YIN-YANG AND THE FIVE ELEMENTS

tutor

Do I understand yin and yang to be the original source of duality or polarity from which all life emanates. Without this polarity or duality life does not exist. Do I understand correctly to say the five elements are the substance of all things. Do the five elements show combinations of qualities such as dryness and moisture, heat and cold, lightness and heaviness and mobility and inertia. Am I correct to think that these things are not present in absolute form but as tendencies within a continuum and are relative to their opposites.
Can we determine the element that best suits a patient by asking questions and observing behaviour and physical presence during the taking of the case history.
Would the relevant questions be to find the patients favourite season, colour, taste. We can also determine much from the patients worst time of day and their moods throughout the day and from season to season.
Should the Practitioner be able to determine much about the mood and demenour of the patient to apply this to obtain a general assessment of energy levels and approximate ratios of elements that can be combined with information from the meridians etc to work out a rebalancing programme for the patient

tutor

Dear Peter,
The Yin and Yang are indeed considered as the original source of duality or polarity from which all life emanates while meanwhile the qualities such as dryness and moisture, heat and cold, lightness and heaviness and mobility and inertia. are also taken into the count of the category of Yin and Yang, so the heat, brightness, lightness, mobility, and dryness are of Yang while the cold, darkness, heaviness, intertia, and dampness are of the Yin. And for sure they are not absolute but everchanging as tendencies within a continuum, or even relatively toward their opposites.
So please don't mix the Yin and Yang with the Five-Elements, they are of two different categories. As I mentioned last time, the former tells the relativity of things or phenomena, while the latter illustrates the formation and relationship of the physical or substantial side of the universe.
To diagnose a patient, both categories should be in use, which will be stated in more details in course B.
For sure an experienced physician should be able to determine the element that best suits a patient by asking questions and observing behaviour and physical presence during the taking of the case history. And by asking the relevant questions, it is possible to find the patients favourite season, colour, taste. We can also determine much from the patients worst time of day and their moods throughout the day and from season to season. But you must be proficient in the skills and experience of the traditional Chinese medical diagnosis.
A traditional Chinese medical physician should also be able to determine much about the mood and demenour of the patients and to apply this to obtain a general assessment of energy levels and approximate ratios of elements that can be combined with information from the meridians etc to work out a rebalancing programme for the patient. Again, it needs the proficiency of the skills and experience.
How to grasp the skills and to get the experience? It certainly needs the good learning (reading, and teaching as well), good practice, and a good genuine of perceiving the nature of the phenomena, and linkage of all the aspects of the phenomena and the organic combination of all the skills and abilities.
Sounds not very clear, for I don't know how to demonstrate it clearly, so hope you can basically grasp me. Don't worry, in course B, you'll have more details, so you would have a better picture then.