Why the Chinese Don't Count Calories (29 page)

fourteen
Take restorative exercise

‘In the past people practised the Tao, the Way of Life . . . combining stretching, massaging and breathing to promote energy flow. . . thus it is not surprising that they lived over one hundred years. ’

FROM
NEIJING SUWEN
, THE INNER CANON
OF THE YELLOW EMPEROR OR HUANG DI;
CIRCA SECOND CENTURY AD

My daughter Honi, when aged three, once asked me why there were so many old people living in China. This foxed me for a moment, until I realized that what she was really talking about was not an issue of demographics but of lifestyle. In Beijing, old people almost exclusively live in their community, and they are very evident. Whether they are sitting in the streets playing mahjong, or congregating with others in the park, bringing caged birds whose song provides a background for their morning get-together, they make full use of their retirement, exercising body and mind gently. They frequently carry two round metal balls, which they manipulate gently with their hands so that they keep the joints supple and the
qi
flowing.

As well as the post-prandial stroll which is a way of life in the summer months, some people do better and attend ballroom dancing classes. I noticed that even the fast modernization of Beijing did not deter people from getting out and about. Ballroom dancing classes often took place under the flyovers of the third ring road, and it was not unusual to see people running backwards (to stimulate the brain) along the hard shoulder of the airport motorway.

Daily exercise routines focus on suppleness, control and coordination. On summer evenings families venture out together to fly colourful paper kites, which can be bought inexpensively all over the city. After dark these incorporate small lights. I particularly remember one balmy evening when, looking up into the sky and seeing myriad red dots shining in the dark sky, I ventured out to find the source. The tranquillity of the scene, among the debris of a nearby development area, was extraordinary.

In order to understand the Chinese attitude to exercise we need to revisit the concept of
qi
, or life-force, and recall the fact that our supply diminishes as we get older. Why on earth then would we want to punish our bodies with rigorous exercise routines that reduce our supply of
qi?
‘To burn up more calories,’ you will cry in response – until you remember that the way to a fit and slim body is not through counting calories, but through balancing our diets Chinese style so that we nourish all our organs.

Before you skip this chapter with a sigh of relief that you don’t have to add a daily workout to the porridge and beancurd regime, recall that a healthy lifestyle is all about moderation. Regular gentle exercise is a good thing. The rhythm of everyday Chinese life starts with early morning activities in Beijing’s parks and open spaces, or cycling to work, which is a necessity for many. The Chinese way of exercise is generally gentle and sustaining. Young people take part in competitive sports and train intensively. Teenagers play table tennis and basketball, but as people get older they do so with dignity. People of all ages play badminton in the street. As well as the evening outings there are early-morning Tai Chi groups in every park, dancing lessons involving colourful flags and early-morning stretching exercises. None of these activities involves any special clothing or equipment.

Qi gong

Chinese exercise routines keep both body and mind in shape. All the Chinese and other Asian forms of martial arts are based on an ancient practice called
qi gong
. Like many other Chinese terms,
qi gong
defies exact translation. You should, however, already be comfortable with the concept of
qi
, and
gong
translates reasonably as ‘exercises’, ‘work’, or ‘skill’, so
qi gong
means to work the life-force.
Qi gong
teaches ways to move and breathe in order to help the
qi
work in the body and strengthen all its organs.

Qi gong
is one of the many legacies of Laozi, (the father of Taoism), in whose teachings the ideas of balance and harmony are so clearly expressed. The perfect man, in Taoist writings, achieves
yin/yang
harmony: ‘In repose he shares the passivity of the
yin
, in action the energy of the
yang
. ’
¹⁷

Modern exercise routines are generally
yang
: they may tone our outer shape and speed up our metabolism, but because
yang
is everything that is heating and outwards moving, when we finish a workout we are likely to be red-faced and sweaty. As we work to tone our stomachs, thighs and buttocks, we are ignoring the more
yin
aspects of our bodies: the organs, the blood and the bodily fluids (the Chinese term for all internal liquids including saliva, gastric juices, phlegm, tears, mucus and sweat). And, as we know, an excess of
yang
will damage
yin
.

When Dr Li Xin diagnosed my
qi
deficiency I questioned him: ‘It can’t be that bad. I’m pretty fit. I work out in the gym for an hour three to four times a week and I can run for an hour. I’ve done years of aerobics classes and always managed to keep going, no matter how tough the workout. ’ Dr Li Xin smiled. ‘That’s your
yang
pushing you, not your
qi
. ’

Qi gong
works both the
yang
, through movement, and the
yin
, through breathing. Every movement is balanced with
yin
and
yang
aspects. Control of the breathing, or respiration, is crucial to successful practice. Exhalation, or expiration, is
yang
, while inhalation, or inspiration, is
yin
. The common uses of the technical terms ‘expiration’ and ‘inspiration’ say it all. As we go through life we put out more than we take in, until the day when we give out our last breath. If we were to concentrate, instead, on the inspiration, our minds would be clearer, our bodies healthier and our lives longer.

Qi gong
does just that – the movement is the method – but the ultimate is a state of inactivity or meditation where the
qi
can flow freely through the meridians and circulate around the organs. The power of
qi
is so strong that experienced practitioners can harness their own
qi
to heal others. Like other branches of traditional Chinese healing,
qi gong
needs to be carried out by someone who knows what he is doing; even self-practice is better learned from a master. However, there are some simple routines you can try for yourself which may fill that space that you previously reserved for the gym, and leave you time to spare. And unlike the gym, the practice of
qi gong
doesn’t involve any special clothes, mats or equipment, just a comfortable outfit and enough space to turn round.

By stimulating your
qi
flow you are helping your body to exercise itself. If the
qi
is flowing freely the body will keep fit. The best time to practise
qi gong
is between five and seven in the morning, when the
qi
is flowing through the lungs, but before breakfast is good enough – or any time you have peace and quiet, so long as it is not straight after a meal, when the body is busy digesting.

I studied
qi gong
at the Beijing University of Traditional Chinese Medicine. Our mentor, Professor Song, positively exuded good health as he performed movements with the strength and control of a young athlete even though he must have been at least sixty-five. I have clear memories of sunny spring mornings in the university gardens with its pagodas and wisteria-clad walkways. But at the time I was surprised to discover that more than half the class took place within the classroom where we learned about the relationship between the Five Organs and the Five Flavours and how to view the human body in terms of the Five Elements. It was only when this concept was in our grasp that we could start to understand how
qi
moves around the body via meridians and how, by encouraging this
qi
to flow freely, we could enhance our overall health.

There are certain points on the body where the
qi
flows nearer to the surface. The movement of
qi
can be improved by stimulating these points through acupuncture, acupressure and massage, all of which are branches of traditional Chinese medicine. Western medics are at last taking these alternative therapies more seriously, but a little known secret is that it is perfectly possible to stimulate many of these points oneself. In fact many Chinese people do so every day, starting before they even get out of bed, although if you live with a partner you may prefer to find a private place since not all the exercises can be done in silence!

17.
Self-massage

Sit up in bed. Start by running the tongue round the teeth, then grind the teeth together. Then swill your saliva round the mouth, stop and swallow it back in three parts. Next rub your hands together to ensure that they are warm, then, using your two index fingers, rub up and down the side of the nose, with the tip of the fingers rubbing the inside point of the eyebrows. Bend the index fingers, close your eyes and, using the backs of the fingers, rub the lids across and back. Open your eyes and move the eyeballs in the socket both clockwise and anticlockwise.
¹⁸

Traditional Chinese medicine teaches that the health of the whole body is reflected in the ear. If this sounds a little extreme, feel inside your ears next time you have a hangover or are feeling under the weather. You will probably find a small, hot pimple or a tender spot. So, in pursuit of better health, take hold of one ear with each hand, rub them both all over and pull at the lobes.

Next run your fingers from your forehead back across your head, right down to the neck. Cover your face with your palms and rub down and round. Still in bed, turn your head from left to right to loosen the neck. Massage the left shoulder blade with the right hand and the right shoulder blade with the left. Punch the air in front of you with alternate fists. Then rub your kidneys (lower back). Lie down and rub the stomach (clockwise if you tend to be constipated and anticlockwise if you are more likely to suffer from diarrhoea – or alternate if you have no problems in that area).

Now it is time to get out of bed. Stand with your feet at shoulder width, bend your knees slightly and rotate the hips in a circular motion. Sit back on the bed, if you wish, and rub the knees. Then massage each foot, starting by pulling the toes, press hard into the ball, and work right back to the heel and ankle. The foot is another mirror of the whole body, and if you find you have tenderness in any particular area you would do well to try a foot massage – a qualified reflexology practitioner may be able to tell you if the discomfort is a manifestation of a more serious problem elsewhere in the body.