According to Wikipedia, Yin and Yang is a part of ancient Chinese philosophy and cosmology. They symbolize “an opposite but interconnected, self-perpetuating cycle”. Yin is “retractive, passive and contractive” whilst Yang is “repelling, active and expansive”. The dichotomy of the two energies creates seasons, moods, evolution, balance… and infinite potential.
I have heard that YANG energy is the equivalent to a big breath in that fills you with oxygen. When you fill yourself with yang-energy you ‘give yourself a lift’ as it were and sit taller, feel stronger, you square your shoulders and lift your chin. It sounds a lot like a power pose.
YIN energy, on the other hand, is like a long breath out. If you want to ‘lean into’ yin-energy, fold over as you breathe out, compress your diaphragm. Sometimes teachers recommend you tense all your muscles and then relax them; exaggerating the shift, but with an emphasis on the relaxation.
Qigong and Tai Chi often mix the two. I have seen routines on YouTube that seem to deliberately fold you into a tight little ball, then you reach outwards and upwards, growing, filling yourself with a radiant energy. Then you curl inwards again, hunchy-scruchy, but only for the duration of a breath out, then you unfurl again; curl-unfurl-curl-unfurl, in time with your breathing.
It is this curl-unfurl that I most like about the yin-yang symbol; the two elements are contained in a swirled embrace and each carries a piece of the other within them. It’s like the green-red-orangey-brown spectrum that exists between well-and-unwell or happy-and-sad I talked about as being (un)fixed. This back-reference to color, made me think of healing with color…
What if we changed the centuries old black and white version of the Yin-Yang symbol into something you-nique. What if, as you were breathing and curling-unfurling, you imagined two colors to go with the sensation?
What color do you sense when you think of energetic Yang?
(Go-go-green, fire truck red, neon pink?)
What color do you associate with passivity and Yin-energy?
(Dove grey, royal purple, Bambi brown?)
Now reimagine the Yin-Yang symbol in your two chosen colors. For me, I imagined Yang as the golden glow of a new dawn, and Yin as a deep, dark, midnight blue. My new symbol would look something like this:
Next, why not try breathing color. When you breath in, imagine the air is your Yang-color. When you breath out, imagine the air has changed color to your Yin-color. Try mediating with your coloured air, or concentrating on your breathing as you walk; yang-yin-(gold-blue)-in-out. Feeling glum? Drink some water and imagine it filled with Yang-colored light and energy, or rest in bed surrounded by a Yin-colored halo.
Do it purposefully, playfully, you-niquely.
I’ve been experimenting for the last couple of days, and breathing in full-color has made me smile.
Take care, breathe colorfully… and enjoy!
Linda x
The Mindful Migraine 
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