Chinese Philosophy in Medicine

I was admiring my daughter's boundless energy, and she reminded me of the chinese philosophy about health, life and age. It simply stated that stiffness was the enemy of life. When children were born, their bodies are soft. Even their bones are flexible. As they grow up, the bones get gradually more hard into adult life. As a body gets old, the muscles, sinews and joints stiffen; and bones become increasingly brittle. 

The Chinese solution to getting old is to exercise to keep the body supple. Tai Chi was particularly prized for this. 

Taoists also believed that a person was allocated a limited amount of breaths to breathe. Once their allocation was up, the person would die. To combat this, they devised breathing exercises to extend the length of breath - making each breath last longer and extending life.

It is easy to see how the concept of limited breaths evolved. People with healthy lungs and relaxed breathing (longer breaths) are bound to live longer because it is an indication of a healthy cardiovascular system. 

If you wish to know more about health and exercise, please email me.

Be happy,

Richard