By Lu JingXian (collected by Cathy)
Huang He, a retired sports reporter, has this to say about the ancient Chinese practice of yangsheng or prolonging life.
“No one can live forever, but a life span of one hundred years is within reach of almost anyone who practises traditional Chinese yangsheng culture.”
In simple terms, yangsheng (preserving life) aims to promote a longer and healthy life through self discipline. Huang read an excerpt from the Huangdi Nei Jing (the Yellow Emperor’s Canon of Internal Medicine), the earliest medicinal classic in China, written 2000 years ago:
“Good health is impossible if we live away from nature, because the qi of man is part of the qi of the universe. It is the life force present in all living systems.”
After retirement, Huang assembled a panel of experts to set up a Global Research Centre for Health and Longetivity.
The experts are authorities from such fields as sociology, psychology, biology, dietetics, environmental science and traditional Chinese medicine.
The centre is committed to spreading yangsheng around the world for the benefit of mankind.
“Our ancestors laid great stress on man’s harmony with nature. If we paid attention to this earlier, today’s tragedies like environmental pollution could have been stopped.
Huang, now 60, devoted many years to studying yangsheng culture while working at New Sports Magazine and China Sports News.
His interest in the this subject began in 1954 out of a feeling of duty. “One book then, written by Chairman Mao, impressed me greatly.”
“Both Oriental and Occidental culture have their own advantages. For instance, the East and West seeks to conquer nature. The best way is to unite the two.”
The centre sponsored three world conferences on taiji training (a form of mild exercise sometimes translated as “shadow boxing”) in Beijing from 1994 to 1996, each conference attracted more than 1 000 people from all over the world.
However intelligent a person is, he or she might be destroyed by disease. And if someone could still work for another 20 years, their contribution would outshine that made earlier and be a boon to the whole world.
Huang strongly recommended the Huang Nei Jing, in which the longevity experiences of ancient centenarians are eloquently summarized.
The way to good health and longevity has always been an intriguing topic for all peoples . In China, the art of healthy living has evolved through thousands of years into a national tradition.
“We may be powerless to stop the deterioration of the natural environment,” he said, “ but training can help us attain the goal of health and this is something within everyone’s reach.”
Self-discipline is an important part of yangsheng training, which mainly includes taiji, qigong, or breathing exercises and Chinese chiropractic, he said.
Taiji is the point of interbalance between the two forces yin and yang, from which all earthly phenomena are derived. In the human body, the two life forces of yin and yang combine to produce vital energy, qi, which flows through the body along a network, he explained. People get sick when these life forces are knocked out of balance. Training nudges the body back into yin/yang equilibrium.
“The best doctors take actions before the disease appears. Do not count on medicine too much but on yourself,” Huang said.
Diet is another important aspect. In yangsheng, appropriate diet and a vegetable menu are recommended.
“Ageing is not inevitable, people will find their conception of aging changed. Youth can cover up to 50, so I am just in middle age and you are still a juvenile.”
The slow harmonious movements of Taiji excercises activate the body’s energy flow. Performed daily, they can free inner tension, and remove physical and psychic blockages.
Qigong, controlling breath, encourages relaxation. Tests have proven that, in such a mood, the cortex of the brain functions automatically, leading organs to heal themselves.
Chinese chiropractic involves massage along the backbone where many important acupoints linked to various organs are gathered. Chinese chiropractic has been affective in alleviating muscle pain and even in removing gallstones.