Introduction to the disharmony
Major symptoms:
- dry lips, dry throat
- dark and scanty urine
- constipation
- night sweats
- hot palms and soles
- Lung Yin deficiency symptoms - chronic dry cough, hoarse voice
- Stomach Yin deficiency symptoms – dry mouth, lack of appetite, epigastric pain, dry stools
- Liver Yin deficiency symptoms – dry eyes, irritability, nervousness
- Kidney Yin deficiency symptoms – back pain, dizziness, vertigo, poor memory
- Heart Yin deficiency symptoms – heart palpitations, mental restlessness, insomnia, dream disturbed sleep
Herbs that tonify Yin are used in the instances of Yin deficiency. To understand what Yin deficiency is we need to quickly review how the concept of Yin and Yang is implemented in traditional Chinese medicine.
Since Yang in nature represents activity, light, warmth it logically represents energy/warming faculty in the human body. Since Yin in nature represents rest, quiet, slowness it translates into the material aspect of the human body. In other words Yin represents matter, blood, body fluids, while Yang is the force that makes them come to life(1).
When Yin is deficient there is deficiency of body fluids and/or blood (blood is part of Yin). So the major symptom of Yin deficiency is dryness – dry lips, dry mouth, dry throat. The urine is dark and scanty (dehydration) and there is constipation (not enough fluids to nourish the bowels). Since Yin is deficient Yang automatically becomes excessive (Yin and Yang work like scales). The heat of the warming principle – Yang - will manifest in night sweats (the night is part of Yin; when Yin is injured symptoms manifest at night time and/or the afternoon). Another heat sign that manifests with Yin deficiency is hot palms and soles.
Most common organs that manifest with Yin deficiency are the Lung, the Stomach, the Liver, the Kidneys, and the Heart.
The Lung governs the respiration thus a Yin deficient Lung manifests in chronic dry cough(2) and dry throat(2)(3)(4).
The Stomach participates in the digestion. When the Yin of the Stomach is deficient symptoms include dry mouth and throat(2)(3)(4) (the Spleen/Stomach partnership opens into the mouth), dry stools(4), epigastric pain(2)(3)(4).
The Liver opens into the eyes. Thus Liver Yin deficiency manifests in dry eyes(2)(4). The negative emotion that is experienced with imbalanced Liver is anger. In Chinese medicine anger incorporates a range of emotions such as irritability, nervousness, lack of patience, which all manifest with Liver Yin deficiency.
The Kidney governs the urinary system. Kidney Yin deficiency manifests in scanty urination(4). There is back pain(3)(4) (the Kidneys are located in the lower back). The Essence (which resides in the Kidneys) is also part of Yin thus Yin deficiency means there might be also Essence deficiency. When the Essence is deficient it fails to nourish the brain and symptoms include dizziness(3)(4), vertigo(2)(4), and poor memory(2)(3)(4).
The Heart houses the mind(3)(4). Besides heart palpitations(2)(4) (the major symptom of imbalanced Heart) Heart Yin deficiency manifests with mental restlessness(4), insomnia and dream disturbed sleep(2)(4) (the house of the mind is fragile so the mind has no residence and wanders homeless at night)
Herbs that tonify Yin are cold, moist and enriching.
Major Chinese Herbs
Just like in the "tonify Yang category" the "tonify Yin" class of herbs has a group of herbs that enter both the Kidney and the Liver channels, and benefit symptoms connected with deficiency patterns in these two organs. As the Kidneys govern the bones and the Liver governs the sinews, some of these herbs benefit joint, tendon and bone disharmonies, such as as numbness, weakness and atrophy(5). Sang Ji Sheng (Taxillus chinensis) – mulberry mistletoe stem – is one such herb. A very famous herb that enters both the Kidney and the Liver is black sesame seeds – Hei Zhi Ma (Sesamum indicum). It is known for benefiting the eyes (the Liver opens to the eyes) - for symptoms such as blurred vision, and the ears (the Kidneys open to the ears) - for symptoms such as tinnitus(5)(6).
One source indicates that if black sesame seeds are boiled and made into bullet size pills one will get a shiny complexion if one takes one of these pills every day for a year. If one takes one pill every day for two years, one’s gray hair will go back to its original color; three years – one’s lost teeth will grow back; four years – one will be completely free from disease; five years – one will run as fast as a horse and live a healthy long life. Referred to as one of the longevity herbs in China(6) black sesame seeds are largely used in Chinese culinary, especially in the making of different delicious deserts.
Two animal sources that tonify the Yin are Gui Ban (Chinemys reevesii) and Bie Jia (Amyda sinesis) – turtle shell from fresh water turtle and the shell from soft shell turtle(5).
Two other herbs often grouped together are Tian Men Dong (Asparagus cochinchinensis) - asparagus root and Mai Men Dong (Ophiopogon japonicas). They enter the Lung channel, and have a moistening effect on the Lung, benefiting symptoms such as dry cough, dry mouth, and thick sputum that is difficult to expectorate (the heat and lack of fluid has made the sputum thick). A third pair of herbs that tonify Yin and enter the Lungs are both roots - Sha shen (Adenophora tetraphylla) and Xi Yang Shen (Panax quinquefolium) - American ginseng root. They benefit dry cough with blood in the sputum and hoarse voice due to dryness. The beautiful tremella - Bai Mu Er (Tremella fuciformis), also known as "smow mushroom", benefits Stomach Yin and generates fluids(5).
Healing foods
Foods that tonify the Yin have moistening and cooling nature.
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Food therapy is the most economical and non-toxic biochemical approach to health and disease. Food is something we continuously use to sustain our lives. Learning what foods are healing (and what disruptive) for each condition has the potential to convert every meal into a form of therapy.
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(1) Zhang, Enqin (1990). Basic Theory of Traditional Chinese Medicine. Shanghai: Publishing House of Shanghai College of Traditional Chinese Medicine
(2) Yang Weiyi, Meng Fanyi, Jiang Yuanan(2002). Diagnostics of Traditional Chinese Medicine. Beijing: Beijing University of Chinese Medicine and Pharmacology
(3) Deng Liangye, Gan Yijun, He Shuhui, Ji Xiaoping, Li Yang, Wang Rufen, Wang Wenjing, Wang Xuetai, Xu Hengze, Xue Xuiling, Yuan Jiuling (1987). Chinese Acupuncture and Moxibustion. China: Foreign Languages Press
(4) Maciocia, Giovanni (1989). The Foundations of Chinese Medicine. Edinburgh: Harcourt Publishers Limited
(5) Benski, Dan & Gamble, Andrew (1993). Materia Medica, Revised Edition. Seatle: Eastland Press, Incorporated
(6) Lu, Henry (2005). Chinese Natural Cures. New York: Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers, Inc.
(7) Pitchford, Paul (2002). Healing with Whole Foods. Berkeley: North Atlantic Books
(8) Holmes, Peter (1998). The Energetics of Western Herbs. Boulder: Snow Lotus Press, Inc.
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Yin and Yang in Chinese Medicine
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