4) Yang & yin are right & left on your body

~ View ONE ~
Right & left sides of the body,
The magic of Yang & Yin

Without love, power alone is ruthless and reckless. Without power, love alone is anemic and sentimental ~ Unknown
Those in love, want a partner.  The real partnership is within the two sides,
within within. ~ Maryann Castellanos, HealthyEnergetics.net
Intuition is the yin of our psyche, inductive & deducting thinking
is the yang of our psyche ~ bd

Hidden in plain sight are the many striking contrasts between the right and left sides of our body.  It’s common to hear people say, “I have more of my body problems on the right side of my body.” Or, “I have more of my body problems on the left side of my body.”  Does this apply to you as well?  If so, ever wonder why a majority of your health issues present on one side of your body—and your friend has the majority of their health problem on the opposite side of the body?
Welcome to the magic of R&L sides of the body, the easy place to begin the NEW Energy Anatomy.
Everyone reading this knows about yin and yang; still, the language of yin and yang has not penetrated far into Western culture.  Consequently few of us experience the contrasting energy of yin and yang in our body.  I have found no good literature on this; have you?  The last time I can recall people’s awareness was brought to yin and yang in the body was in the old Macrobiotics days of the early 1970s.  After writing nine books on of the Three Selves map-model of the whole person, I believe right and left sides of our body is the easy way to introduce people to yin and yang in our body and to see these expressions in our lives.

New view ONE:   Human energy is organized right and left in the body. The right and left sides of our body locate, illustrate and express our capacities for yang and yin, respectively.
Because yang and yin are such common terms, a fresh entry point is needed.  So I ask you, “Which do you like better, dogs or cats?”
If you like dogs better than cats, your personality preferences are more likely to be extraverted and your yang side more well-developed.
If you like cats better than dogs—the opposite.  Your personality preferences are more likely to be introverted and your yin left side more well-developed.
Which is better?  Whatever you have is best!  This is not a contest.  You want both sides working together as a team.
Q:  What if I prefer cats but I’m right-handed?
A:  This is not about dominance.  The above applies to only your introvert (yin) and extravert (yang) capacities, not to handedness.
Q:  What if I like BOTH dogs and cats?
A:  I do too!  This suggests you have a good balance of extravert and introvert in your psyche.  Look back on your life and see if there was ever a time when you did prefer either dogs or cats.
(Continues with illustrations in the print edition)

Which of your TWO nervous systems do you prefer using?
According to MBTI, about 60% of us in the West prefer using our cerebral nervous system over our enteric nervous system.
About 40% of us prefer using our enteric nervous system, out gut brain, more than our cerebral nervous system for making decisions.
Briefly the cerebral brain corresponds to our left brain; our cerebral nervous system expresses thru the right side of our body.
Our enteric brain, in brief, corresponds with our right brain; our enteric nervous system expressing thru the left side of our body.
Which is better?  Both.  Integration is better; cooperation and collaboration is best, always.
Readers of this author’s other books will recognize the theme of “two brains” here:  two equal quantities of nerve tissue, two places of awareness in the body, but only one is dominant.  The other is the supporter.  Just like we have two hands, one hand is dominant AND life is easier with two hands than with only one.

For a full discussion of our two brains, see You Have Three Selves, The clearest map-model of the whole person, vol. 1, available in paper or eBook.
Your rational mind can be either thinking or feeling
Adding to individual variation, your rational mind can be either thinking OR feeling dominant; either you prefer making decisions from your gut; or, you prefer making decisions based on logic.
Q:  Which is better?
A:  BOTH.  Integration is better; cooperation and collaboration is best, always.
Q:  What dominance do MOST of us have here in the West?
A:  Because we attend so many years of intellectual-focused schooling, most of us are cerebral dominant.  We prefer making decision thru thinking and logic.
All the following views of right and left sides (R&L) will help you see in your own body which side is dominant; and, if your dominant side is under- or overcharged.  These are the keys to understanding why you have more physical concerns on one side of your body, if that is the case for you.
All of these “views” can be measured but these are the easiest to see without any measuring required.

R&L as masculine and feminine approaches
The sword is a classic archetype for all things yang.
The cup; yes, even The Grail, is a classic image for things yin. If the idea of a feminine and a masculine approach to life is uncomfortably sexist to you, think of this contrast as kidney yin and kidney yang as TCM suggests.
A masculine approach to life (kidney yang) is to ask directly for what you want, reach out for what you DO want, say yes to what you want.  Reach for the brass ring on the carousel ride.
A feminine approach to life (kidney yin) is to ask INdirectly for what you want, to say NO to what is NOT wanted, to turn away, push away, when displeased.  On the left side, we remove ourself from what displeases us.
The MALE approach becomes dysfunctional in jumping the gun, behaving too aggressively, and being a bull in a china shop, often, on the emotional level.
The FEMALE approach becomes dysfunctional in behaviors of whining, complaining, gossip and manipulating.  If a person cannot back up their wishes with actions, decisions and choices for meeting their emotional needs, resentment is a common result when they don’t get what they want.

Seeing yang and yin in your own body:

R&L: Bogart & Bergman in “Casablanca”
The contrasting characters of R&L sides, here in the U.S. was captured wonderfully by Humphrey Bogart and Ingmar Bergman in the movie, Casablanca (1942).
Rick, is our right side, who as the script begins, is somewhat immobilized in his capacity for action.  By the end of the film he has “done the right thing” and is again in alignment with his values and ethics.
Ilsa, is our left side, who is preoccupied with her needs for safety, for material security and getting her emotional needs met.
Just about anything you, the reader, know about these two characters in the movie Casablanca is useful for finding your own right and left sided capacities.
Are you starting to get an idea of why you have more physical problems on one side of your body?  Which kinds of behavior do you have more stress with, Rick’s or Ilsa’s?
Q:  Is the American national character still as polarized as Rick and Ilsa are portrayed?
A:  No, 70 years later we are much less polarized but the way we think about male and female, right and left sides and the roles associated, has changed not as much as you might like to think!
(Continues at great length in the print edition)