If you study ancient Chinese medicine, then you know that sometimes less is better. Especially in the winter season.
Take exercise as one example. While all the fitness experts were advocating the more is better approach, Mike Mentzer was the only voice to cry out for something similar to the wisdom of antiquity. Mike Mentzer was an advocate of short (but high intensity) strength training sessions. Usually 40-minutes or less. And with more days off for rest and recovery between each workout session.
This is not cardio-running. In fact, quite the opposite.
Depending on the client, Mentzer would even allow ten or more days in-between workouts. Yet, even today, many ignore or mis-apply his method. Nevertheless, whether on purpose, or by accident, Mike Mentzer was promoting a wisdom the ancient sages of antiquity knew thousands of years ago; and that due to lusts, modern man has forgotten.
Nei Jing Su Wen
Chapter 1
1-2-1
Through their lusts they exhaust their essence.
Through their wastefulness they dissipate their true [qi].
Chapter 1 Footnote #23: Hence it is because the sages cherished [their] essence and carefully considered its use that their bones were full of marrow and strong.
Chapter 2
2-11-1
The three months of winter,
They denote securing and storing.
The water is frozen and the earth breaks open.
Do not disturb the yang [qi].
Go to rest early and rise late.
You must wait for the sun to shine.
Let the mind enter a state as if hidden,
{as if shut in}
as if you had secret intentions;
as if you already had made gains.
Avoid cold and seek warmth and
do not [allow sweat] to flow away through the skin.
This would cause the qi to be carried away quickly.
This is correspondence with the qi of winter and
it is the Way of nourishing storage.
Opposing it harms the kidneys.
In the spring this causes limpness with receding [qi], and
there is little to support generation.
Chapter 3 Footnote #27: The yang qi has moved into the depth. Water freezes and the earth cracks. Hence, it is essential to close everything tightly. One does not wish to work to fatigue. *limpness above means ‘not able to walk’
Chapter 4
4-23-6
Hence,
if in winter no pressing-lifting is conducted,
in spring there will be no stuffy nose and no nosebleed
Chapter 4 Footnote #22: refers to the massage of extremities and joints, to conduct [the technique of] ‘guiding and pulling [of qi]. During the three [months of] winter, the principal qi lies hidden and is stored in the yin. If sinews and bones are excited at a time when [the principal qi] should lie hidden and be stored, then essence qi will flow away excessively. As a result, in spring, summer, autumn, and winter the respective diseases emerge. Hence it is appropriate in winter to support storage. In spring then, the yang qi is generated, but the yin essence is strong.
4-24-3
Now,
the essence, it is the basis of the body.
Hence,
if there is storing of essence, there will be no warmth disease in spring;
if in summer [despite] summerheat no sweat leaves [the body],
this generates wind-malaria in autumn.
Chapter 4 Footnote #26: The essence of the human body is the true yin. It is the source of the principal qi. If one wastes one’s essence, this causes depletion of yin. When the yin is depleted, any yang evil may easily attack. Hence there is a tendency towards warmth diseases. What this means here is that if there is no massage in winter, then the essence qi will remain hidden and stored.
Chapter 5
5-41-3
The North generates cold;
cold generates water;
water generates salty [flavor];
salty [flavor] generates the kidneys;
the kidneys generate the bones and marrow;
the marrow generates the liver.
<The kidneys rule the ears.>
Chapter 8
8-58-8
The Kidneys are the official functioning as operator with force.
Technical skills and expertise originate from them.
Source
Huang Di Nei Jing Su Wen
Unschuld translation
Symptoms Kidney Essence Deficiency
- ear problems (eg. tinnitus)
- loss of hair on the head
- lower back lumbar pain
- upper neck pain or stiffness
- toothache
- sexual disfunction
- infertility
- premature aging
- loss of bone problems
- pain in heal or bottom of foot
- Weakness of the knee; knee pain
- Unable to turn and to sway
- Cannot stand for long, staggers back and forth while walking means bones will soon be worn out
- mental derangement (poor memory, Alzheimers and etc).
- in kids, this is poor learning
In short, the kidney essence it should remain inside of the bone—without leaking. But there are things which cause kidney weakness. Such as sexual activity (especially after drinking alcohol). Unbalanced diet and behavioral habits can tax and kill kidney essence: overwork. Seasonal episodes of heat, cold, dampness and wind; massage and acupuncture points not done in sync with the appropriate season.
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