Dynamic Balance

Integrating principles of Traditional Chinese Medicine into Strength and Conditioning

Tsz Chiu Chan, Yat Kwan Wong

• Publisher: River Grove Books
• Year: 2022
• Print ISBN: 9781734860122
• eBook ISBN: 9781734860139
• Topic: Ciencias biológicas
• Subtopic: Ciencias del deporte y del ejercicio

Athletes and fitness warriors in the West are constantly looking to train and recover better. They gain muscle mass through weight training but find that their sports performance suffers. They reach a target weight by following a strict diet but feel bloated or tired. They appear to be in great shape but consistently underperform because of mental stress. We need to know how to balance the different training variables available to us in order to achieve and sustain optimum fitness and performance in our lives. ?In Dynamic Balance, authors Andy (Tsz Chiu) Chan and Stella (Yat Kwan) Wong show why the rigors of Western approaches to training often create imbalances in our physical and mental health. They explain traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) principles and techniques in simple terms and demonstrate how incorporating TCM into our lifestyle and workouts can help us perform at our best and be at our healthiest. TCM is not a myth or weird alternative to real medicine but an ancient practice that's based in science and relevant to us today. In this book, you'll learn how to: • evaluate the current state of your body and figure out your constitution type
• find the root causes of your imbalances
• adapt your diet and workouts
• strengthen your breathing and develop harmony in your movements
• make better-informed decisions about your health Your body and fitness needs are dynamic and always changing, as are the situations in the world around you. Dynamic Balance will show you how to adjust your training, diet, and mentality to improve your performance, live a healthier life, and reach your goals.

PART 1

ESSENTIAL CHINESE MEDICINE CONCEPTS

PART 1 OVERVIEW

THE POETRY OF THE HUMAN BODY

As we mentioned in the Introduction, traditional Chinese medicine is a discipline that has been around for more than five millennia. But though it has been around far longer than Western medicine, knowledge about its concepts and practices is limited outside of China and other Asian countries. That’s why the concepts and terminology used with TCM are culturally foreign to the Western world, and perhaps especially the athletic population.

What you should know up front is that TCM is a complex system of medicine based on the premise that good health relies on the maintenance of harmony and balance between the body and the surrounding environment—the dynamic balance that gave this book its title.

We don’t expect you to become an expert in TCM overnight. But we hope the following chapters will give you a foundation that will help you better understand and apply the practices we will cover in Parts 2, 3, and 4. In the following chapters, we cover the major concepts of TCM and discuss their relationship to each other:

•Chapter 1.1: The Vital Substances of Life (Qi and Blood)

•Chapter 1.2: The Language of Balance and Harmony (Yin-Yang and Five Phases)

•Chapter 1.3: The Body Is Not a Machine (Zang-Fu and Meridians)

•Chapter 1.4: The Search for Smooth and Elegant Movements (Muscles and Fascia)

As you read through these chapters, you’ll notice two key differences between the TCM concepts and Western medicine. First, all of the TCM concepts have both a physiological meaning and a philosophical meaning. Second, that philosophical meaning is tied to the fundamental belief that every part and function in the human body is part of an integrated whole. That is, in TCM the human body is not seen as just a set of physical structures. The body is instead defined by how all its components interact and how energy flows throughout the entire system.

In each chapter, we’ll describe one of the concepts, discuss how it influences our understanding of how to achieve maximum health and performance, and talk about ways the concept should influence how you think about your own health and fitness.

CHAPTER 1.1

THE VITAL SUBSTANCES OF LIFE (QI AND BLOOD)

In traditional Chinese medicine, Qi and blood are often grouped together in diagnosis or day-to-day conversations. Although they can be explained as individual concepts, they are intertwined together when describing life and circulation. Blood is easy to relate to—there is a visual and tactile connection to it, and maybe even an emotional connection. We can see it when we bleed. Qi is a little harder to grasp, as it is an abstract concept, but you can think of it as energy that fuels the body. To help you better understand how the terms Qi and blood were created and used, let’s dive into the cultural perspective that TCM is embedded in.

Back in the day, scholars did not have the technology to conduct microscopy or randomized double-blind placebo-controlled studies, the gold standard in modern scientific research. Instead, through trial and error, the Chinese would observe patterns of nature and illness to look for connections. For this reason, many TCM concepts were expressed through abstract analogies. Let’s begin with the breath of life.

Qi: The Breath of Life

You may think you know what Qi is because the term is used throughout popular culture in the West. In movies, Qi (pronounced “chee”) is sometimes framed as a mystical energy that permeates the universe, something like the Force in Star Wars. Other times, it is treated as a myth. There have been countless debates and studies on the topic of Qi, many of which have only clouded the topic further.

The ancient Chinese viewed Qi as the beginning and fundamental substance of life. The Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Medicine, a treatise on health and disease written around the third century BC, documented that everything found in nature is made of Qi. Plants have Qi, animals have Qi, even rocks have Qi. Humans, as part of this universe, are no exception. Substances and life are formed when Qi of different motions and properties integrate. Therefore, Qi is vital, as life is created from it! Simply put, because Qi is an energy that is constantly moving, if Qi is moving smoothly, we flourish; if Qi stops moving, we die.

Qi in Other Contexts

Though we are focusing on how Qi relates to the human body here, the word is not limited to its medical usage, as it is included in thousands of other Chinese words. For instance, shí yóu qì means petroleum gas, qì fēn means atmosphere, qì něi means discouraged, and huàn qì means to exchange gas/ air or to ventilate. Although those four words have different meanings, they all describe some sort of energy—the energy that fuels cars, the energy of a concert, the energy of a person, and the act of breathing. Thousands of terms include the word Qi to create meaning. It is important to understand the context in which the word Qi is being used.

The meaning of Qi can change with context, sometimes referring to breath or air, sometimes to energy. To put it through the lens of human physiology, Qi is the word ancient Chinese physicians used to describe general functions of the human body. For us in the West, it’s often helpful to think of Qi as the aspects of the human body that are invisible or imperceptible to the human eye.

A sensible thought at this stage might be that if we can somehow manage to balance our Qi, then we are all set. We’ll learn as we go through the book that our Qi is constantly influenced by internal and external factors that are always changing. In other words, the body is always adjusting and adapting. Balanced Qi is a similar concept to homeostasis in human physiology. As such, the regulation of pH, body temperature, oxygen, hormones, neurotransmitters, electrochemical impulses, sensory receptors, and so on are all specific illustrations of Qi. To achieve good health, one’s Qi must be balanced.

DIRECTIONS OF QI

Qi is like a vivid energy that moves in different directions. Balanced Qi implies that Qi is moving smoothly and unobstructed in all directions through the pathways of our bodies, thus maintaining health. Disruption in any direction would affect the transportation of Qi, thus yielding sickness. The movement of Qi can be broadly categorized into four basic directions: upward, downward, inward, and outward.

Every organ has a normal direction of flow that maintains normal function. The Qi of some organs (such as the stomach) flows downward, and the Qi of other organs (such as the spleen) flows upward. For organs like the liver, the movement of Qi is upward and outward.

How Directions of Qi Were Determined

Historically, the flow of Qi was deduced by observation. Ancient texts have documented that healthy stomach Qi flows downward because of its function—the stomach is in charge of digestion, and it passes digested food on to the next organ. Therefore, it is said to have a downward flow of Qi. The spleen, on the other hand, is an organ in charge of dispersing the essence of food to nourish other organs. Therefore, it needs an upward flow of Qi so that the essences can be distributed throughout the body.

Even if the concept of energy flow and its disruptions sounds odd to you, we bet that you have experienced it in your own life. For example, think of a recent incident that made you anxious. Perhaps it was that moment before a competition: Your heart was pounding, your face was turning red, and your muscles were tensing up. If not managed properly, that uneasy feeling might lead to headaches or fainting, which would hinder your performance. In severe cases, unpleasant emotions might even lead to a heart attack, although more research is needed to validate the connection between anxiety and heart attacks.

What is happening physiologically? From the Western perspective, stress activates the sympathetic nervous system (fight-or-flight response) and withdraws the parasympathetic nervous system (rest and digest). The accelerated heart rate, increased blood pressure, body stiffness, mental alertness, and hormonal changes within the body are prompting us to face a perceived dangerous situation. (There’s more on the topic and effects of stress in Chapter 2.4).

In TCM terms, headaches can be a result of “over-ascending” Qi ...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• CONTENTS
• Introduction: Struggles with an Imbalanced Approach to Fitness
• Part 1: Essential Chinese Medicine Concepts
• Part 2: Seeking Sources of Imbalance and Fatigue
• Part 3: Lifestyle Strategies for Dynamic Balance: Some Practical Pointers
• Part 4: Developing Your Own Dynamic Balance Plan
• Appendices
• Acknowledgments
• About the Authors