Yin and Yang Tea

Today during our lecture on TCM herbal medicine, by Dr. Wen, I was fascinated by the diversity of TCM drugs. Western medicine becomes an option here. The option to use herbs to treat a condition is very common. Halfway through lecture we were provided with numerous herbs, honey, and hot water. From this we made tea! We made two types of tea: Yin and Yang. In TCM, different herbs correspond to Yin, Yang, or both. For the Yang tea we used ginger, cinnamon, rose, jasmine, and a spoon of honey. For the Yin tea we used chrysanthemum, honeysuckle, wolfberry, Chinese-date, a spoon of honey, and liquorices. The tea that was Yin had a sweet taste and it was the best! According to Dr. Wen, I had more Yang in me and that’s why I liked the Yin tea better, because my body needed Yin to achieve that balance of Yin and Yang.  I tried both types of teas so technically I am still were I am at, or no? I thought it was interesting! It felt like I had control of my Yin and Yang levels. I thought maybe one day I could drink all the Yang tea I want and be Yang! Whatever that means. It was difficult for me to understand this concept and I am not sure if I believe in the Yin and Yang theory, yet!

There are 12,807 Traditional Chinese Drugs in TCM Pharmacopeia.

11,146 are drugs of plant origin (87%)

1,581 are of animal (12%)

128 are of mineral origin (1%)