The Daily Insight – 6-23-09 – Strong Yin Example – African Boy

The picture below shows an African boy whose body displays attributes commonly associated with a strongly developed Yin part of the body.

Take a few minutes to examine the picture and form your own opinions about what you see.

One of the most obvious attributes of a strongly developed Yin part Of The body seen in the body of the African boy is his large protruding or bulging forehead.

A young girl in the background of the picture also has the bulging forehead of a strongly developed Yin part of the body.

The African boy is holding a stance that is both an artifact of the strong Yin development of his body, and an exercise that strengthens and stimulates the Yin of any human body.

The stance is created by lowering the body,

which allows his legs to bend at the knees.

His legs are also angled out away from his body,

and he is holding his arms up at shoulder level,

as well as angling them out to the side.

It seems likely the boy was taught to hold the stance in the picture. Which would mean his body is able to, and desires to, hold that stance because the practice has strengthened the Yin part of his body.

Or it is possible that the Yin part of the boy’s body has been strengthened in some other manner, and he is assuming the stance seen in the picture because that stance feels comfortable, natural, and even irresistible in some situations, to a body in which the Yin is strongly developed.

It can be educational to understand why the stance works to strengthen the Yin part of the body. The reason is simple.

Triangles. The stance creates triangle shapes all over the body.

A triangle is formed by both the arms and the neck,

and the upper legs.

Those two triangles can be split by a vertical line starting at the center of the top of the head and following the path of the spine downwards, which creates four separate triangles.

Triangle shapes are created by the arms and the side of the body,

and the back of each leg.

A triangle is created by the feet and the center of the top of the head,

and two triangles can be formed by splitting that triangle with a vertical line originating at the center of the top of the head and traveling the path of the spine downwards.

A triangle can be formed by the arms and the center of the top of the head,

and that triangle can be split into two triangles by a line that starts at the center of the top of the head and follows the path of the spine downwards.

The effort and effect of creating those triangle shapes is to push the body towards it’s optimum alignment, as well as strengthening the tendons and muscles used to form the triangles.

It is the strengthening of the muscles and tendons, the movement of the body towards optimum alignment, and the effect of those two factors on the interior of the body that combine to strengthen what is being called “the Yin part of the body”.