Yang.Immunity functions as the first line of defense: guarding the surface protects against internal harm. Using our battle analogy, the field army wards off attacks on the fort. If they get cut off from the fort, the troops will run out of ammunition and food. If the Yang is weak, the body is unable to ward off attack and enemy forces penetrate the protective walls. If the Yin forces of the fort are not strong, supplies and food are insufficient to meet the fighters' need to refuel the energy they have expended. The Yin fort provides the substance that sustains the Yang activity in the field. Without substance, activity is weakened; without activity, substance is insecure and unprotected. They mutually support each other as an interdependent and indivisible system.
The exterior surface of the human body (skin, hair, superficial nerves, and blood vessels) is exposed and therefore Yang. The internal structures (viscera, bones, brain, and spinal cord) are the basis of sustenance and therefore Yin. The internal Organs can be further differentiated into the "hollow" Organs (Yang), which perform functions of digestion and elimination (catabolism), and the "solid" Organs (Yin), which perform the function of assimilation and storage (anabolism). The solid Organs are analogous to the rock that soaks up the sunlight and stores this energy as heat for later use, much like a passive solar heater. The hollow Organs can be likened to a water wheel, which is capable of transforming the movement of water into energy for work. The water wheel itself cannot store up energy, and the heated rock cannot perform work directly.
Together, as Yin and Yang, a paired solid and hollow Organ comprise Organ Networks (commonly referred to by the Yin Organ name). The dense Yin Organs of the Liver, Heart, Spleen, Lung, and Kidney store the essential and potential energy derived from substances; the hollow Yang Organs of the Gallbladder, Small Intestine, Stomach, Large Intestine, and Bladder process the substances of the external environment. However, Yin and Yang are relative, not absolute designations: the Heart is a "solid" Organ and therefore Yin, yet its propulsive contraction while squeezing the blood through the vessels is Yang. This is what is meant by the Yang within the Yin.
Yin-Yang Correspondences
The theory of correspondence describes the parallelism and synchronicity of events in the inner and outer world of the human organism. All phenomena are ordered according to Yin Yang and the Five Phases of Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water, which represent five sorts of fundamental process, each of which corresponds with five Organ Networks, five seasons, five climates, and five personality types. The workings of the body are associated with each of the seasonal cycles of evolutionary transformation: birth, growth, ripening, harvest, and decay. Each of the five Organ Networks performs a function within the cycle. Analogous to the five climates and seasons in nature is the internal milieu generated by each of the Organ Networks.
Categories Yin Yang macrocosm sky moon sun time midnight midday season winter summer temperature cold hot humidity wetness dryness spectrum dark luminous realm hidden revealed solidity dense porous texture hard soft mass heavy light stages forming transforming
Yin Yang Universal substantive active contracting expanding descending ascending cold hot watery dry forming transforming heavy light hidden revealed interior exterior
Physiological Yin Yang generation of: blood, lymph,hormones, mucus, urine,perspiration, nutrient substances, collagen, fat process of: circulation, secretion, discharge, peristalsis, pulsation, metabolism, respiration
Constitutional Patterns low energy, lethargic high energy, hyperactive sallow, pasty, pale complexion ruddy, swarthy, flushed complexion small, soft, flaccid body large, firm, fleshy, body delicate features coarse features weak soft voice projecting loud voice hypotensive hypertensive tends to feel cold tends to feel warm tends toward damp tends toward dry Diagnostic Parameters Yin Yang internal external cold hot deficiency excess chronic acute
| Categories | Wood | Fire | Earth | Metal | Water |
| macrocosm | |||||
| power | expansion | completion | transition | contraction | consolidation |
| climate | wind | heat | humidity | dryness | cold |
| season | spring | summer | late summer | autumn | winter |
| direction | east | south | center | west | north |
| time | dawn | noon | late afternoon | dusk | midnight |
| stage | birth | growth | maturity | degeneration | death/germination |
| color | aquamarine | red | yellow-ocher | white | black/purple |
| odor | rancid | acrid | fragrant | fishy | rotten |
| flavor | sour | bitter | sweet | spicy | salty |
| sound | crashing | roaring | humming | cracking | sucking |
| human microcosm | |||||
| faculty | active awareness | transcendent awareness | passive awareness | subliminal awareness | primal awareness |
| (hun) | (shen) | (yi) | (po) | (zhi) | |
| motive | self serving | self dissolving | self locating | self defining | self preserving |
| quality | emotive | sensitive | reflective | deductive | instinctive |
| activity | implementing | intuiting | absorbing | analyzing | scanning |
| expression | anger | joy | rumination | sorrow | fear |
| condition | arousal | excitement | poise | inhibition | withdrawal |
| voice | hollering | giggling | quavering | sobbing | groaning |
| organ | Liver Network | Heart Network | Spleen Network | Lung Network | Kidney Network |
| tissue | eyes, nails, ligaments, nerves, | external ear, tongue, arteries | mouth, lips, gums, muscles, collagen, fat | skins, pores, body hair, lymph vessels, veins | inner ear, head and pubic hair, bones, teeth, marrow, brain and spinal cord, anus, urethra, cervix, ovaries, testes |
| substance | nutrified blood | oxygenated blood | chyme and chyle | lymph | cerebrospinal fluid |
| essence | tears | sweat | saliva | mucus | sexual secretions |
[Beinfield, Korngold, 42-43]