What do you know about the Yin Yang Symbol?

[Carona]

My previous post was an answer to this

What I want to know is what do you, the man who has been practicing kung fu for 1 year, 5 years, 10 years, 20 years........what do you know about the Yin Yang sign that would actually help ya person in their daily kung fu practice

and this:

 Something you could think about and, once you understood it, you could apply to your physical kung fu practice to improve it.

Please formulate your questions a bit more to the point and then people will look for the answers you want to get.

Don't think I'm offended or acting as a cry baby, just thought your question is not 100% clear.

[Happeh]

Yin and yang represent empty and full.

I am gonna have to short circuit your answer. Although it was well written, it does not actually address the question that began the thread. That question was

"What do you think you know, or what do you know about the Yin Yang sign?

The Yin Yang sign is a self contained symbol with a specific look. That is quite different from the philosophical or intellectual concepts labeled Yin and Yang.

[Carona]

Yin and yang represent empty and full.

when practicing Taiji you're constantly shifting your weight from one leg to another and this way your shifting between empty and full. Weight on your left leg means left leg is full and the right one is empty, then you shift your weight to the right leg and pass through 90/10, 80/20,....50/50, 30/70 til your right leg is full and the left is empty. This way you just passed through all the fases of yin and yang. Gradually your left full has turned into empty at the same rate as your right empty has turned into full. You can't have empty/empty because you would fall and you can't have 80/90 because the sum has to add up to 100. If right moves, left has to move accordingly.

Weight distribution is a helpful thing in redirecting incoming forces of an opponent with a minimum of effort. When someone pushes you, you start shifting your weight to your back foot to fill it and empty the leg where he pushes. let him fill the void to make him bring his center of gravity in an instable position. If the incoming force is still to be big to be neutralized you take a step backwards doing the whole weightshifting thing to take the step.
Now if you apply the circular nature of the yin and yang symbol you can easyly bring your opponent off balance. Because if you just shift your weight back and let yourself be pushed in a straight line, in the end you will be pushed away. Directing the incoming force in a circular manner to the outside where the opponent has little balance makes it easy to throw him off his feet.
If he pulls you, you follow and fill the void he left you...

the concept of full and empty is very very easy and yet effective. Just try this while sparring (you probably already do this if you really spar) look for the void. I mean don't think too much about techniques but just look where your opponent has voids in his guard. Ribs are open? Punch there and fill the void. knee unprotected? Kick it and so on. What win chung is all about. Also look how he distributes his weight, this will tell you what attack you can expect and also tell you when is the moment to attack yourself or try to do a takedown.

Some examples:
(keep in mind I use only the terms full and empty for weight in the legs.)
someone throws a roundhouse kick at you. Therefore he must first fill his kicking leg and empty his supporting leg to prepare the kick. This you can see in a minor shoulder movement and prepare yourself. Then when the kick comes the supporting leg has to fill and the kicking leg has to empty. This is your opportunity to step in and fill the void left by the kicking leg. Closing the distance and simply push into the empty leg can already throw him down. Your instepping leg would be full meaning bearing your weight and the other can be empty to be able to kick the supporting full leg of your opponent. This way you joined your own combination of full/empty with his
to perform a takedown as a defense against a kick.

Someone punches at you so he is busy or full at his upper body. You protect your head and meanwhile kick his shins where he is empty.

there are more ways to apply yin yang to kungfu but everyone has to search for himself his own way of doing this. What you had to think about yourself, once you understood sticks while those that were handed to you on a silver plate not...

[Happeh]

When I posted this over at the other place, I made a big deal about emphasizing how I am a person who is focused on real world usefullness. The Yin Yang sign has both philosophical and real world meanings. I was hoping to hear that someone had some opinion or the other about a real world useful meaning of the Yin Yang sign.

Something you could think about and, once you understood it, you could apply to your physical kung fu practice to improve it.

[onesp1ng]

I never really thought that it (the yin yang sign) was just a sign, actually.... Sure, we all know what everyone tells us, but, it's something more, too, isn't it? Really. Perhaps it's not just a sign that represents opposites or patterns in nature like they say?!

I don't know. In some ways -- that is, if you take it and kind of blow it up -- it appears to possess a certain potential that can help us to understand ourselves at a deeper, more profound level.

Seems I can only imagine to myself the way it works though.

[onesp1ng]

ummm, well, it may be somewhat ironic that doc is actually Gene Ching's gongfu brother (that is, at least according to my memory). lol! Looks like you're not a troublemaker after all, happeh. or, did you "owe" doc another insult?

i think we need a prayer group.... hahahhahah

[Happeh]

Hiya! I had a run in with the admin of this site. I was sent to hell, then I was allowed back. That had never happened before. Most men that ban me never allow me to return.

Because he was willing to take a chance on me, I feel like I owe him something. To prove to him that I am not the troublemaker that people say, and that I do know a small something about Kung Fu that other people in the world might find helpful.
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Just so you know, this is a used gift.

I tried to give this to the guys over at kung fu magazine. But the usual happened. When I strongly challenged the people their about their knowledge and their statements, they ran to the administrator, Gene Ching, and cried. Because Gene Ching wants to run his website and not deal with crybabies, he came by to have a talk with me.

He told me I needed to stop making the babies cry. He made a mistake though. He called me a troll because that is what all the crybabies told him. Or maybe he was careless with his wording. Regardless, he had just declared my information was of no value, and that I was a person who should not be respected, without ever talking to me. He should not have done that. It was rude and thoughtless on his part. It showed he was an unthinking man whose priorities were providing a quiet and calm child's nursery at his website, and not distributing knowledge about kung fu.

I told him I would give him a chance. I thought he was stupid for giving in to the crying babies. But if he did not ban me for calling him stupid, the next day I would reveal something that to me, is like gold. I have never seen anybody anywhere else in the world talk about it, so I think it must be very rare.

He failed. He saw me challenge his authority publicly by saying he was stupid and saying he was weak because he allowed a bunch of loudmouth know nothings bully him into coming to give me trouble. He could not deal with that. The kind of man Gene Ching is, he needs to be seen as "in control" of the website. If he allowed my words to go unanswered, in his mind, he would lose status and respect from the forum members. So he banned me.

Me? I would get rid of 50 loudmouths in a minute if someone offered me gold for them.
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So after the big gossipy buildup, lets get the ball rolling. The question I started out with at the Kung Fu Magazine forums was:

"What do you think you know, or what do you know about the Yin Yang sign?

The men at the Kung Fu Magazine forums started regurgitating things. All the things you read in books and magazines. But they did not have any real personal knowledge of what the Yin Yang sign is about, or what it means, or what it is trying to tell people.

They could recite from books that Yang is hard and Yin is soft. The Yin Yang sign represents the duality of nature. The Yin Yang sign is the chinese way of viewing the universe. Blah Blah, Blah Blah, Blah.

Those things may be true, but they are things those men read in a book. What I want to know is what do you, the man who has been practicing kung fu for 1 year, 5 years, 10 years, 20 years........what do you know about the Yin Yang sign that would actually help ya person in their daily kung fu practice, or what do you know about the Yin Yang sign that would show deep insight into the theories behind why kung fu is performed the way it is?

Just so we are clear about the subject under discussion, here is a picture of the Yin Yang sign.


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I don't come here every day. And I forget where I posted things. So if I don't come back immediately, be patient, I will be back.

I think it is important for people to stew over new ideas. The rapidfire seconds response of internet forums encourages people to speak without thinking. I might go away for a few days for that reason too.