Qi Kong (QiGong)

That Yin and Yang are present in all life is expressed in chapter 42 of the Tao Te Ching:
Tao gave birth to One,
One gave birth to Two,
Two gave birth to Three,
Three gave birth to all the myriad things
All the myriad things carry the Yin on their backs and hold the Yang in their embrace, Deriving their vital harmony from the proper blending of the two vital Breaths. (Wu,trans. 1989)
Yin and Yang represent the unification of opposites and the on-going cycle of creation and destruction ordering the universe and the life of each individual being. Synthetic or dialectical logic is a western point of correspondence for this theory that recognizes patterns and change by seeing the part in relation to the whole. Harriet Beinfield, L.Ac. recalls how this similarity captured her imagination:
The relational, interactive, process-oriented thinking of Chinese medicine resembles Hegelian dialectics. This was not altogether coincidence since many European philosophers were affected by Eastern thought. It was this similarity that charmed me from the start. Because Chinese medicine was about interwoven relationships and continuous processes of decaying and becoming rather than a reductionist examination of things in and of themselves, I had eagerly anticipated studying it.
Dialectical logic captures Ym-Yang thinking. Within dialectics the whole is a contingent structure, in reciprocal interaction with its own parts and with the larger whole of which it is part. As parts and wholes evolve as
a consequence of their relationship, constants become variables, causes become effects, and systems develop that regenerate and destroy the conditions that gave rise to them. (Beinfield & Komgold, 1991:49)
Yin qualities are associated with bodily substance, water, cool, dark, passivity, receptivity, the feminine and interior. Yang characteristics are those of functional activity, fire, warmth, light, excitement, masculinity and exterior. One example of the way this applies in the body is that the heart is a yin organ, its beat is a yang activity.
The continuity of the give and take relationship of yin and yang is intrinsic to life as found in natural cycles of activity and rest and the rhythm of the heartbeat and respiration.
The parasympathetic and sympathetic branches of the autonomic nervous system have been compared to yin and yang respectively. (Tang, Sun Ed., 1994:16) An important effect of Qi Kong (QiGong) exercise is to restore the balance of yin and yang forces by regulating the nervous system (this process will be discussed in the section on respiration). The Qi Kong (QiGong) practitioner embodies a simultaneous state of activity and relaxation, recalling the Taoist text Cultivating Stillness:
Yin and Yang, movement and stillness, are in heaven and in the human body … (Wong, trans. 1992:4)
Yin and Yang are integral to TeM and Qi Kong (QiGong) theory and practice. Postures and movements are designed to enhance a fluid current of these two polar energies through the body. Yin energy from the Earth is drawn up from the Bubbling Well (Kidney 1) points on the bottoms of the feet and yang energy from the heavens is received from the Bai Hui (100 convergences) point at the crown of the head.