Yin and Yang in Healing

Notes taken at The Klinghardt Academy and Personal Experience By Dr. Mester

We differentiate between the Yin states and Yang states, and much of our decision-making is based on an understanding of both.

The Yin State is an internal state, in which healing, regeneration, and detoxification occur. It is accompanied by increased parasympathetic tone and the body may show related body signs such as slow heart rate, increased flow of saliva, increase bowel motility, feeling of relaxation or neutral emptiness.

The Yin and Yang Organs

The 12 acupuncture meridians are paired: 1 is Yin the other is Yang. The ones channeling the Yin energy are the organs we cannot live without; (i.e. heart, liver, lung, etc.) The Yang organs are the ones we can live without (gallbladder, colon, bladder, etc.).

The Yang States are states of increased strength, increased sympathetic activity, outgoing energy, in which the person is alert, awake, and able to move, respond and interact with the environment in well adapted and intelligent ways.

The person is strong but not “blocked”.  Sympathetic tone is increased while parasympathetic activity is not suppressed. We differentiate carefully between the Yang state and blocked regulation. On the surface, both look similar. In blocked regulation, the client is also strong but only with increased sympathetic activity, without the accompanying increase of parasympathetic activity. In blocked regulation heart rate is increased, adrenaline is increased, skin is dry and cold, there is tension and anxiety. In a Yang State, the skin is warm, the person stays relaxed, aware of his or her strength.

This takes us to the 2-phasic nature of illness.

When any illness starts, the person is in Phase 1: A state of initial sympathetic arousal – the immune system fights and attends to the incoming illness producing energy such as microbes, toxic metals, etc.

If this lasts a few days and is successful, the system goes back to a compensatory Yin state, which may last for a few days. In chronic illness the system is unable to succeed and becomes stuck in Phase 1,a sympathetic mode and the regulation becomes blocked.

In this state, hands and feet are cold, there is tension, pain, constipation, dry skin and many other signs of increased sympathetic tone. Only after therapeutic intervention and resolution of the illness can the system go back into Phase 2: The parasympathetic healing state, which may last as long as the months or years of illness.

In this state, the person often goes backward through the same symptoms that occurred during the illness. However, they last much shorter, are milder and do not require treatment. It is a self-limited process. In this phase hands are warm, the bowels move, there is deep psychological exploration and healing with the gaining of insights and inner peace.

Understanding Yin and Yang remedy testing at the office by Dr. Mester

When it comes to testing any remedies or food as your medicine, I typically test for both Yin the Yang state remedies, but interestingly, when I put 3 or 4 Yang remedies next to Yin remedies, the Yin remedies no longer test Yin.

What that means is the Yang states have a priority in general over the Yin states at least more often than not. Experience has taught me in recent years, that the Yang state remedies are what we need in our time currently. The electrosmog and Lyme disease take most of us down in a way that we require strong Yang remedies, but most other chronic illnesses require Yang remedies as well.

Your cells love Yang remedies! 

The difference between natural killer cells being active or asleep when we look at them under the microscope is the Yang state! They may look sluggish, moving slowly, if at all, when we analyze them on the screen, but when we give Yang remedies, that wakes up the natural killer cells within a few minutes and they start moving and patrolling. When we give Yin remedies, the natural killer cells just stay inactive.

Thus, it is wise in our time that we give strong Yang remedies for the chronically ill. Yin remedies are only activating the parasympathetic nervous system, while Yang remedies will activate the sympathetic while the parasympathetic nervous system is not suppressed.

However, Yin state remedies have a huge effect on acute pain. In most acute conditions we need to give the Yin remedies to wind down the system. We also need deep Yin producing detox agents as well, since most detox happens at night where the parasympathetic nervous system should be activated. For chronic conditions, we need to give the strong Yang remedies that boost the system, puts the patients into Phase 2, the healing state.