Yoseido ( ) is a word with 3 characters. Yo () means nourishing, feeding or making something grow. Sei () means birth - the physiological aspect of a person's existence of simply 'life form'. Do () means the way, or attaining one's ideal place or spiritual contentment. All the three words together mean: harmonising one's existing life-form by following the way (the encounter between Heaven and Earth) - in a certain sense all the traditional oriental disciplines are based upon this attainment of Do Yoseido. How can we achieve this harmonious life form? One way is through the 8 curious meridians stretching exercises as Yoseido Shiatsu emphasizes.


Now look at the symbol of Yoseido:

Heaven sphere       Earth sphere

Notice that in the upper half of the symbol the centripetal force (toward the heart of the upper spiral) is Yang(grey curve, red arrow), while in the lower half the centripetal force (to the heart of the lower spiral) is Yin (black curve, yellow arrow). The same pattern can be applied to the twelve meridians crossing the body. Here follows a detailed explanation:

The arrow in the spiral is indicating the movement of the energy flow. In the upper Heaven sphere, the external curve is coming toward the centre(centripetal force) while the curve in the heart of the spiral, represents an outward flow (centrifugal force).

This means that the Yang energy is condensing the matter by concentrating towards the centre. This creates the opposite force in the very heart of Yang energy which is the birth of Yin energy, dispersing, away from the centre, and coming under the influence of the Earth in the lower part. By the same token, in the Earth sphere, the external curve has a centripetal force coming toward the centre, and the internal curve is opposing it by a centrifugal force, away from the centre - but this time the external curve is Yin. If we take a separate view of the Yin and Yang energy movements, then we can see that the Yin energy is descending from Heaven to Earth, while the Yang energy is ascending from Earth to Heaven:

Yin energy movement

Yang energy movement

These signs are indicating the original forces of belonging.

The Yin energy is descending - this is coming to rest on Earth because it has visible weight and form, just as Yang energy is ascending due to its invisible formless weight. This basic idea is applied to the flow of the 12 meridians. For example, lung and large intestine meridians belong to the upper part of the body (compare this to the Heaven sphere of the Yoseido symbol). The lung meridian is a Yin meridian, which has centrifugal force away from the centre (from chest to hands) and the large intestine meridian is a Yang meridian which has a centripetal force coming toward the centre (from hands to body, median line).

Now look at the stomach and spleen/pancreas meridians. They belong to the Earth sphere and are located in the lower part of the body. Just as the yoseido symbol shows it in its lower spiral, the stomach meridian has a centrifugal Yang force away from the centre toward the extremities, and the spleen/pancreas meridian has a Yin centripetal force coming toward the centre.

The last 8 meridians follow the same pattern. We can say that understanding the harmonious relationship between the Yin and Yang principles is the essence of oriental philosophy. These principles, help us understand the oriental notion of Ki-energy, the subtle perception of invisible movement. This is where the I-ching philosophy (The Book of Changes) becomes an essential tool for understanding the perception of every transformation of the Ki-energy. The philosophy of I-ching is the earliest record of China's ancient wisdom, perhaps more than 5000 years old.