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Yin and Yang is at the heart of Feng Shui and Chinese philosophy. It is the essence of nature, where everything is in a perpetual state of change, moving from one extreme to the other to create equilibrium or universal balance.

To illustrate yin and yang as universal balance, let's call yang daylight and yin darkness. Our planet is always half in sunlight and half in darkness as the illustrations show. Further, when the sun rises to its meridian, an almost yin yang shadow is cast upon the Earth as illustrated below.

The inner circles of the above image are for illustrative purposes only and do not appear in the shadow.

In terms of life, yang denotes birth and rising to maturity and yin represents the declining phases thereafter. It is interesting to note, that the yang (clear spot) inside the yin dark hemisphere, falls in the area that was once known as Sumeria. This is believed to have been the birthplace of modern civilisation.

Natural Cycles

Yin and yang can be clearly seen in nature with the changing of the seasons. The yang phase brings birth during Spring and major growth during Summer and the yin phase of autumn and winter sees this life declining in order to start over again. From a state of equilibrium, it is interesting to note that most of our oxygen comes from plant leaves and with the yin phase of autumn and winter in the northern hemisphere, you would think there might be a shortfall in oxygen supply. However, this is simultaneously balanced by the spring and summer seasons in the southern hemisphere creating a steady state.

Tai Ji symbol also known as Tai Chi symbol

In the above symbol yang forms the white half and yin is black. When yang reaches its peak, yin is born and vice versa. This illustrates that when something reaches its peak, decline sets in. Everything in our universe functions this way because the basic building blocks, atoms act this way. So everything is in a state of change and this leads to evolution.

Our personal environment is in this state and so traditional Chinese Feng Shui needs to take this perpetual interaction into account. Feng Shui teaches us that yang compliments yin and vice versa. This principle underpins every method or school of Feng Shui, from Form school, to Compass school and even Chinese Astrology. Here are just some examples of our everyday world of yin yang.

Yin and yang information is encoded into ancient symbols known as Trigrams and these form the basic Bagua used in elementary Feng Shui. Yin and yang can also be used in diets and here is a list of foods. For healthy eating there should be three parts yang and two parts yin. You can also use this for hyperactive children, using more yin foods than yang. But common sense must prevail and you should seek medical advice before changing a diet.

Yin and Yang Foods

All foods fall into three categories; yin foods, yang foods and neutral foods. The term yin or yang relates to whether a food is a cooling or a warming food. Do not be fooled by simple assumptions, as these terms often have nothing to do with the taste, nor how it is cooked. They relate to deeper essences of the foods nature. You might assume that all drinks are cooling; beer is, but brandy is not. Here is a very basic food list:

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