
Winter is gone (I hope) and it was longer than usual. So, what did the interweb world miss? Here’s the scoop.
Winter is associated with the Water phase, which in Chinese physiology corresponds with the Kidneys and Bladder (urinary). The tricky thing about Water is that it has two distinctive components: Kidney Yin and Kidney Yang.
Of course, all organs and bowels have their yin-yang relationship but the Kidney Yang component is quite crucial, especially because of the fact that it relates to the endocrine system.
I am not going to go in detail on the endocrine system’s function because all you millennial/baby-booming folks have the capabilities of Wikipediaing or WedMding all that premium knowledge; instead, I’ll break it down with the list of Kidney Yin and Yang functions below:
Kidney Yin Territory:
Bones
White Blood Cells (marrow)
Central Nervous System
Connective Tissue
Hearing
Body hair
Spine
Teeth
Genetics
“Core”
“Essence”
Kidney Yang Territory:
Endocrine function
Hydro/Thermogenesis (heating and cooling the body)
Emotional Stress
Sexual energy/ Vitality
What is unusual about Kidney Yin and Yang is that they are very much interrelated. In Asia, the term would be “same, same”. One example is that both physical and emotional taxation will deplete the “essence” of the body (stress related ailments, too much exercise, job related stress, being a student, etc.)
Here are some symptoms of the Kidneys’ dysfunction:
Kidney Dysfunction:
Chronic skeletal back pain
Rheumatoid arthritis
Constantly cold (deficiency)
Constantly hot (stagnation)
Bone fragility
Impotence
Hypersexual activity
Diabetes: Type 1 (Kidney Yin deficiency), Type 2 (Kidney Yang deficiency)
“Genetically susceptible diseases”
Fatigue (physical and emotional)
Alopecia (hair loss)
Hearing loss
Constant yawning
As a rule of thumb, most reproductive issues has a component of the Kidneys; however, it may not be the sole culprit.