What many people don’t realize is that this symbol isn’t just decorative. It actually visually describes the theory of yin and yang.

There are five core qualities that define yin and yang and help us understand how this concept applies not just philosophically, but also in the body and in Chinese medicine.

Before we go further, it’s worth saying that this idea comes from Taoist philosophy. This is a framework for understanding patterns in nature, including the human body. You don’t have to subscribe to Taoism to see the truth in what it describes.

Five Core Qualities

1) Yin and Yang Are Opposites

Yin and yang represent opposing qualities.

Yin is darker, cooler, more internal.
Yang is brighter, warmer, more external.

Even in the Chinese characters themselves, this duality is present. One reflects the shady side of a mountain, the other the sunny side.

2) Yin and Yang Are Interdependent

Even though they are opposites, they are not separate.

They exist within the same whole. Just like the symbol shows, both yin and yang make up a single circle.

We understand darkness because light exists.
We understand light because darkness exists.

You cannot have one without the other.

3) Yin and Yang Mutually Control (or Consume) One Another

Yin and yang keep each other in check.

You cannot stay in one extreme forever.

For example, a fever may rise, bringing the body into a more yang state. But eventually, the body will break the fever and come back down, returning toward a more yin state.

Yang cannot sustain itself indefinitely on its own.

There are natural limits built into the system itself.

4) Yin and Yang Transform Into One Another

Yin and yang don’t just limit each other. They also become each other.

You can see this in the seasons:

• Winter is deeply yin

• Spring begins to introduce yang

• Summer is fully yang

• Fall transitions back toward yin

Or in something like the process of birth.

There is a very yang moment in conception, followed by a deeply yin process of growth and nourishment. Labor itself is a rhythm of yang and yin, contraction and release, building toward a peak yang moment of delivery, and then returning immediately back into yin with rest, bonding, and care.

There is always movement. Always transformation.

5) Yin and Yang Are Infinitely Divisible

Within yin, there is yang.
Within yang, there is yin.

You can see this in the small dots within the symbol.

A helpful way to think about this is through temperature.

If we look at water:

• Frozen water is very yin

• Steam is very yang

But between those, we have cool, warm, hot, cold. And even within those, there are layers.

Cool is more yang than cold, but still yin overall.
Warm is more yin than hot, but still yang overall.

There is always nuance. Always a spectrum.

So What Does This Mean for the Body?

Yin and yang describe patterns everywhere in nature, and the body is no exception.

You cannot have just one or the other. Both are always present.

In any adaptive system, whether that is the weather, the seasons, or your body, there is a constant shifting relationship between yin and yang.

The true nature of balance is dynamic.
It’s not still, not static.
It’s always shifting.
Always adapting.
Always adjusting.

If you’ve ever tried to balance on one foot, you know this. Your body is constantly making tiny adjustments to keep you upright.

The same is true internally.

In Western physiology, you may remember the word homeostasis. It’s the idea that your body is constantly working to keep things within a healthy range - not perfectly still, but stable enough to function well.

Your body is constantly making small shifts to maintain regulation. And health is found in those shifts that keep you resilient.

What This Looks Like in Real Life

Some people naturally present with more yang qualities.

They may be:

• louder or more direct

• more outward in how they move and interact

• warmer in their body temperature

Others may present with more yin qualities.

They may be:

• quieter or more inward

• less noticeable in a room

• cooler in their body

Neither of these is a problem. This is just how someone’s system expresses itself.

When Things Become Imbalanced

Issues arise when one side becomes excessive relative to the other.

If someone has too much yin, they may feel:

• cold

• fatigued

• more withdrawn

• increased fluids, like a runny nose or excess mucus

If someone has too much yang, they may experience:

• heat

• dryness or redness

• faster heart rate

• things like heartburn or constipation

And sometimes, two people can look similar on the surface, but the underlying reason is different. That’s part of what I’m sorting through as a practitioner.

How We Use This Clinically

This is where my role comes in.

Through conversation and pulse diagnosis, I’m working to understand what’s happening underneath the surface.

Is there too much of one thing?
Or is the other side not strong enough to keep things in balance?

Sometimes we need to calm something down.
Sometimes we need to support what’s lacking.

From there, I determine the pattern of disharmony and which systems are most involved. Then I choose acupuncture points that help guide the body back toward a more regulated, adaptive state.

The goal is not perfection.

The goal is resilience.
The ability for your body to shift, respond, and maintain balance over time.

Closing

In a lot of ways, this isn’t all that different from how we think about the body in chiropractic care. We’re always working toward helping your system regulate, adapt, and stay resilient over time.

Chinese medicine is simply another paradigm for understanding that process.

And as a practitioner, having more than one way to look at the body matters. It helps me see patterns I might otherwise miss and gives me more ways to support you in getting back to that place of balance and responsiveness.

Now when you see the yin and yang symbol, you might pause a second longer.

Not just seeing black and white, but the movement, the relationship, the constant shifting between the two.

And maybe you start to notice those same patterns already happening within your own body.

If you’re curious what this looks like in your own body, you’re always welcome to reach out or book a session.

Photo by Gabriel Vasiliu on Unsplash

The next most important diagnostic tool is pulse diagnosis. This is a beautiful, ancient art. It takes thousands of reps to really fine-tune both the feeling and the interpretation of pulse patterns.

We also use tongue diagnosis, which looks at the tongue shape, color, and coating. The nuances here also reveal a lot about what kinds of patterns might be occurring in the body.

Most people don’t think twice about the questions I ask… and honestly, even the tongue diagnosis doesn’t phase them much.

Pulse diagnosis is a different bear. And I wanted to write a bit more to give a deeper understanding of what I am feeling for and what it can tell me about your health and how your body is adapting.

Most people are familiar with a typical Western medicine pulse taken for vitals. This is usually felt at the radial artery on the inside of the wrist and the primary purpose is for measuring heart rate. This is why a medical professional may also look at their watch or a clock on the wall to get the right count of beats per minute. In physical diagnosis class, we are taught to feel for rate, rhythm, and quality. Rate is the number of beats per minute. Rhythm is basically just regular and irregular. Quality is the part that most of the time is ignored in standard vitals measurement. Often this is just mentioned when it is severe, for instance a “thready” pulse means it’s hard to feel, faint in intensity, and may mean that we have a more significant health crisis on our hands.

TCM views pulse with a lot more nuance. We don’t focus specifically on how many beats per minute. The thing that really sets Chinese Medicine pulse diagnosis apart is the different qualities of pulses. Classically there are 28 (sometimes 27, sometimes 29) pulse types. And these aren’t either/or categories. There are some qualities that often exist together, and even within a category, there are gradients or spectrums that these qualities lie upon. This is really where one piece of the art of Chinese Medicine is very fine tuned and, I think, what makes it very interesting.

The depth of the pulse (floating, deep, hidden/concealed) gives us an idea of whether something is more on the surface, or if it has gone deeper within the body. This can sometimes relate to how long something has been going on, or how deeply it has taken hold.

The speed of the pulse (rapid or slow) gives us insight into heat or cold tendencies within the body or within a specific organ or channel system. The strength or intensity of the pulse (full or empty) helps us understand whether there is more of an excess pattern or a deficiency.

We also pay attention to size (big, thin, minute), flow (flooding, scattered, hollow), rhythm (knotted, intermittent, hurried), and directional or dynamic qualities (long, short, moving). These are less about categories and more about building a fuller picture.

But my favorite category of pulse descriptions uses words to describe shape, tension, or texture and many of these use real life objects to compare the feel in the pulse.

• Wiry (Xian) → taut like a guitar string

• Tight (Jin) → twisted rope, tense

• Slippery (Hua) → smooth, like pearls rolling

• Choppy (Se) → rough, uneven, scraping

• Soggy (Ru) → soft, superficial, weak

• Soft (Ruan) → deep + weak + soft

• Weak (Ruo) → deep, thin, forceless

• Leather (Ge) → hard surface, empty underneath (like a drum)

• Firm (Lao) → deep, strong, tight, fixed

Each one of these descriptions comes together to form a bigger picture of what is happening in the body and in the individual channel/organ systems.

Speaking of individual channel/organ systems - the reason the pulse picture is so deep and wide is that we get to assess each of these different qualities of a pulse at three locations, on each wrist. That gives us 6 spots which each tells us about a pair of organs and the channel that is associated with each. Effectively 12 data points times however many qualities can be felt by the practitioner.

So, while the process doesn’t take but a minute or so, it gives such nuanced layers of information about what is balanced and what is out-of-balance in someone’s body and body systems.

Even if you’re coming in for chiropractic care, you can always ask me to check your pulses. I love getting to share a little more of what I’m feeling and how your body is communicating in that moment.

There’s a reason pulse is my favorite. And you have gotten to glimpse a little behind the curtain of what is happening in my brain when I am feeling your pulse for Chinese Medicine purposes.

Photo by kian zhang on Unsplash

When a light pops on, it doesn’t mean the car is broken beyond repair. It means the system is giving you information about what’s happening under the hood. If we ignore the light long enough, the problem might get worse. But if we get curious about it early, we can usually make small adjustments that keep things running smoothly.

Our bodies work in much the same way. Sometimes the signals are physical. Sometimes they’re emotional. And sometimes the most useful thing we can do is pause long enough to notice what the signal might be trying to tell us.

One of the signals that shows up frequently, especially in the spring months, is frustration.

The Liver’s Job: Keeping Things Moving

In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), every organ system influences how energy (or Qi) moves through the body.

Some systems have a very specific directional role. The stomach helps move energy downward. The spleen helps hold things upward and contained. The lungs disperse and distribute. The Liver, though, has a slightly different job. The Liver’s role is to help everything move smoothly.

Rather than pushing energy in a single direction, it supports the overall flow, expansion, and adaptability of the system. When Liver Qi is flowing well, we tend to feel flexible - physically, mentally, and emotionally.

Creativity flows. Ideas move forward. Our bodies move easily. We’re able to shift gears without feeling stuck.

In Chinese medicine, the Liver belongs to the Wood element, which is most active in the spring. Spring is the season of growth, new shoots, and forward movement. The same principle applies inside the body: the energy of spring encourages movement, change, and expansion.

When Flow Gets Stuck

But sometimes things don’t move as easily. In Chinese medicine, we call this stagnation. If you’ve never heard that term before, it may help to picture a pond where the water isn’t moving. When water sits still for too long, it begins to grow algae. Mosquitoes gather. The water becomes murky and unpleasant. It’s not that the pond itself is broken. It simply isn’t flowing anymore.

The body works in a similar way. When energy stops moving smoothly, we begin to notice signs of stagnation. Sometimes that shows up emotionally as frustration, irritability, anger, or resentment. Other times it shows up physically.

Common signs of Liver Qi stagnation can include:

• headaches, especially at the temples or top of the head
• neck and shoulder tension
• feeling physically stiff or rigid
• menstrual changes or PMS symptoms
• digestive changes when stress is high
• feeling stuck or resistant to change

Sometimes patients simply say they feel “off” or disconnected from their bodies. These experiences aren’t random. They’re signals that something inside the system is asking for movement again.

Why Frustration Shows Up

Frustration is closely tied to the Liver because it often appears when forward movement feels blocked. The energy of the Wood element wants to grow and move outward. When something interferes with that movement, irritation can build.

There’s actually a familiar example of this connection in everyday life. People who have long-term excessive alcohol use often experience intense irritability or anger. Alcohol places a heavy burden on the liver physically, and the emotional pattern that often accompanies that strain mirrors what Chinese medicine has observed for centuries.

This doesn’t mean frustration is bad. In fact, it can be incredibly useful information. Frustration often shows up when something needs to change, when a boundary hasn’t been respected, or when a system in the body needs more movement.

Listening to the Signal

When frustration appears, one helpful place to start is simply asking a few questions.

• Is this something physical?
  Do I need movement, stretching, or a change in posture?

• Is this something mental or emotional?
  Is there a thought pattern or situation that feels stuck?

• Or is there a chemical influence at play: stress, sleep, nutrition, or environmental factors affecting how the body feels?

Chiropractic often talks about these categories as thoughts, toxins, and (mechanical) trauma. Looking at the body through those lenses can help us narrow down where the signal may be coming from.

Sometimes the first step in listening to the body is simply slowing down long enough to notice it.

Sitting quietly.
Checking in with what you feel physically.
Noticing what thoughts are present.
Looking for connections between your internal signals and what’s happening in your life.

This kind of awareness - sometimes called interoception - is a skill we can build over time.

The Good News about Stagnation

The encouraging part is that stagnation is incredibly common, and it usually doesn’t require dramatic changes to improve. You don’t necessarily need a brand-new exercise program or a massive diet overhaul. Often, small shifts restore movement surprisingly quickly.

A short walk.
Gentle stretching.
Resolving one lingering task.
Addressing a boundary that has been bothering you.

Small movements can create meaningful change in how the body feels.

Curiosity Instead of Judgment

When we treat frustration or tension as proof that something is wrong with us, we tend to miss the information the body is offering. But when we approach those signals with curiosity instead of judgment, they often become useful guides. Your body isn’t trying to sabotage you. More often than not, it’s simply letting you know that something in the system wants to move again.

And sometimes the most helpful response is not force or pressure - but a gentle shift back toward flow.

But what if that story isn’t true? What if your body isn’t malfunctioning, but communicating?

Hormones Are Messengers, Not Enemies

Hormones don’t exist to sabotage your life. They’re part of an incredibly intelligent system designed to help your body adapt to real life. Hormones carry information between systems - your nervous system, immune system, and endocrine system are constantly in conversation. They respond to stress, rest, nourishment, relationships, workload, seasons, and life transitions.

When something shifts in your environment or your internal world, hormones respond. That response isn’t a failure. It’s feedback. Symptoms like fatigue, mood changes, cycle shifts, pain, or disrupted sleep aren’t moral shortcomings or proof that you’re broken. They’re signals asking to be noticed.

A Systems View of the Body

One of the things Traditional Chinese Medicine does particularly well is seeing the body as an integrated whole rather than a collection of isolated parts. Instead of asking, “Which system is broken?” it asks, “How are these systems relating to one another right now?”

From this perspective, emotional health, hormonal patterns, nervous system regulation, and physical symptoms aren’t separate issues. They’re connected expressions of the same underlying conversation. When one system is under pressure, the others respond. When the body doesn’t feel safe, signals get louder. When we slow down and listen, the system often settles. This isn’t abstract philosophy; it’s how adaptation works.

Why Listening to the Body is a Skill

Listening to the body is a skill, and like any skill, it can be learned. This kind of awareness is often called interoception— the ability to notice internal sensations like tension, fatigue, warmth, heaviness, ease, emotion, or shifts in energy.

Interoception doesn’t require fixing anything. It doesn’t ask you to judge what you feel as good or bad. It simply asks you to notice. And that noticing matters. When we pause long enough to sense what’s happening inside us, the nervous system often begins to regulate. When the nervous system settles, hormones tend to follow. This is how small moments of awareness can create real physiological change over time - not through extremes, white-knuckling, or forcing productivity, but through listening and responding with support.

This Doesn’t Require an Overhaul

One of the biggest misconceptions about improving hormonal health is that it requires dramatic change: a new diet, a strict routine, an intense exercise program, or a long list of supplements. While those tools can be appropriate in certain situations, meaningful change often begins much more simply.

Sometimes the first step is just noticing that you’re exhausted, or that you’ve been holding tension all day, or that your mood shifts predictably in certain seasons or phases of life. Those observations aren’t failures, they’re information. Acting on that information doesn’t have to be extreme. It might look like resting earlier, taking breaks, changing posture, saying no more often, or allowing tenderness without shame. Small, supportive changes give the body space to adapt: and adaptation is how healing actually happens.

Heart, Hormones, and Compassion

February often gets framed as a month about romance and relationships, but the heart isn’t only about romantic love. It’s about connection, safety, presence, and compassion: especially toward yourself. When we approach our bodies with fear or frustration, we tighten. When we approach with curiosity and care, something softens.

This matters deeply during times of transition… perimenopause, menopause, postpartum phases, periods of stress, grief, or change. These aren’t modern disease processes. They’re ancient, human experiences. You’re not alone in them, and you don’t need to rush through them.

An Invitation

If there’s one thing I hope you take from this, it’s this: your body is working for you, not against you. Learning to listen (even imperfectly) is worth your time. It improves real outcomes, builds trust, and creates space for healing that doesn’t rely on fear.

You don’t need to be fixed. You don’t need to push harder. You don’t need to ignore what you feel. Your body is communicating with you. And listening is a powerful place to begin.

One of the things I talk about often with patients — especially this time of year — is the idea that our bodies are meant to move through seasons.

Winter isn’t a failure of motivation or discipline. It’s a season that naturally asks for slowing down. Just like in nature, our bodies are designed to conserve energy, rest a little more, and move at a different pace when the days are shorter and the environment is colder.

But most of us live in a world that doesn’t slow down with the seasons. We’re often expected to function at “summer speed” year-round. And when our bodies don’t cooperate with that expectation, it’s easy to start blaming ourselves.

I want to gently reframe that.

Your body slowing down is not a flaw.
It’s communication.

Your Body is Always Giving You Information

One of the most helpful concepts I share with patients is interoception — your ability to notice internal sensations in your body.

This might show up as:

• tension or heaviness

• fatigue or low energy

• soreness or stiffness

• a sense of ease or lightness

• emotional shifts

• changes in focus or motivation

These aren’t “good” or “bad.” They’re data. Signals. Information your nervous system is offering so you can adapt.

Listening doesn’t mean diagnosing yourself or fixing anything right away. It often starts much more simply: slowing down enough to notice.

Sometimes that means being quiet for a moment.
Turning off the podcast.
Pausing the scroll.
Letting yourself check in and ask, “What do I notice right now?”

Not to judge it — just to notice.

A Real-Life Example: When the Body Whispers Before it Shouts

I often use a simple example from everyday life: something like putting together furniture.

Being on the floor, leaning forward, squatting, or holding awkward positions isn’t “bad.” Those movements are normal. But when we stay there for a long time without changing position, the body starts to give feedback.

Maybe your hips feel tired.
Your low back starts to ache.
Your shoulders get tense.

At first, those signals are quiet. They’re whispers.

At that point, responding can be very simple:

• changing position

• standing up for a few minutes

• moving your spine differently

• taking a short break

When we listen early, the body adapts beautifully.

But when we push through — often in the name of productivity, efficiency, or “just getting it done” — those whispers tend to get louder. What started as mild tension can turn into real pain. What was once a gentle signal becomes a much stronger message.

That’s often when people end up in my office — not because they did something “wrong,” but because their body had to escalate to be heard.

Listening Isn’t Weakness - It’s Skill

One thing I really want people to hear clearly:

Slowing down is not laziness.
Needing rest is not failure.
Noticing your limits is not deterioration.

Intentional slowing down is actually a skill — and a powerful one.

When we pause, adjust, or change course in response to our body’s signals, we support the nervous system’s ability to regulate. That creates better adaptation, better recovery, and often less pain over time.

This doesn’t mean life suddenly becomes slow or easy. It means we work with our physiology instead of constantly pushing against it.

You’re Not Broken - You’re Learning to Listen

If you’re realizing, “Oh… I’ve been ignoring my body for a while,” I want you to pause and notice something important:

That awareness itself is a win.

Noticing is the first step.
Listening comes next.
Change can come gently, over time.

You don’t need to be perfect.
You don’t need to overhaul your life.
You don’t need to know exactly what every sensation means.

Your body isn’t trying to trick you or fail you — it’s communicating. And you can learn its language.

That’s part of what I mean by reset and restore: giving yourself permission to slow down, to pay attention, and to respond with care rather than criticism.

Even small moments of listening can support healing more than we realize.