
Rebalancing Yin & Yang
Categories: Ecology & Sustainability Health & Healing
What initially drew me to Brendan Kelly’s The Yin and Yang of Climate Crisis is its holistic understanding of the environmental crisis and the solution it offers for healing. Using his expertise in Chinese medicine, Brendan diagnosed the planet the same way he diagnoses his patients. His book is about the common ailment he found between the two: too much Yang energy and not enough Yin energy. (To better understand these energies, I’ve included a table below the video with some examples.)
Brendan explains that valuing constant activity and continuous expansion has created an imbalance, leaving our need for rest and re-centering ignored. Yang—the energy associated with creation, masculinity, and the power of assertiveness—has grown to immensely overshadow Yin—the energy associated with conclusion, femininity, and the power of receptivity.
Below, Brendan discusses our need to restore the balance between Yin and Yang in order to heal our planet, our culture, and ourselves.
YIN |
YANG |
---|---|
Archetypal Feminine |
Archetypal Masculine |
Stillness |
Movement |
Autumn & Winter |
Spring & Summer |
Subtle |
Bold |
Receptive |
Assertive |
Contraction |
Expansion |
Old |
New |
Night |
Day |
Cold |
Hot |
Passive |
Active |
Yielding |
Solid |
Intuition |
Logic |
Rest |
Activity |