Summary:
- Water (yin) and Fire (yang)
- Water and Fire in breathing
- Water and Fire in the mind
- Water and Fire in the spirit (attitude / morale)
- Yin and Yang Theory
Water (yin) and Fire (yang)
The most important concepts in qigong practice are based on the theory of Yin and Yang and the theory of Water and Fire in the human body, two different concepts, both important for practice.
Water represents yin, fire represents yang.
Water has the property of cooling the body, making it more Yin, while fire heats the body, making it Yang.
Water-Fire are the methods and Yin-Yang are the results.
When Water and Fire are adjusted correctly, Yin and Yang are balanced and interact harmoniously.
Qigong practitioners believe that the body is always too Yang (hot), unless you’re sick or haven’t eaten for a long time.
An excess of Yang makes the body very hot, this fire that consumes and degenerates the body is considered to be the cause of ageing.
The use of water cools and soothes the body and reduces the ageing process.
Qigong practitioners seek to improve the quality of water in the body and reduce the amount of fire in the body.
Our Qi is classified according to whether it is Fire or Water.
When the Qi is not pure, causes the body to heat up and makes the mind unstable (Yang), it is classified as Fire Qi.
The Qi that is pure and can cool the body, making it more Yin, is the Qi of Water.
Qi should never be purely water.
It can cool the fire, but it must never extinguish it, that would mean the end of life.
Fire Qi, which warms, agitates and stimulates the emotions, is considered the Fire mind or Yang mind.
On the other hand, the mind generated by Water Qi is calm, stable and wise.
It is considered the mind of water or the mind of wisdom.
If the spirit is nourished primarily by the Qi of Fire, it becomes dispersed and confused.
But if the spirit is nourished more by Water Qi, it will be calm, clear and wise.
Water-fire harmony in our bodies brings health and well-being.
Modern medicine almost always relies on drugs to cure diseases, which is the worst way to bring about health.
The best way is to solve the problem at its root.
For example, many arthritis patients rely on medication to reduce their pain.
While this may offer temporary pain relief, it doesn’t cure the problem.
When the medicine runs out, the pain returns.
Medical Qigong cures arthritis by rebuilding joint strength.
Patients increase the circulation of Qi with slow exercises and massages to strengthen the joints.
These practices readjust the Yin and Yang balance, and allow the body to repair damage and increase the strength of the joints.
It should be noted that many modern medical practices are in line with the Water and Fire theory.
Fever is treated by applying medication and ice to reduce the temperature.
Ice is used to reduce swelling caused by injuries.
Whether it’s ancient or modern medicine, the basic theory of healing remains the same, namely the adjustment of Water and Fire. The key is to understand the circulation of Qi, or bioelectricity, in the body. Regulating it strengthens the body, maintains health, and increases the quality and length of life.Water and fire in breathingIn Qigong, breathing is considered a strategy for conducting Qi. Slow breathing can calm the flow of Qi, while fast breathing can invigorate it.
When very excited, the body is yang and exhales for longer than it inhales.
This brings Qi to the skin and excess Qi is dissipated through sweat.
When it’s sad, the body is yin and breathes in more than it breathes out.
This preserves the Qi, drawing it inwards, and the body feels cold.
Through breathing, the body’s Yin and Yang can be adjusted.
Inspiration is an activity of Water, which conducts Qi inwards to store it in the bone marrow.
This reduces the Qi in the muscles and tendons, calming the body’s Yang.
Exhaling is a Fire activity because it takes Qi to the muscles, tendons and skin to energize them, making the body more Yang.
When the body is more Yang (hot) than the environment, the Qi is dissipated.
Yin and Yang must be balanced for the body to function harmoniously.
The trick is to use breathing strategies.
Normally, the inhale and exhale should be the same.
When you’re excited, your body becomes very Yang, so you can inhale more and more deeply to calm the mind and drive the Qi inwards to make it more Yin.
Water and Fire in the mindAccording to Chinese tradition, we have two minds, the Fire mind and the Water mind.
The Fire mind represents the emotional center and is also described as the mind of the heart.
The emotional mind is brought under control when we can establish effective communication with the heart.
The mind of Water is considered to be the wise mind, because the Qi of water makes a person calm, peaceful and clear-thinking.
While too much Fire Qi excites the mind and disturbs the emotions.
In Qigong training, the mind is the general who directs the battle, decides the fighting strategy (breathing) and directs the movement of the soldiers (Qi).
Like a general, the practitioner controls the emotional mind and uses the mind of wisdom to judge the situation and decide on the appropriate strategy.
When the mind is excited and energized, the strategy (breathing) is more offensive (it emphasizes exhalation) and the circulation of Qi is more vigorous and expansive.
This aggressive mind is considered a Fire mind and makes the body more Yang.
When the strategy is more defensive (emphasizing inhalation), the circulation of Qi will be calmer and more condensed.
A calm mind is a water mind, because it makes your body more Yin.
The water and fire of the mind are more important than breathing, since the mind determines the strategy. Regulating the mind and breathing are the two basic techniques for controlling the body’s Yin and Yang.
When the mind is regulated, so is the breath, and when the breath is regulated, the mind enters a deeper, calmer level.
Water and Fire in the spirit (attitude / morale)
The spirit here represents the morale of the general (practitioner) and his soldiers (Qi).
There are many cases throughout history of armies winning battles against great odds because the morale of the soldiers was high.
The same is true of Qigong training, where the spirit determines the success of the practice.
The general makes the strategy, and worries about raising the soldiers’ combat morale (Qi).
When morale is high, the soldiers are commanded efficiently and the strategy is executed effectively.
Using the mind of water to raise the morale of the spirit is the key to Qigong’s success.
The spirit is the seat that governs Qi, along with the mind.
When the mind is energized, the spirit also rises.
The spirit is the control tower that adjusts Water and Fire.
In a nutshell:
- water and fire are not Yin and Yang, but methods of regulating Yin or Yang.
- Qi itself is just a form of energy and has no water or fire.
When Qi is excessive or deficient, it can make the body too Yang or too Yin. - Breathing has water and fire.
Inhaling is water, because it makes the body more Yin, while exhaling, which makes the body more Yang, is fire. - The spirit (motivation) is the key to adjusting water and fire
Yin and Yang
Ancient tradition believes that the universe is made up of two opposing forces, Yin and Yang, which must balance each other out.
When these two forces become unbalanced, nature seeks the way to balance them again.
If the imbalance is too strong, disasters happen.
But if these two forces are in harmony, they manifest power and generate life.
If the sky loses its yin and yang balance, storms must occur, just as if the earth loses its balance, natural disasters occur until the balance is restored.
When yin and yang lose their balance in the human body, it becomes ill.
The yin and yang of heaven and earth directly affect man’s yin and yang.
So, if we want a healthy body and a long life, it is imperative that we know how to adjust the yin and yang of our body and coordinate it with the yin and yang of heaven and earth.
For Qigong practitioners, understanding the balance of yin and yang in the human body is very important, as this is the only way to adjust these two forces and maintain a healthy life.
Qi is energy, and energy in itself has no yin or yang.
It’s like the energy generated by the spark of a positive and a negative charge.
Charges have the potential to generate energy, but they are not energy in themselves.
The origin of Yin and Yang
As we saw at the beginning, ancient tradition believes that the universe is made up of two opposing forces.
These two forces are born from the movement from unity to duality, thus change is seen as the expression of duality.
The two components of power that promote duality are called Yin and Yang.
The most basic and ancestrally known meaning of Yin and Yang is: the dark side of the mountain for Yin; and the sunny side of the mountain for Yang.
The forces of Yin and Yang are considered to be the primordial forces of the universe that unfolded from the moment unity was set in motion: from 1 came 2, from 2 came the 3,000 things of the world.
The 2 represents the two forces, Yin and Yang.
It is from the movement from 1 to 2 that the duality of Yin and Yang develops, in other words, Yin and Yang were born from movement, and are in constant movement, in other words, in constant change.
Thus representing the impermanence of our reality.
Since Yin and Yang are the primordial elements from which the universe evolves, it is only natural that these two elements have innumerable qualities.
Yang is represented in the sun, sky, day, fire, heat, dryness, light, etc.
Yang tends to expand, to flow upwards and outwards.
Yin means moon, earth, night, water, cold, damp and darkness.
Yin tends to contract and flow downwards.
There is also a representation of Yin and Yang that goes beyond physical forces, such as: Yang is high up and therefore noble; Yin is low down and therefore considered commonplace. Yang: good and beautiful.
Yin: bad and ugly.
Other contrasts are: virtue and vice, order and confusion, joy and sadness, wealth and poverty, health and sickness.
The fact that in these contrasts Yang represents the positive and Yin, the negative side, should not be interpreted to mean that Yin is an “evil” principle and Yang a “good” principle.
It should always be borne in mind that Yin and Yang were conceived as one entity and that the two together are always present.
Day changes to night, light changes to darkness, spring and summer to fall and winter.
Thus, all events in nature and in human life are conditioned by the constantly changing relationship between these two cosmic regulators.
It should also be noted that the general application of this duality has also led to the conclusion that neither of these two forces exists in an absolute state, thus the concept arose that within Yang there is Yin and within Yin is contained Yang.
The Canon of Chinese Medicine (The Book of the Yellow Emperor) provides many examples of this exchange between Yin and Yang and of the duality preserved within a single thing.
The most concrete example of this duality is man.
As a man, man belongs to Yang; as a woman, man belongs to Yin.
However, both male and female are products of two primary elements, so both qualities are contained in both sexes.