Halfway up a mountain in North Wales, my companions asked me what mountains mean in Chinese medicine. These are the reflections which came to mind. First, a mountain is Yang whilst valleys are Yin, and climbing mountains is Yang, because it's activity and moving upwards, involves stretching and reaching and effort.
More practically, the movement and exercise and being outdoors
(all Yang) move our Qi, and that in turn invigorates all the energy systems of the body and mind, hence we feel better in ourselves, even if, in our case, a bit stiff next day from the descent! (That stiffness was fairly quickly put right by the judicious application of a few acupuncture needles - I never go away without my "first aid kit".)And, of course, mountains seem to figure in all those wonderful Chinese paintings that the classical painters do: this one, which hangs in my Shaftesbury treatment room, illustrates, I was told, the calming (Yin) effect of being in beautiful places. And as we came down the mountain, we paused for a swim in a mountain lake - the cool, water-filled lake is an even stronger example of Yin to the mountain's Yang.
Yin and Yang are always juxtaposed and always balance each other - cold to hot, low to high, valley to mountain, calm to busyness, rest to activity, slow to fast, water to air and so on. Both have to be in balance for good health and a happy life.
