Article 26: Methods for Enhancing Urination and the Mechanism of Exercise in Health Preservation

II. Clear and smooth urination

(I) The significance of clear urination

Although urine is the waste product excreted after water metabolism, it is closely related to the lungs, spleen, kidneys, bladder and other organs, especially the kidneys.

The five internal organs are the foundation of human life activities, and the kidneys are the root of human life activities and the "foundation of innate essence". Therefore, whether urination is normal or not reflects whether the functions of the body's internal organs are normal and whether the kidney qi is strong.

Maintaining clean and unobstructed urination is an important aspect of ensuring health and longevity.

Throughout history, health practitioners have attached great importance to urination hygiene. For example, Su Dongpo of the Song Dynasty said in his "Miscellaneous Notes on Health Preservation" that "to live long, one must have clear urine; to live a long life, one must have clean urine." The "Old Man's Constant Sayings" also says that "the only thing to keep in urination is smooth flow."

(II) Methods for promoting urination

Maintaining clean and unobstructed urination is an important measure for ensuring health and longevity. Specific methods include the following two points:

1. Dietary regulation

Regarding ensuring clear urination, the "Old Man's Constant Words" proposes four key points for dietary regulation: "Eating less and digesting more quickly makes it easier to separate clear from turbid fluids, firstly; eating lightly and avoiding sticky or greasy foods prevents stagnation in urination, secondly; drinking after eating for a while ensures that the stomach is empty, preventing water from returning to the spleen and allowing qi to reach the bladder, thirdly; and drinking only when thirsty, taking advantage of slight dryness to clear the source of urination, so that water can nourish fire and be transported downwards more quickly, fourthly."

The so-called waterway regulation is nothing more than this.

If this condition persists and cannot be properly regulated, then it becomes a disease.

However, if the illness can be regulated in this way, it will gradually heal.

Therefore, it is evident that proper dietary regulation, such as eating less, consuming vegetarian food, drinking only after meals, and drinking only when thirsty, is an important way to ensure clear urination.

2. Guided massage

Guided massage is very beneficial for promoting urination. Here are two methods:

(1) Sitting upright and rubbing the waist: Take an upright sitting position, place both hands behind your back, and rub up and down 30 to 50 times, from the upper back to the sacrum and tailbone. It is best if the lower back feels warm. You can practice this at night before going to bed and when you get up in the morning.

This method strengthens the lower back and kidneys, and helps regulate water metabolism and promote urination.

(2) Supine abdominal massage: Lie on your back, regulate your breathing, rub your palms together to warm them, place them on your lower abdomen, first massage the sides of the lower abdomen, then massage the center of the lower abdomen, do 30 times each.

The movements should gradually increase in intensity, and the force should be gentle and even.

Practice can be done in the morning or evening.

This method has the effect of invigorating qi and enhancing bladder function. It also has a certain preventive and adjunctive therapeutic effect on urinary retention, difficulty urinating, and other ailments.

(Dong Huxing)

Exercise and Health Preservation Method

Exercise-based health preservation methods, also known as traditional fitness techniques or traditional fitness exercises, refer to the use of traditional exercise methods to improve physical fitness and prolong life. These methods involve moving the body, regulating breathing, calming the mind, clearing the meridians, unblocking the blood and qi, and harmonizing the internal organs.

Thousands of years ago, exercise and fitness were already widely used as an important means of maintaining health, preventing and treating diseases, and were loved and valued by people.

The role and principles of exercise for health

I. The Mechanism of Action of Exercise for Health Preservation

As early as the Warring States period, the "Lüshi Chunqiu" stated: "Running water does not stagnate, and a door hinge does not rust. It is movement." Gao Lian of the Ming Dynasty pointed out in "Zunsheng Bajian": "Exercising the body can prevent disease; when the body is active, disease will leave." The French philosopher Voltaire once said: "Life lies in movement." The physician Thies also said: "No medicine in the world can replace the beneficial effects of exercise."

These words metaphorically illustrate that human exercise is the foundation for maintaining vitality and a primary method for preventing and treating diseases, demonstrating that exercise is closely related to maintaining health, health preservation, disease prevention, disease treatment, and longevity.

The following section introduces the mechanisms of action of exercise for health preservation from both the perspectives of traditional Chinese medicine and Western medicine:

(I) The Viewpoint of Traditional Chinese Medicine

Traditional Chinese medicine refers to essence, qi, and spirit as the "three treasures" of the human body, believing that they are closely related to life activities and inseparable from health preservation.

Exercise-based health preservation focuses on these three aspects: regulating the mind to nourish the spirit, strengthening the heart's function of governing the spirit, making the spirit vigorous, and fulfilling the heart's role in governing life; using intention to guide qi, regulating breath to cultivate qi, so that qi and blood circulate throughout the body; and using qi to guide the form, regulating the form to replenish essence, that is, through the movement of the body and limbs, so that the meridians of the whole body are unblocked and essence and qi nourish the entire body.

This achieves a state of harmony between body and spirit, smooth flow of all meridians, internal and external balance, coordination of internal organs, and yin-yang balance, thereby promoting the body's health.

Therefore, exercise has health benefits such as strengthening the body, preventing disease, maintaining health, and prolonging life.

(II) Western Medical Perspective

Western medical research has proven that regular and moderate exercise has five major benefits for the body: First, it promotes blood circulation, improves blood supply to the brain, and maintains vigorous energy and stable emotions.

Secondly, it exercises cardiopulmonary function, enhances the vitality of the heart and the gas exchange function of the lungs, promotes blood circulation, and improves peripheral circulation.

Third, it strengthens the diaphragm and abdominal muscles, promotes gastrointestinal motility, prevents food from lingering in the digestive tract, and promotes digestion and absorption.

Fourth, it enhances the body's immune and endocrine functions, thereby strengthening the body's resistance and metabolic regulation capabilities.

Fifth, it enhances the vitality of muscles and joints, which helps the body move flexibly and lightly, and react quickly and agilely.

Therefore, "frequent exercise" has become an important measure for the general public to maintain health, prevent disease, improve physical fitness, and prolong life.

II. Characteristics of Traditional Fitness Techniques

Traditional fitness techniques have the following three characteristics:

(I) It is an integral part of traditional Chinese medicine health preservation methods.

Regardless of the type of traditional fitness exercise, they are all based on the theories of Yin and Yang, Zang-Fu organs, Qi and blood, and meridians in Traditional Chinese Medicine. They take nourishing the spirit, regulating breathing, and adjusting the body as the basic points of exercise, and taking movement as the basic form of exercise. They use the theory of Yin and Yang to guide the emptiness and fullness, movement and stillness of the exercise, and use the opening and closing, rising and falling to guide the bending and stretching of the exercise. They use the concept of wholeness to explain the coordination and unity of form, spirit, Qi, blood, exterior and interior in exercise for health preservation.

Therefore, traditional fitness techniques are an integral part of traditional Chinese medicine's health preservation methods.

(II) Emphasize the coordination and unity of mindfulness, breath regulation, and physical form.

Traditional fitness techniques emphasize the coordination of intention, breathing, and physical movement, that is, the unity of focusing the mind, regulating the breath, and adjusting the form.

"Mindfulness" refers to focusing one's mind and intention; "breath regulation" refers to regulating one's breathing; and "body regulation" refers to physical movement.

Unity refers to the coordination and cooperation among the three elements. To achieve harmony between form and spirit, mind and energy, and form and energy in sync, so that the body and mind are in harmony and movement and stillness are in proper balance, it is possible to achieve the effect of health preservation.