An interactive map of how yin and yang organize your organs, body zones, and daily rhythms — click a body region, trace the five-element cycles, and find the foods that match your pattern.
In Traditional Chinese Medicine, nothing in the body is purely one thing. Every structure and function sits on a spectrum between Yin (cool, quiet, inward, substantial) and Yang (warm, active, outward, functional). Health is the dynamic balance between them; illness is what happens when one side tilts too far.
The body itself is mapped in yin-yang pairs: the upper body is Yang, the lower body is Yin; the back is Yang, the abdomen is Yin. The solid Zang organs (Heart, Liver, Spleen, Lung, Kidney) are Yin, while the hollow Fu organs (Stomach, Intestines, Gallbladder, Bladder) are Yang. Each organ also belongs to one of the Five Elements, linking it to a season, emotion, taste, and direction.
Tap any organ to reveal its yin-yang nature, five-element family, paired organ, function, emotion, and season. Switch between the front (Yin / abdomen) and back (Yang) views to see how the body itself divides.
The five elements connect every organ to a season, emotion, taste, and direction. The Generating (Sheng) cycle nourishes the next element; the Controlling (Ke) cycle keeps each in check. Click an element to highlight both relationships.
When yin and yang fall out of balance, four classic patterns emerge. Each shows up in your tongue, pulse, and symptoms — and each calls for foods with the opposite thermal nature to right the scale.
The yin-yang clock is always running — in your sleep, your meals, your movement, and your moods. Here is how to align everyday habits with the natural swing between the two.
Night is yin — the time to rest, repair, and store. The hours around midnight (zi shi, 11pm–1am) are peak yin and the most important window for nourishing yin and the Gallbladder/Liver. Sleeping before 11pm lets yang withdraw and yin build, which is why late nights eventually show up as heat, dryness, and irritability. See the TCM body clock →
Every food has a thermal nature independent of its temperature. Warming foods (ginger, lamb, cinnamon) lift yang and dispel cold; cooling foods (mung bean, watermelon, cucumber) clear heat and protect yin. Match your plate to your pattern — and to the season, since summer leans yang and winter leans yin. Open the Food Atlas →
Activity is yang; stillness is yin. Vigorous exercise stirs up qi and warms the body, but without enough yin (rest, sleep, gentle movement) it burns you out. The art is the ratio: build yang in the morning with movement, and settle into yin at night with stretches, breathwork, or stillness. Practices like qigong and Eight Brocades are designed to balance both.
Each emotion lives in an organ: anger in the Liver, joy in the Heart, worry in the Spleen, grief in the Lung, fear in the Kidney. A flash of feeling is healthy yang; a stuck, looping emotion becomes a yin/yang imbalance that disturbs its organ. Regulating mood is therefore part of regulating the body. Explore emotions & organs →
Not sure which way your scale tips? Take the constitution quiz, then match your result to the right foods, teas, and daily rhythms.