Yin and Yang Lesson C

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This part

gives us some good info regarding our health and clues as to what to do

about it.

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THE MAGIC

SPECTACLES OF YIN AND YANG

You're Always

Changing!

Always

changing

Some parts of

you are always changing. You may not notice it if your condition is

generally stable and these changes are subtle. But in extreme cases,

for example when you are unwell, some of these changes can be pretty

drastic.

Once, I had a

friend who had leukemia and I was shocked to see how his eyeballs could

change so much. On days when he was feeling okay, his eyeballs looked

quite normal. Actually, they were slightly swollen, but only slightly.

On days when he was feeling unwell, however, his eye balls would swell

until they buldge out like goldfish eyes!

Who would have

thought that the eyeballs can literally expand and contract? And to

such a large extent?

In my own

case, I had ever woken up with huge, swollen lower lips that were about

three times the normal size. If not for my understanding of

macrobiotics and yin and yang, I would have rushed to the doctor

thinking that something was seriously wrong.

Instead, I

figured I had probably taken something with strong expanding energy -

perhaps some chemical additives in my food. I know it is nothing

serious. Sometimes I let it be and wait for the swelling to subside,

usually in less than an hour. Sometimes, I would take umeboshi - a

pickled sour plum - to speed up the process, since umeboshi has strong

contracting energy.

To check your

daily condition, observe your:

eyes

lips

skin colour

palms

Eyes

Your eyes may

not swell and shrink like those of my friend who had leukemia. However,

there are still a few tell-tale signs about whether your condition is

more yin / expanded or yang / contracted.

Bloodshot eyes, for example,

mean that the blood vessels have expanded and so they beome more

visible. This often happens when a person drinks alcohol, since alcohol

has strong expanding energy.

If your eyes

turn red after just one or two drinks, it means that your overall

condition is already leading towards yin / expanding and so the effect

shows quickly. You are the type who would get high or drunk quite

easily.

If you need to

drink a lot more before your eyes turn red, it means that your overall

condition is more towards yang / contracting. You are able to tolerate

alcohol better and can drink a fair amount before you start to feel

high or get drunk.

The position

of your iris

is another indicator. A healthy, "balanced" person would have iris

positioned right in the middle, so that the whites can be seen only on

either side.

Some people,

however, have "floating" iris so that the whites can be seen on the

sides as well as below the iris. In macrobiotics, this condition is

called sanpaku meaning

"three whites".

This shows a

yin / expanded condition. It is a sign of poor health.

Below the eyes

is a piece of bone, and the eyeballs rests on this bone. So when the

eyeballs expand, they expand upwards, causing the iris to move up.

Many people

nowadays have a very mild version of this condition, because the modern

diet tends to be very yin / expanded. In a mild case, you may not see

"three whites". But you can see that the bottom part of the iris is

just at the level of the lower eye-lid. The condition is so common that

Ohsawa once remarked when he saw a crowd of people, "You are all

sanpaku".

More serious

cases, where the iris floats to the extent that "three whites" are

clearly visible, indicates very poor health. You might be able to see

this in cancer patients or others who are seriously ill, as well as

drug addicts and alcoholics, or even among young children who take

excessive amounts of sweets, soft drinks and chemicalised foods.

The opposite

condition is where the iris "sinks" and you see three whites on both

sides as well as above the iris. This indicates a yang / contracted

condition.

While floating

iris indicates poor health, sinking iris does not mean good health.

Good health is a balanced condition, not one extreme or the other.

Lips

The lips are

at the start of your digestive tract. The condition of your lips

indicates the condition of your digestive system. Generally, the upper

lips tell the condition of your stomach and small intestines, while the

lower lips tell the condition of your large intestines.

Swollen lower

lips

are very common these days, especially among younger people. If you

look around you, you will notice that probably eight or nine out of 10

- yourself probably included - have this condition. This is because the

modern diet is lacking in fibre and, as a result, the large intestines

are not in good condition. Also, because refined foods are more yin /

expanded, they cause the large intestines - and the lower lips - to

expand.

In a healthy

condition, both the lower and upper lips are about the same size and

they should not appear swollen.

Shrivelled lips indicate a

yang / contracted condition. This is more common among old people,

especially Westerners who have been eating large amounts of meat, salt,

cheese and baked foods - all yang / contracted foods - for a lifetime.

Skin

colour

The colour,

texture and overall conditon of your skin reveals a great deal about

your health. For now, we will just consider one aspect:

Red skin, like red

eyes, means that the blood vessels beneath have become expanded / yin.

Recently, there was an article in the newspapers featuring a man in the

wine trade. A photo of him showed he had a strikingly red nose, as well

as the parts of the cheeks beside the nose. Clearly, that man has been

drinking lots of wine, which has strong yin / expanding energy.

Many people

consider pink cheeks to be a sign of good health. Not so.

In medical

circles, it is well known that if a tuberculosis (TB) patient develops

pink cheeks, the person's condition has worsened. This is in line with

Chinese medical and macrobiotic theory, which says that the cheeks

indicate the condition of the lungs.

Green colour indicates an

even more serious health condition. Green is the colour of plants, of

chlorophyll rather than blood. It is even more yin / expanded than red.

People with cancer often have a green shade on parts of the palm, face

and elsewhere on the body.

One place

where a slight green colour often appears is the side of the hand,

below the little finger. A light green shade here indicates poor health

and is quite common. But if the green is more prominent, it could

indicate cancer or some other degenerative disease, or a tendency

towards such diseases.

Don't worry if

you see green. You can change - and improve - your condition by

adopting a more healthy diet and lifestyle.

Palms

Skin colour is

also very evident in the palms. Some people have evenly red palms, some

have red blotches, some have red fingertips.

Again, these

all indicate a yin / expanded condition due to excessive consumption of

yin / expanded foods such as alcohol, coffe and tea, sugar, fruits,

medication, etc.

Another

indicator of your overall condition is the texture of your palms.

People who are very weak from illness, such as cancer patients, will

have palms that are very soft and perhaps also watery.

"Health

conscious" people who follow a raw foods diet - eating mainly fruits

and raw salads and drinking lots of fruit and vegetable juices - will

also have this condition. Even though they may not fall ill, they are

not as healthy as they believe themselves to be. They are overly yin /

expanded.

In contrast,

those who eat lots of meat, salt and other yang / contracted foods tend

to have palms that are more hard and dry. However, the condition of

such people may be tricky because they often take plenty of alcohol,

fruits, coffee or tea and other yin / expanded foods as well.

Often, what

you will find is softness on the surface, but hardness beneath. In the

case of people with illness or raw food vegetarians, however, the

texture of the palm is soft all the way.

Talking about

the palm, pay attention the next time you shake hands with somebody.

There's lots to discover from just that simple handshake!