One of the fundamental aspects of oriental culture is the theory of the yin and the yang. Grouped within this set are numerous other pairs of opposites – female and male, cold and hot, sinking and rising, earth and sky to name a few. The theory of yin and yang has been applied extensively to health and medicine, and one example is today’s yoji jukugo – 頭寒足熱　(ずかんそくねつ, “head cold, feet warm”).

The literal meaning of this phrase is “keep your head cold and your feet warm”. This may come as mere common sense on the surface, especially when one considers what happens to the body during an illness (fever in the head in spite of the rest of the body being cold). However, as with most plainly stated truths, we are meant to look deeper into this phrase and understand its implications. The head, which rests on the upper part of the body and tends to get hot, represents the yang, while the feet, which lie below and tend to get cold, represent the yin. As the yin-yang symbol itself indicates, life does not consist of one extreme or the other, but rather the constant intermingling and flow of both. The more we mix them together, the more balance and harmony are achieved.

Knowing this, think again about the phrase, “head cold, feet warm”. Consider the wide range of symbolic meanings that each of the four words in that phrase can have, and how you could apply them to your life to create flow and harmony. Until next time.