This deceptively simple symbol has become a focal point for two very important aspects of my life – my martial
arts training and my studies in becoming a Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioner. My teachers gracefully
demonstrates the fluidic nature of this symbol in the nuances of the movements throughout our Qi-Gong and
Tai-Chi forms. The opening lines of my Traditional Chinese Medicine textbook describes its importance as
follows:
The concept of Yin-Yang is probably the single most important and distinctive theory of Chinese Medicine. It
could be said that all Chinese medical physiology, pathology and treatment can, eventually, be reduced to YinYang. The concept of Yin-Yang is extremely simple, yet very profound. One can seemingly understand it on a
rational level, and yet, continually find new expressions of it in clinical practice and, indeed, in life.
Maciocia (the author) then goes on to describe the Yin-Yang School (or the Naturalist School), that dates back
to the Warring States period (476-221 BC), and how they developed the theory of Yin-Yang to its highest degree. This school was rooted in Taoism which is a philosophy to observe the way of the universe. Everything
in existence is balanced with the existence of its opposite in order to achieve unity. The Yin-Yang Model demonstrates this philosophy by contrasting one element against another element thereby defining both. (ex. night
and day cannot exist without the other) Further to this, however, is that yin-yang elements exist in a dynamic
continuum where they are 1) interdependant, 2) mutually consuming-supportive, 3) oppositional, and are 4)
constantly transforming. These are the aspects of the Yin-Yang Model on which this article will focus, and I will
share my understanding of them through my martial arts experience.
The style of karate that I am practicing is called GojuRyu. ‘Go’ means hard or resilient; ‘Ju’ means soft or
yielding. Therefore, Goju-Ryu translates as the HardSoft School. This paradoxical dualism is relevant to
both the technical characteristics of the style and to its
underlying philosophy. The founder, Grand Master
Chojun Miyagi, chose this name as it represented the
essence of what he learned and subsequently taught.
It came from the third of eight precepts of the classic
Chinese writing the Kempo Hakku found in the Bubishi.
It states: Ho wa goju wo donto su: The way of inhaling
and exhaling is hardness and softness.
Though the systemized teaching structure of Goju-Ryu
originated in Okinawa, Japan with Miyagi Sensei in the
1930s, its roots came from Miyagi Sensei’s Sensei who
studied in China under a Sensei who was also an accomplished Chinese Herbalist. Given that Taoism is a
fundamental root philosophy of Classical Chinese
Medicine, it makes sense that the teachings that made
up the groundwork of Goju-Ryu would have been
heavily influenced by Taoism and, namely, the YinYang Model. Some of Miyagi Sensei’s teaching that
form the core of Goju-Ryu’s philosophy exemplifies this
nicely:
‘As supple as a willow, as solid as Mount Tai.’ It
is when the two extremes of hard and soft
are wholly united as one body that…