Yang Sheng: The art of Chinese self-healing

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This will not only mean your meals become more satisfying but it will also support your digestion and you’ll be more aware of when you are full so it will help prevent over-eating.

When you find the low-level niggle isn’t shifting, you still have low energy and wake up feeling exhausted, or you just can’t shift those last few pounds.The "Taoist Untruths" chapter describes Daoist grain-free diets in terms of bigu (辟穀, "avoiding grains") and shiqi (食氣, "eat/ingest breath"). It says that Wangzi Qiao (王子喬), a son of King Ling of Zhou (571-545 BCE), practiced bigu, as did Li Shaojun (fl. 133 BCE). This colourful, seasonal way of eating is advocated in Chinese medicine to help ensure a balanced and nutritious diet that promotes healthy qi flow.

In everything pertaining to the nurturing of life [養生] one must learn much and make the essentials one's own; look widely and know how to select. There can be no reliance upon one particular specialty, for there is always the danger that breadwinners will emphasize their personal specialties. That is why those who know recipes for sexual intercourse [房中之術] say that only these recipes can lead to geniehood. Those who know breathing procedures [吐納] claim that only circulation of the breaths [行氣] can prolong our years. Those knowing methods for bending and stretching [屈伸] say that only calisthenics can exorcize old age. Those knowing herbal prescriptions [草木之方] say that only through the nibbling of medicines can one be free from exhaustion. Failures in the study of the divine process are due to such specializations. (6, tr. Ware 1966: 113). Needham, Joseph and Lu Gwei-djen (2000), Science and Civilisation in China, Volume 6, Biology and Biological Technology, Part VI: Medicine, Cambridge University Press. Nourishing life" is the common English translation equivalent for yangsheng. Some examples of other renderings include "keep in good health; nourish one's vital principle" (DeFrancis 1996), "nurturing vitality", "nourishing the vitality" (Needham and Lu 2000: 72, 115), longevity techniques" (Engelhardt 2000: 74), and "nurturing life”, “cultivating life” (Dear 2012: 1).first Chinese text to mention smallpox ( tian hua bing天花病). Thirteen texts attributed to Ge Hong are The concept is amazing, the book is sooo beautiful. But I felt it is more coffee table book, rather than an actual learning material (as it was advertised in my country). I am from Balkan so eating and living with the nature and the seasons is nothing new to me.

The polymath Ji Kang (223-262), one of the Daoist Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove, wrote a text titled Yangsheng lun (飬生論, "Essays on Nourishing Life"). The early Zhuangzi commentator Xiang Xiu (227-272) wrote a criticism with the same title, and Ji replied in his Danan Yangsheng lun (答難飬生論, "Answer to [Xiang Xiu's] Refutation of 'Essays on Nourishing Life'"). Ji Kang believed that achieving immortality was attainable, but only for those who have extraordinary qi, yet even those without it who practice longevity techniques can achieve a lifespan of several hundred years (Engelhardt 2000: 90). According to Chinese Medicine, one of the most effective ways to stay healthy is to adopt a lifestyle that harmonizes with the changing seasons. As the weather changes, so too should our diet, our sleep patterns, and our daily activities. Here are some articles about seasonal health. Another passage describes shiqi (食氣, "eating/ingesting breath", tr. "eats the fluid") as a means to avoid eating grains. Information about yangsheng "nourishing life" health cultivation was traditionally limited to received texts including the Chinese classics, until this corpus was augmented by some second-century BCE medical manuscripts discovered in the 1970s. Genki Forest, a sugar-free and low-calorie drink from a Chinese startup, is the latest one experiencing a meteoric rise, tapping into that consumer psychology of wanting a healthy lifestyle without compromising satisfaction of their taste buds. With its peach-flavored water beverage promising to be "sugar-free, carb-free and fat-free," the beverage company has amassed a loyal following among millennials and Gen Zers.The English Dao Yin Yang Sheng Gong Association, in common with its partner Associations in Europe, is committed to doing whatever it can to help to produce teaching and learning materials in English. Yang, Dolly (2022), "Therapeutic Exercise in the Medical Practice of Sui China (581-618 CE)", in Routledge Handbook of Chinese Medicine, ed. by Vivienne Lo, Michael Stanley-Baker, and Dolly Yang, 109-119, Routledge. There are numerous ways you can apply Yang Sheng in your daily life and there is not one ‘best practice’ approach. It’s about finding a range of techniques or healthy habits that appeal to you and fit comfortably with your lifestyle. Yangsheng, or health management, has become the latest fad among millennials in China. Though usually associated with elderly people, it has swept across the millennial cohort in recent years. According to a 2021 polling result released by CCTV, 33.27 percent of people aged 18 to 25 plan to increase their spending on health management, making it the second most important area of spending for the age cohort besides traveling.