Yang Sheng

1. Yang Sheng: Nourish Life Through Self-Care

Yang sheng may be the most important concept in Chinese medicine you’ve never heard of.

Holistic self-healing. Yang Sheng, meaning "nourish life," is the self-care component of Chinese medicine, empowering individuals to take control of their health through simple, free, and effective techniques. It's a holistic approach that balances the body, mind, and spirit, leading to a long, wise, and happy life. Unlike Western medicine's focus on treating symptoms, Yang Sheng emphasizes prevention by addressing subtle energetic imbalances before they manifest as physical ailments.

Daily habits, profound impact. Integrating Yang Sheng into your daily routine can transform your well-being, improving sleep, digestion, skin, and energy levels. It also fosters a sense of calm and contentment, reducing stress and enhancing mood. Even dedicating a few minutes each day to these practices can yield significant benefits, making it an accessible and sustainable approach to health.

Proactive health maintenance. Think of Yang Sheng as daily maintenance for your body, mind, and spirit, similar to brushing your teeth. By proactively addressing small health niggles, you prevent larger issues from arising. This approach shifts the focus from reactive treatment to preventative care, empowering you to be in the driver's seat of your health journey.

2. Balance Yin and Yang for Optimal Health

Yin and yang represents harmony and balance.

Opposing forces, unified health. Yin and Yang are opposing yet complementary forces that exist in a constant state of change. Yin represents the negative, feminine, passive, and slow aspects, while Yang embodies the positive, masculine, active, and fast. Optimal health requires a balance between these forces, both within the body and in one's lifestyle.

Modern imbalance, Yin deficiency. Modern life often leans heavily towards Yang, with its fast-paced, aggressive, and active nature. Therefore, nurturing Yin is crucial for restoring balance. This involves incorporating more passive and nourishing activities into your life, such as meditation, rest, and gentle movement.

Symptoms as alerts, small adjustments. Symptoms are signals that Yin and Yang are out of balance. Small changes, like incorporating Yang Sheng techniques for even just one minute at a time, can help reset these energies. By synchronizing with nature, we can better balance Yin and Yang, as we are fundamentally connected to it.

3. Qi: The Vital Energy of Life

Qi is explained in many different ways, but most commonly as energy or life force.

Living vibration, universal connection. Qi is the life force or energy that flows within us and through every living object on the planet. It's the living vibration that underlies all existence, connecting us to the universe. Think of each of us as individual waves within a larger ocean, sharing our Qi with the planet.

Meridians and stagnation, inflammation. Qi flows through channels called meridians, and its quality and movement determine our health. Stagnation or blockages in Qi flow can lead to disease. Inflammation, or "heat" in Chinese medicine, can be reduced through techniques like Qigong, breathing, and meditation, promoting the smooth flow of Qi.

Nurturing Qi, energy and vigor. The Yang Sheng techniques in this book are designed to nurture and boost Qi, encouraging its smooth flow throughout the body. By building up your Qi, you'll experience increased energy, vigor, and a greater zest for life. Stimulating blood flow and lymphatic fluid also stimulates Qi, as everything flows together.

4. Harness the Power of Breath

Breathing is the most immediate and powerful self-healing cure you have, a cornerstone of your health management.

Vital function, relaxation key. Breathing is considered the most vital function in Chinese medicine, yet most of us don't fully utilize its potential for relaxation. Deep breathing stimulates the vagus nerve, triggering the "rest and digest" response and combating inflammation. The One-Minute Rescue Breath Ritual is a powerful tool for immediate relaxation.

Taoist approach, emotional release. The Taoist approach emphasizes deep abdominal breathing as the norm, promoting evenness and slowness without holding the breath. The diaphragm is believed to hold emotional traumas, and deep breathing helps release these blockages. This practice brings you back from your emotions into your rational mind.

Energy and blood, vagal tone. Good breathing improves the quality of Qi and blood by increasing oxygenation and circulation. Taoist breathing, similar to yogic breathing, involves slowing and lengthening the breath without restriction. Regular practice improves vagal tone, making it easier to trigger the rest and relax phase.

5. Digest with Awareness and Gratitude

He that takes medicine and neglects diet, wastes the skills of the physician.

Digestion focus, gut health. Chinese medicine emphasizes the importance of digestion and gut health for both body and mind. A healthy microbiome, the millions of good bacteria in your gut, is considered the seat of good health. The digestive system even has its own nervous system, with more nerve cells than the spinal cord.

Stress and stagnation, loving your food. Stress is detrimental to digestion, causing stagnation. Eating suggestions focus on giving your digestion the time and space it needs to work properly. Love your food, as emotions affect the quality of saliva and digestive juices.

Mindful eating, five tastes. Sit down at a table to eat, look at your food, and chew thoroughly. Eat slowly, the same amount at each meal, and rest after eating. Avoid drinking during meals. Include all five tastes – sour, salty, bitter, spicy/pungent, and sweet – for a balanced plate.

6. Prioritize Sleep for Restoration

Sleep is the golden chain that ties health and our bodies together.

Sleep importance, organ imbalances. Sleep issues reveal imbalances in the body. Chinese medicine often aligns with expert advice on sleep hygiene, such as a quiet, cool, and dark room, a gentle wind-down routine, and no screens before bed. However, the reasoning behind this advice is very different.

Yin/Yang imbalance, Wei Qi flow. If you can't sleep, the first assumption in Chinese medicine would be that you have a Yin/Yang imbalance. A sedentary lifestyle or stress will stop your Wei Qi flowing freely, disrupting the pendulum swinging from Yang to Yin. That will make you miss out on deep, regenerative sleep.

Bedtime routine, mineral bath ritual. Establish a consistent bedtime routine, starting around 9 pm. Turn off the TV, soak in a mineral bath, and practice Gua Sha. Aim to be asleep by 10:30 pm, allowing your liver to repair itself between 11 pm and 1 am.

7. Move with Intention and Joy

The hinges of a moving door never rust, and flowing water never stagnates.

Internal exercise, meditative movement. Internal exercise, or meditative movement, combines slow, considered movements with breath and mental engagement. Qigong, the ultimate self-healing technique, is a fundamental pillar of Chinese medicine. It manipulates Qi around the body, promoting free flow and overall well-being.

Qigong benefits, Tai Chi comparison. Qigong is used for healing, martial arts training, and spiritual elevation. It rejuvenates, relaxes, lowers heart rate and blood pressure, relieves pain, and supports the immune system. While Tai Chi is a stylized martial arts form of Qigong, Qigong is easier to learn and practice at home.

Balance Yin and Yang, happy exercise. Qigong can be a good cardio workout, and you can vary the intensity. Any exercise you do should both restore your nourishing Yin energy and move your invigorating Yang energy. Move your body first thing, punctuate your day with movement, and do what you love.

8. Emotions: Acknowledge, Process, and Transcend

The vitality of all people inevitably comes from their peace of mind.

Emotions and organs, physical location. Chinese medicine roots the emotional state firmly in the body, with each emotion housed in a specific organ. This provides a physical location for healing. Depression, for example, is described as an imbalance of the organs, almost always involving the liver.

Balancing emotions, golden mean. Own your emotions and you master your health. It's healthy to express the full range of human emotions, but avoid letting one take over. Aim for an even, quiet contentment rather than constant happiness.

Process an emotion, emotional first aid. Recognize and name your emotion, then shift it with laughter, singing, or dancing. Use the One-Minute Rescue Breath Ritual, Chinese Smiling Breaths, or Six Healing Sounds. Practice regularly. If you've got one emotion that's particularly troubling you, tell yourself the emotion does not make you a bad person and that you can learn and grow from it.

9. Cultivate Your Spirit for Inner Peace

If your mind is strong, all difficult things will become easy; if your mind is weak, all easy things will become difficult.

Spirit definition, Taoist perspective. The Chinese name for the spirit is Shen, or ‘heart-mind’. It includes your consciousness and your mind and presence. According to the Tao, the practise and learning that comes from making mistakes is the route to self-awareness. Taoism helps you live with simplicity and spontaneity, teaching you a calm disposition and how to keep your energy flowing.

Route to spirit, transcendence technique. You can heal your body with your spirit and heal your spirit via your body. The ultimate way to master emotional balance is through transcendence. Recognize the emotion you're feeling, then replace it with its healing emotion.

Spiritual breath exercise, daily reboots. Take a deep breath, then exhale slowly and fully. Focus on the empty space, where there is nothing in your lungs. This is the moment of the spirit, of complete stillness in the body. Set regular reboots with a gong app, do one good deed a day, and use affirmations.

10. Beauty Radiates from Within

Beauty is not in the face. Beauty is a light in the heart.

Beauty and health, Chinese facial analysis. Beauty, in Chinese wisdom, goes deeper than skin deep. Focus on your health and beauty will follow. Shiny hair, a healthy weight, glowing skin – these are all signs your organs are happy. The way you look is a clear indicator of the condition of your overall health, as well as your emotional and spiritual state.

Face reading, skin and lungs. Each area of the face has a corresponding internal area. Clear, even skin is a sign of health, and any blemishes or changes can indicate specific inner imbalances. A glowing complexion is reflective of healthy lungs and proper breathing.

Age before beauty, skincare from inside. You look your most beautiful when your spirit is being expressed. Cultivate your soul to its true beauty, and this will be reflected on your face. Facial Gua Sha is a great gift to skin.

11. Live in Harmony with the Seasons

Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.

Seasonal living, Qi movement. Living in harmony with the seasons is one of the most important teachings of Chinese medicine. Each season's start and finish depends on the slow but ever-changing movement of Qi in nature and the planet, and this gives each season its own vibration. The more we mirror nature, the healthier we will be.

Food and seasons, golden rules. Make most of your food seasonal and local. Eat locally grown foods, as fresh as possible. Eat more vegetables and eat them in season. Choose organic or chemical-free foods.

Exercise and health, desk Qigong. Split the year into two. From the winter solstice until the summer solstice is the Yang cycle of the year. From midsummer, begin to slow down by including more soft exercise, such as Qigong and yoga. Each emotion and its paired organ also connect to a specific season, during which you should focus some extra attention on that relevant organ, to support it while it’s ‘in charge’.

Last updated: April 7, 2025