 About two years ago, I went to see Dr. Bernie Siegel speak at a conference in Los Angeles. And Bernie Siegel is the author of the book, Love of Medicine and Miracles, as well as some other really, really, really progressive and innovative thoughts about medicine and healing first patients. Now, in this talk, he talked about what he said were the two main factors, the two essential things. In this case, what caused mental illness, as well as an understanding of, I guess you could say the human psyche, that we all exist on these two poles of a spectrum. And then if you could understand those two poles, you could understand your own healing. Now I want to share how this is so related to Chinese medicine, and how you can use it and apply it in your own life. Hey, it's Alex Hine, author of the health book, Master the Day. So the first link down below this video is for a free guide on five daily rituals you can use to help yourself potentially live to 100 using Chinese medicine and Taoist techniques. So it's the first link below this video. You'll download this case study of a famous guy named Li Qingyun, and the practices he did every day. So here's what Bernie Siegel said. He said that all people exist. He said all pathology in a DSM, which is kind of the modern diagnostic handbook for psychological and mental illness and mental health. He said they all exist on a spectrum from hyper rigidity to hyper laxity. Now let me explain this in layman's terms. It just means that these kind of pathologies, he's speaking about mental illness, but I am speaking on all illness in Chinese medicine, exist on the spectrum from yin to yang, from a person who's hyper rigid, hyper tense to a person who's hyper flaccid or hyper lax. Now an example might be someone you know that's very Taipei, very high strung, snaps easily on you. They're like they're agitated easily or they're anxious easily. They're easily upset, right? Their center is easily pushed off center. Now compare that to someone you know who is a great sleeper, right? Nothing that happens in their life ever disrupts their sleep. And in fact, the more stress they have, often the better and the longer they will sleep. Maybe they're not someone who's that highly motivated. Maybe they have a good appetite. They don't really get digestive problems. And maybe they're just kind of chill. They're just a chill, relaxed person that you know. They're easy to be around. They're not that agitated. And they're someone who in general you think of as relaxed. These two dichotomies in personality also are reflective in body type and the kind of pathology or illness that person is prone to. Now here's why this is so important in the Chinese medicine framework. Whatever side you are on, hyper rigidity, hyper laxity determines the expression of what's called the Qi dynamic in Chinese medicine, which then determines the illnesses you're prone to or whether or not you're going to get sick at all. Or you're going to stay well. So this idea of the Qi dynamic I've talked about here, but it's a theoretical concept that describes how external factors like weather, external stressors and internal factors from your genetics to your lifestyle, to your diet, to everything like that and your emotions, how they all come to play in your body to create wellness or to create disease. This idea of are you more on the inside, more on the young side, the rigid side or the flexible or lax side is really essential because everyone knows when you interact with someone what a highly strong rigid person is like, right? Everyone knows that feeling. And everyone knows the feeling of being around someone who's maybe more chill and relaxed, maybe at the most pathological side, we could say unambitious, just wants to take it easy and enjoy life. But these are also reflective in certain body types, a thin, wiry type that already has a lot of physical tension, or a person who's maybe genetically tends to be a little bit more overweight. And these also go with corresponding emotions. That hyper rigid person may be prone to anger or anxiety, while the other one may be prone to more depression as a very general term, this kind of deactivating emotion, as opposed to something that's that's revving the person up even more. So these qualities, whatever side you're on also give the Chinese medicine doctor or the physician clues as to what emotions you're probably tending towards the most, and what emotions are going to be the most damaging, as well as what are going to be the most healing. Now, of course, the most important thing is, well, what do I do with this information? The point of this is that when you understand where you are in the spectrum, and you understand what your tendencies are, more rigidity, more laxity, certain negative emotions, certain positive emotions, you can use those principles to heal yourself. So there's this great ancient saying that there are no incurable illnesses, only incurable people, and that you have to really treat the person and their personality in order to heal them. So if you're a type A hyper rigid prone to agitation and anxiety and insomnia in that way kind of person, it's very, very difficult to see a true resolution of a health problem or an illness that's been chronic without addressing those personality traits that you have a tendency towards. That may mean changing your fundamental approach to the way you go about business and your career, the way you go about your relationships and your love life, being more relaxed and accepting and more hands off. It may mean changing the way you go about your diet, being less neurotic, more flexible, not worrying and stressing so much, as well as the way you go about just your whole life philosophy. Maybe it means being less achievement oriented, or trying to understand the psychological roots of why you rush all the time. So these two things, rigidity or laxity and rigidity, are really important to know, because we can all spot people on the far spectrum, the most rigid, stressed out person you know and the laziest person you know. Those are easy, but most of us fall somewhere in between. And if you get that, you know what emotions will be healing for you and what emotions are the canary in the coal mine that are the warning signs. And you can apply that to your whole general life. I hope this helps. I thought it was a complete aha moment. He was explaining Yin and Yang in action. Now again, if you want, you can check out the free guide below this video. It's a little case study of a guy named Li Qingyun, who supposedly lived over 100 using these four or five Taoist daily habits. You can check it out. The first link below this video. And again, there are two related videos on this topic here.