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What I Learned About Yin and Yang After My Grandmother Died

Published on June 21, 2016 by Sifu Anthony Korahais

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Last June, a 102-year-old woman with perfect hair sat on her favorite chair and balanced her checkbook one last time.

Earlier that day, she had been to the hairdresser. She had written a check by hand, as she had done for years.

She died that afternoon, napping peacefully in her chair.

That woman was my grandmother, Mary.

Her death wasn’t a surprise to us. Death doesn’t exactly sneak up on a centenarian.

We were prepared.

Or so I thought.

Deep Thoughts About Death

Life goes on, of course.

As life was busy going on — as I celebrated my first Thanksgiving, my first Christmas, my first Easter, and my first birthday without my grandmother — I thought deeply about the nature of death.

I thought about her death. I thought about my own death. I thought about the inevitable deaths of my dogs, Pepper and Ziggy.

Even my wife. Perhaps she will outlive me. But even if she does, she will still die.

And so will you.

Is this kind of thinking morbid?

[Edit: I talk more about an ancient Zen meditation technique called Maranasati, or Death Meditation, in this article here. ]

I don’t believe it is.

Humans, they say, are unique in that they are aware of their own mortality.

But are we really aware? For most of us, death is abstract. It is a concept, a thought, not a reality.

Until we lose someone.

And then we get a crash course in the philosophy of yin and yang.

What Yin and Yang Really Look Like

I thought I understood yin and yang.

I’ve been studying the philosophy for 20 years. It’s the central concept of tai chi. When I went to acupuncture college, we were constantly tested on the theories of yin and yang.

I thought I knew a thing or two. But it turns out I didn’t know squat.

The knowledge was all in my head. It was book knowledge. It was cerebral.

This, my friends, is not the philosophy of yin and yang:

yin-yang-symbol

That’s just a symbol on a screen.

Here’s what yin and yang really look like:

IMG_4437

Yin and yang look like real life. (In this case, they look like my wedding day, which was also my grandmother’s 97th birthday.)

Yin and yang are everywhere, if you learn how to look with new eyes.

A Crash Course in Yin and Yang

On their final exam, my recently-certified instructors were asked to define yin and yang in 1 sentence.

I took the exam with them because I like to practice what I preach. Here’s what I wrote as my answer:

“Yin and yang are opposite, complementary, interdependent, and inseparable forces that, together, form a complete and harmonious whole.”

If you’re wondering where I’m going with this article, then I’ll tell you right now.

Let’s play a simple substitution game with the above statement:

“Life and death are opposite, complementary, interdependent, and inseparable forces that, together, form a complete and harmonious whole.”

You can’t have life without death.

If you want to live, you have to embrace death.

And vice versa, if you want to die well, then you have to embrace life.

Wanting To Live

In my recent writings, I’ve opened up about my 20-year battle with depression.

I’ve mentioned that depression almost killed me, that like many depressives, I was suicidal.

But I haven’t talked much about suicide.

Here’s something that I’ve never told anyone, not even my wife:

The day after I decided not to kill myself, I felt alive.

I had looked at death, right in the eyes.

Death was real. It was tangible. It was right there, as real as sunlight on your face.

It wasn’t even dark, or scary. It just was.

As I was looking at death, that old Clash song popped into my head.

Should I stay or should I go?

I decided to stay, not because I was afraid of death. I wasn’t.

I decided to stay because, while looking at death, I saw life.

I saw yin and yang.

Death Happens

I’ve never seen a dead human.

I’m 44, and I’ve never seen one. My grandmother’s funeral, like all of the funerals in my life, had a closed casket.

We insulate ourselves from death. We look away.

As if that will protect us somehow. As if that will help us to live.

It won’t. It doesn’t.

We are like children, covering our eyes when we are scared, naively hoping that if we don’t see something, then it won’t hurt us.

Remembering The Lesson

It’s ironic that, as I journeyed away from suicide, as I began to embrace life and heal from depression, I forgot about death. I forgot about yin and yang.

Until my grandmother died.

Then I had no choice. I had to look again.

I’ve been looking at death all year.

2016 has made it easy for all of us to look at death. Alan Rickman. David Bowie. Prince.

Heck, just a few days ago, Anton Yelchin, the young actor from the new Star Trek movies, died in a freak accident.

Death is always there. Sometimes it’s tragic, like with Yelchin.

Sometimes, it’s not, like with my grandmother.

Getting Angry at Death

My grandmother’s death was especially helpful in teaching me about yin and yang.

I can’t be angry about her death. I’ve tried. There is no room for righteousness.

She lived a full, happy life. She died peacefully at home, just days after celebrating her 102nd birthday with family.

It’s so tempting to be angry at death. And often, we can find something to be angry at.

The incompetent doctor. The drunk driver. When in doubt, we can always be angry at Monsanto.

Because anger wasn’t an option, I was forced to look at death differently. I couldn’t just vilify death.

Death is not the bad guy. It’s not the enemy, any more than yin is the enemy of yang.

How Death Changed Me

I am grandmotherless now. I can never go back. I will never have a grandmother again.

And that’s okay. Grandmothers die. All of them.

Sometimes, they die in a way that forever changes the grandchild.

That’s what happened to me.

I am not the same man I was.

Remember in the movie The Matrix when Neo (played by Keanu Reeves) was finally able to see the Matrix all around him?

I feel a little like that.

I see yin and yang all around me now.

Here’s the secret: you have to look at both yin and yang.

Don’t go through life looking at yin while looking away from yang.

Look at both.

Here’s what I see now:

I see the cosmic swirl that includes both life and death. I see the amazing harmony that is created by this swirling.

I see death in the food that I eat, and I also see new life.

I see that my dogs will die, but I see that, today, they are amazingly, unabashedly alive.

I see my wife, whom I almost lost to cancer, rushing off to work to help her patients to regain their own health.

Everywhere I look, through eyes filled with both grief and joy, I see the eternal dancing of yin and yang.

Thank you, Grandma, for teaching me such an important lesson.

Best regards,
Sifu Anthony

I’m Anthony Korahais, and I used qigong (pronounced "chee gung") to heal from clinical depression, low back pain, anxiety, and chronic fatigue. Today, I'm the director of Flowing Zen, an international organization with students in 48 counties. I've been teaching qigong since 2005, I've served on the board for the National Qigong Association, and I’ve helped thousands of people to use qigong for their own stubborn health challenges. If you're ready to get started with qigong, there's no better way than my best selling book, which comes with free videos and meditations. The sooner you read my book, the sooner you can start healing! Click here to see my book on Amazon.

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Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: death, tai chi, yin & yang

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Armando says

    June 22, 2016 at 5:51 am

    Beautiful post Anthony, thanks to share it. Greetings from Shanghai at this moment.

    Reply
  2. Riekie says

    June 22, 2016 at 6:43 am

    Thank you Sifu for a beautifully written eye opener.

    Reply
  3. Kathleen Lund says

    June 22, 2016 at 7:29 am

    Thank you for sharing your feelings and insights.

    Reply
  4. Jonathan Cohen says

    June 22, 2016 at 8:52 am

    Thank you, Sifu, for your touching and thoughtful posting. It reminded me of a book, Staring into the Sun: Overcoming the Terror of Death by existential psychologist Irvin D. Yalom. Yalom doesn’t address yin-yang philosophy, but his basic point — that the reality of death is better faced than avoided — is very similar to yours.

    Reply
    • Sifu Anthony Korahais says

      June 22, 2016 at 8:59 am

      Thanks for the book tip, Jonathan! I just added it to my queue. I look forward to reading it.

      Reply
  5. Ray Morneau says

    June 22, 2016 at 10:45 am

    You exude inspiration, Sifu Anthony – – Thank you so much!

    Reply
  6. Geri Willingham says

    June 22, 2016 at 11:50 am

    I will take your thoughtful words on death/life, yin/yang to heart Sifu Anthony. I thank you.

    Reply
  7. Lizz Brooks says

    June 22, 2016 at 4:35 pm

    Hi Sufi Anthony,
    Thanks for your thoughtful post. I’d offer one slight alternative viewpoint however. Rather than using the words life and death, I’d change that to birth and death. Life goes on eternally just in another form or dimension. Our life-force (some call it the soul or spirit) came before us and goes on after our physical body experiences birth and death. Peace to you!

    Reply
    • Sifu Anthony Korahais says

      June 22, 2016 at 9:42 pm

      Thanks Lizz. Interesting suggestion. Although I tend to agree with your perspective, I don’t think substituting “birth” really works. It doesn’t convey the same message — which is to embrace the circle of life (not the circle of birth). But thank you for the idea!

      Reply
  8. Jimmy Korahais says

    June 22, 2016 at 6:44 pm

    Thank you for your heartfelt post about Grandma Mary and the circle of life. We know she was very proud of you. Beth & Jimmy Korahais. (Sifu Anthony’s parents).

    Reply
  9. Vera says

    June 22, 2016 at 11:15 pm

    Really moving..I’ve seen this a few times… Death of two dear friends, death of my cats( one of them only 18 months old) death of friends of family I ‘ve known since childhood….people in concentration camps saw death every day… You say embrace it, I say accept it, there is now other choice. Life will go on no matter what we feel or decide to do… It is the finality of the physical that hurts and that cannot be changed….

    Reply
  10. Anne Young says

    June 23, 2016 at 9:14 am

    yin & yang – you were blessed to have her; she was blessed to have you

    Reply
  11. Dariusz says

    June 23, 2016 at 4:07 pm

    Great article. Thank You for what you wrote Sifu.

    Reply
  12. Mira Mishkin says

    June 24, 2016 at 10:01 pm

    Inspiring and inspired. Thank you for your honesty and sharing your understanding. it hit me like a lightning-bolt. Especially in the situation I am in. Had a brush with a good friend’s death and a week later my stepfather overdosed on painkillers (by accident) and survived. I am caring for him for the time being and I am seeing yin and yang everywhere, though less clearly than you explained it. This really helped put a lot in perspective for me. I can’t thank you enough.

    Reply
  13. Bacon says

    June 27, 2016 at 3:30 am

    Many thanks for your inspiring sharing. I agree with you to view Life and death as Yang and Yin. Furthermore, the two will emergent to four phenomena, i.e. Yin in Yang (birth of Yin when Yang is exhausted), Yang in Yin (birth of Yang when Yin is ended), Yin in Yin , Yang in Yang. It is similar to your interpretation about Death in Life, Life in death, Life in life and death in death.

    Reply
  14. Maria-Anna Werner says

    June 27, 2016 at 12:05 pm

    This is a very moving and touching story right from your heart. You have the ability to put words to your feeling and thoughts so everybody can understand. That is wisdom. Thank you very much for sharing Sifu.
    Maria-Anna

    Reply
  15. Maggie Horosky says

    July 2, 2016 at 11:05 am

    Thank you very much for this post. It is thought provoking and flows with insight and wisdom. Blessings.

    Reply
  16. Rei Aime says

    July 8, 2016 at 1:12 pm

    This was absolutely beautiful. And it reminds me to embrace to duality of life as well. This gives me a new persepective on my own reality. Thank you for sharing your insights.

    Reply
  17. Eric says

    August 9, 2016 at 10:54 am

    A beautiful post, Sifu. Hoping you are well. 🙂

    Reply
  18. Sherry says

    October 17, 2018 at 1:53 am

    Great article, Sifu.

    I read an article recently from a guy who jumped off a bridge to commit suicide and lived. He recalled the second he jumped over the rail thinking, “OMG I want to live!” Interesting how those things work out and how that kind of mirrors your staying around (thankfully, you didn’t jump off a bridge first before figuring it out).

    Reply
    • Sifu Anthony Korahais says

      October 18, 2018 at 7:32 am

      Well, let’s just say that I got close enough to jumping off a bridge to create the same effect. 🙂

      Reply

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