 Within the field of Chinese medicine, there are a few principles that can not only make a big difference in the quality of your health, but also in the quality of your life. Now, in this video, I want to share one of the most important principles to understand when it comes to illness and being healthy. Hey guys, I'm Dr. Alex Hine, author of the health book Master of the Day and doctor of acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine. So before we jump into this video, I've put together two very important links right below the video. The first is a free guide, which is 4D the rituals that could potentially help you add years to your life with traditional Chinese medicine. And the second is, if you'd like to come see me in my private practice in Los Angeles or virtually via telemedicine, there are links right below this video to learn more about my clinic and my practice. One of my fondest memories while I was doing my doctorate was sitting down with one of my mentors who's a guy named Dr. Heiner Fruhoff. And he said that while he was living in China, he was sharing many of these experiences and many of these stories basically studying with some of these last, the last generation really of Chinese medicine doctors before the communist revolution. And he was saying that one particular anecdote affected him. He had visited this professor one day and he went to his home where they would often have tea and talk about Chinese medicine. And he said, you know, what are you doing, professor, what are you studying? And he said, I'm revisiting and I'm studying Yin and Yang. Now Yin and Yang are these really basic foundational concepts within Chinese medicine. When you look at our classical medical texts that go back 2000 plus years, they talk about Yin and Yang in some of the very first chapters, not just in some esoteric philosophical way, but in a deeply pragmatic way in the way that human beings live in our attunement or our lack of attunement towards the seasons in the self-awareness of understanding where we are on that spectrum and how we really need to adjust our lives to be maximally attuned towards longevity and towards wellness. So I think what shocked him was that this really skilled, iconic doctor was saying, oh, I'm still studying Yin and Yang. It's like a surgeon saying, oh, I'm studying the alphabet, the ABCs. You know, it just sounded funny. But there was a simple kernel of wisdom in there, too, which was that the foundation going back to those first principles is often where high level masters often go. So while Yin and Yang is this both a philosophical framework, and you know, you have day and night, you have Yang and Yin, it is also deeply pragmatic and deeply practical. And that's what I want to share here today. One of the most obvious observations that I make in my clinical practice with patients is that when a person walks in the door, they are on a spectrum every single time. They are on a spectrum of tension, let's call it tension related disorders or pathologies or laxity related pathologies or disorders. So again, we are not just one thing, right? A person is not just tense or just lax, but it's clear when people walk in the way they carry their body, their tone of voice. Is it loud? Is it forceful like mine is? Or is it very relaxed and timid, very tired sounding? That by itself is where diagnosis begins in Chinese medicine. From there, not only the voice, the presentation, what about the look in the eyes? The eyes reveal the state of the spirit, as we say. So the eyes can be bright and shiny like the eyes of a kid that's energized and ready to go, or they can be the lifeless eyes of someone dealing with chronic disease or long-term depression or serious, serious chronic illness. Not only that, you have the way they carry themselves, their voice, their eyes, the way they speak, but in general, people are on a spectrum of high tension, you know, the type A, we use the term high strung, right? It literally has tension implied in the meaning of the term, right? High strung people and people who are on whatever the opposite side of that spectrum is. I hate to say lazy because these people have gifts that they're good at as well. But tension versus not tension. This is yin and yang. This is binary with a spectrum in between. So what does this have to do with clinical medicine or with you as the person trying to do something pragmatic to heal? Well, understanding where you are on that spectrum is key to understanding what medicine you actually need. So for example, the person that's the type A hyper rigid person, which is me, these people tend to be driven and they tend to be achievers. They tend not to have to force themselves to do that. They have a natural momentum that other people do not have. Where do they struggle though, right? Because that is a dual edged sword where they tend to make themselves sick because of that exact same gift, momentum. The gift of momentum is the same thing that leads to stress, burnout, premature heart attacks, not eating the right food, chronic insomnia, and therefore chronic fatigue. People having issues with their gallbladder or issues with digestion, right? Because they're not taking proper meals. They're not resting enough. They're not taking time off. So understanding if you're hyper young, the wired, the energized, the push, the forward momentum type, understanding that you need more yin qualities. The night time of life, the winter phase, the rest, the hibernation, the calm, the woods, right? Sleep. Understanding that that is your medicine becomes very high level in terms of long term healing regardless of what medication you do or don't take. Your life has to ultimately become your medicine. So yin and yang are both philosophical and religious concepts, but they're also clinical and pragmatic concepts. And they're very, very important and useful to know because we can see where someone is on that spectrum and we can just work towards inching them back towards that middle level. And if they do that with self-awareness or with the advice of some wise and trusted counsel, then they can actually make those steps towards long term healing. So yin and yang, one on one, I hope that helps you guys. Don't forget to check out those two related links right below this video and I'll see you soon.