A reader asked for more information about the yin and yang of jade. It's a complex topic. There's lots of information on the internet about yin and yang. And yin and yang are the basis of Dao which includes Chinese medicine, feng shui, and the I Ching book of Changes. There's an article in the YYJ Resources section about the yin and yang of jade, click here to check it out. July 28

If you have chronic pain, like arthritis, fibromyalgia and other pain, you know that some days are really bad days. Nothing seems to help. Yesterday was one of those days for me. A deep meditation helps me very much, and when I'm "empty" I don't have any physical sensation. I usually start my meditation with the image of Healing White Light, but was in so much distress I had trouble getting the Light in my mind. I remembered feeling the qi energy in a white jadeite bangle BB2618 I had listed earlier in the day, and got it from the inventory to hold. The energy was awesome and I was able to visualize the White Healing Light around me and through me and had one of my best healing and deep meditations. I slept well. This morning before I got out of bed I held that wonderful jade bangle for awhile and felt very peaceful and a positive start to my day. It's too big for me, or it would be on my wrist now. The colors of jade have different energies. I've blogged about that in the past and how some people use jade as medicine, and use the energies of different jades instead of medicine, and as they need it. When it's hot in the summer, the healing qi energy of white jade feels so good to me. My every day jade bangle is mostly white with imperial green veins, but sometimes I need more of the White Qi of the white jade. White jade qi is related to the lung meridian, and pain that is chronic and that has been with you for a long time is related to the lung meridian, and metal. So that's why white jade qi helps chronic pain. July 26

An email today from a happy customer. She has been having a very difficult and fearful time in her life, and wanted a jade bangle for protection and good luck. She purchased one of the Bargain Bangles on the JadeBangleBracelets web site. When she put it on, a feeling of peace and happiness that continued through the day. She even had good luck, getting a promotion. Jade truly has good energy, and if your energy is not very good, you will benefit from the energy of the jade. As your own qi energy improves, it moves to your jade and makes it look prettier, which increases its energy. Then that good energy passes to you, and the cycle continues. Most people choose the jade that has the best energy for them. When you look at the jades, some make you feel better and happier than others, and that's how you know the right one for you. Your gut has brain cells that are triggered by your eyes, what you see. That's what gives you what is often referred to as "gut feeling". Trust that. July 25

Wednesday's Daily Special is one of the cameras we used to take most of the videos on YYJ and YouTube. Prior to purchasing it, we had a contest for blog readers to submit photos and videos of their jade so we could find the best camera to purchase that takes good photos of jade. Jade is difficult to photograph. Try it. If you photos look good, let me know what kind of camera you have. But most cameras don't take good jade photos, or if they do, then the videos are not so great. I put it on ebay to sell, with a "buy it now" price of $125, and specified it ships only to USA addresses. That's a good price for this camera, and in a couple of days, the buy it now option was used - by a buyer outside USA! Of course they refused to pay any international shipping, and it took me five time consuming days to get ebay to cancel the transaction, refund the fee they charge sellers, including the final value fee. I really hate selling on ebay. I have limited items, including the jade ben wa balls and eggs, and very few jade bangles. I have to mark up the prices at least 20% to pay for ebay fees. And I have to deal with all the ebay unprofessional seller nonsense, including taking PayPal payments. PayPal is a whole other issue, it's dangerous to use as a buyer, and even more dangerous for sellers to accept. Most women why buy the jade eggs and ben wa balls want to be discreet about their purchases so I don't leave feedback unless they request that I do, but I'm always being hassled about leaving feedback. I buy most of my shipping supplies on ebay, but usually other things I buy are poor quality, fakes, slow to ship. So before I put the camera back on ebay, I'll offer it as a Daily Special and hope I can avoid the ebay hassles sellers have to deal with. It's a nice camera, has scene options, takes good videos, easy to use, and in good condition. And it loves jade! July 24

A customer who wears her jade all the time and purchased a jade stone for her husband, sent me the photo below. There was an lightening storm in her area. She was dishing out ice cream in her kitchen and the power went out. She didn't see lightening going through her kitchen, but the camera picked it up. You can also see a green glow on the windows in the background. She truly believes in the healing and protective powers of jade, and I'm sure this reinforces her beliefs. July 22

When a customer makes a request for a Daily Special, I let them know what the price will be a few hours before it gets released as the Daily Special, so they have first opportunity to purchase it. Today's Daily Special was a customer request, and I gave her first chance to buy it last night, but she waited, and someone else bought it a couple hours after it was uploaded on the web site. She wanted to look at it all day to make her decision, and was devastated that someone else bought it. Tomorrow's Daily Special is another customer request. There's an ancient Chinese saying that I personally have learned my lesson about ignoring: get it, or regret it. And I surely have some big regrets, especially after my buying trips to China. July 19

Sometimes a "new" customers sends me many many emails to be reassured that YYJ is genuine and natural color. This occurs often with people who have bought jade on ebay, and it turned out to be not even real jade. Then after being assuring, explaining, and spending much time with the person who wants a high quality jadeite bangle, they inform me they don't have much to spend, maybe around $50! The fact is, if you want genuine jadeite and natural color, you have to pay the price. No seller can sell you jade for a price lower than what they pay for it and expect to stay in business. If you want the "real thing", you have to pay the price. If you can't pay for it all at once, we do offer a layaway, where you can make your payments over 3-4 months. I want to see jade in YOUR hands, on your wrist, not in my storage, but I can't give it away. Sorry! July 18

Customers occasionally write instructions on their orders about how and where they want their package delivered. There's really nothing I can do about their preference for delivery, because I can't put that kind of information on the parcels. Some of the instructions are quite elaborate. Those kinds of issues need to be worked out with your delivery service provider. But when I see those kinds of comments, I make an effort to pack the order as "shipping friendly" as I can. When I pack in the smallest bubble envelope I can use while still being able to wrap with more protective packing, it seems the parcels move more quickly through the mail and then get delivered with the regular mail than when I use a box. Boxes seem to take an extra day or two, then if they don't fit in the mail box, and are left outside the mail box, can "disappear", or even get delivered to the wrong address. We have learned a lot about packing for shipping over the 12 years we've been selling and shipping jade, so if your parcel seems to be not what you expected on the outside, the reason is because we want you to receive what's on the inside as quickly and safely as possible. July 16

One of the most versatile jade pieces I own is a Bi pendant, a round piece of jade with a hole in the middle, sometimes called a Pi or "donut". The shape symbolizes "heaven", and it is indeed a heavenly piece of jade. Sometimes I wear it classic style, on a red silk string. And other times I slip a chain through the hole and wear it so it hangs off-center. I can also put a bail on it, and wear it so it lays flat and looks more like jewelry. I have a big old yellow Bi pendant that I purchased a sterling silver dragon bail and it sure is pretty. If you don't have a jade bi pendant and would like to try one, the Daily Special is a super low price on classic green medium size bi pendant made with very fine A grade green jadeite. This would retail in China for at least $100 USD, and on YYJ it's only $58. And only for the Daily Special. July 14

We all like a good deal, so here's one for blog readers. You are invited to make an offer on a jade bangle or two or three or more. The catch is that your payment must be by money order if you are shipping to USA address, or Western Union if you are outside of USA. Our merchant account charges a percentage when you pay by credit card, so by paying by another method I will pass on the percentage saved to you, as well as give you a good deal. The last time I made a "deal" with a customer, we had the price agreed on, and she then said she wanted to pay with Paypal.. In the first place, we no longer accept Paypal payments for a lot of reasons, including it's not as safe as they want you to believe. And Paypal charges merchant fees, and their practices are truly not merchant friendly to small sellers, like YYJ. So don't ask for Paypal! No way. If you are a repeat customer of YYJ or JBB, your personal check is welcome. If you are interested in making an offer, click here for more information, with a link to the form to submit. You may receive a counter-offer, but I'm motivated to see jade bangles on your wrist, not in my storage boxes. July 11

DHL delivered my jade shipment, a couple of boxes that weigh as much as I do. And as usually happens, the customs officials made a real mess when they "inspected" the shipment for security. Most of the shipment was jade rollers, jade ben wa balls and jade eggs. The jade eggs were shipped carefully packed, sorted by size, sorted by drilled or undrilled, and small portions packed in plastic bags for ease of handling and storage when they arrive to me. When you hold each plastic bag, you can easily see the contents and through the bag. But customs inspectors slashed every single bag with knives, so every bag was broken, and all the contents were mixed together, because they didn't bother to re-pack. And quite a few were missing, so they enjoyed some for themselves this time, too. The last time I called to question their "inspection" practice I was told it was for "national security" and there is never any theft. And they sent me a hefty bill for the customs duty tax. What an insult. It took me several days to sort everything and repack some of it, and 100+ pounds of jade even in smaller boxes puts quite a strain on the body. The nastiness of customs inpectors puts quite a strain on the brain, and makes me think of retiring more all the time. I got a good massage to relax and get out the knots in the muscles, but the insult of what customs does to our wonderful jade items will continue to hurt. July 10

We sold quite a few Chinese "river jade" bangle bracelets this week, and finally got some new ones to fill the "sold" ones on the web pages. These Chinese jade bangles are natural color and rarely sold outside of China, and are carved by an old carver who will "retire" when his
equipment breaks, so I never know if I will be able to get more of these. The color comes from the minerals in the river where the jade is mined. Before jadeite from Burma was introduced to China, this kind of jade was prized by royalty, and used for bangles, pendants and carvings. These bangles need to be on wrists, not in my inventory, so use coupon code NJ10 to take off $10 any river jade bangle on this page, through July 9. And they are all substantial, lots of jade in them, so you can wear them all the time. July 7

I was looking at videos about jade on YouTube and found some videos made in Mandalay, one of the sources of Burmese jadeite. The videos were made during the embargo on any kind of Burmese jadeite to the western world. I put one of them at the end of this blog. It shows some of the nicest jadeite bangle bracelets that have been available over the past couple of years. You will notice they are very pale green, like most of Ying Yu Jade bangle bracelets. That's A grade all natural color jadeite, and if you want A grade, that's what you can expect for prices $500-$1000 US dollars. There's a lot of very green jadeite that's available and sold as A grade natural color, so if you think you can buy good green jade at a cheap price and get natural color, sorry, but you are getting something else. Take a look at some of the best quality jadeite that is available even at this date. I was lucky enough to have purchased every jade bangle I could get my hands on from 2000-2008 when the embargo began. July 6

I hope our American friends had a fun and happy July 4 celebration. I was out of sorts and achy this morning, and looked through my jewelry box for my red, white and blue earrings, and found my pearls and magnets strand that can be worn as a necklace or wrap around the wrist bracelet. All of the computer work I had been doing made my "non-bangle wrist" ache, and worry about getting repetitive stress injury, or carpal tunnel problems. So I wrapped a pearl and magnet strand around my wrist, had a cup of tea, read on my Kindle for awhile, and started feeling much better. They dull ache started to go away, and I felt more over-all balanced. Magnets affect me very positively, and it doesn't take a lot of magnet, wearing for a long time, to get results. When I take the magnet strand off today, I'm going to keep it right on my desk and put it on when I know I'll be doing keyboard work. It will help me avoid injury, and give me a feeling of well being. We have magnets with jade, and natural pearls. Made for YYJ so they will go good with jade, of course. July 4

The Ying Yu Jade July newsletter went out this morning, a day late, and eagerly greeted by the number of orders and coupons used today. In fact, several email list customers sent me emails wondering why they hadn't received it yesterday. I wanted to try a new format. I use Vertical Response for emails and like the variety of templates. But I have to spend a couple hours preparing to even start the newsletter, getting content determined, the photos to go with the content edited, the coupons made up so they are ready to use when you receive your newsletter. Then 2-3 hours to get it written, formatted, tested and mailing list added. I've received some email ads from small businesses that have lots of errors or aren't well written, and it gives me a sense of distrust, so I want to be sure the YYJ newsletter is "good to go" before it gets sent. I always appreciate your feedback on it, too. And if you have suggestions about what kind of special offers you would like, let me know! There is usually a coupon for small orders, and then higher value coupons for higher priced orders. And as in this newsletter, something that makes one of the Daily Specials this week even more special. I hope it was worth waiting for, and if you are not on the list, click the link at the top of the page and sign up. July 2

The Calm Spirit / Ying Yu Jade complete July newsletter is available online now, click here. This month features Chinese medicine wellness information for June regarding balance of body, mind and spirit. There is information about what kind of jade to wear this month if you wear jade for your health, and more. July 1

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