yin/yang meridians

[Frank]

Hello,
I'm trying to grasp which meridians are which. I'm reading yinsights as well as Sarah Power's book insight yoga. Going back and forth between them trying to make sense of something I'm stuck on. (That may well be the issue) In her book there is a chart with yin and yang organs listed as well as other info for those organs. In your book the are listed the upper body meridians and lower body meridians.
These lower and upper body meridians don't corespond with the yin and yang organs as listed. For example the liver and gall bladder are both lower body meridians while the liver is a yin organ and the gall bladder is a yang organ.
I suppose my question is : Are there such things as yin and yang meridians with the lower body meridians being yin and the upper body meridians being yang with the context being location in proximity to the earth and sky? Therefore can a yin organ have a yang meridian and vice versa?
I seem to recall hearing or reading the terms yin and yang meridians but don't recall where. It may possibly have been in yinsights but can't seem to find that reference again.
Thanks for any help in the matter. Love the practice of yin yoga and leading others in the practice as well. But as usual the deeper I go the more questions I have. Stay safe - peace. Frank.

[Bernie]

Hi Frank

Interesting question. It may help to remember that yin and yang are not absolute terms but require a context in order to be applied. You are applying "upper body" and "lower body" as the context, but that is not quite right. The "lower body" meridians traverse the whole body!

Perhaps the misconception does arise from my book, because I do call them that. What I meant was, in the Yin Yoga practice, we mostly affect the lower body, and thus the meridians that pass through the lower body. But this does not mean that these meridians are only found in the lower body. The Urinary Bladder meridian (for just one example) begins in the eyes, cross the top of the head, before heading down to the little toe. The UB is not a lower body meridian only.

A better way to think of these meridian lines, is to check their pertaining organs. In the context of solid/hollow (yin/yang) the Liver is solid (yin) and the Gall Bladder, which the liver empties into, is hollow (thus yang.) The Kidneys are solid (thus Yin) and the UB is hollow (thus yang.) And so on. Thus, you can see, the Liver line is yin because it's pertaining organ is yin.

http://www.yinyoga.com/ys1_3.2.4.0_the_organs.php

You could use the context of inner (yin) versus outer (yang), and then notice the path these lines take. The Liver, Kidney and Spleen lines travel up the inner leg. The Stomach, Gall Bladder and UB lines are more on the outer (more visible) part of the legs and thus yang.

However, we can always find a context where this doesn't work. For example, the liver is more towards the surface of the body than the gall bladder, so in that context the Liver could be considered yang.

Personally, I don't get so hung up on whether something is Yin or Yang, but rather look at the context and then try to work out why this would be important. It all comes back to your intention. What are you trying to do or accomplish? Knowing that helps to create the context, and you can work it all out from there.

I hope this helps.

Cheers