Is it mostly the case that each person falls more either to yin or to yang, or is there presence of both within every person? Both are present in every person, but you do balance one way or another.

Is it helpful for a yin to cultivate their yang chi and vice versa? It is. It’s actually necessary. If yin is all yin and no yang, then their flow becomes stagnant and they can appear to be yang. Like stagnant water beginning to grow bacteria, it gets hotter from decay and it can develop an overpowering stench, thus fire from water, swamp gas. So yes, yin people can accept being yin, but remember to use their yang side as well. And on the flip side, yang that loses its yin exhausts itself. It is snuffed for lack of oxygen under the weight of its own ash. The fire has to be open to air which carries water with it.

Yang people should take up a nice active sport like kick boxing. They should, and they have to remain calm at heart in order to retain their strength. It’s when energy becomes strife that yang people burn out.

Are yang people more physical and yin people more internal? Yang people are more active and yin people more reactive. They can, either of them, be equally mental or physical. The yin person lifting weights sees weight lifting as something they experience, and they try to change the shape of the experience to allow for greater strength. The yang person sees lifting weight as something they do, and they try to cover all the ground possible in weight lifting so they can absorb the maximum benefit from it.

Yang people are optimizers. Yin people are bottom liners. Yin seeks the essence of anything. Yang seeks the actualization of anything.

Yin experience the story in a video game and yang rushes in for the kill. Yes. I am yin and my wife is yang. Gender is not confining or defining of chi. It’s just one facet of its expression. Yin males have an edge perhaps in keeping balanced yang. Yang females have an edge in keeping balanced yin. But the full expression of their dominant trait can be diffused because of it. So they have a different issue to deal with in chi cultivation.

Even in martial arts, I enjoy the experience. I see it more as bonding with the sparring partner. You are perhaps a yin male which makes you more of a “sorceror” than an overt warrior.

I tend to charge in. I don’t like retreating. Some things are just instinctive, which can breed familiarity, which can downplay our need for attention to what we are doing in that realm. I prefer to find the weak point then blow it up. Until I see how I can defeat it quickly, I prefer to keep my distance. My wife gets into some really interesting situations playing Alan Wake, and to my surprise she often gets out of them, though usually with a lot of her resources spent.

You can learn a lot about your chi playing video games if you consciously watch how you play and how you react in them. It can even cultivate your opposite chi. Yes. Rebuild your balance. Yang finds it a challenge to learn how to run away. Yin finds it a challenge to seize opportunities and not miss the chance to win through.

The many first person shooter games give a really graphic model of how people think. Some even allow you to assume different roles that enhance your own style more. Violence against object? Rage against the toaster! Down with ill-fitting clothes! Their time has come!

I want to rage against plastic shopping bags. They never go away. So do I. Shall we start a war? I am actually anti-everything, and since the enemy of my enemy is my friend, I wind up being pro everything.

I don’t rage against bubble wrap. Oh, I do. They have studies showing benefits of that behavior. Stress reducer. Vicarious strangulation because your body is feeling the urge. Do your fists close when you get angry? It’s not to punch anyone. Punching is a learned behavior. Naturally, we want to squeeze things, crush, even stomp, even bite, all before punching.

Babies grab instinctively. Grabbing is natural. This is why in tai chi they teach circular movements. A tai chi punch doesn’t look a lot like a punch, but I promise you still wouldn’t want to be hit by one.

So this is chi. The interplay of all energies in your environment and in yourself, and the realization that all energy is shared among its various states. Find your balanced point and your chi will be strong, your health good and your mind clear. Try to force your state and you will experience none of these things.

I hope you feel more understanding of chi now.

Your thoughts are welcome. Be well friends.

Travis Saunders
Dragon Intuitive
~science,mysticism,spirituality~