1. Preserving a tranquil mind

Preserving a tranquil mind means to keep the mind in peace and quiet and employ it rationally, which constitutes the principal technique of maintaining a sound mind. The most aspect is being free from avarice and wild fancy.

TCM holds that from the heart come the improper thoughts and desires, which , if not checked, will disturb the mind and qi. So Laozi suggested "being free from avarice and wild fancy," (Chapter 19 of Classic on Ethics) while Internal Classic advocated "keeping a peaceful and carefree mind and getting rid of improper desires," (Chapter 1 of Plain Questions) as a way to prolong life. The lessening of the addiction to desires will ease the unnecessary load on the mind and help maintain bighearted, unselfish and magnanimous and keep a peaceful and sound mind as well as keep physically and mentally healthy. Hence, "being free from avarice and wild fancy" is the guiding principle of health preservation, the so-called "maintaining in a state of quietness is the most important task in keeping fit." To be free from avarice and wild fancy , one must convince himself with reasoning, ie., he himself understands well the harm addiction to desires may inflict on the human body.

2. Cultivating mental faculties

Cultivating mental faculties means having a cheerful state of mind and controlling emotions in conformity with the changes of stimuli from the outside world so as to regulate mental activities. To be specific, it consists of the following two aspects.

(1)Maintaining a Gentle and Pleasant Temperament:

According to TCM theories, maintaining in high spirits and adopting an optimistic attitude toward life are an accomplishment indispensable in life and an important factor in conserving hearth, preventing diseases and prolonging life. People who constantly keep the mind at ease, the genuine qi in smooth flow, and blood in free circulation can prevent themselves from diseases and live their full span of life. The aged. In particular, should do something in order to get rid of the sense of old age and the mood of flinch and keep optimistic. A popular proverb says: "A laughter makes you ten years younger, a distress causes your head to become grey," and "anger speeds your aging, laughter makes you younger." These are really wise remarks of experienced persons.

(2) Observing Rules of Nature and Following Customs:

This means to proceed from actual conditions, understand the reality, face the fact actively, and be good at adapting to environments and to the general worldly life style and habits. It requires that man "take his food as delicious, not be particular about his clothing, and happily follow the local customs"; "live comfortably in the natural environments, observe the rules of the eight wind, conform to common customs in diet and daily life, be free from such emotions as anger, and behave in accordance with reality," (Chapter 1 of Plain Questions) "never strive for fame and wealth, never get angry or laugh rashly, never indulge in sex, song, and delicacies, and never cherish improper thoughts"; (Treatise on Maintaining Health through Preservation, by Wang Gui, the Yuan Dynasty) "observe the rules of nature in doing everything, with no greed, restlessness and arrogance"; and "leave his longevity or premature death, gains or losses up to the fate." (Dongyuan's Ten Books, published and distributed in 1529) When drastic changes take place in living conditions, environmental situations and life style, he must on no account feel anxious, vexed, dishearted, resentful or heavyhearted, but promptly adapt his thinking to the new objective conditions, environmental situations and life style, "doing things that can be done one by one and save energy on those that can not be done," and do his best to seek fresh joys in new objective conditions and environmental situations; thus he will be free from anxiety and distracting thoughts and full of confidence in life; "do nothing unbeneficial to health, feel contented at nihility and indifference to fame or gains, and follow his inclinations in a state of quiet and peace, hence and endless life, or a death together with the earth and the heaven." (Chapter 5 of Plain Questions)

The renowned calligrapher of our country Su Juxian was "still hale and hearty at the advanced age of one hundred, which is chanting to all." When summing up his own experiences on longevity, he laid special emphasis on observing the rules of the society and following the customs, letting thing take their own course. He pointed out: "To cultivate the body and the spirit, stress should be put on mental work: to be open, aboveboard, and broadminded; to be not outwardly elated at praise and not inwardly angry at blame, always keeping the mind clear as if nothing exists to clog. Even if there occur difficulties and distress, composure is required, and it is necessary to give rein to the situation, disregarding longevity."

Our forefathers once composed such an antithetic couplet: "Laugh on opening mouth, laugh over the past and the present, dismiss everything with a laugh; Be magnanimous and tolerant, tolerate the heaven and the earth, what of people is intolerable?" This is really a golden maxim for health preservation.

3. Avoiding sexual strain

Avoiding sexual strain is another very important key for preserving health and prolonging life. Sexual strain means exhaustion due to intemperance in sexual life. Sexual life to the moderate degree plays an important role in longevity. But what is temperance? Our forefathers have accumulated rich experiences on this. Sun Simiao in the Tang Dynasty said: "The way for a man to ward off indulgence is to have sexual intercourse twice a month." "Those at their fifties have sexual intercourse once twenty days while those at sixties totally refrain from it." (Essential Prescriptions Worth a Thousand Gold for Emergencies) Liang Zhangju also stated: "In keeping fit, the most important thing is to accumulate the essence. The heart (mind) governs the body; accumulation of essence in the heart leads to mutual support between qi and blood, resulting in the physique being free from diseases. That is why gentlemen take good care of essence but are cautious in sexual activities. Strong young men have sexual intercourse one ten days; men of middle age, twice the intermission for the strong young men; men above fifty (beginning of senility), twice the intermission for men of middle age; and men above sixty, twice the intermission for men above fifty." (Tuian's Informal Essays) Individuals, however, differ in sexual desire and sexual power; thus a unanimous frequency of sexual intercourse is not desirable. A Book on Helping Cultivate Essence, Qi and Vitality to Prolong Life said: "Men reaching the age of sixty ought to totally refrain from sexual intercourse. Those who are still healthy and strong, however, should not suppress their sexual urge. Protracted suppression without emission will lead to carbuncles." For this reason, Xu Lingtai, a physician in the Qing Dynasty, advocated "naturalness." He pointed out: "Sperm, as a living substance, is produced when sexual urge is stirred. There would be no production of sperm without heat. To be naturally free from sexual urge is beneficial, suppression brings harm and overindulgence leads to exhaustion. To have sexual intercourse naturally, without and difficulty or reluctance, is in conformity to the natural law."

In recent years, some people have put forward three principles to determine the frequency of sexual intercourse:

A. Sexual urge is stirred up naturally and becomes so strong that sexual intercourse is the natural result; whatever reluctance or perfuctoriness is called excess.

B. The whole course of sexual intercourse is completed naturally, without any uncomforted physically or psychologically.

C. Neither sleep nor the mental state during the next day is affected by sexual intercourse.

But temperance should be exercised in sexual life. Overindulgence damages health and shortens life span. That is why ancient experts on health preservation likened overindulgence to "an axe or saw that break the bone," (Longevity and Life Preservation, by Gong Tingxian, The Ming Dynasty) "a cup of poisonous wine or an axe that cuts life." (Volume I, Miscellaneous Notes during the Guixin Years, by Zhou Mi, the Southern Song Dynasty) They suggested that "avoiding sexual life is like dodging thieves," (Records of Trivial Matters) taking temperance in sexual life as imperative for preserving health and prolonging life.

According to TCM theories, the kidney stores the reproductive essence whereas overindulgence in sexual intercourse in most likely to damage the kidney-essence. "Discussion on Ways of Invasion of Pathogens and Symptoms Viscera Diseases.", Chapter 4 of Miraculous Pivot said: "Excessive sexual activities injure the kidney." That is why experts on health preservation through the ages all laid emphasis on "abstinence from indulgence in sexual activities to conserve the essence" (Elementary Medicine, by Li Chan, the Ming Dynasty) and considered checking sexual activities to protect the essence as an indispensable link in keeping fit and prolonging life.

The key to checking sexual activities lies in keeping the mind clear from avarice and wild fancy. Our forefathers held that "at the sight of pretty women the sexual desire is aroused." "The rising of sexual desire leads to the birth of ministerial fire, resulting in the spontaneous emission: as ministerial fire is stirred up, the essence releases even without sexual intercourse." (Admonitions for Men and Women, by Long Zunxu, the Ming Dynasty)

Checking sexual activities to preserve the essence should be started from adolescence; "beginning to conserve one's health at old age is just like starting to save after becoming impoverished, when even the utmost frugality would be of no help." (Tuian's In formal Essays, by Li Jing, the Qing Dynasty) Adolescence is just he time for youths to grow and develop. Their kidney-qi is becoming sufficient but their muscles and bones are not yet strong enough, so "the most important thing is to prevent them from experiencing sexual activities so early as to exhaust their natural essence." (Lenglu's Medical Talks, by Lu Yitian, the Qing Dynasty) "Activating the reproductive essence by having sexual intercourse with a woman when it is not so full to drain brings on defect of the body, resulting in indescribable disease some day." "Starting sexual activities too early for men damages their reproductive essence and kidney-qi while beginning sexual activities too early for women injures their blood and essence." (Longevity and Life Preservation, by Gong Tingxian, the Ming Dynasty) It can be seen clinically that there are quite a number of men who become prematurely senile or even are bedridden with lingering diseases and die young because of loss of the kidney-essence resulted from marrying too early and having children too early and overindulgence in sexual pleasure.

Therefore, the ancients energetically advocated late marriage, suggesting that "men marry at the age of thirty while women marry at the age of twenty." They particularly emphasized that "young men should keep away from women as their qi and blood are not substantially abundant." (Confucius's Family Teachings) Middle-aged men are harassed by all things and are weakening in the kidney-qi; they must not capitalize on their strong constitution for overindulgence in sexual pleasure. The aged who are weakening in the essence should all the more "hurry away from sexual activities and refrain from carnal desires," (Treatise on refraining Sexual Intercourse) to postpone senility and die a natural death. According to An Unofficial History of the Three Dynasties, a man named Bao Hui at the time, though eighty-eight years old, was still "energetic" and "could walk without any difficulty." When asked about the methods of keeping fit, he replied: "I have got a kind of bolus. It is a secret recipe which is not to be passed on to others." The inquirer asked what it was. With a smile, Bao Hui answered: "I have had 'sleeping-alone boluses' for fifty years." All the audience burst into laughter.

--------- Source Health Preservation and Rehabilitation