(From The Traditional Chinese Medicine to the Naturing Life)
Introduction
Naturing Life has bestowed people with an incomparable beauty. According to Coco Chanel, “A girl should be two things: classy and fabulous”. The pursuit of beauty is an eternal topic of discussion, particularly among women. Without a doubt, beauty is something that almost everyone pursues in life. It is hard to imagine how women used to maintain their beautiful appearance thousands of years ago. As compared to the modern science and technological advancements that now support the beauty industry in many ways (such as hyaluronic acid injection or face-lifting surgery), women in the olden times did not have enough channels to choose how to preserve their appearance and physical fitness and health. Although the contemporary science and technology were not enjoyed by the ancient people, the women were aware of their maintenance even in those times. The concept of the Naturing Life has been in China for thousands of years. In fact, China has its own comprehension of Naturing Life. However, it is commonly referred to as Yangsheng - booming in all ages. In the Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), the beauty is not just outside appearance but health of inner body. Yangsheng uses traditional Chinese medicine theory as a guide to a cozy life with the employment of a variety of methods. When compared to Western concept of naturing life, Chinese Yangsheng is rather mysterious and includes terms and aspects inspired by Chinese history. The concept of health in China is a fusion of medicine and nature indicating that the health is directly associated with nature. A lot of Western scholars cannot even think of various TCM formulas. Of course, focus on TCM is to reconcile the Yin and Yang and diet and physical therapy for the disease and sickness. In this paper, I have talked about the influence of traditional Chinese medicine health care to the modern people in three different parts so that the readers can understand the traditional Chinese Yangsheng.
Coordination of Yin and Yang
People always symbolize women as blooming flowers. However, flowers fade away eventually. Similarly, the preservation of beauty is desiderating for women who desire to maintain their beautiful appearance/attitude. Hence, how is real beauty defined? TCM believes that people's facial features and hair is only a small part of the body. Yet, if people want their physical appearance to remain beautiful, they should work on balancing Yin and Yang. As the TCM WORLD FOUNDATION asserts, “Yin and Yang are distinctively Chinese in terms of perception of profound fundamental principles and as an expression of a unique way of viewing the world and the greater universe”. Thus, Yin and Yang are closely related to a person's physical condition. When people attain the balance of Yin and Yang, the body feels comfortable and relaxed. In contrast, when the Yin and Yang are imbalanced, the body reflects different symptoms of the disease. TCM believes that people’s health is related to Yin and Yang. In a similar connection, Yin and Yang are important for women’s health and their imbalance could even result in the women fertility issues. From the 300BC, HuangdiNeijing (the earliest extant book of Traditional Chinese Medicine) recorded how Yin Yang is related to people’s health.
In China, parents always warn their child regarding the disadvantages of staying up late at night. In actual fact, this bad habit admonishes women’s very apropos. Yin and Yang distinguish the world's properties. Similarly, men and women are naturally distinguished. Because the night belongs to Yin, female also belongs to Yin. Thus, staying up late causes imbalance in the Yin and Yang. According to translators, Paul U.Unschuld and Hermann Tessenow, a large number of the articles in HuangdiNeijing confirmed Yangsheng’s main point as:
“The people of high antiquity, those who knew the Way, they modeled [their behavior] on yin and yang and they complied with the arts and the calculations. [Their] eating and drinking was moderate. [Their] rising and resting had regularity. They did not tax [themselves] with meaningless work” (31).
Distinctly, HuangdiNeijing had a sense of Naturing Life and stressed that Yin and Yang are extremely important. It informs that a person's daily routine affects health and life longevity. Therefore, if women want to maintain a beautiful appearance, they should follow the law of life.
The supply of Qi and Blood
As discussed, Yin and Yang are excessively important to the body. However, the significance of qi and blood cannot be neglected. Just like the Yin and Yang, qi is regarded as the root of all things. Although people cannot touch the qi, they can feel it and permeate it through their bodies. The question is: how can a person experience qi? Traditional Chinese medicine believes that the efficacy of qi can thread kidney. One major chapter in HuangdiNeijing named Suwen, translated by Paul and Hermann as “Discourse on the True”, states:
“With two times heaven, the heaven guiarrives, the controlling vessel is passable and the great thoroughfare vessel abounds [with qi]. The monthly affair moves down in due time and, hence, [a woman] may have childrenthey grasped [the regularity of] yin and yang. They exhaled and inhaled essence qi. They stood for themselves and guarded their spirit” (39-42).
Diet and Physical Therapy
It is commonly believed that the food must contain nutritional elements for the growth, development, health, and survival. Food is not only a source of nutrition; it also functions as a medicine to cure illnesses. Many suitable foods for health are accompanied by promotion. Commonly, they include powdered grains, cereals, porridge, herbs and so on. According to HuangdiNeijing, “Water is yin; fire is yang. Yang is qi; yin is flavor” (98). Food is undoubtedly the basis of human body function. In most Western countries such as the United States, a part of the population is vegetarian. Due to adequate daily intake of fruits and vegetables, their body is usually slim and healthy. Instead, people who eat high calorie food are mostly obese. As a consequence, they are at a higher risk of developing various diseases. Apparently, a balanced diet is the key to a healthy life.
The Chinese diet therapy is also preferred by the modern Chinese women because of the nutritional formula. These formulas can help women to gain or regain both inside and outside beauty and health. As mentioned, Yin and Yang are related to people’s health. However, food is also extremely beneficial for a healthy living. Some food belongs to Yin like fruits whereas meat belongs to Yang. Joerg Kastner, a renowned Doctor of Medicine, states in his book, Chinese Nutruition Therapy: Dietetics in Traditional Chinese Medicine: “Yang foods are recommended for disorders of a cool or cold nature” and “Yin foods are important therapy for heat disorders” (24). It goes without saying that the diet has a long-term effect on the harmony of Yin and Yang. Dr Kastner also gathered many food recipes in his book. It specifies one fruit as a woman's treasure - cherry. Dr Kastner asserts that cherry’s thermal nature is warm and it “supplements the center buner, qi, and blood; supplements and moistens liver and spleen, disperses blood stasis, dissipates cold, dispels wind-dampness” (131). As the color of cherry and blood are same, the cherry is considered absolutely advantageous for women’s blood.
Conclusion
Health is the basic component necessary for a good life. Health is achieved when a person maintains good sleep, takes breakfast, and works to maintain a pleasant mood. Those who are persistent in their daily life are able to attain proper health. In my opinion, there is no specific health method that can be applied to every person. Therefore, people must strive for gaining health according to their bodies and circumstances. Moreover, once selected, a person must not arbitrarily change the regimen. Instead, he/she should stick to it. This is the only way to have a healthy life and live it fully.
Works Cited
Kastner, Jörg. Chinese Nutrition Therapy: Dietetics in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). 2nd ed. Stuttgart: Thieme, 2009. Print.
Kuriyama, Shigehisa. The Expressiveness of the Body and the Divergence of Greek and Chinese Medicine. New York: Zone, 1999. Print.
Unschuld, Paul U., Hermann Tessenow, and JinshengZheng. Huang Di Nei Jing Su Wen: An Annotated Translation of Huang Di's Inner Classic -- Basic Questions. Berkeley: U of California, 2011. Print.
"Yin, Yang Theory, Universal Messages, TCM | TCM World." TCM World RSS. Web. 08 May 2016. <http://www.tcmworld.org/what-is-tcm/yin-yang-theory/>.
