In the first part of this blog, I explained how it is important to keep our yin and yang forces in balance and how our body’s autonomic nervous system can easy be knocked out of balance with a yang excess and a yin deficiency. In this final part, i will explain how you can re-balance your yin/yang forces.
From the Six Foundational Factors of Health, three are yin and three are yang:
- Yin: – Hydration, Nutrition, Sleep
- Yang – Thoughts, Breathing, Movement.
So to improve your health, the yin activities need to be increased and/or improved and the yang activities need to be improved and/or reduced.
Improving/Increasing Yin Activity:
Hydration:
- Ensure you drink a minimum of 0.033 litres of good quality water per day
- Eliminate (minimise) caffeinated drinks, fizzy drinks, diet drinks, sports drinks and fruit juices
- Eliminate (minimise) alcoholic beverages
- If you are fully hydrated, you should never feel thirsty
Nutrition:
- Eat right for your metabolic type®
- Eat organic, free-range meats, eggs, vegetables and fruits
- Eat wild fish
- Avoid processed, packaged, heavily marketed, microwaved and GMO foods
- Respect yourself enough to insist good quality nutrition
Sleep:
- Sleep around 10-10.30pm for at least 8 hours per night
- Sleep in a totally dark room. Use black-out curtains if needed.
- Get into a rhythm of going to sleep and waking at the same time each day
Improving/Reducing Yang Activity:
Thoughts:
- Be clear on what makes you happy
- Be clear on your ‘core values’ and live your life by those values. Don’t prostitute yourself.
- Have clearly defined goals and review them regularly
- Focus on what you want, not what you don’t want. Focus on what you want, not what you have right now (unless you have what you want). Remember, thoughts become things!
Breathing:
- Take time out each day to focus on your breathing in a totally silent environment. Breathe in and out of your nose.
- As you inhale, your belly should move out. As you exhale your belly should move inwards.
- A great way to focus on your breath is to meditate. Meditating before bed can also aid a great night’s sleep.
Movement:
- Make sure you are getting movement into your body each day, even if it’s walking for 15 minutes. A walking meditation can be great too.
- Ensure you are not over-training. If you feel drained after exercise, you are overdoing it. You may need to shorten your workouts , reduce the intensity or do less of them.
- Try ‘working-in’ exercises like yoga, tai chi or qi gong. These exercises give you energy unlike when ‘working out’ which uses energy.
As a practitioner, I am regularly required to help people with health challenges to see that they have a yang excess and are yin deficient. If you feel you have a yin deficiency, try some of the tips above. If you need more information, please feel free to email me.
Until next time!